Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
6 of a kind - 6 identical format Keeley Electronics Compact Drive Pedals
So I’ve been waiting for my much delayed Keeley Manis to land (#17 overall) - to complete the series - and that happened on the day I’m writing this piece - which will be ’yesterday’ by the time it goes live. I ordered mine from Andertons on the 25th June - but it was delayed coming into stock at least twice, and then delayed on the shipping - so it’s been a series of scheduling issues supposedly.
I’m not sure what the root cause is - but the formerly pretty solid Andertons ’coming into stock’ notices no longer seem to be in any way reliable - not even in ballpark terms any more. Certain pedals arrivals have been put back week after week - where in some cases it’s well over a month of delays. And it’s not that other dealers aren’t getting stock in. Had I purchased my Manis from Juno.co.uk their shipment came in weeks before Andertons - so I’m not exactly sure what’s going on there. Andertons used to be super reliable - but seem to be going through something of an odd cycle currently - I hope they quickly manage to bring their operations back up to scratch - as reliability and quality of service are the key business differentiators nowadays.
As noted this is my 17th Keeley pedal - which comes shortly after I completed the snapshot capsule collection overview a few weeks ago - where I have now updated that visual! :
The very first in this series was the Noble Screamer, then followed by the Muse Drive / MK3 Driver, then the remainder of the 4-in-1-Series, and then this latest Klone variant. I already own well over 20 Klones, and it's always interesting to see how each of those differs and distinguishes itself.
The Manis Klone benefits from 2 modifications - a Bass / Phat Boost, and a Germanium Transistor as Diode - which increases intensity, saturation and gain - both incredibly useful additions. With the first very much bringing this Klone into Wampler Tumnus territory - which has always benefitted from having more low end in the circuit - and delivery a slightly rounder and fuller sound!
In my 4-in-1-Series Head-to-Head the winners were the Noble Screamer and Blues Disorder - in fact I've arrange those in order of preference in the visual. While probably overall my favourites here are the Muse / MK3 Driver and the Manis - both of those sound superb and are entirely to my liking. All of these are decent - but the 4 I've singled out are pretty brilliant really - and some of my favourite overdrives of all time!
I do often prefer to go for more extended range circuits - with additional controls and mods - and these certainly fall into that category to a large degree.
The 6 in order of appearance are :
- 4-in-1 Noble Screamer (ODR-1 x TS808) - $199
- 4-in-1 Blues Disorder (BluesBreaker x OCD) - $199
- 4-in-1 Super Rodent (Boss SD-1 x Rat) - $199
- 4-in-1 Angry Orange (Civil War Muff x Boss DS-1) - $199
- Andy Timmons Signature Muse / MK3 Driver (BD-2+) - $199
- Manis Overdrive (Klon Centaur+) - $199
Individual details below :
4-in-1 Noble Screamer (ODR-1 x TS808) - $199
Controls : Tone, Tone Stack Switch : OD (Spectrum EQ) / TS (LPF EQ), Drive, Drive Clipping : OD (Hard) / TS (Soft), Level.
Overall the best of the 4-in-1-Series - with the #2 and #3 best liked combinations - you can both-way this one brilliantly and both core vocings are killer!
4-in-1 Blues Disorder (BluesBreaker x OCD) - $199
Controls : Tone, Tone Stack Switch : BB (High Frequency Filter EQ) / OC (Active Midrange Boost and High Frequency Roll-Off EQ), Drive, Drive Clipping : BB (Soft) / OC (Hard), Level.
Here is the #1 of the 4-in-1-Series voicings - Blues Breaker with OCD Tone Stack - sounds bigger, bolder and more textured than the stock Blues Driver voicing - the best of the series for sure as most agree. Overall though the Noble Sceamer just pips this one on the impact of all those different voicings - this one's a close second - in fact many people's first choice! If you're considering the 4-in-1 Series - the first 2 you buy should be the Noble Screamer and Blues Disorder!
4-in-1 Angry Orange (Civil War Muff x Boss DS-1) - $199
Controls : Tone, Tone Stack Switch : MF (Passive Scooped Tilt EQ) / DS (Passive Flat Profile Tilt EQ), Drive, Drive Clipping : MF (Soft) / DS (Hard), Level.
The 3rd favourite of the 4-in-1-Series - with the Civil War Tone Stack really beefing up the DS-1 voicing. While it's not quite as satisfying as the two aforementioned ones!
4-in-1 Super Rodent (Boss SD-1 x Rat) - $199
Controls : Tone, Tone Stack Switch : SD (Active LPF EQ) / RT (High Frequency Roll-Off EQ), Drive, Drive Clipping : SD (Soft) / RT (Hard), Level.
Still a great combination, but not as satisfactory as the others for me - the preferred voicing here is the SD-1 with the Rat Tone Stack - that really beefs up that stock circuit - and makes it sound a little rounder!
Andy Timmons Signature Muse / MK3 Driver (BD-2+) - $199
Controls - Tone, Tone Mods : AT (Low-Cut) / RK (Low Boost / Phat), Drive, Drive Clipping Mods : AT (Asymmetrical LED + Silicon Diodes) / RK (Dual Germanium Diodes), Level.
The Keeley Freak Fuzz + Phat Modded Blues Driver is my favourite all-time overdrive pedal - and this is a more modern incarnation of that. Sounds superb, while there is still some magical secret sauce for my modified Boss one - this one comes very close though.
Manis Overdrive (Klon Centaur+) - $199
Controls - Tone, Drive, Level, Bass : Bass Boost / Stock, Clipping : GE Transformer / GE Diode.
I'm a huge fan of the Klon Centaur circuit - and while I don't own any originals - I own well over 20 variants - including several from Decibelics. You need to have the gain over 11 o'c to really feel the impact of the Mojo Germanium Diode - anyone who deploys this pedal at a lower range is totally wasting the potential of this pedal - as the magic diode is only engaged after a certain threshold. This Manis Keeeley take is one of the best 3-knob takes out there - and the addition Bass / Phat Boost and Germanium Transistor as a Diode - with more intensity and saturation - are both really handy mods to have. This is incredibly well priced for such a high quality pedal - in fact all of these are superb quality!
