Keeley Manis

The Keeley Manis is an overdrive pedal from Keeley Electronics, built on the Klon Centaur circuit and released in June 2025. Robert Keeley's twist on the recipe: alongside the germanium diodes the original Klon used for clipping, the Manis adds Russian Cold War-era germanium transistors as a second, switchable clipping option, combined with the diodes for more compression and saturation¹²³.

The pedal keeps the classic three-knob layout of Tone, Drive and Level, and adds two toggle switches: one selects between germanium diode and germanium transistor clipping, the other engages a bass boost. It was presented as a replacement and upgrade for the Keeley Oxblood, which had been out for several years with an almost identical topology³. It launched at $199, shipping from June 19, 2025¹.

A Klon-style overdrive with germanium transistor clipping

The Manis takes the basic Klon Centaur architecture and asks a simple question: what if you swapped the mythical germanium diodes for germanium transistors? Robert Keeley found his answer in Soviet-era germanium transistors, obtained from Ukraine, which do the work of the original's diodes when you flip the clipping toggle¹¹². On the JHS Pedals video, Keeley explained that the transistors are wired as diodes, using only the base and emitter legs with the collector left unconnected¹².

The two clipping positions give the pedal two personalities:

Keeley told MusicRadar that in the transistor position "you get a different cut-off voltage, and that increases the saturation, the compression, the sustain. So you have a Klon" with more gain on tap and more second-order harmonics that sound more tube-like¹. Pete Thorn described the two modes as "basically like a smoother, darker, sort of more vintagey thing and a more puncher, fatter, more modern thing in the diode" position¹³.

The pedal came out of a direct request. Trey Anastasio's tech Justin Stabler texted Keeley saying it was the perfect time to send Trey a bunch of Klon ideas to audition, and boards were ordered and units sent out within a week or two of the idea¹²⁵. Craighton Hale, who worked with Keeley on the pedal, had also been working on the bass boost that lets more bass into the clipping section⁵. The name comes from the era before Clovis, a nod to JHS's tube clone¹².

The controls

The three knobs are carried over from the original Klon: Tone, Drive and Level¹⁴. The two toggles are where the Manis departs from the recipe.

The Bass+ switch pushes the lower half of the pedal's mid-focused response down by one octave and increases the output by +3dB²³. Keeley describes it as the "perfect low end recovery and push for single-coil guitars," and told Guitar World it is "enough to make any single-coil feel proud of itself"¹⁹. Premier Guitar's demo notes it is perfect for making single coils sound fatter, fuller, and more powerful⁴.

The bypass is selectable on the fly: the Manis ships in buffered mode as standard with silent switching, and holding the footswitch for two seconds toggles to true bypass¹. Buffered switching prevents the pops and clicks of true-bypass switching, and the buffer improves signal clarity in larger setups while true bypass preserves tone in simpler rigs²¹⁴.

Power: 9V to 18V, 15mA

The Manis runs on a 9V to 18V DC adaptor from a pedalboard power supply, drawing 15mA according to Guitar World's review¹⁹¹⁰. Gearnews lists the current draw as 17mA, so the published figures disagree⁸. The adaptor is not supplied⁹.

Pedal of the Day called it the first Klone you can power with 18 volts for increased headroom¹⁵. Inside, a 12V regulator sits before the charge pump to protect the pedal from overvoltage, as Josh Scott noted on the JHS Pedals video¹².

Versions and finishes

At launch the Manis came in three colorways: standard Brushed Silver, a Gold finish exclusive to Guitar Center, and a Black finish exclusive to PGH⁹. All use the same durable aluminum enclosure¹⁴. It is a standalone pedal, distinct from Keeley's multi-pedal drive enclosures that hold two clone circuits per box¹².

What reviewers said

Reviews were positive across the board. Guitar World's Trevor Curwen found that with both switches down, diodes and no extra bass, the pedal "nails" the sound of an original Klon, and that switching to transistor mode gives "more of a valve-like feel as those driven tones become a little more saturated and compressed"¹⁰. His verdict: "Robert Keeley has taken the basic Klon architecture and come up with something with much more versatility in a pedalboard-friendly package"¹¹.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson called it "a pretty cool Mod of the Klon - where the Bass Boost works really well," and found the core Klon voicing very decent with a unique take overall⁶. Pedal of the Day said it "sounds fantastic" and placed it at the top of their Klone list immediately¹⁵. Pete Thorn, comparing it against his Rocket Archer, called it "a great recreation of that type of circuit"¹³.

Keeley himself told MusicRadar the goal was to "absolutely nail the original Klon sound," verified by A/B comparison against a reference Klon unit, and that the pedal is "really kind of a miracle cure for those that have the Klon blues"¹. In a later Guitar World interview he said:

Robert Keeley's own explanation of the sound centers on the Russian germanium transistors. He said he found a magic ingredient with them that he could not have simulated any other way, describing the result as getting lucky with a great sound, and he called the 3 dB bass boost remarkably well voiced⁹.

Premier Guitar's John Bohlinger demoed the pedal at launch and concluded that "The Manis is an evolution of the original circuit," not just a mod².

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