Keeley Halo - how are people enjoying them? (Now with added Halo)

digitalkettle

TimmyO said:

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

Yes I bet both the Halo and my M1 sound epic in stereo but I'm unlikely to ever experience it! 

Go amp-less with a Simplifier…sorted!

I doubt I'll do that, but it did idly occur to me that a second AMP1 and lightweight cab would make an epic stereo or wet dry - but I stress I can never see me actually bothering with such a thing 

I still gig with a single amp and a couple of pedals but this is my noodling/recording-at-home rig:



Careful choices in the stereo loop mean I have true-stereo rotary -> delay*/reverb -> trem/pan.

* ish

TimmyO

MagicPigDetective said:

How are you finding the M1, @TimmyO ;;

I actually think it's excellent, but I can see why they seem to get flipped by many. A few disjointed thoughts:

The presets are a bit inconsistent - a couple seem to be trying to ape a classic pedal-like analogue versionnof what they are (and do a very good job at them) then a couple of others are showing off something a bit more effecty - so you can be initially left thinking that the <insert your fave effect> isn't going to do  it for you - but you've got to dive in and feck about.

Initially I was really disappointed with the Trem sound, but after lots of mucking about was able to hone in on the boring but good old parameters and find what I like.

The thing is with so many secondary functions, and some of them being less than intuitive in what they do or are called, that's not a quick thing, and I've all but forgotten them already  

Also I'd expected to dislike the lofi feature, but it's actually really useful for some sounds, even for boring people like me who lean toward quite traditional sounds - the preset Flanger sounds ace with some of the lofi parameters they've chosen dialled in. Again though, I can't recall right now which ones  

For me it's definitely worth digging because once you DO nail some sounds they are ace and you have them all in a single pedal size - and I have a personal rule about pedalboard size. If you don't have such a tight space restriction I can well see just have a number of simpler units being the far easier way to go. 

I really like it.

TimmyO

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

Yes I bet both the Halo and my M1 sound epic in stereo but I'm unlikely to ever experience it! 

Go amp-less with a Simplifier…sorted!

I doubt I'll do that, but it did idly occur to me that a second AMP1 and lightweight cab would make an epic stereo or wet dry - but I stress I can never see me actually bothering with such a thing 

I still gig with a single amp and a couple of pedals but this is my noodling/recording-at-home rig:



Careful choices in the stereo loop mean I have true-stereo rotary -> delay*/reverb -> trem/pan.

* ish

Based on your use of a Lightspeed and a rotary that can ramp between speeds I can tell you are someone whose opinion is worth listening to  

digitalkettle

TimmyO said:

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

Yes I bet both the Halo and my M1 sound epic in stereo but I'm unlikely to ever experience it! 

Go amp-less with a Simplifier…sorted!

I doubt I'll do that, but it did idly occur to me that a second AMP1 and lightweight cab would make an epic stereo or wet dry - but I stress I can never see me actually bothering with such a thing 

I still gig with a single amp and a couple of pedals but this is my noodling/recording-at-home rig:



Careful choices in the stereo loop mean I have true-stereo rotary -> delay*/reverb -> trem/pan.

* ish

Based on your use of a Lightspeed and a rotary that can ramp between speeds I can tell you are someone whose opinion is worth listening to  

Lol...the 'ramp'...that's where the magic is!

I saw your recent search for a Lightspeed...good call. It's virtually always on (a first for me) and the only pedal that I own two of (another first)!

TimmyO

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

digitalkettle said:

TimmyO said:

Yes I bet both the Halo and my M1 sound epic in stereo but I'm unlikely to ever experience it! 

Go amp-less with a Simplifier…sorted!

I doubt I'll do that, but it did idly occur to me that a second AMP1 and lightweight cab would make an epic stereo or wet dry - but I stress I can never see me actually bothering with such a thing 

I still gig with a single amp and a couple of pedals but this is my noodling/recording-at-home rig:



Careful choices in the stereo loop mean I have true-stereo rotary -> delay*/reverb -> trem/pan.

* ish

Based on your use of a Lightspeed and a rotary that can ramp between speeds I can tell you are someone whose opinion is worth listening to  

Lol...the 'ramp'...that's where the magic is!

I saw your recent search for a Lightspeed...good call. It's virtually always on (a first for me) and the only pedal that I own two of (another first)!

yes I ended up just having to order a new one - like hens teeth used (and don't drop in price much anyway) 

re ramping rotary - when I owned a Strymon Lex I used to just sit and play chords and switch speeds and listen to it haha 

Hydra

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, had a search on the forum but can't seem to find my answer...

Can an expression pedal be used with the halo to bring the sound in from no effect ie raise and lower delay signal as and when needed?

TimmyO

Hydra said:

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, had a search on the forum but can't seem to find my answer...

Can an expression pedal be used with the halo to bring the sound in from no effect ie raise and lower delay signal as and when needed?

Yes - you can assign the expression pedal to be any of the knobs, it defaults to being assigned to delay level.

https://robertkeeley.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/06-28-2022-HALO-Andy-Timmons-Dual-Echo-Instructions-Resized-FINAL.pdf

Hydra

Oh cool. Thanks .

Fortheloveofguitar

Everyone still enjoying their Halo?

Thomann have then down at £288 now so thinking about taking a punt as used they are sitting around £240-260 so easier to buy new. 

greejn

Finding it a bit complicated, but that's just me. Use it on every single gig as it's so small and sounds great, only mono so far.

TimmyO

Still loving it - went through a phase of wanting to use lots of different sounds ‘because they are there’ but have found most fulfilment using a mildly tweaked (from factory slot 1) Halo setting and a generally useful tappable sound on slot 2. Not even using the other ‘banks’ (I don’t do midi) 

(home player) 

MagicPigDetective

Yes, same as @TimmyO I mostly use the Halo preset,  and also the ‘reverb’ preset… it makes everything you play sound better. 

TimmyO

Just because I think it deserves highlighting cos it's so nifty - the 'feedback' knob (which is the one you press down on to get into the preset-saving mode) is slightly taller than the other knobs, so you can do it with your foot without smushing the other knobs. Smart. 

allen

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Everyone still enjoying their Halo?

Thomann have then down at £288 now so thinking about taking a punt as used they are sitting around £240-260 so easier to buy new. 

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/keeley-electronics-halo-andy-timmons-modulated-dual-echo/880144-01/

Juno have it for £281 and they usually do a price drop if you ask on the website.

Fortheloveofguitar

allen said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Everyone still enjoying their Halo?

Thomann have then down at £288 now so thinking about taking a punt as used they are sitting around £240-260 so easier to buy new. 

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/keeley-electronics-halo-andy-timmons-modulated-dual-echo/880144-01/

Juno have it for £281 and they usually do a price drop if you ask on the website.

Many thanks for that

Emailed them and they replied within 2 minutes with a code for an extra £5 off, so have just bought one. 

allen

You're welcome - always happy to enable another addict

Fortheloveofguitar

Arrived this afternoon and wow it’s a great pedal. The Halo setting alone is worth the price of entry

jimification

I thought about selling mine (I mainly play through a Kemper, so don't use the Halo that much) but messing about with it the other night, the stock presets are sooo good, it's such a neat pedal and fulfils its functions extremely well. IMO it's a "users" delay rather than a "tweakers" delay. The Halo sound is fab (of course) but I really love the Apache delay too.

I'd prefer if all the functions were on dedicated knobs but then you'd end up with something twice as big, so it's a very sensible compromise.

david57strat

I've had mine since June of 2022 and love it.

https://i.imgur.com/ewi7GkE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/A5U5kNy.jpg

By the way, Keeley's Eccos is also a very nice delay pedal worth consideration.

greejn

Used it tonight with an archtop. Hardly on, but makes everthing sound great.