Robert Keeley Boss Mods Trifecta

This to me is just an incredibly versatile and beautifully organically sounding - slightly fuzz-edged box of tricks. In its original format it does 3 things amazingly well - pristine sparkling clean boost with gain rolled back, lovely fuzz-edged bluesy overdrive, and richly-textured Marshall-esque crunch / distortion. The Keeley Phat Mod adds in better bass response - and the frequency profile just sounds thicker, richer and better balanced - while the Freak Fuzz Mod give you a really classy Fuzzy-Drive - like the Overdrive end of a Fuzz Face. I actually use mine mostly with the Phat Mod (right-switch engaged) and with gain around 1 or 2 o'clock and then use my guitar's volume dial to adjust to need. The two little cylinders on the pedal face are TO-1 Can AC188 Germanium Transistors used as clipping diodes for the Freak Fuzz voicing. There's lots of us that love the Blues Driver - much less that actually have this version, and far too many that weirdly don't go for this flavour at all - it is very much a bona fide classic - and as distinct a Boss voice as its DS-1, Heavy Metal and Metal Zone. In this particular version it has just the most fantastic degree of richly textured harmonic content - which sounds wonderful to me ears!

Again a really beefed up and more richly textured better components modded pedal - which utilises the visible Red LED as a clipping diode. With the toggle switch up you are in 'Seeing Eye' mode and can see the degree of saturation illuminated in the LED, while flipping the switch down gets you into even fatter and beefier 'Ultra' mode territory. Both this and the above Blues Driver have quite distinct Marshall-esque voicings when cranked up. For me the Blues Driver has somewhat better range throughout its dial, while I tend to prefer both pedals cranked beyond the mid-way point. The DS-1 works best when pushing a little gain already in the signal chain - while the Blues Driver is more versatile and works equally well on a clean signal. Some players have a preference for one or the other - and while the Blues Driver edges it for me all-round, I still like the Keeley DS-1 almost as much!

I acquired this pretty much at the same time as my Freak Fuzz Blues Driver - the BD-2 came from California, while the Metal Zone was acquired from Ishibashi Music Store in Tokyo (via Reverb.com). I luckily received this before the Blues Driver - which obviously kind of went on to dominating proceedings for me for a while. Robert again has worked his magic on this rather finicky and potentially aggravating circuit - brought about largely by the expansive range of the Parametric Mids frequency dial - where tiny movements make significant changes. For all Metal Zones - even the new Waza edition, you have to be careful when dialling in the mids! This is another beefed up edition - with a better balanced frequency response profile which reduces some of the fizz of the stock version, tightens up the low end and gives you more amp-like saturation. The 3-way toggle-switch gives you two further modes over and above the left-position stock variation. Toggle right for 'Triple Diode' Mode which gives you a more realistic amp-like molten guitar saturation. Move the switch into the centre position for the extreme 'Ultra Tube' mode for a 4x12 cabinet style ultra low bass response with even more tube saturation simulation and increased 2nd order harmonics in the distortion. I believe both the BD-2W and MT-2W were based to a degree by Boss Engineers on these Keeley reference models, while the Boss pedals don't quite deliver the exact same degree of texture (harmonics) or bass response. The Boss models typically tend to be much less bassy - which some players prefer.

The SD-1 Keeley Ge (Germanium) 5-Star Mod gives you a beefier asymmetrical Germanium diode clipping for more overdrive gain saturation and increased 2nd order harmonic distortion. In many ways it functions similar to the Blues Drive Mod - better frequency profile with better balance and more satisfying low-end and distortion texture. Much like the Blues Driver it also works really well across the dial - from boost through to crunch. Voicing-wise it's not quite as distinct as my selected above trifecta - but there are plenty of fans of this pedal too. For a variety of reasons it's not quite as iconic as these others and probably because of that has less of a following and to date no readily identifiable mini clones! Obviously the brand new MXR Mini Timmy has an asymmetrical style clipping option - but its main character is quite different really to this particular SD-1. I like all 4 of the Boss Keeley Mods, but based on my own preferences and usage patterns - this is somewhat understandably in 4th place. Again there are several players for whom this is their favourite Boss flavour - and the Keeley variety is a more evolved and refined version of that.

This was my first actual 'Blues Driver' variant - Mooer's take on the BD-2 Keeley Phat Mod - I was kind of sold by the Mike Hermans demo (as above) - and albeit not quite as articulate and dynamic as the actual Keeley modded BD-2 - the Blues Mood is nevertheless a fantastic proposition and a very viable option at its size. You have a two-way toggle which activates Fat (Phat) or Bright Mode - the former accentuates the low end, the latter the top-end. There's plenty of volume and range on tap here and I've recommended this pedal to lots of players wanting a bluesy style of drive - and all have been very satisfied with the results. It pays to shop around with Mooer as there can be a significant difference in pricing and if you research well you can often find one at a really fantastic price! As a backup to a proper Kelley Phat Modded BD-2 - this is really excellent.

This is pretty much the same deal as the Blues Mood above - in that you get a really great clone of the Keeley Modded Boss equivalent - with not quite as good dynamics or range - but close enough to be worthwhile. In fact with the Ultra Drive you get some additional versatility in that you gave 3 modes available to you - Original / Extra / Ultra - with the Original being the DS-1 Stock variety, Extra being the Seeing Eye Mod, and the Ultra exactly as its name implies. It's a different character and voice, but much improved over the stock Boss version. I personally prefer both the Mooers over the stock Boss BD-2 and DS-1 varieties - while the actual Keeley varieties featured above are the apex of the pyramid as far as I'm concerned. It's no surprise to me that Mooer also has a preference for the Keeley Mods out of all the different mods available.