KEELEY ELECTRONICS
MOD WORKSTATION
REVIEW BY ERIC TISCHLER
STREET PRICE $299.00
The people at Keeley seem
to have lost their minds,
and we’re all luckier for it.
They’ve brilliantly assembled
13 good-to-great sounding
effects in a two-standardpedal footprint, and the thing
streets for $300. Crazy, but
wonderful.
Starting on the right, we
have the Katana/1962
“channel,” which is activated
by a ded icated footswitch.
The Katana is a clean boost
and the 1962 is Keeley’s
take on the Bluesbreaker
pedal (and amp); a toggle
determines which effect
you’re getting. Both the
Drive and Tone controls are
deactivated when in Katana
mode because, well, it’s a
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GEAR REVIEW
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clean boost, and a darn good
one, too. In 1962 mode, the
Drive and Tone controls are
active, and as the gain goes
up, the treble does, too,
while the low end recedes. At
lower gain settings, the 1962
makes a really nice overdrive,
and if you need to boost
the treble, the Tone control
is there to help. I found
that the distortion wasn’t
convincing at high gain, but it
doesn’t need to be, given the
Oxblood channel that sits just
to the left.
The next footswitch activates
the Oxblood. While many
have described the Oxblood
as Keeley’s answer to the
Klon, I found it to be the
anti-Klon: it has the same
Keeley Electronics Mod Workstation
contours as the Klon—dark,
lots of mids, bass cut—but
rather than being a big, tame
low-gainer, the Oxblood
is an amazing distortion
machine, turning the Klon’s
famous midrange honk into a
sharp knuckle that will punch
through the mix, no matter
how dense. The Tone control
and Phat toggle are vital, in
my opinion, to compensate
for the almost obsessive
midrange attack in the Drive’s
character (and I just about
maxed out the Tone control
to get some top end), but,
man, what character! I had
to make myself turn down
the distortion through sheer
force of will. The standalone
Oxblood has a clipping