Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien is selling his Klon Centaur and other effects for charity

Radiohead electric guitar effects wizard Ed O’Brien has announced he’ll be selling a number of pedals and rack units from his personal collection in aid of charity.

For the auction, O’Brien has teamed up with vintage and rare gear retailer Soundgas, and has selected two unnamed refugee charities that will receive a portion of all the generated proceeds.

The standout item on the list is O’Brien’s gold-finished Klon Centaur overdrive pedal, which the guitarist used on both The King Of Limbs and A Moon Shaped Pool. It also saw action when both albums were toured in 2011-12 and 2016-18.

As an added bonus, O’Brien’s favored settings are still marked on the pedal.

At the time of writing, the highest bid for the #1537 Klon currently sits at $8,805. Given most Centaurs go for around this price anyway, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this number creep up over the coming days. Whatever it ends up selling for, 10% of the final price will be donated to charity.

“It’s time to clear out a few pedals and delays from the cupboard to usher in some new sounds,” O’Brien said on Instagram. “So, I’m selling a load of gear that need new homes. It's the good stuff.

“I am trying so hard not to be a hoarder,” he continued. “I want to use the stuff that I have and if I don’t, then it needs to move on. These are up for sale on an auction with my friends at Soundgas. A percentage of the proceeds are going to two refugee charities.”

Joining the Klon is a restored and modified Binson Echorec PE603-T and a Korg SE-300 Stage Echo, both of which O’Brien used extensively on his 2020 debut solo album, Earth.

Two Line 6 Echo Pros are also up for grabs, as is a Market Electronics Echoplex EP-2. The list is capped off by a Roland SVC-350 Vocoder.

For the full list of items – and to find out when the auction time for each piece of gear ends – head over to Soundgas.