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.

5 Worst Pedals Of 2017

Just as there is best of the year, there is also some pedals that didn't really seem to hit their mark. This isn't to say that they don't do the job their were meant to do, its just that sometimes the fact that they even exsist is a a head-scratcher. Let's take a look at some of the worst pedals of 2017.

EHX Blurst

I wanted to like this thing when I saw it. EHX has the habbit of bringing unexpected and fun products to market, but the Blurst was flirting with line between junk and genius and fell right over to the junk side. This is a pedal that dares you to try and use it. There is are some interesting special effects in this box, but I can't see that anyone could find use for it other than a noise maker. Some may need weird and interesting noises and this will provide, but for many of us, this is a waste of space.

DOD Rubbernecker

This pedal is actually a solid delay. It has some unexpected features and it expands of what you are capable of with analog delay. However, it suffers from timing. The Rubbernecker is now in the shadow of its big brother, Carbon Copy Deluxe. These two delay may possibly share some DNA, but given the choise between the two, most are going to go with the pedigry that the Carbon Copy brings with it.

BOSS/JHS AngeryDriver

This pedal came straight out of left field. The Angery Driver is a colaberation between JHS and BOSS. It combinds the Angery Charlie and Blues Driver. Both pedals are outstanding in their own right. So the decition to combind the two comes as a big surprise. Although, the pedal works on a technical level, it robs itself of some the best qualitiest that come with each respective pedals.

Keeley D&M Drive

What is basically a signature pedal, the D&M Drive actually works against itself. I understand why this pedal happened. These two brits that talk about pedals on the internet have the capability to sell plenty of pedals if they recomend them, so why not give them an endorment deal? Well, the whole perpuse of their show is to help guitar experience many differnent guitar product and maybe help with purchasing choices. If it turns out that they just shill for whoever is lining their pockets, then it doesn't help their credibility.

TC Electronic Rush Booster

This year we saw a whole slew of new pedals from TC Electronic. It's no coinsedence that this come after the buy out of TC by Behringer's parent company. What make the Rush booster worse than most other pedals in the same line is that TC already make a great boost for the same price. The Spark Boost is great and compact. For a one knob boost, you don't need a huge, heavy enclosure. This seems like some kind of oversight.

Ugly Guitar Truth About Keeley Eletronics D&M Drive

NAMM showed us lots of interesting pedals and gear, but something stuck out like a bad pun about British dental work. I'm talking about the Keeley D&M Drive. Sadly we can't call this the DM Drive because then we could pretend that it was some allusion to a D&D dungeon master. I mean, nerdy table top RPGs are better than out-and-out product hocking. Yes, this pedal in question is specifically designed for That Pedal Show's host's D-name and M-name. What does this mean and why is it ugly? Ehh... let's see:

Let's Face It


Basically this is a three knob drive pedal glued to a three knob boost pedal and sold as a custom(?) pedal. They did do something right. They made the pedal order switchable. You will be able to boost into the drive circuit or drive into the boost. That adds a great deal of range to the sounds this pedal is capable of. However, they'd be able to do more if you allowed for a loop in-between the two sides, but that is a little over-the-top for a drive boost combo. However, with a G2 system you can have full functionality with the press of a button. So, There's that.


Speaking Of Faces


Just that. You have D-name and M-name looking at you from the top of the pedal. It looks like that got the same guy that did the Rhett and Link logo, but they paid him in high-fives, and he was hung-over... from meth...(you get hung over from meth, right? you know what, don't answer that). It's not that bad. However, if you didn't know that D-name and M-name had a YouTube show about pedals, then you'd probably wonder why there is a bald man in front of a setting sun and a reject Doug character on the pedal.


It's Hard To Find


Right now there is little information about this pedal. Just finding an image is tough to do. In fact the most information right now is the actually video that D and M did at NAMM for Keeley. In the video, They quote the old joke about NAMM: NAMM, Not Available Maybe May... So, we might be looking a few months off before common folk like us can get our hands on it.


Conclusion


Based on the very little information that is available, it is very hard to come to any real conclusion. But what we can here in the NAMM video is pretty telling. There isn't anything objectionable in the video as far as I can hear. The drive is officially described as 'Tight' and the boost is called a 'mid-boost'. The best thing is to take a listen to That Pedal Show, and if you like their tones then this might be up your ally. So, when 'maybe-May' get around here and you have $229-249 to spare. You can have you're very own D&M.

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Ugly Truth About The New Keeley Compressor

Keeley has been impressing us since they first started modding BOSS pedals. They were on the cutting edge of the big 'mod' boom. Then they developed a line of original offerings that continues to innovate and expand. Keeley have been able to offer effects that compete with any other pedal for top spot. Their new compressor is likely to be no less impressive. It already has a few things going for it. So let take a closer look.

It's Tiny

Yes, it is another tiny pedal in a 1590A enclosure. Although I do not like skinny, tiny pedal like these, the Keeley compressors have been high regarded as some of the best. Little is known about the particulars of this pedal (it's not even on the Keeley website yet) it resembles the C2 Signature compressor. That particular model is out of production and resembles the ROSS/|Dyna, two-knob style Compressors. So this pedal seems to take a little inspiration from the C2 and adds a Mix knob, which I Find to my liking.

Too Many Compressors

Keeley is no stranger to the compression game. Their four knob compressor was probably the most sought after compressor for a period of time. It's features and fidelity filled a gap in the market that took some of the largest effects manufactures by surprise and introduced guitar players to compressor that made little or no compromises with their tone. This pedal does have some parallels with another pedal in the Keeley line-up, or rather a part of a pedal. The Steak and Eggs pedal by both Keeley and JHS has been praise three ways to Sunday. Notably, the tiny compressor and the compression side of the Steak and Eggs share the same features: Level, Sustain, and Blend. Is this Keeley capitalizing on the success of their joint venture with JHS?

These Pedals Are Too Familar

Take this pedal and put an unfamiliar logo on it. Does it still seem desirable? These tiny pedals have been flooding in from China. My local music store has adopted a line of these tiny guys. They sell for about $40. Put this pedal next to a Chinese pedal and tell me if it's worth two and a half time the price. Maybe it is, but maybe it's not. You could argue that Keeley holds it's value and is a better investment and that dealing with an American company will offer you better customer service. You would be right on all accounts. But when looking at the direct utility of the pedals themselves, it might become difficult to justify the price. (even though the first time I saw the asking price of one of these I thought it was a steal for a Keeley Compressor)

Conclusion

I'm not going to pretend that I don't like this pedal. It's probably the most excited I've been about a compressor, perhaps ever. It's not often that compressor get a lot of hype. They are used as tools, like EQs and boosts. There just isn't the colorful language given to these pedal as there is to overdrive and distortions. But, this pedal has all the makings of a great option if you are looking for a Compressor. It is small, so if you run your Comp 'always on' then you don't have to worry about turning it off and on and how uncomfortable that can feel. The price makes it no more expensive than many others that offer similar (or even fewer) controls. It maybe different or flashy, but it may just be the best option for compression to come out in the last few years.

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