The Keeley Electronics Verb o Trem
Keeley and Eddie Heinzelman teamed up to produce the Keeley Electronics Verb o Trem, or VoT!!
The Keeley VoT reverb and tremolo combo gives players a simple and beautiful sounding way to end their pedal boards.
Reverb and Tremolo often sound best at the end of your guitar rig, after effects like compression, fuzz, or overdrive.
The Keeley VoT gives you famous Keeley spring and plate reverbs as well as modulated tube amp tremolos. This immaculate pairing provides you with everything you need for a small, compact pedal board.
When you go minimalist, you still consider Reverb and Tremolo. Even the guys that say they just plug their guitar cord into the amp…still admit they love verb and trem!
So if you’re doing a small gig with a compact board or you just want the captivating power of tremolo and reverb at the same time, the Keeley VoT is a simple and beautiful sounding combo.
Reverbs
Keeley 2 Spring Reverb is the real deal, it’s so good sounding, they install it in The Amp now. The Keeley Spring Reverb allows you to get that splashy spring sound that instantly fattens your guitar tone.
If you want something super smooth, however, you flip it over to switch in our Plate Reverb. Get that huge plate reverb sheen by simply flipping a switch!
Tremolos
A Lotus Flower of Tremolos.
I don’t know what that means, but it sounded good. You have three blooming tremolos in the Keeley VoT:
- R+T – is an organic tube bias type tremolo. This means you hear the tube amp bias change enough to modulate the volume. A very personal and haunting tremolo. Very moody.
- Mack – This mode is a MagnaAmp style pitch vibrato. Done by carefully changing the phase to elicit a silky smooth pitch shift. Sounds like you have your finger on the pulse of life. Sometimes a walk on the wild side is the way to go.
- HAR – Harmonically Amplified Resonator. I made that up too. Harmonic Tremolo -two filters that we vine around, back and forth, creating a notch filter that gives you that Tower of Flower sound.
VoT – Lotus
Here’s where the flowering magic occurs: you can set the VoT to be either Reverb OR Tremolo OR Both if you want. Let’s say you just need some ‘verb for the night, simply reduce the Depth control! Reverb Purity.
What if you want to use the tremolo only? Simply roll off the Reverb control.
This pedal can simply and easily be reborn into any combination of tones you need.
Needs a 9V DC supply – consumption approx 65ma
Alan P (verified owner) –
I’m very impressed with the Verb o Trem. Robert Keeley has a good reputation anyway, but I’m really happy with it. The trems are all very good indeed, especially the harmonic trem. The vibe setting can also get very close to a fast Leslie sound (Let it Loose from Exile…comes to mind).
Not sure if I like the dip switch inside the pedal, to change from spring to plate reverb – having tried both out, I’ve decided to “set and forget” on the plate setting, which is really very good – probably more authentic than the spring sound. It’s a shame the switch couldn’t have been put on the outside, even if it stayed as a dip switch – on the side, maybe.
I can see that some players would rather go for the Hydra, to get independent switching for the trem and reverb – can’t say I’m bothered, I think it works well, I prefer a simple set-up.
Onno (verified owner) –
Best tremolo pedal I’ve ever owned. It even beats the Mr. Black Deluxe (which is already very good). Super versatile, and all sounds are very useable. At low settings, it can bring your tone to life, without even realizing that it’s a trem you’re listening to. Notes suddenly become three dimensional and start to “dance around the room”. As a consequence, I’m using this pedal far more often than I thought I would. Some people are bothered by the fact that it does not have a separate footswitch for the trem and the reverb, but it does not bother me in the least; don’t use its reverb as a separate effect anyway, but rather as an extension of the trem. Highly recommended.