Warm Audio Centavo

The Warm Audio Centavo is a Professional Overdrive pedal that recreates the Klon Centaur, the overdrive whose original run made it, in Warm Audio's words, "one of the most unattainable overdrive pedals in guitar history"¹. It is a three-knob overdrive aimed at the same jobs the original earned its reputation on: guitar boost, an always-on clean boost, pairing with other drives, and mid-gain overdrive¹. Warm Audio says the Centavo is "comfortable acting as a boost pedal, but the saturation in the higher gain settings provide a platform for true 'transparent' overdriven rhythm tones"¹.

The circuit follows the original closely. Guitar World's Jonathan Horsley notes that "few are as exacting in their tribute to Bill Finnegan's Holy Grail overdrive pedal than Warm Audio's Centavo," replicating the circuit "right down to the TL072 op amps and internal charge pump"². MusicRadar lists the features as TL072 op amps, vintage-style diodes, a charge-pump voltage regulator and top-mounted jacks³. The one change from the original is a MOD switch on the rear⁴.

What it does to your sound

The Centavo sits in the overdrive family, and like the original Klon it is built around transparency. Guitar World's reviewer found it "enhances your rig, without colouring your sound"². In a Guitar World buying guide, the Klon circuit is described as having "a transparent overdrive sound that's great as a boost or for low to mid-gain drive sounds," which is the territory the Centavo recreates.

Warm Audio positions it across four uses: as a straight guitar boost, as an always-on clean boost, stacked with other drive pedals, and as a mid-gain overdrive in its own right¹. On Premier Guitar's demo video, John Bollinger found it "an effective clean boost, transparent, probably an overused word but accurate I think, it just wakes up the amp," and added that "where it shines even more is when you just give her the goose and put it up there a little bit more," pushing a slightly overdriven amp so it sounds "alive and awake"⁶.

The controls and the rear MOD switch

The front panel carries three oxblood knobs: Gain, Tone (listed as Treble by some reviewers) and Output²³. On the back is the MOD switch, the one feature the original Klon did not have as standard.

The MOD switch works by changing the value of a high-pass filter, extending the low-end response on the bottom strings⁶. Warm Audio says the modification was "famously requested by Jeff Beck on the original pedal"¹. MusicRadar's reviewer found the effect subtle: "The Mod switch comes in very handy for giving wiry single-coil tones a bit of width but it's hardly Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," leaving the pedal's character intact³. On Premier Guitar's demo, Bollinger said "I felt that mod kind of inspiring that bottom end"⁶.

Power, connections and size

The Centavo runs on a standard 9V DC power supply or a 9V battery⁸⁵, with a 1/4" input jack marked Inst and a 1/4" output jack marked Amp⁵. It uses buffered bypass rather than true bypass²³⁵.

It is a large pedal. Guitar World lists the dimensions as 171 x 127 x 57 mm⁴, GuitarPlayer gives 5" x 6.75" x 2.25"⁸, and it weighs 2 lbs⁵. Gearnews notes it is a "large format needing space on modern pedalboards"⁹.

History and versions

Warm Audio, a US company specializing in replicas of vintage and rare gear⁵, released the Centavo in 2022 alongside the Warmdrive, its take on another classic overdrive. At launch, MusicRadar reported the Centavo priced at $179 street¹⁰, and guitar.com's review listed it at £199 in the UK¹¹.

Since then the pedal has appeared in several versions:

Gearnews reported in 2024 that "the Warm Audio Centavo is currently available as a special edition" Black LTD alongside a Silver LTD version¹². In October 2026, Warm Audio released the compact Centavo Mod, which Guitar Pedal X described as "a shrunk down compact Klone"⁷.

The Centavo Mod delivers the same sound and playing experience in a significantly smaller footprint, with top-mounted jacks, and Warm Audio says "the circuit design and component choices remain completely unchanged from the original Centavo, preserving the same authentic signal path"¹³. It retains the rear MOD switch¹³, and Warm Audio describes it the same way as the full-size pedal: comfortable as a boost, with higher-gain saturation providing a platform for transparent overdriven rhythm tones¹³.

What reviewers said

Reviews have been largely positive. Guitar World's Paul Riario called it "a bonafide knockout"¹⁴, and MusicRadar's review listed "Great price." among its verdict points². Reviewers also found it works as a clean boost: one described it as "an effective clean boost" that "just wakes up the amp," and felt it "shines even more" when pushed into a slightly overdriven amp⁶. On the Centavo Compact MOD, one writer felt the stylised enclosure was the coolest part and that there are "equivalent or better examples of that circuit already out there, not necessarily at this price point"⁷.

MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley took a more measured view on who it suits: "Would the Centavo be a great first overdrive pedal? We'd be tempted to say not, not when there are so many more all-purpose" options, while calling it, for experienced players looking for secret sauce in their signal chain, "a beast of exquisite charms"³.

On the compact Centavo Mod, Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson was cooler, writing that "the coolest part is the stylised enclosure" and that he feels "there are equivalent or better examples of that circuit already out there, not necessarily at this price point"⁷.

Analog Man, whose own Klon modifications date back to the original pedal, notes that the Centavo "also used Zener diodes for clipping," and reports that its own modification of several Centavos "really warmed up the sound, got rid of some harshness and gave it nice smooth thicker low mids"¹⁵.

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