Supersized Kloned Centrosaurus!

By this point I've built a lot of Klon clones using multiple different boards - AionFX, PedalPCB, Ceriatone, South Obolon FX, Tone Geek, and Puzzle Sounds are the ones I can remember off of the top of my head. I've used several combinations of diodes and a variety of part load outs depending on what I was trying to do with the pedal. I had a friend approach me and commission a large form factor Klon clone, so I decided to go back to the Tone Geek BFK board, and work out from there. 

I'd previously built a pedal using the Tone Geek board and put it in a Ceriatone enclosure that had been scratched and refinished, so I knew the board was solid. For this build I used the Ceriatone guidelines for the resistor load out (carbon film versus metal film) which mirrors the original Klon Centaur pedal. This time around rather than using my normal mix of WIMA and KEMET film capacitors, I went ahead and used Panasonic and Topmay to give the inside the look and feel of the original as well. The electrolytic capacitors are a mix of Nichicon and Panasonic. I'm also using 1N34A diodes with a forward voltage drop of 0.35V as recommended by the Tone Geek. 

I decided to go all out on the off board components as well. I'm using the larger 24mm potentiometers as used in the original and the Ceriatone Centura. I also upgraded to a Carling DPDT stomp switch for this build so it should be trouble free forever. The jacks are Switchcraft, and I included the battery snap. One major difference from the original Klon / Ceriatone is the 9V jack. I decided to go with a more conventional  Lumberg 2.1mm jack as opposed to the smaller one you see on the original Klon and Ceriatone. 

The enclosure is one of the ones you can get brought in from China in a variety of colors. I decided to go with the gold, and the dark gold flake paint is really quite striking when you see it in person. On my previous build I'd made up decals for the pedal and then put top coats over them to protect the decals. Unfortunately that solution is lacking in the durability department, so I decided to go a different route this time. We'd just gotten a laser engraver, and I thought that this would be a great project for it. So I worked up some art, ran a couple of tests, and then got ready to etch the very... expensive... enclosure...

Of course, one other wrinkle with a Klon style enclosure is the face of the enclosure is angled, and laser engravers only work on very level surfaces. So I worked up a support jig with a woodworker friend and went at it. I'd previously cleared the art with my friend, and honestly it came out even better than I'd hoped. Initially I'd planned to clear out everything down to the bare aluminum, but I (and my friend) both ended up liking the slightly darker lines, so we decided to leave the enclosure as is!

After I'd gotten the guts of the pedal tested and in the enclosure, all that remained was to add the knobs. I went ahead and used oxblood Davies knobs as were used on the gold Klons - but with a far more dinosaur enclosure! The Centrosaurus my wife painted is my mascot for the Tone Geek Mini-Taur (Klon in a 125B), so I decided to keep the same mascot for the large version of the Tone Geek pedal. Honestly I really love how it came out... of course, now I want to make myself one just like it!