Mojo Hand FX unveils the Sericon, a Klon-style drive pedal with three separate gain controls

You could populate a pedalboard the size of Texas with the amount of Klon-style overdrive pedals that have been released since the original big beast of boutique stompbox candy became a bona fide unicorn for electric guitar tone.

While many K-style drives try to replicate the original’s sound wholesale, housing it in a typically mythologically grand enclosure, Mojo Hand FX has done something different with its newly unveiled Sericon. 

The Sericon is not the first Klon-inspired pedal Mojo Hand has released. For a more conventional take on it, “a playful nod”, check out its Richard Fortus-approached Sacred Cow overdrive. But with an expanded suite of controls at your disposal, Sericon looks to expand on that K-style goodness, unearthing new ways of making your guitar amp sing with musical drive.

So what have we got? There are no beasts on the front, for a start, just five red dials on a silver painted enclosure. The big talking point is the trio of gain controls that complement its Level and Treble controls – Gain, Drive and Blaze.

Drive affects the level of the first gain stage, allowing you to dial in more “harmonic complexity” further down the line. Gain picks up the ball with a second gain stage, while Blaze operates as a low-pass filter that interacts with the other controls. 

Dime the Blaze control when Gain and Drive controls are similarly maxed out and you can get add some serious beef to your sound, or dial it back to tighten up your low end response. At low-gain settings, it is ideal for dialling in a little warmth. It sure sounds promising for tailoring the Sericon’s sound to your guitar’s pickups.

The Sericon is true bypass, takes a 9V DC power supply and is available now direct from Mojo Hand, priced $199, or from retailers worldwide.

See Mojo Hand FX for more details.

• The FX files: Klon Centaur