Hello everyone and welcome to my little corner of the world! My name is David Lee and my friends call me the Reverend. I earned that title because I have been preaching about “tone” for most of my adult life.

I have been playing the guitar for over 44 years now, and I have been in working bands for the past 35 years. I’d like to think I’ve learned quite alot about tone over the span of those years and it admittedly takes quite an effects pedal to surprise and please me after all this time.

The pedals and other gear that you see reviewed here are the cream of the crop and the ones that I have personally used (or still do) on the road.

There’s so much hype out there about guitar effects that I decided it was time to produce a viable resource for musicians to visit and hear from someone just like them - working it out in local clubs and venues - and making the most of every hard earned dollar to buy only those pedals that truly do live up to their claims.

Pedals that have been thoroughly road tested in real world live performance conditions to prove their road-worthiness - and that have been put through multiple setups of guitar and amplifier combinations and different places in the pedal chain that speak to their versatility and real world applications and expectations.

Tone is not a hobby for me - it is a way of life. A religion so to speak. I have spent hundreds of hours (and dollars) and many years studying the interactions of different effects and their specific personality traits and disorders - where they shine and where they fall short. Only the best of the best - by the very best Master Builders on the planet are reviewed here. Thanks for reading and welcome to my gear resource page - where only the best get in.

Rev

BLUES FOR BOBBIE
Where do I start... this has been a labor of love for over a year now - but some things don't always go as planned and despite a few bumps in the road - I finally found a builder -not just any builder -but Analogman Mike - to finish a concept I had way back when.. the important thing now is that it's finished and it holds a power greater than the sum of it's parts (Thanks Mike!) I also want to give a shout out to Kirk at Pedal Parts Plus for the beautiful paint and screening work on the pedal enclosures - thanks Kirk!

The serial number is the date my Brother Bobbie passed away.. the Chinese symbol is the symbol for HARMONY - to pay tribute to the beautiful harmonies my brother and I shared for over 40 years and (not showing up very well in this photo) is the Sun Lion placed on the top of the pedal by Mike Piera.

Let's get to the detail of what's inside this beautiful tribute effects pedal - from Right to Left:

The Analogman Comprossor (with internal sustain and attack controls) , the Overdrive part of Analogman's King of Tone, and a Clean Boost. Three pedals in one enclosure and the sweetest setup anyone could hope for. You can run each effect independently or all 3 at once or any combination of two effects. It's a Blues Pedal because that's what I wanted - and the lethal combination Mike has come up with here are absolutely perfect - tonewise and in functionality and this has to be heard to be believed. What a fantastic lethal threesome and what a wonderful way to dial in the Blues for Bobbie..

But make no mistake about it -this one can also easily cover a large genre of classic and southern rock voicings without flinching. And it will do the one thing I wanted it to do the most of all -sustain a wailing lead note for days until I lift my finger off the fret... this has brought out a creative wash of emotions and memories and music that I didn't know I could play - it's coming straight from the heart to my Brother Bob - I pray he can hear me up there.. Love to all that helped make a beautiful tribute come true...

2006 PEDAL PICKS

Rev's January, February, March 2006 Pedal Picks!

MI Audio
Tube Zone
SubDecay Studios Flying Tomato Fuzz
Red Witch
Fuzz God
Digitech
Expression Factory
Hot Wire Audio
Boss FA-1 Clone
BjF
Baby Blue Overdrive
Frantone
The Sweet
Emma ReezaFRATzitz
Home Brew Electronics Psilocybe Phaser
Demeter Amplification Fuzzulator
Tone Factor Analogue Filter
Foxrox
Hot Silicon Fuzz

April 2006
Pedal Pick
Hot Wired Audio's
Fuzzwork Orange

May 2006
Pedal Pick
Skreddy Screwdriver

June 2006
Pedal Pick
Effectrode Tube Vibe

July 2006
Pedal Pick
Demeter
Double Drive

2005 PEDAL PICKS

January 2005 Pedal Pick
Toadworks John Bull

February 2005 Pedal Pick
Musician's Junkyard Screamer

March 2005 Pedal Pick
Pedalworx (BENT) Tonebender

April 2005 Pedal Pick
SIB EchoDrive

May 2005 Pedal Pick
Toadworks Lil Leo American Overdrive

June 2005 Pedal Pick
Analogmans BiChorus w/Deep Option

NO PEDAL PICK FOR JULY
Out of respect for our fallen Brother & Drummer Bob Stanley 1951-2005 R.I.P.

August 2005 Pedal Pick
Foxrox Electronics Octron

September 2005 Pedal Pick
HBE Big D Distortion

October 2005 Pedal Pick
Barge Concepts BB-1

November 2005 Pedal Pick
Demeter Amplification FOD

December 2005 Pedal Pick
Foxrox Captain Coconut II

2004 PEDAL PICKS

January 2004 Pedal Pick
Hermida Audio's Mosferatu Series

February 2004 Pedal Pick
Robert Keeley's Fuzz Head

March 2004 Pedal Pick
Foxrox ZIM

April 2004 Pedal Pick
RGW Electronics Bad Bob Booster

May 2004 Pedal Pick
Bigtone Music Brewery's Classic OD+

June 2004 Pedal Pick
Red Witch Moon Phaser

July 2004 Pedal Pick(s)
Steve Webster's V-Stack Classic & BHM

August 2004 Pedal Pick
Monster Effects Swamp Thang Tremelo

September 2004 Pedal Pick
Pedalworx Texas Two Step

October 2004 Pedal Pick
Monkey FX Cheeky Monkey

November 2004 Pedal Pick
Fox Rox Paradox TZF Flanger

December 2004 Pedal Pick
Love Pedal's Karl Fuzz

 

2003 PEDAL PICKS

January 2003 Pedal Pick:
Joe Gagan/Nine Volt Nirvana's Dinosaur Fuzz

February 2003 Pedal Pick
Legendary Tones/Keeley
Time Machine Boost

March 2003 Pedal Pick
Mojo Vibe by SweetSound

April 2003 Pedal Pick
Mr. Squishy by Toadworks

May 2003 Pedal Pick
Keeley Java Boost

June 2003 Pedal Pick
Zinky True Grit

July 2003 Pedal Pick
Ibanez Tube King

August 2003 Pedal Pick
Bennett Music Labs Brown Sound

September 2003 Pedal Pick
Fireman FX Baron Boost

October 2003 Pedal Pick
Toadworks Death Rattle

November 2003 Pedal Pick
Geoffrey Teese
Wheels Of Fire Wah

December 2003 Pedal Pick
Love Pedal's Fab 50

2002 PEDAL PICK

December 2002 Pedal Pick:
Robert Keeley's Compressor

2008 PEDAL PICKS

January's Pedal Pick was the Teese RMC2 Custom Blue Edition!

February's Pedal Pick was
Visual Sounds Angry Fuzz!

March's Pedal Pick was Toadworks Texas Flood Overdrive!

April's Pedal Pick was
Fulltone's GT-500!

May's Pedal Pick Ibanez Flying Pan Reissue FP-777

As part of the recent Midwest Music & Gear Slut Event in Kansas City last Thursday & Friday, Robert Keeley & MrBluetone & myself visited the Musician's Friend Clearance Center (and another big store).

We also spent the night at the Quarterage Hotel - excellent security all around us - and saw Dave Weiner (from the Steve Vai band) and Rob Balducci in concert at the Grand Emporium -what a fantastic show - these guys are killer guitar players - I think most of the audience was made up of guitar players!

They treated Robert Keeley like a ROCK STAR and constantly heralded him from the stage. What a NIGHT OF PURE GUITAR!! A memorable night that I'll never ever forget! Thanks John, Charise & Robert - I love you all. Rev

Let's get right to it - the House of Blue Lights just took control of the universe. Anyone who has followed my reviews over the years knows that my favorite genre of all effects is the overdrive. I have literally dozens of them. I've chained them, stacked them, looped them - you name it and I've done it looking for that perfect combination of harmonic texture,grit, sag, punch and bite and Keeley Electronics has done it!

Robert stated in a thread on The Gear Page last August: "The main thing we wanted to do was to simulate some of the neat things that happen with tube amps. Like being able to feel the onset of distortion and power supply compression and under maxed-out amp settings, this really killer heavy clipping with compression and sustain. We wanted the decay of the notes to be super smooth and no strange things happening as the note does decay." My take is simply - this pedal breathes with each note.. perfectly. The picking dynamics are articulated precisely!

He wasn't kidding! Take another look at his comment "We wanted the decay of the notes to be super smooth and no strange things happening as the note does decay". What this means to you is that, with the Drive knob maxed - even when playing rhythm parts - the individual notes of each string just sings and yet retains it's chime, it's character, it's individual voice - perfectly rounded, tight and pronounced and I cannot think of another overdrive in my arsenal that can replicate that! And on lead riffs - that clarity really punches through and emphasizes the nuances and picking dynamics and lets your audience really appreciate what your doing up there - it cuts through the mix wonderfully!

The use of active Treble and Bass style Baxandall setup up for guitar frequencies make the Tone controls P-E-R-F-E-C-T and very articulate and sweet adjustments allow you to really define exactly the sound you're looking for. These guys have really outdone themselves and created an overdrive that everyone will find drop dead delicious.

The clean settings are good enough that you could just use it as a booster and it does this perfectly, but once you start turning that Drive control you're not going to want to stop because the gates of hell await you with wide open arms and the voice of sweet angels at your finger tips - whatever you're in the mood to do or whatever the song requires.

I spent three full evenings with this pedal with three different guitar/amp setups - one for each evening session: Gibson Les Paul Studio with a Gibson Goldtone GA15RV, Fender Strat with a Fender Custom Shop Deluxe (Hard Maple Cab with a Special Design Jensen speaker), and a Gibson Les Paul Jr P-90 with a Dr Z Maz 38. The Keeley Overdrive performed perfectly with each setup and the nuances of my playing and the integrity of the tone was to die for with all three setups. I could not find one thing I did not like about this pedal with any of the configurations I put it through. I believe this may be Keeley's finest creation so far.

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of the House of Blue Lights and after owning Keeley pedals for over 8 years now and touring and gigging them as hard as anyone could - the man and his company long ago earned my respect - and even though I knew if Robert released something I was going to like it - but even I wasn't expecting the uniqueness of this latest offering. Just when you think you have a ppretty good idea of what an overdrive is capable of.. along comes the man from Oklahoma to set us straight. Congrats to Robert Keeley and crew for their latest and, in my humble opinion - GREATEST masterpiece! Thanks for reading everyone! Rev

Found this gem at the local Guitar Center recently and grabbed it up immediately for $249. Dead mint and one I've been looking for, for quite awhile - without having to spend a fortune. The ones on Ebay right now range in price from $250 up to $425. The unit is pure killer and I love it. The only effect on here that is kind of bleh is the Chorus - a little goes along way here folks. I have some killer chorus pedals (such as the Analogman Bi-Chorus with Deep switch) so I guess I'm spoiled on what I expect out of a chorsu pedal.

The four effects and their associated controls are:
Tube Screamer (Drive, Level, Tone)
Tube Drive ¡V real 12AX7 tube (Drive, Level, Bass, Middle, Treble)
Digital Delay (D-Time, Repeat, D-Level, D-Range)
Chorus (Speed, Width)
Other features include:
External effects loop
Bypass footswitches for each effect, plus a global bypass switch
Noise gate with adjustable threshold
Stereo 1/4" outputs, headphone output, tuner output, and line-level output
Built-in power cord

5th pedal is an effects loop for routing in other effect for automatic selection. 6th pedal is total bypass. Effects can be individually selected or programmed together in groups. Wall outlet powered drives the 12AX7 valve. Score!

Picked up this gem about a week ago off my local Craigslist for $60 from a great guy and fellow guitarist who just moved here from Arizona. Thanks again brother - nice to meet you!

There's very little information on this pedal and it appears that Vintage Tone Project doesn't exist anymore so there doesn't appear to be any way to find out what the KGB may have been based on if it was indeed - a reproduction of something "vintage". What I can tell you is that it's very transparent sounding, doesn't color your tone at all, and has a nice perfect touch of grit when the Gain knob is dimed. Great pedal at a great price - nice find!