Keeley MUSE Driver

[JasonE]

When I saw this pedal come out I was a little ticked. I bought and own two of the Keeley Super AT Mod pedals. I love the sound of them on the two different switch settings. I decided to buy a second pedal so I can have both settings on tap for my HSS guitars. I have one set for single coils and the other for the humbucker. The reason I was a little ticked is this new pedal is the same as my Super AT Mod pedals with an added feature/tone. However, I like the pedals I bought and figured I would at some point, maybe, pick up one of the new ones to check out the GE feature. I have a Keeley Red Dirt GE and figured it probably sounds similar to that pedal. That pedal has more gain that I need.

I ended up finding a MUSE at a good price yesterday on Reverb and ordered it. I guess I will see what it is about when it gets here. I plan on comparing it to the Super AT Mod as well as the Red Dirt Germanium to see how it compares. I have honestly not been all that impressed with the demos I have seen of the pedal. What intrigues me is that I know how the Super AT Mod side sounds and people seem to be having trouble getting good sound out of that side and I really like the pedals I have. That tells me they are doing something different than what I do with them. I have the feeling that if I like the GE setting, it will be with my volume rolled back. I am interested to see how responsive the GE side is compared to the silicon and LED diode side.

 

[JasonE]

Got the MUSE. IMHO, if you have the Super AT Mod, you are not missing anything. I put one of my AT Mods next to it and dialed them in to sound the same. The knobs were close, this is probably tolerance of the pots. I then flipped the drive switch. It didn't have the effect that I thought it was gong to have. It actually thinned out the bottom end a bit and seemed to not have as much punch. It isn't as touch sensitive, which I expected. The difference is pretty subtle to be honest. If you don't have a Super AT Mod and wanted to get one, buy it. The AT sides are the same and sound the same.

I opened it up because I typically peel the serial number stickers off of Keeley pedals and then stick them to the inside of the cover plate. Everything in the pedal is surface mount. There is no ability to run a battery in them. There are two stacked boards in it. The screws were really freaking tight and hard to get out. The pedal size is bigger with the new enclosures. It has top jacks instead of the side jacks on the old enclosures.

I happened to have a Wampler Euphoria on the desk that also more recently purchased. I tried one of these quite a while ago and really disliked it. I had seen the video that Brian made on how to run it and why a lot of people have issues getting the sounds they like out of it. The video made a lot of sense and made me think not knowing how the pedal was designed was probably why I hated it. I didn't know how to run it. I was surprised at how much I really like this pedal now. Since the pedal was right there, why not compare it. Well, this kind of pains me to say since I have 2 Super AT Mod pedals and now the MUSE, I was able to duplicate every sound in both the Keeley pedals with the Euphoria and in many of the cases I liked the Euphoria better....

 

[László]

This reminds me that I need to putter around with my pedals more. I spend a lot of time tweaking amps, but after I find the sweet spot for one sound on a pedal, it becomes theme and variations, I tweak the settings here and there, but not to the same extent.

You've just reminded me that a world of color and tone is out there, and the pedals I have can take me farther than I let them.

 

[ruger9]

I got one. At first I preferred my Timmy, but after I got to know the Muse more I like it more... for that Andy Timmons neck pickup thing, which is one of my favorite tones of all-time. I've had a Keeley Blues Driver, Blues Driver Waza, Timmy, ODR-1, several other "transparent" (no mid hump) ODs... they're all good. The Muse is the best at THAT tone, but if I plug in my tele and go to the bridge pickup I'd rather have my Timmy (or something else).

I'll keep it because, even tho it's a one-trick pony for me, it's one of my favorite tricks, and helps me get that AT neck sound out of my neck humbucker guitars (PRS DGT and EBMM Luke III).

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Big fan of the Wampler Euphoria here...and love the Keeley Red Dirt, too.
Enjoy 'em all, I say.

 

[JasonE]

I got one. At first I preferred my Timmy, but after I got to know the Muse more I like it more... for that Andy Timmons neck pickup thing, which is one of my favorite tones of all-time. I've had a Keeley Blues Driver, Blues Driver Waza, Timmy, ODR-1, several other "transparent" (no mid hump) ODs... they're all good. The Muse is the best at THAT tone, but if I plug in my tele and go to the bridge pickup I'd rather have my Timmy (or something else).

I'll keep it because, even tho it's a one-trick pony for me, it's one of my favorite tricks, and helps me get that AT neck sound out of my neck humbucker guitars (PRS DGT and EBMM Luke III).

I ended up with 2 Keeley Super AT Mod pedals because one of my main playing guitars is an HSS Suhr. I liked the AT setting for the humbucker and the Phat side for the single coils in that guitar. It really sounded good for me on both settings. I decided to get a second pedal and have them both on the board set different for the different pickups.

I bought the Muse because I got a decent deal on it and wanted to check the GE side out. I didn't have high hopes. I honestly thought I wasn't going to like that setting on it. I tend to like the more open sounding types of clipping. One thing I forgot to add to my original post is that not only was the GE setting pretty subtle and it did cut some low end out, it also cut some of the top end. It narrowed the frequency range of the pedal. Some may like this but to me it took away some of the magic of the original AT pedal.

Big fan of the Wampler Euphoria here...and love the Keeley Red Dirt, too.
Enjoy 'em all, I say.

Once I figured out how to run the Euphoria, it is kind of hard to beat. If you haven't tried his Triumph and Phenom pedals, they are really nice too. For the price you can't beat them IMHO. I have become a Wampler fan for sure.

I have been a really big fan of the Keeley Red Dirt for many years. I have one of the early versions of it and it has been on and off my board more times than any other pedal I own, I think. I also have the Red Dirt Germanium. I compared the Muse to that pedal. They are quite different. The Red Dirt GE has a really big midrange bump in it compared to the Muse. I am also a much bigger fan of the original Red Dirt than I am the GE version. That is one reason I figured I probably wouldn't like the GE side of the Muse. I don't hate the GE side of the Muse. It just isn't the best sounding setting on the pedal for me. Some may like it better depending on the guitar and amp they are using.

 

[loocnmad]

I’m definitely interested in checking out the Muse. It rocks a lot of boxes for me. Also been considering the Halo for a while. The problem is, it’s Andy Timmons who typically demos them and he could make dry cat turds sound amazing.

You have any idea how much money I’ve spent buying awesome sounding gear after Pete Thorn or Michael Nielsen demos? For some strange reason I never sound anywhere near that good. Can’t figure out why.

 

[JasonE]

I’m definitely interested in checking out the Muse. It rocks a lot of boxes for me. Also been considering the Halo for a while. The problem is, it’s Andy Timmons who typically demos them and he could make dry cat turds sound amazing.

You have any idea how much money I’ve spent buying awesome sounding gear after Pete Thorn or Michael Nielsen demos? For some strange reason I never sound anywhere near that good. Can’t figure out why.

You have to go into the purchases with the right mindset. I have the Halo too. It is a very nice pedal. The nice thing I like about it is that you can get multiple sounds out of it. I like the preset feature too. I am not a huge delay user or modulation. I had to dial things way back in the Halo to get it where I liked it. To me, it was like buying a modeler. They had the effects cranked up to show how crazy it can sound. Once I dialed a bunch of things back, I really started liking the sounds I have been getting out of it. The main thing I like about it is I can use it with my amps that don't have reverb built in and get nice reverb sounds, even though it is created with stacked delays.

Where some of the demos really mislead is when they have good recording skills. They can really polish things up and suck you in. I tend to search through YouTube and watch the average person play it. You will get to hear all of the bad sounds a pedal can make. That has actually been helpful to me in some instances. If I hear some harshness in the top end of something in multiple bad videos, I know that may be an issue I would have to deal with if I bought one.

 

[ruger9]

I’m definitely interested in checking out the Muse. It rocks a lot of boxes for me. Also been considering the Halo for a while. The problem is, it’s Andy Timmons who typically demos them and he could make dry cat turds sound amazing.

You have any idea how much money I’ve spent buying awesome sounding gear after Pete Thorn or Michael Nielsen demos? For some strange reason I never sound anywhere near that good. Can’t figure out why.

I have a Halo, and again- it does THAT THING perfectly (of course). And that's what I use it for 90% of the time. But I find it difficult to tweak on the fly, and find it a bit of a PITA. Sounds great, but for a delay I actually play with (reach down and try different things), I much prefer all my others: Boss RE-202, Dawner Prince Boonar, Deluxe Memory Boy, Gurus Echosex3 Lukather.

 

[JasonE]

I took some time at lunch time today to fire up the Twin Sister and try the Super AT Mod and Muse through that amp. This revealed to me that the pedals to not sound exactly the same through that amp. The Muse had a bit of a midrange hump to it that the Super AT Mod doesn't have. The upper mids and top end was slightly different too. I am wondering if there is any difference in the frequency that the tone control is at on these. The pedals sounded pretty much the same to me through the Vibrolux RV.

 

[You_Narf]

Got the MUSE. IMHO, if you have the Super AT Mod, you are not missing anything. I put one of my AT Mods next to it and dialed them in to sound the same.

I wish I would have known of this thread before you spent the money. An employee at Keely told me that they are more or less the same pedal but the main reason that Robert released it is because he really wanted an Andy Timmons pedal with their new flagship enclosure and logo. Not because there's a new sound, or an evolution or the AT super mod or anything like that. The germanium thing is (as most times) a gimmick for sale. I love that JHS discussed this tactic.

I got one. At first I preferred my Timmy, but after I got to know the Muse more I like it more...I've had a Keeley Blues Driver, Blues Driver Waza, Timmy, ODR-1, several other "transparent" (no mid hump) ODs... they're all good. The Muse is the best at THAT tone, but if I plug in my tele and go to the bridge pickup I'd rather have my Timmy (or something else).

I tried the Muse in the studio and found that I didn't like it as nearly as much as what I currently own and have on my boards, which is saying alot because I'm always looking for overdrives.

That's not to say that they're great pedals, if I was going for a Blues Driver Lincoln Brewster tone I'd definitely scoop one up. As of now, I haven't found anything that beats my Optimist pedal, even though it's a medium gain tone. I just love the Timmy/Klon combination.

I have a Halo, and again- it does THAT THING perfectly (of course). And that's what I use it for 90% of the time. But I find it difficult to tweak on the fly, and find it a bit of a PITA. Sounds great, but for a delay I actually play with (reach down and try different things), I much prefer all my others: Boss RE-202, Dawner Prince Boonar, Deluxe Memory Boy, Gurus Echosex3 Lukather.

I just got the Keely Halo and the MXR Joshua and plan to do a video on comparison for both of those, mainly because there was a huge discussion about MXR ripping off Keely but they are 2 totally different vibes, different beasts.

Originally my plan was to kick off the Boss SDE-3000 off my small pedalboard and put the Joshua and Halo on it.... BUT find the SDE-3000 just neater looking so it's staying on and I'm putting the Joshua and the Halo on a completely new small pedalboard. Same size, just difficult pedals.

But anyway, yeah, Halo and Joshua (as well as the SDE-3000) excel at being programmable delays, where you can save presets and recall them.

I am wondering if there is any difference in the frequency that the tone control is at on these. The pedals sounded pretty much the same to me through the Vibrolux RV.

Maybe the Vibrolux RV has more of a flat response and your other amp's speaker has more mids?

I would try to dial in your other amp's sound to match that of the Vibrolux or closest to that tone and then see if that cbanges the results. The Muse and Super AT are essentially the same on paper but not in theory.

 

[ruger9]

I tried the Muse in the studio and found that I didn't like it as nearly as much as what I currently own and have on my boards, which is saying alot because I'm always looking for overdrives.
That's not to say that they're great pedals, if I was going for a Blues Driver Lincoln Brewster tone I'd definitely scoop one up. As of now, I haven't found anything that beats my Optimist pedal, even though it's a medium gain tone. I just love the Timmy/Klon combination.

It's been several weeks now, and I find I am liking my Timmy more than the Muse. For the settings I use, I actually prefer the Muse on the RK tone setting (but AT gain setting)... which makes it sound like the Timmy LOL. I have found I don't use the AT tone setting, it's just too brittle for me... it must blend wonderfully for Andy's neck pickup and Lone Star, but not for my guitars and Hot Cat. His neck sound is one of my favorite all-time tones, but I get it easier with my Timmy than with thew Muse. I'll likely sell the Muse.