What Pedals Does John Mayer Use?
John Mayer's pedalboard is the best-documented modern blues rig — and its central lesson echoes Stevie Ray Vaughan's: the most important pedal has zero drive. His Klon Centaur sits always-on, boosting his Two-Rock into a warmer, more responsive state without adding conventional distortion.
Signal Chain (Current Era)
Guitar → Klon Centaur (always on) → Ibanez TS808 (lead boost) → Dunlop Cry Baby (Wah) → TC Electronic Flashback delay → Two-Rock Custom Reverb Signature
Pedal 1: Klon Centaur (Always On)
Drive: 0 (minimum)
Output: Maximum
Tone: 12 o'clock
The Klon Centaur is a clean boost/transparent overdrive made by Bill Finnegan between 1994 and 2000 — approximately 8,000 units total. Original units sell for $2,000–$4,000+.
How Mayer uses it: Drive at zero means the Klon's gain circuit is essentially bypassed. The Output at maximum pushes more signal into the Two-Rock's input. Like SRV's TS808, this causes the amp to work harder — increasing warmth, responsiveness, and sustain without adding the grain of conventional overdrive.
The Klon's "secret": Even at Drive 0, the Klon's circuit buffers and conditions the signal, adding a very subtle tonal character that many describe as warmth or "life." The always-on placement means this character is present throughout Mayer's entire performance.
Budget alternatives: Klon KTR (current production, official Klon), EHX Soul Food (~$75, widely considered closest Klon clone), J. Rockett Archer, Wampler Tumnus.
Pedal 2: Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer
Drive: 4–5 (moderate drive for lead)
Level: Matched unity or slightly above
Tone: 12 o'clock
Where the Klon is always on, the TS808 is engaged for leads. The mild drive setting adds harmonic richness to lead lines rather than heavy distortion.
Why TS808 rather than TS9? The TS808 is the original 1970s circuit; the TS9 (1982 onward) has a slightly different output stage. Mayer has used both; the 808 is preferred for its warmer character.
Pedal 3: Analogman King of Tone
A boutique dual-channel overdrive used for specific contexts — the King of Tone can operate as two independent overdrive channels simultaneously. Mayer uses it for situations requiring more complex drive stacking than the Klon/TS808 provides.
Wait list: The Analogman King of Tone has a famously long wait list (years). Used units sell for significant premiums.
Pedal 4: Germanium Fuzz Face
For blues-rock passages and heavier SRV-style lead tones, Mayer uses a germanium Fuzz Face variant — similar to SRV's Dallas Arbiter setup.
Settings: Fuzz 6–7, Volume unity. Guitar volume controlled for clean-up (roll back to 6 for partial cleanup, 10 for full fuzz sustain).
Pedal 5: Dunlop Cry Baby / Custom Wah
Present for filtered rhythm and lead wah passages. Mayer uses wah more sparingly than Hammett or Morello — as a character device rather than a constant presence.
Delay: TC Electronic Flashback (and others)
Mayer uses digital delay for specific effects:
- Slapback: Short delay (~120ms, 1 repeat) for rockabilly/early-rock texture
- Rhythmic delay: Longer delay synced to tempo for ambient passages
The TC Electronic Flashback (or similar Boss DD-series) provides this. The Two-Rock's built-in reverb handles ambient space.
What John Mayer Does Not Use
- Heavy distortion — no high-gain pedal in the main signal chain
- Chorus (generally) — the Two-Rock's natural amp character provides sufficient warmth
- Noise gate — at his volume levels, noise is manageable without gating
Replicating Mayer's Tone
Core chain:
- EHX Soul Food (~$75): Klon clone — Drive 0, Output max, Tone 12 o'clock. Always on.
- Ibanez TS9 or TS808 (~$100): Lead boost with moderate drive
- Clean amp: Fender Deluxe Reverb (
$1,100) or Blues Junior ($500) as Two-Rock approximation
The key lesson: Both boost pedals have Drive at zero or very low. The amp provides all the character; the pedals push it into a more responsive state.
Why Zero-Drive Boost Pedals Keep Appearing Across This Site's Blues Players
Mayer's Klon-at-Drive-0 approach isn't an isolated quirk — it's the same underlying technique documented in this site's Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Moore pedal guides, where a boost pedal pushes an already-good amp harder rather than replacing the amp's own character with the pedal's. What makes the Klon specifically notable is that even at zero drive, its buffering and component choices add a subtle harmonic quality players consistently describe as "life" or "warmth" — a genuinely different phenomenon from a completely transparent, uncolored buffer, which is part of why the Klon commands such extreme prices while conceptually simpler clean boosts don't.
This matters for players deciding where to spend limited pedal budget: an accurate Klon clone at true zero-drive settings will get you closer to Mayer's foundation tone than a more feature-rich but differently-voiced boost pedal, regardless of how many additional controls the alternative offers.
Common Mistakes
Running the Klon (or a clone) with the Drive knob turned up. As the settings note, Mayer's Drive is at zero — using it as a conventional overdrive with real gain misses its actual role in this rig, which is buffering and subtle harmonic enhancement, not distortion.
Treating the TS808 as the primary gain source. As the signal chain shows, it's engaged specifically for lead boosts on top of the always-on Klon foundation, at moderate (not high) drive — using it as the main source of dirt misunderstands its supporting role.
Assuming a Fuzz Face and the Klon are used together for the same passages. As the guide notes, the germanium Fuzz Face is reserved for specific SRV-style blues-rock lead tones — it's a distinct tool for a distinct musical moment, not layered with the Klon-plus-TS808 combination for general use.
Chasing an original vintage Klon Centaur before trying accurate clones. At $2,000-4,000+ for an original unit, this is an impractical starting point for most players — the EHX Soul Food and similar well-regarded clones capture the essential zero-drive buffering character at a small fraction of the cost.
ToneStakr's Take
For players building this tone, an accurate Klon-style clone run at true zero drive into any genuinely good clean amp is the highest-leverage purchase — it's doing more foundational tonal work in this rig than the TS808, wah, or delay combined. Add the moderate-drive TS808 for lead sections once the always-on foundation is dialed in, and treat the fuzz and King of Tone as later additions for specific, situational tones rather than core requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Klon Centaur?
A clean boost/transparent overdrive hand-built by Bill Finnegan between 1994 and 2000, with approximately 8,000 units total. Original units sell for $2,000-4,000+ on the used market; the current Klon KTR is the official modern successor built by the same designer.
Does Mayer use the Klon on full drive?
No — Drive is set at zero (minimum) with Output at maximum. It functions purely as a clean boost and subtle tonal enhancer rather than a distortion source, pushing his amp harder without adding conventional pedal-based grain.
What does "always-on" mean for a pedal in this context?
The pedal remains engaged throughout an entire performance rather than being switched in only for specific songs or sections. The Klon (and the TS808 at its low settings) together form the constant foundation of Mayer's tone across a full set.
What amp does John Mayer use with this pedalboard?
Primarily the Two-Rock Custom Reverb Signature, a boutique clean American-voiced amp that serves as the canvas the Klon and TS808 push against. Fender Deluxe Reverbs and similarly-voiced Fender amps also appear in his rig as alternatives or backups.
Is the EHX Soul Food a genuinely close substitute for a real Klon, or just a cheaper approximation?
Widely regarded as one of the closest affordable clones available — while purists debate subtle differences, the Soul Food captures the core zero-drive buffering character closely enough that most players and listeners can't reliably distinguish it from an original in a blind test, at roughly 3% of an original Klon's typical resale price.
Why does Mayer use both a Klon and a TS808 rather than just one boost pedal?
Because they serve different functions in the chain — the Klon provides a constant, subtle foundation-level enhancement, while the TS808 is switched in specifically for lead sections to add extra harmonic push on top of that foundation, giving him two distinct gain stages he can combine or use independently depending on the part.