weepingminotaur
Well-known member
So I got a Keeley Filaments distortion pedal a couple of days ago and I thought I’d offer a “first impressions” review. For context, I’m a bedroom player plugging into a Boss Katana 50 with an LTD EC-1000 (24 frets, Gibson scale, mahogany body/neck with ebony fingerboard, Custom 5/Jazz pickups, tuned to E flat). Pedal chain is pretty short: an MXR SmartGate noise gate and a Boss BD2 Blues Driver. While I’m a huge thrash fan, I don’t scoop my mids. My ideal metal tone veers more toward contemporary thrash, rather than the “smiley-face” amp settings for ‘80s thrash players.
Controls
Level: Reviews have mentioned that the Filaments is comparatively quiet at all volume levels. I can confirm that. Part of why I sold my Fender Pugilist was that it was just too noisy at high volume. The Filaments is pretty quiet even when cranked to 3 o’clock or higher. That’s impressive given how much gain is packed into this pedal.
Presence: A tamer control than you’d think, in large part IMO because of how inherently dark this pedal is. You can dime the presence and it won’t sound shrill or honky.
Gain: I’m usually pretty skeptical about pedals that boast “tube” tone, but in this case, it’s accurate. The gain really has a lot of organic grit and warmth to it, not digital-sounding at all. Refreshing to my ears after months of using amp-side distortion only on the Boss Katana. And as with the level, you can crank the gain without much feedback or extra noise. Dialing in the sweet spot here will take time. I’m a big proponent of not using an ounce of gain more than necessary.
Bass: Hoo boy, a strong spice on this particular pedal! Handle with care if you, like me, prefer your metal tones on the tighter and crisper side. Even at noon I found the bass overpowering. It’s currently below 9 o’clock and yet I still have an audible (though not unwelcome) rumble in my palm-muted chords.
Body: See bass. At first I thought this would be a mid control, but it seems more like resonance, since diming the knob gets you into woolly mammoth territory very quickly. I’ve got it currently around 10 o’clock, but I may experiment with bigger, looser sounds for specific applications outside my usual sweet spots of thrash, classic metal, and hard rock.
Treble: Like presence, this knob is pretty subtle. You won’t get suddenly ice-picky with a minute movement of the knob.
Boost toggle: Useful for solos primarily, though you may just want a huger sound than the pedal and the rest of your signal chain can afford you. I played some rhythm with this switch on and off, and I think I prefer it off for dirty rhythm.
Bright toggle: Adds the treble snap you’d expect. This is going to be on most of the time for me.
Crunch toggle: The label on this one puzzled me, since the instructions that came with the Filaments suggested that you’d keep it down (off) for chugging and up (on) to hear your strings ring out. Maybe it’s just the interaction with the Katana, but up and on took me straight into swamp rock territory. Massive volume difference, but fat and warm, pretty much the opposite of “crunch” in my head. If stoner metal is your thing, this toggle is for you.
Metal Tone
Though I’d read online that mixing the pedal with one of the Katana’s dirty channels was the way to go, I didn’t have much success with that approach (I might try again later once I’m more familiar with the Filaments). What worked for me was using the Katana’s clean channel as a pedal platform. For the amp, gain about 75-80, volume at 50, with bass turned down, mids and treble at 1 o’clock, parametric EQ to cut out some of the unneeded lows, compression in the FX loop, and a touch of plate reverb. The amp-side gain got things cooking! Especially when I added some Blues Driver in front of the Filaments to provide some extra bite. What came out was a nasty, aggressive dirty tone with plenty of definition, suitable for both rhythm and lead. And on lead, the Filaments really shines. Solos and single-note lines are articulate without being harsh, almost grainy in a good way. I wasn’t expecting that kind of organic clarity out of a stomp box, but it is a very nice surprise!
Final Thoughts
My takeaway is that this type of pedal, with its three stages of gain, is really showing that modern stomp boxes don’t have to take a backseat to amp-side distortion all the time. The other thing is versatility. This is definitely not a one-trick pony of a pedal. The control you have over your tone allows you to cover a wide range of distorted styles, and a few clean applications as well. You can get some lovely edge-of-breakup sounds if you back the gain off and fiddle with the knobs and toggles, and I’m sure there are other tones on tap waiting to be discovered (I only really tested metal on my bridge pickup this time around). If you just want a pedal to help you chug, you’re probably better off with the Wampler Dracarys, the KHDK Dark Blood, or whatever other pedal you think is criminally underrated for playing metal. But if you want chugging mixed in with a whole lot of versatility — particularly the ability to clean up well, which is not a given with distortion pedals! — I would definitely recommend the Keeley Filaments. Tone-chasing with this pedal is going to be a whole lot of fun.
Controls
Level: Reviews have mentioned that the Filaments is comparatively quiet at all volume levels. I can confirm that. Part of why I sold my Fender Pugilist was that it was just too noisy at high volume. The Filaments is pretty quiet even when cranked to 3 o’clock or higher. That’s impressive given how much gain is packed into this pedal.
Presence: A tamer control than you’d think, in large part IMO because of how inherently dark this pedal is. You can dime the presence and it won’t sound shrill or honky.
Gain: I’m usually pretty skeptical about pedals that boast “tube” tone, but in this case, it’s accurate. The gain really has a lot of organic grit and warmth to it, not digital-sounding at all. Refreshing to my ears after months of using amp-side distortion only on the Boss Katana. And as with the level, you can crank the gain without much feedback or extra noise. Dialing in the sweet spot here will take time. I’m a big proponent of not using an ounce of gain more than necessary.
Bass: Hoo boy, a strong spice on this particular pedal! Handle with care if you, like me, prefer your metal tones on the tighter and crisper side. Even at noon I found the bass overpowering. It’s currently below 9 o’clock and yet I still have an audible (though not unwelcome) rumble in my palm-muted chords.
Body: See bass. At first I thought this would be a mid control, but it seems more like resonance, since diming the knob gets you into woolly mammoth territory very quickly. I’ve got it currently around 10 o’clock, but I may experiment with bigger, looser sounds for specific applications outside my usual sweet spots of thrash, classic metal, and hard rock.
Treble: Like presence, this knob is pretty subtle. You won’t get suddenly ice-picky with a minute movement of the knob.
Boost toggle: Useful for solos primarily, though you may just want a huger sound than the pedal and the rest of your signal chain can afford you. I played some rhythm with this switch on and off, and I think I prefer it off for dirty rhythm.
Bright toggle: Adds the treble snap you’d expect. This is going to be on most of the time for me.
Crunch toggle: The label on this one puzzled me, since the instructions that came with the Filaments suggested that you’d keep it down (off) for chugging and up (on) to hear your strings ring out. Maybe it’s just the interaction with the Katana, but up and on took me straight into swamp rock territory. Massive volume difference, but fat and warm, pretty much the opposite of “crunch” in my head. If stoner metal is your thing, this toggle is for you.
Metal Tone
Though I’d read online that mixing the pedal with one of the Katana’s dirty channels was the way to go, I didn’t have much success with that approach (I might try again later once I’m more familiar with the Filaments). What worked for me was using the Katana’s clean channel as a pedal platform. For the amp, gain about 75-80, volume at 50, with bass turned down, mids and treble at 1 o’clock, parametric EQ to cut out some of the unneeded lows, compression in the FX loop, and a touch of plate reverb. The amp-side gain got things cooking! Especially when I added some Blues Driver in front of the Filaments to provide some extra bite. What came out was a nasty, aggressive dirty tone with plenty of definition, suitable for both rhythm and lead. And on lead, the Filaments really shines. Solos and single-note lines are articulate without being harsh, almost grainy in a good way. I wasn’t expecting that kind of organic clarity out of a stomp box, but it is a very nice surprise!
Final Thoughts
My takeaway is that this type of pedal, with its three stages of gain, is really showing that modern stomp boxes don’t have to take a backseat to amp-side distortion all the time. The other thing is versatility. This is definitely not a one-trick pony of a pedal. The control you have over your tone allows you to cover a wide range of distorted styles, and a few clean applications as well. You can get some lovely edge-of-breakup sounds if you back the gain off and fiddle with the knobs and toggles, and I’m sure there are other tones on tap waiting to be discovered (I only really tested metal on my bridge pickup this time around). If you just want a pedal to help you chug, you’re probably better off with the Wampler Dracarys, the KHDK Dark Blood, or whatever other pedal you think is criminally underrated for playing metal. But if you want chugging mixed in with a whole lot of versatility — particularly the ability to clean up well, which is not a given with distortion pedals! — I would definitely recommend the Keeley Filaments. Tone-chasing with this pedal is going to be a whole lot of fun.
