With the new Monterey Fuzz / Vibe, Robert Keeley has once again created an ingenious "two effects in one"pedal that is so versatile that it absolutely cannot be assigned to just one category. Jimi Hendrix would love the Keeley Monterey, as it combines fat vintage fuzz, vibe and rotary speaker sounds in one double effect pedal. The Keeley Monterey can also be used to create harmonic wah, auto wah, octave up and octave down effects, and it also has an expression pedal connection.
The right foot switch of the Monterey activates the fuzz channel. This produces a rich, fat fuzz sound, which also sounds somewhat smooth. The fuzz circuit responds accurately to the playing style and reacts very dynamically. It also works equally well with humbucker and single-coil guitars. The fuzz section of the Keeley Monterey is equipped with two vintage Fairchild transistors. These transistors produce a moderate distortion tone and therefore a perfect, official and incredibly great fuzz sound and do not have to contend with temperature problems like germanium transistors.
The left foot switch activates the modulation channel of the Keeley Monterey. The octave-up or optional octave-down effect can also be combined with the vibe and wah effects and continuously adjusted. The modulation channel has the following modes:
"Kool Vibe": complex phaser sounds, combined with tremolo - ideal for rhythm
"Les Rotary": extremely accurate reproduction of a rotary speaker cabinet - with simulation of tweeter horn and bass rotor (separately adjustable in volume) - incl. spatial reflections for the official Doppler effect. Extraordinary sounds are created in combination with the fuzz effect
"Harmonic Wah": can be used as a fixed wah, harmonic/tremolo wah or, in conjunction with an optional Expresssion pedal, even as a normal, foot-operated wah-wah.
An expression pedal can be used to control the speed of the "Les Rotary" and "Kool Vibe" modes. If you are looking for even more creativity and versatility, unscrew the base and slide the now visible DIP switch in the other direction. This reverses the order of the two effects: the signal now enters the modulation section first and then the fuzz circuit. This creates a "crazy noise", as Robert Keeley describes the result. The resulting effects usually sound quite broken, but fat and definitely experimental and usable. After all, whatever you like is allowed.
The Keeley Monterey is directly available. The great thing is, and this fits in perfectly with the flower power Monterey era: it is available in 9 different case designs in random order, true to the motto: "Surprise!";