The plan is ultimately to make several of these, and I've gone ahead and populated three PCBs at this point. I'd hoped to get all of them boxed up, but sadly discovered I was woefully short dual-gang 100KB potentiometers. The mix of carbon film and metal film resistors, along with the use of metal film, tantalum, and electrolytic capacitors follows the layout recommended for the Ceriatone Centura (of which I'd just finished one last week). I'm ultimately planning on adding more bipolar capacitors to the builds, but these only have a couple in the 1uF slots.
I ended up choosing the Tone Geek board because it is essentially a 1:1 shrink of the original Klon Centaur circuit. It also calls for 2PDT footswitches - which allows me to have a unique parts set for this build. The wiring is also tight - maybe a little too tight with pads for the in, out, +9V, and ground wires that are very close to other components, but it does allow for very minimal use of hook-up wire. You just have to be careful with your soldering.
Of course, I promised a "fun new dino-themed enclosure" - so here it is! The Kloned Centrosaurus features original artwork by my lovely wife done in the style of medieval marginalia (the same style used for the Dimetrodon Distortion and the Corythosaurus Chorus). There is also a bit of licensed edited clip art as well, but her art is the focal point. Centrosaurus (pronounced cen-troh-sore-us) is a genus of medium-sized, plant-eating, horned dinosaur. It lived between 76.5 and 75.3 million years ago. Centrosaurus lived in herds, sometimes reaching hundreds to thousands of animals of all ages.
In terms of the style of the art - here's here explanation:
“Whimsical creatures inhabit the margins of many Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, works of literature that are otherwise Very Serious Texts about Very Serious Topics (yes, capitalized, that is just how serious they are!). There are thousands of existing tomes that tell serious and moral stories, while the artwork on the edges of the page tells a much sillier story of daily life and imagination. One manuscript in particular, the Luttrell Psalter from the 1320-40s which lives now at the British Museum, is full of margin art that involves monsters, crazy flying creatures, insincere clergymen, bored farmers, trained dogs, stick-wielding wives, wacky humanoid beasts having fights with crockery, and even some rather pushy rabbits. This is my favorite of the marginalia heavy tomes. This manuscript is done in an exuberant and colorful style depicting depth and space in the details but with overtones of graphic linework and flat patterning, creating half realistic art, half graphic art. In studying the style of the psalter, the Luttrell psalter dinosaurs came to be. Using acrylic on canvas as my creatures are destined to occupy a marginalia garden at upcoming medieval themed events and need to be sturdy and waterproof, our Luttrell dinos use a similar art style as the monsters from the psalter margins with bright colors, excited expressions, and line patterning. Just with dinosaurs. (Seriously though, look up the Luttrell Psalter which has been digitized online. It is rather spectacular!) –Alex McCoy July 2022”
In terms of the sound - well, it's a Tone Geek Mini-Taur set up just like a Ceriatone Centura. I put the two in series and went from one to the other and I honestly could not hear the difference between the two of them - which means this is about as close to a real Klon Centaur as you're apt to get without shelling out hundreds of dollars. As soon as the potentiometers come in, there will be at least two of these in the Reverb store at the introductory price of $119!
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