Keeley Manis Overdrive: Cold War-era Germanium
Another 'Mythical Overdrive' but with more options
3,5 / 5,0 | 
The Keeley Manis Overdrive combines germanium NOS transistors and diodes to help achieve its mythical drive tones. Could this latest evolution of the legendary transparent overdrive be the pedal for you?
Keeley Manis Overdrive
The latest pedal from Robert Keeley is the new Manis Overdrive and it takes that Klon-style overdrive and adds Keeley’s own spin on the mythical overdrive formula.
It has the basic controls for Tone, Drive and Level. However, Keeley has also added some nice updates to the classic Klon design via two distinct switches.
Germanium Transistors
At its core, the Manis replaces traditional germanium diodes with Russian Cold War-era germanium transistors, delivering increased compression and saturation for a softer, more tube-like attack.
You can also enhance your guitar’s natural low end with the bass boost switch, which lowers the cutoff by a full octave and provides a +3dB output boost.
Ge-Trans Switch
Users can choose between diodes or transistors via the Ge-Trans switch. Opting for transistors provides a significant shift in feel, with enhanced saturation and the coveted compression reminiscent of a tube amp. Having these two options is going to be useful, and should make this overdrive pedal more versatile.
Switching
This circuit design also offers True Bypass or Buffered Silent Switching, which will help it fit into just about any pedalboard setup. It is built like a tank with their new enclosure and Keeley has designed the circuit to handle an 18 volt power supply, if you want to run it with more juice.
It will run on a power supply that can offer 9-18V DC with a negative tip and requires 17 mA.
Verdict
Robert Keeley designs some great pedals, and his take on the Klon offers some useful updates to the formula. I think the price point is about right for the design, but there are a lot of Klon style pedals on the market, so it will be interesting to see what guitarists think of this new one.
Official MSRP – USD 199
Keeley Manis Overdrive at Thomann
More Information
This might also interest you
