Keeley Noble Screamer released, reviewed against TS808 and ODR-1

October 10, 2023 · 4 sources

The Keeley Noble Screamer was released in September 2023, and on 10 October 2023 That Pedal Show published a comparison of it against a Keeley-modded Ibanez TS808 and a Nobels ODR-1 LTD¹². The show's hosts, Mick and Dan, framed the episode around whether the pedal could sound like Mick's TS808 or the ODR-1¹.

The Noble Screamer is an all-analog overdrive that combines Ibanez Tube Screamer and Nobels ODR-1 style circuits³. It has knobs for volume, gain and tone, plus two toggle switches: one under the gain knob selects soft-clipping diodes in TS mode or hard-clipping diodes in OD mode, and one under the tone knob selects a low-pass filter in TS mode or an ODR-1-style spectrum EQ in OD mode³². Gearnews describes it as a 4-in-1 pedal with two familiar circuits and two new sounds, and reports that Robert Keeley decoupled the drive section from the tone control so the sections can be combined⁴. Premier Guitar reports that holding the footswitch switches between buffered and true bypass³. The pedal is made in the USA and is the first in Keeley's sloped aluminum housing⁴³.

On the show, Mick said the Noble Screamer had more bottom end than his TS808 and that the midrange sat in a different place, and Dan said he preferred the Noble Screamer to the ODR-1¹. Mick concluded it did not sound like his Tube Screamer but got much closer to the Nobels¹. Premier Guitar's reviewer called the sounds "largely familiar" and rated the OD tone with TS drive combination the most pleasing for their tastes³. Guitar Pedal X, writing later, found three of the four combinations superb and the TS tone stack with ODR-1 clipping the weakest².

Prices differ between sources. Gearnews listed $215.00⁴; Premier Guitar listed $199.00³; Guitar Pedal X gave a US MAP/RRP of $199². Gearnews reported availability at Thomann⁴, and Guitar Pedal X reported availability direct from Keeley and at dealers².