Keeley HALO Andy Timmons Dual Echo

The Keeley HALO Andy Timmons Dual Echo is a compact digital delay pedal built in collaboration with Andy Timmons, and it exists to put one specific sound on your pedalboard: Timmons' long-secret "Halo" effect, a modulated dual echo. Keeley describes it as the effect that "has long been kept a secret by the tone wizard himself," and the pedal ships with his signature delay tone loaded at the factory, so preset 1A gives you his go-to echo setting out of the box¹².

The pedal works like two delay pedals in one, with A and B sides you can set to different delay times and switch between from the footswitches¹. Delay time runs up to 1500 ms³, and the repeats are shaped with tape-style modulation, saturation and compression, so the notes "dance rhythmically, almost creating a reverb diffusion"¹. It is built in the USA and shares its layout of knobs, switches and LEDs with the Keeley Eccos and Keeley Hydra pedals².

What it does: Andy Timmons' modulated dual echo

Timmons spent decades combining and crafting the sounds in the HALO before the pedal captured them in a single stompbox¹⁴. The core of it is the Halo preset: ethereal, dovetailing echoes that gradually diffuse into a pleasant, reverb-like wash, a "halo" as Timmons describes it². GuitarPlayer's reviewer Jude Gold found that "playing in mono, à la Timmons' Memory Man setup, the effect is quite inspiring, seducing your ears with hypnotic repeats"².

Run it in stereo and the effect opens up further. Keeley says the HALO delivers true-stereo imaging when run in stereo¹, and Gold found that "running this patch in stereo through two amplifiers geometrically expands the magic"². One limitation he flagged: true left/right stereo repeats are not on the menu, a drawback for players who want ping-pong echo².

The pedal is also a platform for ambient sounds beyond delay. Keeley notes that setting the Time and Feedback controls low opens up a world of ambient chorus and flanger effects¹.

The controls

The knob set is shared with the Eccos and Hydra, and each knob has a primary and an alternate function, reached by pushing and holding the Feedback knob².

The Rhythm Mode selector chooses between the delay types, and a toggle switch advances the preset bank¹². The two soft-touch footswitches activate either of the current bank's two presets, and the Smart Stomp System lets you press and hold either switch to engage tap tempo mode¹². Gearnews reported that the soft stomp switches also control infinite hold and preset save and recall³. The pedal can be driven by an expression pedal and/or a remote switch²⁷.

Presets and the five delay types

The Rhythm Mode selector delivers five delay types, including Andy's unique "Halo" sound¹:

• HALO: Timmons' modulated dual echo, the pedal's signature mode¹
• Analog: a stereo rack mount analog delay flavor⁴
• Tape: a vintage multi-head tape echo flavor⁴
• Quarter: quarter-note rhythmic subdivision³⁷
• Dotted Eighth: dotted-eighth rhythmic subdivision³⁷

Each preset bank holds two delay settings, for a total of eight user-storable effects¹⁴. The factory patches were created by Timmons, Robert Keeley and Keeley DSP engineer Aaron Tackett, and preset 1A is Timmons' own go-to echo setting². You can program your own sounds and save them as presets⁴.

The "golden ratio" subdivision, a quarter-note plus dotted-eighth-note stacked echo, is a key part of the Timmons halo sound, and it is represented by the circular halo graphic at the noon position of the rhythm control².

What reviewers said

GuitarPlayer's review concluded that the pedal "packs more features than its small size would suggest, including Andy Timmons' coveted Halo setting"². Pedal of the Day's verdict on the sound was blunt: "The results are stunning"⁴.

Daniel Steinhardt named the Halo his favorite compact delay pedal, describing it as sonically astonishing and saying that plugging in gives you the Andy Timmons sound overall⁸.

Halo versus Halo Core

The full Halo keeps the wider control set that a simplified version trims away, including the A and B delay sides switchable by footswitch, the Saturate control for tape compression texture, and the Tone and High Pass Filter controls for shaping the overall delay¹. It also offers trails/true-bypass switching, expression pedal and remote switch control, and factory patches from Timmons, Keeley and Keeley DSP engineer Aaron Tackett².

Keeley also makes the Andy Timmons Full Range Overdrive, another Timmons collaboration, for players building a board around his sound¹.

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