Keeley are on a roll and we've got serious GAS – its Moon Op Amp Fuzz could already make our David Gilmour dream come true, but now Robert Keeley has turned his attention to Andy Timmons. And the result is a delay pedal that may prove to be an irresistible addition to your pedalboard.
"It's been a labour of love over the course of three years," said Timmons of the Halo Dual Echo while appearing with Keeley on Josh Scott's JHS Show. "Obviously delay and echo is a big part of my sound, it's basically never off. Someone described it as, 'It's not an effect for me, it's really part of the sound."
Robert Keeley became the perfect designer and collaborator for Timmons's vision. Covid delayed the process until things sped up over the last year, and the end result is Halo; "The ultimate dual echo sound," as Timmons describes it. It's two effects working in tandem.
Timmons has been a fan of the classic Echoplex EP3 and Memory Man over the years, and that inspiration feeds in here. It's his sound in a pedal; but it could have a universal appeal too, regardless of how familiar you are with this artist.
The pedal will give you basic dotted eighth delay if you wish, and offers stereo out and even expression pedal input. "It's kind of how I would imagine the tone if I were to visualise," says Timmons of inspiration for the pedal's name. "The basic tone, the centre of the note stays where it is, then the echoes gentle start to feather away but actually start to detune."
The pedal has four preset slots, and each one offers an A and B mode – so in effect there's eight tones you can load on here. In the video at the top, Timmons demos his take on an Edge dotted eighth delay with the echo given it an impressively broad tone, and also a tape echo sound with a heavier rock tone.
Main features
- Stereo Dual Delay effect pedal
- Andy Timmons signature 'Halo' sound saved as a factory preset
- Functions as two delay pedals with up to 1500ms of available delay time with different sounds saveable to sides A and B – then switchable between on-the-fly
- Five delay rhythms: Quarter Note, Dotted Eighth, Andy Timmons HALO, Bucket Brigade stereo rack analog BBD delay, Tape Delay vintage multi-head tape echo
- Eight factory presets loaded with new delay and modulation sounds
- Status light indicates when you’ve adjusted a knob from home settings
- Soft stomp switches for tap tempo, infinite hold, preset save/recall, and more
- Remote switching and programmable expression pedal control
- DREAM multi-core DSP for stunning sound quality
- Stereo True-Bypass/Trails, switchable on the fly
- Made in Edmond, USA
- Powered by a regular 9V DC PSU (centre -, 2,1 mm, low ~160 mA current draw)
The Keeley Halo is $295. More info at Keeley.
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Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.
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