control; I’m not sure what it
does, but I get the impression
it affects the gain. Assuming
I’m right, I’m also going to
assume that the higher gain
setting has been hardwired in
this version.
(which moves from square
wave to triangle) managed to
capture every nuance of my
playing without those bells
and whistles.
That brings us to the
Mod section of the Mod
Workstation. There are an
astonishing 10 remaining
effects to be found on this
channel—they’re selected
via an eight-position dial. All
of them were useful, many
of them were excellent and,
right away, Keeley scores a
win by including a volume
to control to compensate
for perceived output loss
as different frequencies are
affected by different effects.
The Rotary setting is better
than most pedals dedicated
to the effect. I actually had
a great setting right out
of the box, but as soon as
I started to tweak it, the
pedal’s Tremolo foundation
became apparent so, while
the frequency sweep is very
good—avoiding the digital
whooshiness of many rotary
pedals—you’ll want to be
very careful when dialing in
the setting. That said, the
effect works well at slow
speeds, something many
Rotary pedals struggle with.
My two most important
modulation effects are Phaser
and Tremolo, and this pedal
nails both. The makeup gain
and depth set the Phaser
apart from some of the
classics. I’ve got a very fancy
Tremolo, and I use its bells
and whistles to make sure
my attack comes through
the heavy chop of my square
wave setting. Imagine my
bittersweet surprise when the
Mod Workstation’s Tremolo
The Flanger (which offers
tweakable feedback) never
hit home for me; the effect
always seemed a little tame.
The Chorus lacked the depth
I’d hoped for, but when
shifted to Vibrato it worked
quite well. Better still was
the Harmonic Tremolo, which
offers the shimmer of, say,
a phaser or chorus without
the more extreme artifacts.
Finally, the ADT setting had
a lot of range, although my
favorite use for it was as a
slapback.
If you’re like me, you might
want to insert your fuzz
between your overdrives and
modulation. Well, Keeley has
you covered: there’s an FX
insert between the drive and
modulation. “What about tap
tempo?” you ask. There’s a
jack for a controller; although
that’ll take up a little more
room, the Mod Workstation
is so diminutive it’s hard
to imagine that being a
problem. If you’re still like me,
you also want your phaser in
front of your dirt. Well, tough
luck, you ingrate!
WHAT WE LIKE
An astonishing amount of
features in an astonishingly
compact footprint for an
astonishingly reasonable
price.
CONCERNS
None, but users should
just think carefully about
how they want their chain
organized to make sure
they’ll get what they want out
of the Mod Workstation.
ToneReport.com
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