Celebrating the Magnificent King of the Mini Klones - the Decibelics Golden Horse
It seems fitting that with all this talk of the recent Wampler Germanium Tumnus Deluxe - that we should take a minute to marvel at this still incredible feat of miniature engineering prowess - which has had those magical 1N34A Germanium Diodes onboard from the start! I’m not going to focus too much on the superior component selection of All Mojo Parts, but rather note the neatness and incredible fidelity of the execution.
The Decibelics Golden Horse first appeared in May of 2017 in a batch of 12, the next one or two batches had 12 also, and then we had a somewhat larger batch of 50. Either way - it was from that larger batch of 50 that my own Golden Horse emerged - numbered #70. Which is slightly disappointing that it took me a full year to properly sit up and take notice!
I had seen snippets of the Golden Horse on social media here and there - just fleeting glances really - where I always loved the look and conception of it. While it needed one more magical ingredient to wholly set me off. And that of course was the fantastic demo by now good friend Alberto Barrero, who has done so many of my favourite demos - including also for the Demon Kondo Shifuku.
The Alberto Barrero demo dates back to September from the year of launch (just 4 months after its origin) - and it only took a single viewing to have me convinced. I often talk about pedal triangulation - as that is kind of the modern way of finding new gear. You need a number of different stepping stones and references to fill in enough gaps such that you feel as close to being convinced as you could be - without doing some proper hands-on testing.
Decibelics’ Guillem and I are obviously kindred spirits - and we connected almost immediately - and where I’ve really enjoyed collaborating with Guillem for a number of years now - inducing on the Reverend / Mini Expandora.
But I digress, and this article is purely about the Golden Horse - where Guillem just recently decided on the current range of colourways as above.
I’ve arranged them in the most logical fashion for me :
Standard Black (per my #70), Crystal White , Hammered Blue , Hammered Green , Hammered Copper , Silver Chrome , Gold , Orange Special , Fire (Engine) Red , Transparent Copper .
Prices range from €190 for standard models to €220 for Hammered Editions - equivalent to $206-$239 / £160-£186. You need to refer to the Decibelics Website for details as these are made in batches - and those sell out pretty much instantly!
The range has been fully streamlined now - while there are quite a few more custom editions out there in the wild - including a pink one Guillem did for my good friend Matt Knight.
So the Golden Horse definitely warrants a closer look - especially for those not fully familiar with its deilghts!
Those incredibly neatly arranged rows of components - with not an ounce of wiggle room between them - that is one heck of a concentration of tone! In fact circuit flow-wise identical to the Bill Finnegan original - just more attractive, smaller and more densely packed!
Guillem owns a few of the original, and has one in particular which he considers to be the master reference unit - up against which all of the Golden Horses are tested.
I've never understood the demand for larger pedal sizes, and for a while Guillem's own full size clone was discontinued - while there always seems to be a clamour of folks that still want a full-sized / over-sized unit. For me a little like everyone going back to driving cars that look like the Ford Model T. For me the Future of Klon is the Decibelics Golden Horse - of course the Golden Royal Dual Channel Edition with extras is fantastic too - but for me - my favourite will always be the mini.
I did the above visual to illustrate the number and density of Primo / Mojo through-hole components.
Where there are 60 components immediately visible to the naked eye. Do refer to Guillem's Benchmark Guide on the Klon Centaur for every conceivable detail of the original legendary circuit - it's definitively the Kit Rae for Klons!
You can clearly see the glass crystal 1N34A Diodes in the bottom right hand corner - numbered #59 and #60 in my component overview. All Decibelics Klon style pedals contain those same special Diodes - the exact same type originally selected by Bill Finnegan.
I've actually always wanted one of the Hammered Editions - but struggle choosing between the 3 of them! I think the Copper one may be my favourite, I have cited that before.
Thinking back to the Wampler Tumnus / Germanium Tumnus I reasoned that so many like those because of the extra low frequencies. While I would also like to be able to get a little more volume out of the unit in particular. And so I would like to propose 2 new toggle-switches - either side of the Tone knob. The first of which will be a 'Phat' switch - to give you that sort of Tumnus style bottom end, and the second will be a 'Hot' switch - to give you a volume and gain boost! It would be marketed as a custom edition, named the Golden Horse+ - with a 6th star added to the logo!
It still pains me that some misguided soul was shilling his Mosky Golden Horse as a better sounding unit to the Decibelics one proper. There really is no contest there - and those 2 should never be compared in the same category - much like you cannot compare a Saville Row Bespoke suit to one pulled off a hanger at a discount clothing warehouse!
I feel these are incredibly fairly priced - they are the very epitome of small precious jewel boxes - and should be treasured by all who encounter them.
Anyone looking for the best version of a proper tour-grade Klone - then the Decibelics Golden Horse is surely the right candidate for you!
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
