Keeley Electronics Filaments High Gain Distortion

Although we’re not the fastest or most technical of players around here, we sure can appreciate a good heavy metal tune, and the pedal we’re going to look at today is capable of providing the tones needed for speed, thrash, glam, black, death and other metal genres with ease. Robert and the kids at Keeley Electronics have covered just about all the bases when it comes to effects, and the Filaments High Gain Distortion is just another wicked rad box in their portfolio. Emulating high-gain tube amps and boasting an abundance of opportunities to yield crushing, ear-exploding tones, this is one aggressive and potent stompbox.

Presenting you with 3 layered stages of gain and 7 different ways to EQ you tone, the Filaments is not light on tonal enhancement. Level and Gain do their jobs, respectively, both with a fat spectrum to play with and delve into. The Presence knob and the Bright toggle switch work in conjunction to provide a boost to any pickup configuration you may have, making all your guitars stand out, regardless of electronic layout. The two other toggles, Boost and Crunch, provide two differing gain and compression tones, making it fun to mix and match to find what works best for your amp and setup.

The EQ section is where you can really dial this bad boy in. Bass and Treble adjust your low and high end frequencies, as expected, but there’s more for you to work with here. The Body knob fine-tunes more lows, giving you a fat and beefy but not muddied sound, and using the Treble knob right after it, your amp will project crisp metal lead runs, big, bold, sustained chords and even some tasty feedback if you want to toss that in as well. You can even run it at 18V for more headroom and louder production if that sort of thing gets your creative juices a-flowing.

With the typical Keeley tough build and legendary quality, the Filaments Distortion is not a pedal you have to worry about breaking down, and is a road-worthy piece of your musical pie. Certainly not for everyone (no clean boost found here, people), the players in the genres it was designed for will really, really dig it, and should become a staple for heavy metal rigs for years to come. Thanks as always for the continued support from Robert and all at Keeley Electronics – check out our demo below to hear the wide range of heavy tones this black beauty is proficient in producing…