NAMM 2018: Keeley Aria Compression And Overdrive

Keeley has had a reputation of putting out products that are extremely practical. The Aria Compressor and Overdrive is no different. Natural, sweet sounding sustain married to a light/medium overdrive circuit is a solid option to start you signal chain. The compact form and top-jacks make the form factor a thing of beauty. The demos make this pedal very tempting. If you are a fan of this type of combo pedals, you should check this one out.

From Gear News:




Keeley has announced its new Aria Compressor + Overdrive/Distortion pedal, which, as the name subtly suggests, combines a compression and a drive channel into one pedal.

Keeley Aria

Each side of the effect has dedicated controls. The left side takes care of the Drive part, while the right side is on Compressor duty. ‘Drive’ is equipped with the usual three controls: Volume, Gain and Drive. In addition, there is a small lever that raises the degree of distortion of Overdrive (Low) to Distortion (High).


The Compressor side also has three controls: Level, Blend and Sustain and below, another, small pot for Tone. A lever in the middle of the effect allows the order of the effects can be changed, so either one can go first in the signal chain.


The Aria looks a little bit like a cut-down version of their Tone Workstation, but without Mid Cut, Boost and whatnot. Check out the official Keeley demo video of the Aria below and then you can get an idea of how it sounds. It does look like a useful pedal, but it would have to have two really good sides to that circuit to make me want to part with my existing drive and compression pedals.
Keeley has a good reputation for compressor pedals, so this one could be worth a punt if the price is right. As of the time of writing, we don’t yet have a price or any more information on the Aria, so keep checking their official website closer to the show.