Keeley Electronics Capsule Collection

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 first of the 4-in-1 Series alphabetically - this one combines an EHX Civil War Muff with Boss DS-1. In some ways it's the best balanced - with all 4 voicings being usable - but those combinations aren't as exceptional as for others in the range. Stongest voicing for this pedal is the Muff Gain with the DS-1 Tone Stack. It's decent, while there are better voicing in each of the other 3 4-in-1 Series articles.

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.

This one is many people's favourite 4-in-1 - where admittedly it has my favourite combination onboard - BluesBreaker Gain with OCD Tone Stack - really beefs up the BluesBreaker and makes it sound more richly textured. Overall the Noble Screamer is the one that delivers most satisfaction for me overall - while the Blues Order does have my favourite single voicing.

Controls : Tone, Tone Stack Switch : OD (Spectrum EQ) / TS (LPF EQ), Drive, Drive Clipping : OD (Hard) / TS (Soft), Level.

My favourite one in the series overall - the OD + OD and OD + TS both sound superb - those two together deliver the two most potent combinations across the 4-in-1 Series - while the Blues Distorder OCD + BB Mode is my single favourite voicing out of all of them!

Controls : Tone, Tone Stack Switch : SD (Active LPF EQ) / RT (High Frequency Roll-Off EQ), Drive, Drive Clipping : SD (Soft) / RT (Hard), Level.

This one is overall somewhat more impressive than the Angry Rodent, but not quite up with the Blues Disorder and Noble Screamer - which are generally considered the favourites from that series. Best setting here is the DS-1 Gain with the Rat Tone Stack - that adds a little more girth to the DS-1 Profile.

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 4th evolution of the Super Phat Drive essentially, and second of the Andy Timmons Signature Generations. Probably the best balanced of the four I have overall. A fantastic evolution of Robert'd BD-2 Phat Mod - with some flavour of the Freak Fuzz Mod too!

Controls - Time / HPF, Level / Saturate, Feedback / Press for Alt, Rate / Tone, Depth / Rhythm : Halo Effect, Dotted Eighth, Analog Rack Delay, Quarter, Multi-Head Tape Delay, Settings : A / B / Status, Presets : 1 - 4 (A + B), A Footswitch, B Footswitch, Hold for Tap Tempo per side, Hold on Opposite Side for Infinite / Freeze Effect.

Andy Timmons favourite Delay Effects as beautifully and digital rendered by Robert Keeley - a really cool asynchronous Dual Modified Delay - which sits beautifully under your playing. I really only use this pedal for the Andy Timmons Mode - which is exceptional! And I'm very privileged to own the Light-Bening Edition with its Lexan / Plexi see-through front - really really cool! I think only a hundred or so of these were made!

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, EQ switch : AT / Phat

This predecessor to the Muse / MK3 Drive - with one less option switch. Still sounds pretty fabulous - but this was a very quick obsolesce - as the Muse Driver appeared less that a year later I think - or at least it felt like that. I enjoyed this one when it first entered - but it's overshadowed by its newer Muse / MKR sibling.

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, EQ switch : Flat / Phat

Obviously Robert's own badged take on his BD-2 Phat Mod. When I saw this edition in Boss Blue - I just had to have it. I somehow overlooked it at its time of release - but fortunately was able to track one down in the UK. I probably paid over the odds for that - but that's what happens when you really want something! For some reasons - I've always felt that Roberts' original Boss Mods sound somewhat more '3D' - there are tiny differences really, but the seem somewhat significant to me - still a great sounding take on that classic!

Controls - Level, Tone, Drive, EQ switch : Flat / Phat.

I've always loved the look and sound of this Germanium Transistor variant. It has a distinct timbre and texture from the original Mod - not necessary better, but different - in an interesting way. I was lucky to snag one of these when they very first materialised - and this one's still in fairly regular rotation every now and again. All my pedals get a proper airing - mostly at least on an annual basis!

Controls - 2 x Volume, Drive, Tone, Channel Order Switch, Independent Footswitch per Channel.

I was after Dan and Mick's Drive for a while - where I always wanted a special edition rather than the original orange and black variant. I had considered the stealth black edition - while when this Purple Edition was released - that seemed then the perfect candidate for me. There's a couple of minor enhancements on this edition - to give both sides a better balance - this sort of BluesBreaker + Klone is really potent - and extra appealing in this purple Ninazu vibrant!

Controls - Level, Presence, Gain, Bass, Body, Table, Boost Switch, Bright Switch, Crunch Switch.

A pretty dense and intense high gain distortion - does a fantastic take on the HM-2 sound - or near enough. Its core tonal profile is similar in some ways to the recent JHS Hard Drive - they're both denser in their outputs - but with a large degree of versatility. I largely prefer looser and more open distortions - but this one is still one of my favourites!

Controls - Level, Bass, Bias, Treble, Fuzz.

A really cool hybrid Multi-Bender in an amazing sort of holographic printed edition - looks and sounds amazing. There are other Multi-Benders that are easier on the dial-in - but this one is very decent too - with a plethora of killer Tone Bender sounds onboard!

Controls - Blend, Drive, Mids Boos : On/Off, Speed, On Footswitch, Slow-Fast Footswitch (Ramp + Brake), Full Stereo Ins and Outs!

A great sounding Rotary Effect - and really syrupy too - just how I like it. But this modulation is very underpowered - and when I engage it in my rig it sounds like I'm engaging a 'Mute' - its output volume is so low. I'm taking it with me when I visit Hello Sailor Effects Joe - later this month - with a view to his adding a mod which brings the output level up significantly. I'm often concerned when I don't see a level / volume control on a modulation pedal - as those typically operate under Unity. For a lot of these Modulations you need some kind of make-up-gain - to bring the output fully up to unity!

Controls - Level, Filter (Tone / EQ), Fuzz (Gain), EQ Profile : Flat, Full, Scooped.

Extracted from the Dark Side Pink Floyd Multi-FX Pedal and with a slightly beefed up output. Really cool Quad Opamp Muff Fuzz - with that handy EQ Profile switch. Exactly what I like for my Big Muff candidates! It's one of more than 110 Big Muffs I own - but I still really like it!

Fuzz Controls - Fuzz/Gain, Level, Tone, Low End EQ : Punch (Bass Boost) / Psi (Max Undertones), Scoop (Scooped), Fuzz Footswitch (Press-Hold to flip between Octave Latching and Momentary Ramping Modes), Press-Hold on Power-up to flip between True or Buffered Bypass.
 
Octave / Pitch Controls - Blend (Pitch and Interval Levels / Interval Blend / Alt Interval Selection), Octave/Pitch Mode : Up / Dual / Down, Pitch Interval : DY (Detune / Chorus), M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, OCT, 2 OCT, Octave Footswitch - press-hold and then press-twist Blend to adjust Ramp Speed, works beautifully for Momentary Ramping (enabled by press-holding Fuzz footswitch!)

Pretty much Keeley's latest triumph - this sounds like a version of the Moon Fuzz, combined with a superb dynamic pitch-shifter. I really like this one - where the only quibble I have is over the complexity of the Pitch-shifting side - which uses lots of secondary and tertiary functions. I can definitely get my Tom Morillo on with this device - both sides sound superb - and are even better together.

Controls - Tone, Drive, Level, Internal Mode Dip-switches - Distortion / Overdrive / Crunch / Amp.

My very first Keeley pedal was this cool Mini take on the TS808 - with smart granular gain structure courtesy of its internal dip-switches. An early favourite of mine for sure - where I ended up with quite a number of Mini Screamers - I think this one still holds up pretty well, It should be reissued - but with the dip-switches on the outside - like you currently get on the Xotic Minis!