the Nux hOrsemaN

You may be thinking hooray! just what we need, another overdrive/distortion (OD) to join the endless ranks of OD pedals out there already. However, a step back to 1994 is required first, to check out exactly what this tiny pedal is aiming at. Bill Finnegan decided to build an alternative to the Ibanez Tube Screamer because he was not happy with the overdrives which mainly pushed the mid frequencies and in so doing significantly changed the original guitar and amp combo tone, ok for some but not for all as the extra colour from the pedals can be too much.

Bill produced the Klon Centaur to provide a rich full overdrive without losing the original tone, without introducing too much overdrive noise and to get a clear bypass. The Klon Centaur or ‘Horsie’ as it became known is an impressive lump of kit which was snapped up by the bluesmen of that time. The components of the Horsie were encased in gloopy black epoxy resin which made it robust for gig use and also impossible to replicate. Demand was high and production limited to a small number which resulted in escalating prices leading to the current £5000 price tag for a genuine Klon Centaur (Horse) Pedal.

The Nux Horseman is a mini pedal, the size of a Snickers bar compared to the Centaur house brick, with its colour and Horseman logo a thinly disguised reference to the unit it seeks to emulate. For my test run I used a Fender Strat and a Marshall DSL Tube amp and this little unit produced some surprising results. It is simple to use with three knobs treble, output and gain. The treble knob can be used to increase the treble gain only and the gain knob can be used to boost the low and mid frequency. The voltage converter in the unit increases the voltage from 9 to 18 volts which provides bags of power with ample headroom to produce a rich clear over driven tone without adding any pedal colour. The output knob simply adjusts the volume of the signal being sent to the front of the amp. The level of your chosen gain mix being sent to the amp to achieve the point of breakup for the powerful bluesy overdrive.

All this is produced with a single press of the foot button which engages the ‘Gold mode’. This is what was aimed for the original ‘Horsie’. Press and hold the foot pedal again and the ‘Silver mode’ is engaged. This is essentially an increased level of gain which produces distinct distortion throughout the setting but still without dominant mid boost. Clearly I cannot compare the sound directly with a Klon Centaur as these are mainly retired to the display cabinets of deep pocketed collectors and destined never to be played again.

The unit seems to provide a rich fat overdrive tone with little noise, even with single coil pickup and has true bypass when switched off. It retains your original guitar amp characteristics which I believe is what it sets out to do. Given its very small size and modest price I would suggest room could probably be found for this one on most pedal boards where it would soon become a go to favourite.

prOs rICh fat OVerdrIVe tONe great prICe COmpaCt sIZe COOl desIgN £79

BrINgINg BaCk the klON CeNtaur WIth thIs emulated pedal.