Clon Minotaur

Name: Clon Minotaur
Author: Nembrini Audio

by Nembrini Audio · Distortion · Klon-style transparent overdrive

Not rated yet

A free overdrive plugin from Nembrini Audio modeled on the Klon Centaur pedal.

It works as a clean boost or a transparent drive with modeled germanium diodes. It is free.

Best for: Guitars, Bass. Genres: Rock & Indie, Jazz, Acoustic & Classical, Pop.

Keywords: overdrive, transparent, free, clean, 90s, electric guitar, germanium, hardware emulation, inspired by, minimal controls, vintage, bass, colored, gritty, mixing.

What it does

Clon Minotaur (Clon Minotaur Transparent Overdrive) is a free model of the Klon Centaur, a hand-built overdrive made from 1990 to 1994. The developer calls it a "transparent" overdrive: it adds gain without changing the guitar's tone much.

Transparent drive: adds gain and grit while keeping the core character of the guitar and amp.
Germanium clipping: the drive comes from two modeled germanium diodes, as in the original circuit.
Gain: balances the diode clipping stage against the clean stage, so low settings act as a lightly coloured boost and high settings as a real overdrive.
Treble: shapes the top end of the summed signal.
Volume: sets the output level, so it can push the input of an amp sim hard for extra break-up.
Three knobs only: the same short control set as the pedal, with no extra modes or menus.

The current version is 1.0.6. It is a free download.

Source: Nembrini Audio product page

When to use it

Clon Minotaur is the pick when you want a boost that keeps the low end and the natural sound of the amp. Compared with The Scream, which models a Tube Screamer, it cuts less bass and pushes the mids less, so chords stay full. It is far narrower than Saturn 2 or Thermal, which are general-purpose distortion and multiband tools for any source; Clon Minotaur does one guitar job with three knobs. It is also free, while those are paid.

Best for: boosting clean or edge-of-break-up amp sims, light overdrive, and lead boosts in front of vintage amp models.
Genres: rock, blues, country, pop.
Look elsewhere if: you want heavy distortion or fuzz (Devil-Loc Deluxe, Dist COLDFIRE) or a mid-focused Tube Screamer push (The Scream).
Tip: a KVR user found it works best in front of Tweed and vintage Vox or Marshall amp sims.

What producers say

Users and press see it as a convincing free Klon, with no real complaints in the pages read.

KVR users rate it 5 out of 5 from 1 review, calling it "one of the best, most naturally sounding overdrive pedal plugins" and "very convincing".
Production Expert quoted a professional guitarist who called it "absolutely stellar" and had already used it on a session; it demonstrated it in front of a Fender Twin Reverb model.
Pairing: the KVR reviewer pairs it with Nembrini's MRH159 amp and says that combination covers "almost every kind of music".

Where to buy

Nembrini Audio: Free

Tutorials and reviews

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