Keeley Super Phat Mod Full Range Transparent Overdrive Pedal Reviews

This pedal sounds incredible, and cleans up beautifully with my guitars volume knob. When playing at volume, this thing blooms into the most pleasing overdrive sounds from edge of breakup to full on distortion. Sounds great through a range of drive settings.

First of all it's a great quality pedal,made like a tank! And there are no bad or wrong sounds inside this thing. It is great on its own. And then I put it in front of my boss sd-1 and it's amazing. I'll be keeping this one for sure.

This is essentially a Keely Modded Blues Driver circuit that delivers creamy overdrive and distortion. I've put in front of 5 different amps and it sounds great with all.

This pedal is a lot more than just an overdrive pedal, it does everything from extremely light overdrive (booster kind of vibe) to fuzzy-ish distortion. The switch Flat/Phat gives you two differents flavors (the Phat Mode fattens the sound in a really musical way), the range of the knobs is wide and allow to dial in with nuances, extremely well built and sturdy, I do not regret buying this pedal and do not think it will go away from my pedalboard !

Such a great pedal. I had one and sold it, regretted it, but it was so good I had to buy another!!

Dude I love this thing so much. Running it ahead of a Color box into an Orange 2x12, and it's pretty much my go-to distortion at this point. Chords are super vibrant, and I can roll off the volume on my guitar for an overdrive. Has a sludgy tone in the "phat" side that reminds me of The Sword or Kylesa, which is what I primarily use it for, but the break-up is still nice on the "flat" side for Skynard and Molly Hatchet covers. I was using a Revv G3 before this, but it's a lot more noisy compared to the Keeley, and I'm debating whether or not to trade it in.

Anyway, I love this pedal. 5 out of 5

I put a 2007 American Deluxe stratocaster through a '65 Deluxe reissue amp Wow! My Tube Screamer, Boss Bules or any other distortion pedals that are just collecting dust since I boutique this a year ago this and Keeley compression are all I use these days. Keeley pedals are the real deal they just kick ***...

This is by far the sweetest pedal I own! Very warm and transparent tone. Super sensitive to the touch and incredibly dynamic. Simply a great pedal.

This thing is fantastic. Works great as the first pedal in the chain, with the best volume control clean up of any of my overdrives. If you use an amp modeler such as a GTX-100 amp or a Strymon Iridium, this pedal in front adds a nice multistage JFET level of tube amp realism to the gain structure and high frequency harmonic content. Check out Andy Timmons using it as he backs off his volume control and plays clean through his Mesa Boogie Lone Star amp, sounds amazing. Thanks to Nolan Dye (ext 3469) and Sweetwater. Try this pedal, your ears will thank you.

Really enjoy this pedal! Has a nice thick bottom end, and has a nice gravelly breakup. Really brings single coils to life. Money well spent!

I'm a guitar-->cable-->amp kind of guy. I can leave my board at home now. This thing works. ...When I need to rock out, even for the dinner crowd, hee. Just a little crunch and it still sounds like my rig. Or I can push it, and have a little fun while the baby's napping.

This is the pedal I've been searching for, sounds fantastic, gain at 1/4 up phat mod on, lovely tone.

I use this pedal as boost for a Nobels ODR-1 and a Fender MTG Distortion. It's also awesome by itself. The Drive section on this pedal dares to go where others do not, meaning at 12:00 you're in solid rock territory with some more saturation available if you need it. I primarily use an ASAT and Legacy (tele or strat) and like my mids flat or scooped and this pedal lives up to it's transparent description. I've played other pedals that make the same claim and didn't do it for me. Good thing there's a couple thousand to choose from. Toggle the PHAT mode and it adds some beef to your single coils without overdoing it. This pedal goes into the win column for me.

I have always loved the Blues Driver pedal, but wanted something a bit beefier. I was even considering the Waza Craft version... Then stumbled across this beauty of a pedal and man am I glad that I did. This thing really drives! I use it to boost my treble without losing any low end, or you can work this sparkly little pedal into dirty distorted fuzz like heaven if you so choose. I only use this and my trusty fuzz pedal on the board and it really cleans up the tone amazingly well. The flat and phat selector switch is a cool addition. I don't think I need to go into much detail as the toggle speaks for itself, and there is a very good distinction for each. What I really love, is how aggressively transparent this pedal actually stays without feeling like it's too thin or noisy. I leave it on all the time over a semi-clean Fender amp, and this thing drives it the rest of the way home. If you want a prefect overdrive pedal that remains transparent without thinning your tone, this Super Phat Mod is the way to go.

Love this pedal. Bought one when I first started playing and loved it. Got a wandering eye as I continued to play and sold it when I bought some other overdrives. Really regretted that decision and have bought this exact same pedal a second time. It truly compliments guitar and amp like nothing else that I have played. I've used it with both humbuckers and single coils and it sounds great with both. I expect the Phat Model to remain a permanent fixture on my pedal board and a core aspect of my tone.

I really like this puppy. Still messing with various uses and settings but it is turning out to be a delightful surprise for the cost. Sort of everything you like in a Blues Driver circuit but vastly improved headroom, noise floor, gain structure voicing and no more B grade buffer as well. Like my Way Huge Conspiracy Theory Klonish pedal, great quality for the cost.

This beautiful pedal will give you very clear and transparent gain! Also phat mode toggle switch works super fine with single coil and humbucker guitars! Highly recommended!

I've been playing for 23 years and have had more drive pedals than I can list - cheap ones, big name ones, expensive "boutique" ones... Their are so many good drive pedals out there one can easily have analysis paralysis trying to find the right one. Nonetheless, the one that has stuck through the years is this circuit. It started with my Boss BD-2, then got it modded by Keeley, then the improved this mastered Phat Mod. If you did to a timelapse of my pedal boards over the last 2 decades you would never see it without. I feel like that says a lot. No matter what guitar or amp, this drive shines. It is truly a winner and if I could only have one, it would be it.

I love this thing so much. I bought many a pedal looking for this sound. I use it with my bass and get that touch sensitive break up I was looking for and with the Phat mod there's no worry of losing low end. The best transparent type drive I've found for bass yet.

Like many people, I've watched dozens of YouTube videos of overdrive pedals, and I settled on Super Phat because I really loved the low- and mid-gain sounds it can produce. Now that I've played with it for a while, I can only say that I love it more than I expected! There is a huge variety of great sounds just by adjusting the Drive. But the Tone sweep is really well done — significant changes from end to end, but all usable. Finally, the Phat switch gives that extra bottom end so you sort of end up with two tone stacks in one. Great pedal.

This is Keeley's take on the boss BD2 pedal. .. it's not really meant to be a high gain pedal that has an excessive amount of distortion. What Distortion it does put out is extremely transparent and silky smooth. It's a very violin like quality when turned up to full gain. My favorite way to use this is about 9 to 10 on the gain. And use it as an additional boost between my becos solo boost and my other two distortion pedals. Excellent for pushing and already distorted amp. Won't color the tone of the amplifier in any kind of negative way. It's an easily left on all the time type of pedal as well. It just sounds good. And it makes everything else on your board and your amp sound better. If you're a fan of that really spongy feel. You'll get that in spades. Totally satisfied with this pedal

Just a superb od pedal, glassy and warm, run it into a tube amp with a little delay , and heaven!!!!
I have a bunch of other ods, zen drive, mojo, east river, I didn"t bother turning any of em on, the first night with the full band, I use it for light od. John

Very transparent.

This thing is fantastic. Very first time I turned it on with all knobs around noon I was immediately impressed. A little tweaking and I was in tonal heaven. I thought I loved the nude heavy character of my JHS sweet tea v3. But the super phat mods nice full range response has swayed me. If you"re on the fence just try it, you won"t be disappointed.

You can go ahead and read the tech jargon in the description. You can get on YouTube, and check out all the videos. If you're a tone tweaker, just get the dang thang and thank me later. THERE IS SOME KINDA MAGIC GOING ON WITH THIS MOJO! I'm running through a Fender Mustang iii V.2. I'm playing an 1983 Stratocaster with a Custom Shop 69 pickup in the neck, and Seymour Duncan AntiquityTexas Hot pickups in the middle and bridge position. Just using the compressor on the amp, and a modest amount of gain on the pedal, my single coils dance with a new definition. That's just tiny bit of its magic. Melds vey well with other pedals.

I have collected a few pedals over time sold and traded some,
I particularly like this pedal with a slightly pushed amp with crunch
Has a delectable crunchy tone excellent for rhythm playing
Dialed in right it has a singing lead tone
I never use to much tone or or drive
This pedal has some (magical musical sauce in it )
It has become one of my favorite pedal to play with
It keeps my strat pickups positions sounding very original and musical
Love this pedal highly recommended
So glad I brought it
My favorite settings 10 -10 -10 or 12:30 -10 -10 o"clock.

Read the reviews an watched the videos so I bought one. One of the best overdrives I've ever used. I play through a vox night train, wanted to keep my sound and just add sum crunch an this pedal did just that. Warm, round an dirty. Love it.

I bought this pedal to emulate how Andy Timmons uses a Boss BD-2 cranked into his clean channel and then rolls down the volume pot on his guitar to get his sparkly sound. I have a Mesa Lone Star and a Fender Elite HSS Stratocaster. With everything at noon on the pedal I was easily able to see why Andy Timmons has been using a Keeley Modded BD2 to get his tone. It's simply fantastic. But as I cranked the volume on my guitar trim pot all the way up I was pleasantly surprised to get the best SRV type tone that I have achieved. I'm sure that it depends on your setup and style but with this particular rig of mine of got similar tones to AT and the best SRV type tone I have ever mustered. No OD pedal has ever impressed me this much for this particular application.

I have owned just about every OD pedal under sun at least once or twice in my 35 years of playing. I have not tried the pedal with my Mesa JP2C, EVH 5153S or Splawn Nitro yet. I have pedals that I already enjoy for high gain platforms and the Keeley sounds so great with the Lone Star that I think it's the right pedal for that rig. Other applications with other amps may vary.

If you are looking for a Keeley Modded BD-2 they are hide to find and usually pricey. The Keeley Super Phat Mod pedal is just Keeley's own brand of his mods to the Boss pedal. If you have a Mesa Lone Star, Fender amp and a Strat I would urge you to try this out. Thanks to Sweetwater representative Chris Jenkins for always helping me out with me gear purchases !

Sweet sweet breakup. Normally don't write reviews but I just love it. This pedal just became my new "always on" pedal. It's great on a Strat in phat mode. I usually leave it around 11 O'clock through my 30 watt tube amp (which I can't turn above 2 in my apartment so the pedal gives me that breakup back that I'm craving). It's got this smooth character to it that's amazing. 12 O'clock gets more aggressive with the breakup, great for medium to hard rock rhythm chord stuff if you strum hard. 3 Oclock is definitely hard rock territory, but it still retains that smoothness all the way into fuzz territory which is basically anything past 3 O'clock.
If you want more bite and crunch this might not be your thing. For lead stuff it's probably better with a booster, I've got a Klone style pedal going into it for some nasty lead boost.
Was considering the Keeley Boss BD-2 mod but I found this on sale.

Exactly what I was looking for. Can be used as a boost, and for my tastes, has plenty of drive. I keep it on for almost everything (I turn it off for some "Jazz Standards"). I wanted a transparent boost/drive, and this is the best of any that I have tried.

If you are looking for an overdrive that is highly responsive, this is the one for you. I can adjust the sound from a heavy crunch, almost fuzz tone, all the way down to a funky clean boost with just a turn of the volume knob on my guitar. This one pedal replaced 3 on my pedal board.

I've now owned three Keeley pedals. My Fuzz Head, which I used as a low fuzz lead boost, was a revelation in quality and flexibility. My Luna was my first pedal to give me 'Instant Gilmour'. Both were outside of the norm. Beautifully voiced, unique and, quite frankly, touchy. It's the only weird downside, if I can call it that; they had so much range that it was a bit of a chore at times to dial in one primary flavor and stick with it. Both were passed on to friends who appreciated them as much as I did.

I had an original Blues Driver I used during the 90's in front of a Fender amp. I've always enjoyed that particular sound and have always been interested in the Keeley Modded version, but never had an opportunity to check one out. That's been rectified with this pedal.

It has that same familiar tone flavor. A bit of crumble even at low drive settings with the guitar volume at full. But it is amazing what touch and volume differences make. Backed down to 1/2, my Humbucker loaded PRS has never had a better clean sound. (Pedal drive at 9:00, tone at 2:00) 'Rich Sparkle' comes to mind. Higher drive settings produce a balance between fat and clear distortion. Again, dynamic and immediately more 'hi-fi' than most pedals.

This pedal may not have a bad setting. It has that Keeley-Magic Character that I've come to recognize, but it seems much more user friendly. Broad. Totally able to cover a broad range of uses. (I even used it to juice my Bogner Red. Nice!) A huge improvement on the very good Blues Driver platform, but, without doubt, destined to carve its own notch in the crowded overdrive/distortion market.

I like the pedal its good for a gnarly boost or fat furry distortion.

This pedal sounds great and easy to use! Very nice tones
However its probably a personal problem but when I plug it in my amp therea this overwhelming constant static/buzz noise that is really frustrating. I'm an running it with the truetone 1 spot pro cs 12 and after some research I am pretty confident it's plugged in the right port. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Besides that this pedal is fantastic I strongly recommend+

Good stand-alone pedal, which works well with other overdrive pedal (Wampler for example) providing that it is second in the pedal line.

Easy to dial in smooth tone, well worth the money.

This is a really solid pedal. It’s pretty transparent and very versatile. You can use this thing as an always on pedal with the volume rolled down, or get a heavy, crunchy rhythm tone perfect for sludge or doom, and everything in between. It also stacks very well, especially with a tube screamer. I can get pretty close to the brown sound with the tube screamer in front, setting the super phat gain to 3 o’clock, tone at 1 o’clock, and volume to taste and the ts level cranked and gain at 9 o’clock. My only gripe with it is that when I use it with certain amp sims, it sounds blown out and scooped, but when I play through my Marshall JVM, it sounds really good. That said, I didn’t really get the hype when I first bought it. It sounded pretty good with my strat, but it didn’t quite live up to the gleaming reviews I’ve seen of this pedal. Then I played it with my tele and it absolutely ripped so YMMV. This is a great pedal and sounds good and stacks well, but it can sound nasty on certain amp sims.

It has a great, fat, lot"s of low end ...and high end drive tone. A bit harsh when driven compared to my super smooth Tumnus...but my 2nd fav OD pedal used.
Here is the kicker, with the drive below half....this thing gives you a clean boost that is so present, so rich and full....better than any boost pedal I have own ed or used. I love and landed on the full blown Spark Booster TC makes as my fav for single coils...this may bump that off the board if I can get it to stack with the Tumnus nicely. Not what I expected...but amazing clean to clean saturated tones...keeper.

My last distortion pedal was an MXR Distortion Plus that I bought in the late seventies or early eighties. I have otherwise relied on my amps for their dirty sound before adding a TC Nova System some five years ago which has some very cool sounds. The amps are a Mesa mark four, a Peavey Classic 50, and a Carvin Nomad. I've used this pedal with the Boogie and the Peavey so far and it brings new sounds to my pallet that the amps by themselves don't possess. I'm very pleased with the build quality and the variations available from this device. It's quite versatile and very useful.

I have a lot of pedals and can compare this to close to 100 pverdrives. It is excellent. I like their Red Dirt just a bit more so that gets a 5 star. I just got the high gain filaments today which has more controls than this but the Phat mod sounds better. The other similar priced pedals that are similar are the digitech looking glass which is just a bit better and the way huge overated overdrive which is similar sonically.i really like it and the quality is great. I put it up there with catalinbread. Much better than the cheaper pedals you can get on Amazon for $50 ( yes I have them all) and as usual Sweetwater is outstanding with quality and customer support. I have dealt with them for years and they always come through even if there is rarely a problem. This is a fun pedal with a good range of tones and can probably remain on the pedal board for years to come. It performs just like it says in the add and on the video. Quality work. Not junk like the cheap stuff elsewhere. You definitely get what you pay for with Keeley. I recommend getting one

first off the gold sparkle and blue light is amazing. I eat with my eyes first and that applies to my guitar stuff as well. with that said ill be honest I don't really understand why transparent overdrives are as successful as they are. Again, its a cool pedal its a very quick way to go from clean tone to pushed saturation tone however I could literally do the exact same thing by just turning up my amps volume and riding the volume knob. I understand the success of pedals like the jhs sweet tea that do real hard rock overdrive and full on 80s distortion because there's no other way to get a fender amp to do that without that kind of pedal but you can make any amp sound like a transparent(klon, blues breaker, dumble) by just turning up the volume and playing softly and with good vibrato). however with that being said I will buy an analog pedal and use it just to spite the digital revolution so I give it 4 stars!!!

Bought this pedal to replace my awesome BD-2 with Keeley phat-mod, which had been damaged. It was my main drive pedal and I couldn"t live without it! While I sent it in to Keeley for repair, I needed a replacement for gigs, so I grabbed this beauty after reading many Sweetwater reviews and listening to demos. Very versatile pedal, aside from overdrive, it can get pretty heavy, almost fuzz-like when you crank the Drive up to 2-3 o"clock or higher. Especially with the phat switch!
The ONLY reason I didn"t give it 5 stars is, as some other players have noted, it can be harsh through a bright, clean tube amp like a Fender, unless you roll off the tone knob quite a bit. Just my personal taste, though... I tend to like smoother tones. The original bd-2 mod actually sounded a little warmer and smoother to me for some reason. Again, just a personal opinion. Otherwise, I love it!
I also use an eq to help shape it a little more (mid-contour). Sounds really nice through a dirty amp, and works great as a booster for fuzz pedals too!

First, I don't really care for this pedal on its own. There's only a narrow window on the gain and tone knobs that isn't too trebly (tone) and either too harsh or unnoticeable (gain). I was ready to sell it when the brilliant thought to use it for gain stacking crossed my mind. This thing is amazing used as a lead boost set mild going into my PaulC Timmy or my TC Mojomojo. So...

Pros: Excellent for gain stacking into a mild overdrive. It is very touch sensitive if you can dial in that narrow window of awesomeness. Retains touch sensitivity even when stacked. Oh yeah!

Cons: Though it does have some decent tones, it's not for me as a standalone. Difficult to dial in and useable range in the pots is very limited. I would say it's just my rig, but I've got a pretty extensive, versatile rig and got the same results with all of it.

IMHO YMMV