Keeley Moon Fuzz

The Keeley Moon Fuzz is a quad op-amp Muff-style fuzz pedal from Keeley Electronics. It is a variant of the fuzz circuit from the Keeley Dark Side Workstation, the multi-effect pedal inspired by Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon¹. MusicRadar reported the announcement of the pedal², and Guitar World described it as a fuzz box that references Keeley's David Gilmour-inspired Dark Side of the Moon workstation³.

What sets it apart from a straight Big Muff clone is the low end. Keeley says the circuit was redesigned with super-smooth, thick, bass-heavy response in mind², and Delicious Audio reports that its four stages of gain and fuzz don't lose any low end¹. MusicRadar's write-up of the announcement describes the result as massive low end, which when applied to lead sounds makes the tone harmonically rich, with controlled, blooming feedback at your fingertips².

The filter switch: Flat, Full and Scooped

The Moon's signature control is a filter section with a three-position toggle switch in the middle of the case¹. It picks among three filter shapes: Flat, Full and Scooped⁴. Delicious Audio describes these as three distinct EQ phases: Scooped Mids for the classic voicing, Flat EQ, or Full Range¹. Guitar.com's buying guide describes the same control as a three-position EQ switch for either scooped, flat or boosted midrange⁵.

That switch is the practical answer to the usual complaint about Muff-style fuzzes, which is that the scooped midrange can make a guitar disappear in a band mix. With the Moon, the player chooses the voicing rather than living with one: scooped for the classic sound, flat or full when the mids need to stay in the track. Guitar.com frames the pedal as an expanded version of the Op Amp Big Muff, with the tonal options as the expansion⁶.

Where it comes from: the Dark Side fuzz circuit

The Moon's circuit traces back to the Keeley Dark Side Workstation, a multi-effect pedal whose Fuzz, Delay and Modulation sections were built for recreating David Gilmour's tones⁷. The Dark Side's fuzz side is a big fuzz style distortion based on a 1977 op-amp style circuit⁸, and Tone Island describes that section as an op-amp Big Muff '77 style circuit offering glorious fuzz tones, with a fuzz EQ switch offering flat, scooped and full positions⁹. The Moon takes that circuit, strips away the rest of the workstation, and expands the fuzz itself with the three-position filter and the bass-heavy redesign⁶⁵.

Keeley has form with this architecture. On the Dark Side's fuzz, the maker said it used something similar in its Psi Fuzz and made what seemed like endless changes to extract the nuances of earlier transistor based fuzzes⁸. Guitar.com's review of the Dark Side found the fuzz delivered a smoother and more velvety sustain to assist in recreating Gilmour's languid legato style, a variation on the Big Muff theme with tighter lows¹⁰.

Using it: bass and drive pedals

Two practical points from the maker's and press descriptions:

• Bass: The Moon is designed to extend your guitar or bass frequencies as low as possible, delivering extremely thick, deep, "punishingly heavy" fuzz¹. The four gain stages that hold the low end are what make it usable on bass, where many Muff-style fuzzes thin out¹.
• Drive pedals in front: Delicious Audio's product page says to feed the Moon Op Amp Fuzz with your favorite drive pedals and unlock worlds of complex tones¹. A boost or overdrive pushing the fuzz changes its character without touching the pedal's own controls.

MusicRadar later grouped the Moon with Keeley's other fuzz work, describing the pedal as promising rich, saturated Pink Floyd-style fuzz sounds¹¹. For players comparing it within the maker's range, it sits alongside other Keeley fuzzes such as the Keeley Loomer, the Keeley Octa Psi Transfigurating Fuzz and the Keeley Black Glass British Fuzz, each of which takes a different approach to the effect; the Moon is the op-amp Muff entry. For the wider family of circuits it belongs to, see Fuzz Pedals and the Big Muff style pedals covered in Guitar.com's guide⁶.

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