How do you explain the Keeley Nocturne? If you’ve spent time with the Halo or Halo Core, you’ll know that as well as the dual echo, there’s a reverb tail. That is the Andy Timmons sound — and it’s a sound that’s tricky to recreate with a normal reverb pedal. Hence the Nocturne.
Andy says the Nocturne has essentially the beauty of the Halo sound, but without the delay repeats. It’s reverb approached differently. It was so good it won Premier Guitar’s Premier Gear Award on release.
The Nocturne doesn’t have the normal hall, room, and shimmer modes. It has its own three modes: Nocturne, Spring, and Plate. The control layout is simple — just four knobs, secondary controls for HPF and pre-delay, and MIDI and expression control. It’s musical and alive.
The Three Reverb Modes
Nocturne mode is Andy’s signature sound, derived from the HALO algorithm and rebuilt as a pure reverb. The Halo creates its characteristic wash from interacting modulated delays. The Nocturne removes the crosstalk and delivers only the reverberant bloom. Notes sustain in a distinctive way, helped by how sensitive it is to your playing.
Spring mode is more familiar — based on standalone reverb tanks and tube amplifier combos, the classic spring reverb sound. Useful for anything from vintage surf tones to characterful studio spring sounds.
Plate mode is based on a 1970s plate reverb — specifically the Austin City Limits EMT-140 stereo tube plate reverb. Typical of a great plate reverb: sweet and slightly understated.
Controls
- Tone: Controls the brightness of the reverb trail. Clockwise for brighter, counterclockwise for darker.
- Reverb Level: Controls the output level of the reverb effect.
- Decay: Controls the length of the reverb trail.
- Modulation: Controls the amount of modulation in the reverb trail. In Spring mode, this controls the spring drip character instead.
- Reverb Mode button: Cycles between Nocturne, Spring, and Plate modes.
- ON/OFF footswitch: Turns the effect on and off, and selects True or Buffered Bypass when held.
- PRESET footswitch: Cycles between WYSIWYG (Blue LED) and Preset (Red LED) modes — essentially live and preset modes. Hold for two seconds to save current settings to the active preset.
Secondary Functions
- Pre-Delay Time: Adds a gap between the original note and when the reverb starts. Hold the Reverb Mode button while adjusting the Decay control. Range is 0 to 250ms.
- High Pass Filter (HPF): Hold the Reverb Mode button while adjusting the Tone control. Rolls off low frequencies from the reverb trails to prevent low-end buildup.
Power Up Functions
- Wet+Dry or Wet Only: Select mixed or reverb-only output. Default is Wet+Dry.
- Left Wet / Right Dry (VH Studio Mode): Left output is all wet (reverb only) with no dry signal; Right output is all dry with no reverb — as heard on early Van Halen records.
- Reverb Trails: Hold ON/OFF and PRESET while applying power. Trails on by default.
- Momentary / Latching Remote Switching: Hold ON/OFF while applying power. Two blinks for Momentary, three for Latching. Default is Momentary.
- EXP/MIDI toggle: Choose between MIDI or Expression Pedal control via the EXP/MIDI jack.
- Factory Reset: Hold both footswitches and the Reverb Mode button simultaneously while applying power.
MIDI
With MIDI enabled, the EXP/MIDI jack becomes a TRS MIDI input. 72 presets are accessible via MIDI Program Change — 24 per reverb mode. All controls are assignable via MIDI CC.
Key Features
- Three reverb modes — Nocturne, Spring, and Plate
- Simple four-knob layout — Tone, Reverb Level, Decay, Modulation
- Secondary controls: Pre-Delay (0–250ms) and High Pass Filter
- WYSIWYG (live) and Preset modes
- 72 presets via MIDI (24 per mode)
- True or Buffered Bypass
- Reverb Trails on/off selectable
- Wet+Dry, Wet Only, and Left Wet/Right Dry (VH Studio Mode) routing options
- Expression pedal or MIDI control via EXP/MIDI jack (switchable)
- True stereo input and output
- Top-mounted jacks for pedalboard-friendly installation
- 9V to 18V DC, 130mA, centre-negative — 18V gives additional headroom
- Winner of Premier Guitar’s Premier Gear Award
- Made in the USA
Who Is This For?
The Nocturne suits players who want a musical reverb. The Nocturne mode is unlike anything produced by a standard hall or room algorithm. The Spring and Plate modes extend the pedal’s usefulness into more familiar territory. So — both unique and genuinely useful.
It pairs particularly well with the Keeley Halo Core — the two pedals were essentially designed as a system, with the Halo Core handling the delay and the Nocturne the reverb. Running both in stereo gives you Andy Timmons’s full signature ambient rig in two compact pedals.
To power it, any outlet on the CIOKS DC7 v2 handles the 130mA draw comfortably — and supports 18V if you want to run with extra headroom.
Watch It In Action
FAQs
It’s Andy Timmons’s signature reverb sound. Inspired by the HALO delay algorithm, it’s a pure reverb without the delay crosstalk.
With WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get), the knobs directly control the sound. Preset mode recalls saved settings
72 via MIDI — 24 per reverb mode. Without MIDI, one preset per mode.
It controls the amount of mechanical drip in the reflections
9V to 18V DC, centre-negative input, – 130mA
Yes. They were designed as a system. The Halo Core handling the delay and the Nocturne the reverb
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