The idea of a multi-effects pedal is not a new one. There are advantages to getting multiple effects in a single box and there are some disadvantages as well. I had a use case to build as small a pedal board as possible to use with a Fender '65 Blackface Twin Reverb. This is one of my favourite amps of all time. Beautifully clean tones, the ability to blow your hair back with volume (like the old Maxell ad), a fabulous reverb and a very nice internal tremolo erringly called Vibrato, where most everyone overlooks the bad name given the wonderful sound. Fenders sound great into Fenders. Of course so do other guitars, but there's something about a Strat with the pickup selector in position four into a decently loud Twin Reverb that makes guitarists melt.

The Twin Reverb is an old design. Effects loop? What's that? A Twin is not lightweight either, so if one is transporting one to gigs, either be really strong, or keep the rest of the kit light and small.

I wanted nice chorus and flexible delays to complement the other pedals already committed to the single row board. There are, in order, a TC Electronic Polytune 3, an Origin Effects Cali 76 Compressor and an Origin Effects Revival Drive Compact overdrive. I had been using my original Diamond Memory Lane but it's getting on and I wanted more in a smaller box. Much research led me to the Super Mod Workstation from Keeley.

I already own some Keeley products. I could not wave my pedal geek flag very high if I didn't. I had confidence that the tonality of a Keeley product would be excellent, which was a good thing, because when I started searching, the Super Mod Workstations were out of stock. Everywhere. I finally got one online from a shop in Montreal through their Reverb store.

How Does It Sound?

This is a really flexible pedal. It's basically, in my context, two separate pedals in a single box and each of the individual pedals can do one of eight options at a time. Keeley calls them Bank 1 and Bank 2 I've inserted the work card here to show you what I mean.

Modulation Bank 1 includes a Tap Tempo footswitch. Bank 1 offers you eight choices;

• Tremolo
• Harmonic Tremolo
• Filter
• Phaser
• ADT (Doubler)
• Rotary Speaker
• Digital Delay
• Analog Delay

Depending on which option you choose with the rotary switch, the remaining controls change function to accommodate the effect chosen. It will take a bit of time to memorize the functions, or you may just play as you go. I like to know what I am doing, in theory at least, so the work card is important to me.

Modulation Bank 2 offers an Expression pedal connection. The effect options are

• Harmonic Tremolo
• Phaser
• Chorus / Vibrato
• Flanger
• Rotary Speaker
• Digital Delay
• Hall Reverb
• Plate Reverb

The other controls function as they do for Bank 1, but the controls are plainly separated for the different banks.

Not every effect will be in demand for every player. In my specific use case testings, I have not found a bad sound. My settings in Bank 1 are most often related to a delay option. I will advise that the ADT setting is a local implementation of Keeley's 30MS doubler (I own one and it's a permanent fixture on my Blackstar board). It's terrific. My settings in Bank 2 are typically either Chorus / Vibrato or Rotary Speaker. It is nice that you can cascade delays if you are doing ambient music. I also think that the Flanger is very nicely done without being overly swooshy. Keeley reverbs are great as found in their excellent Caverns pedal, but I'm using the reverb native to the Twin because it's so lovely.

There is mono in and out, but also a stereo out. In addition to the expression pedal input, there is a second input for an additional tap switch for bank 1. The pedal needs 9V in pushing at minimum 170mA. I am using a Donner power supply unit (link on Amazon below) and it surfaces the requires very nicely as two of the 9V outs can push up to 500mA

Challenges

My biggest challenge (for me) with the Super Mod Workstation is how rich in tools it is. It's a very small package and when standing the knob settings are hard to see, plus the function changes on the knobs when you change the effect option. I confess I also have trouble remembering which number is which effect in each bank. Keeley does screen this information on the front of the pedal itself as shown below. but when standing, I cannot see or read this info. Bring on holographic projection please.

Because I am somewhat clumsy, I found the spacing between the Bank 1 and Bank 2 bypass switches a little bit tight. I've trained myself, but I came from a large Diamond possibly designed to accommodate oafs like myself.

I want to thank Mark at Musique Max Boutique who sourced the pedal for me most quickly. Here's a link to the pedal on their Reverb shop for those interested. I get no commission if you shop there. Your local guitar shop can probably get you one as well. I found many places listed the pedal but none had stock, and a couple of my local shops did not list it at all. No shop can carry and inventory everything and the availability issue may be related to the market demand for multi-effect pedals in general. That's not a topic that I can speak to with any level of authority.

Conclusion

If you are seeking a combination effects pedal that does a lot of stuff incredibly well and that does not sound like a box of scraps heaved together to hit a price point, and the effects that you seek are covered here, you are going to like the Keeley Super Mod Workstation very much. Keeley actually makes a number of Workstation style pedals and numerically and sonically they deliver the goods. This is a great pedal, just don't lose the work card.