Envelope filters love to bring home the funk, and the Neutrino from Keeley Electronics does as good (if not a better) a job as anything you can find out on the pedal market right now. Lots of control options to really make your sound unique, or to be able to easily dial in your idol’s 70’s porn music setting – whatever you prefer. The retro soundscapes are vast and extremely prevalent here, let’s see what’s it’s all about.
As I first hit the Engage switch, and hit a couple of strings on my guitar, I knew this was going to be a special pedal. Right off the bat, it oozed that classic MuTron, “Jerry” envelope filter sound, but in a way that was not overbearing, and added just the right amount of color to my tone. Now, as with any good filter like this, the pick attack is key in getting the sound you desire, and the Neutrino does this superbly. There are a number of control knobs present on the Neutrino to configure, but nothing too complex, and with a pedal like this, most of the fun is experimenting and finding your “sound” anyway! The Gain control helps to blend your signal in with the effect for a flawless, seamless joint affair, and when set correctly, sounds like a wah pedal rocking back and forth, but without the extra effort on your part. The Peak controls adjusts how much “wah” sound you want in the mix, from a slight, warm, mellow tone coloring to a sharp, duck-like quack, and pretty much every other wah sound in between.
The big middle control knobs lets you choose from 3 separate filters: L is for Low-Pass (cuts off the High end), B is for Band-Pass (equal High and Low cuts) and High-Pass (cuts off the Low end). The Low-Pass filter is darker and muddier, while retaining clarity, while the High-Pass filter cuts through the mix, and gives off a brighter tonal quality. The Band-Pass filter is the most vocal-sounding of the three, making each one of these options useful in their own way, and allowing a multitude of sonic arrangements to come forth in your playing. Add to all this a Range toggle switch, which goes back and forth between HI or LO, and adjusts which frequencies are being stressed when picking your guitar.
Finally, a (kind of hidden) Direction switch located on the side of the pedal lets you control the actual direction of the wah, whether it goes UP or DOWN, adding in yet another option to really tweak this pedal, and coax out the exact sound you’re looking for. Another brilliant and inventive modern take on a classic sound, Keeley Electronics continues to impress with it’s wide array of products and incredible effects it introduces year after year. Can’t wait to see what they have for us next!
Submitted by Mike B, Website
