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Keeley Dark Side Multi-Effects Pedal

Keeley celebrate their 15th anniversary this month with a new multi-effects unit called the Dark Side pedal.

Keeley Dark Side Multi-Effect Pedal

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This pedal is part of the company’s Workstation Series, all of which offer multiple effects in a compact form factor, while maintaining the same boutique hand-made quality that Keeley Electronics is known for.

The new Dark Side pedal is a multi-effect unit that combines fuzz, modulation and delay in a single stompbox. The name of the pedal and the effects included are easy hints to this pedal’s inspiration, the renowned Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon. While the company doesn’t explicitly say it is, many will see this one as a single pedal solution for those who want to utilize the complex sonic textures that David Gilmour employed on the seminal album that helped defined the classic psychedelic guitar sound.

The fuzz section of the pedal is described as a transparent sounding big fuzz effect based on a 1977 op-amp unit. To get the sound that they wanted, Keeley and his team made quite a lot of changes to the circuit to replicate the sound of earlier transistor based fuzz effects. The company expounds, “This one lets your guitar sing with sustain, yet retains the essence of you guitar whether single coil or humbucker based.

The second section lets you choose between Delay or Modulation, you can either have a multi-head tape delay effect, or a combination of any of the 4 different modulation sounds carried by the pedal. Speaking of Delay, the unit has 12 different syncopated delays that follow the rhythmic and tone quality of old spinning drum tape delays. To achieve the feel and warmth of old drum tape machines, the Dark Side pedal comes equipped with discrete filters, while the controls are expanded to meet the needs of modern players. There’s even an expression pedal option for precision control over the number of repeats.

If you go with modulation, you can choose between four effects: U-Vibe, Phaser, Flanger and Rotary Speaker Cabinet. All four effects can be blended for recreating classic modulation effect sounds, or for creating personalized ones that spice up your own playing style. All four effects are vintage inspired, while having updated controls for deeper customization. Controls for this section include depth and rate, both of which are expression pedal assignable.

Check out the official video demo of the Keeley Dark Side pedal below:

Other features include a TRS Insert for adding effects between the Fuzz and Modulation/Delay sections, and an expression pedal port. The new Dark Side pedal is hand-built by Keeley Electronics, and is now available with a street price of $299.

For the complete specifications and other details, you can head over to Robert Keeley.

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