Keeley Delay Workstation/Specular Tempus

BobTheSalmon

Very difficult to find much in the way of reviews for this. Does anyone have first hand experience of it?

Probably a bit pricey for a unit without presets, but the layout, sounds, functionality and footprint appeal.

Thanks in advance

EDITED TO INCLUDE SPECULAR TEMPUS

EricTheWeary

It was on some pro pedalboard they had on TPS the other week but they rather overlooked it. Can't recall who now, I'm going to say Matt Schofield but that might not be right.

I've got the super mod workstation ( I think it's called) which is the same format. I used it on about two gigs then gave up the band ( these things weren't connected) but based on that the footswitches are pretty close together and it's very difficult to see what you are doing if you wanted to knob twiddle on a gig. On the super mod the tap tempo applies to one side only and what I eventually realised is that after powering down it returns to a default tempo. I was using that side for flanger , IIRC, which meant I had to reset the tempo for it every time I plugged in - not a huge problem but a head scratcher when you don't know what's going on. 

I think worth looking at if you are a knob twiddler rather than a sub menus type of person. At the full new price there are a lot of other posh delays out there so if it were primarily for gigging rather than home/ recording use I doubt if I'd get my credit card out. 

BobTheSalmon

EricTheWeary said:

It was on some pro pedalboard they had on TPS the other week but they rather overlooked it. Can't recall who now, I'm going to say Matt Schofield but that might not be right.

I've got the super mod workstation ( I think it's called) which is the same format. I used it on about two gigs then gave up the band ( these things weren't connected) but based on that the footswitches are pretty close together and it's very difficult to see what you are doing if you wanted to knob twiddle on a gig. On the super mod the tap tempo applies to one side only and what I eventually realised is that after powering down it returns to a default tempo. I was using that side for flanger , IIRC, which meant I had to reset the tempo for it every time I plugged in - not a huge problem but a head scratcher when you don't know what's going on. 

I think worth looking at if you are a knob twiddler rather than a sub menus type of person. At the full new price there are a lot of other posh delays out there so if it were primarily for gigging rather than home/ recording use I doubt if I'd get my credit card out. 

Thanks for the info!

I'm beginning to wonder if a Flashback 2 & Hall Of Fame 2 at £90 each makes more sense. Lots of tweakability and Toneprint to make up for lack of presets...

EricTheWeary

BobTheSalmon said:

EricTheWeary said:

It was on some pro pedalboard they had on TPS the other week but they rather overlooked it. Can't recall who now, I'm going to say Matt Schofield but that might not be right.

I've got the super mod workstation ( I think it's called) which is the same format. I used it on about two gigs then gave up the band ( these things weren't connected) but based on that the footswitches are pretty close together and it's very difficult to see what you are doing if you wanted to knob twiddle on a gig. On the super mod the tap tempo applies to one side only and what I eventually realised is that after powering down it returns to a default tempo. I was using that side for flanger , IIRC, which meant I had to reset the tempo for it every time I plugged in - not a huge problem but a head scratcher when you don't know what's going on. 

I think worth looking at if you are a knob twiddler rather than a sub menus type of person. At the full new price there are a lot of other posh delays out there so if it were primarily for gigging rather than home/ recording use I doubt if I'd get my credit card out. 

Thanks for the info!

I'm beginning to wonder if a Flashback 2 & Hall Of Fame 2 at £90 each makes more sense. Lots of tweakability and Toneprint to make up for lack of presets...

I guess if you use the online editor to set the toneprints you effectively have three pre sets at the twist of a knob. 
For the price of the two tc's you could also look at the Mooer Ocean Machine. Lots of presets, I don't get the impression the individual sounds are up to the standards of Strymon, Boss,etc but if you wanted to experiment with wacky/ ambient noise it's the one to go for. Reasonable demo of it on the Devin Townsend episode of That Pedal Show ( although they only show it used for ambient stuff rather than more standard delays and reverbs IIRC). 

MrMusic

I had the Keeley delay WS, was ok but the reverb adds a noticeable boost which was my reason for selling. Specular tempus looks ok but i had a pal waiting a long time for one on pre order and he cancelled in the end cos it took too long to arrive. I’d honestly go TC Electronic, really enjoy there kit and never had any issues and they are very tweakable

BobTheSalmon

MrMusic said:

I had the Keeley delay WS, was ok but the reverb adds a noticeable boost which was my reason for selling. Specular tempus looks ok but i had a pal waiting a long time for one on pre order and he cancelled in the end cos it took too long to arrive. I’d honestly go TC Electronic, really enjoy there kit and never had any issues and they are very tweakable

The TCs certainly look favourite at this stage. I'm a fan already and have the Polytune 3, Sub n Up and Spark Booster on my main board

peteri

I had the Super Modstation and the Monterey one for a while.

Monterey was better, but both felt not particularly well thought out to me, the Mod Station had some very annoying behaviour in terms of tempo (as above), ramp up sounds on the chorus etc.

Also not the best feeling box in the world - pretty light weight and generic knobs etc.

I think there are much better choices out there in terms of sounds and also consistency of use to be honest