Keeley Electronics Manis Overdrive Effect Pedal

The myth will never end, or at least it's got a few more chapters in it, with the Keeley Electronics Manis Overdrive. This distinctly driven, transparent, centaur-ian overdrive circuit drops in for fans of everyone's favorite mythical sound with a number of fine quality-of-life mods and flavorful additions to make for a fresh experience. Will the myth ever end? Well, it sure doesn't stop here.

Keeley's keen design focuses in on the classic transparent drive formula with a number of specific additions. Faithfully recreating the sound you know and love, the Manis is a reliable boost and drive to swing with the best of them. Onboard, a number of switches offer up a thoroughly modern and adaptable circuit. For one, the Keeley Manis features a switch that allows for the swapping between germanium transistors and germanium diodes, resulting in new tonal flavors. The Manis offers an expanded sound palette through this function for dynamite boosts and drives to propel your entire board.

These options of germanium are accompanied by a Bass Boost switch that accounts for any thinness brought on by single-coil pickups. Lowering the bass cutoff by an octave and supplementing with three decibels of bass response, the Manis is ready for any guitar and any setup. A few quality-of-life additions to the Manis include selectable buffered and true bypass footswitching, all-analog drive circuitry, and the ability to run at 18V for added headroom. Keeley's a master of their craft, no update there, and the Manis clearly reflects their years at the front of the pack of effect pedal wizardry.

Years on and that mythical transparent overdrive sound has yet to lose its luster.