Manis Overdrive
$199.00
• Evolution of the legendary transparent overdrive
• NOS germanium transistors & diodes for rich saturation
• Bass+ switch adds low-end punch (+3dB)
• Ge-Trans switch enhances tube-like compression
• Selectable True Bypass or Buffered Silent Switching
• 18V-ready for massive headroom
• Handcrafted in the USA
• Begins shipping on or before Thursday, 06.19.2025
Keeley Electronics Manis Overdrive
The Keeley Manis Overdrive uniquely combines both germanium NOS transistors and diodes for more compression and saturation plus a 3db bass-boost makes it unlike any other mythical Klone!
Keeley pens the next chapter in the legend of the mythical Klone with several storied upgrades and features. First up is the germanium diode switch. The “essential” germanium diodes are at the heart of the myth. By substituting essential germanium diodes with germanium transistors (circa Cold War era) we increase the compression and saturation of the tone. The Manis can give you a softer attack that sounds more like a tube amp. Less ice-pick, more tube amp. This feels incredible under your fingertips too. Wouldn’t you like to hear a little more of the natural low end from your guitar? The bass boost switch lowers the cutoff by exactly one octave and increases the output by +3dB. It’s the perfect low end recovery and push for single coil guitars. True Bypass or Buffered Silent Switching on the fly. The Manis is built like a tank and is the first klone you can power with 18 volts. The Manis is a Hard Clipping ‘clean boost’ that has been updated and modernized with our power supply improvements as well as other mind bending fixes to the inherent tonal problems of the original circuit.
- The Manis is Hard Clipping “clean boost” using Russian transistors as germanium diodes
- Ge-Trans Switch – Diodes or Transistors – Huge difference in feel with increased saturation and tube like compression
- The Bass+ Switch – Lowers the frequency response by one octave and then pushes 3dB harder
- True-Bypass or Buffered Bypass/silent Switching – Whichever works and sounds best in your rig.
Switchable Germanium Diodes
Germanium is a rare earth metal. The Manis has both germanium diodes and transistors, significantly increasing the chances of making rarified music.
Switchable Low Frequency Cutoff
The Manis Overdrive lets you fatten your bottom end in a sensible way.
Buffered Bypass or True Bypass
The Keeley Manis Overdrive allows you to quickly switch between either mode. Having a great buffer will make your rig sound strong and clear even when the pedal is off. Buffered switching prevents the pops and clicks of true-bypass switching. If you want to turn on true-bypass, simply press and hold the foot switch for two seconds. Holding the switch for two seconds toggle between modes. True Bypass is great if a buffer might affect the tone of a vintage pedal. Enjoy truly silent switching and a better sounding rig with Keeley’s buffered switching mode.
Keeley Manis – Made In The USA
We design, engineer, and manufacture the Keeley Manis in Oklahoma City. The Keeley Manis is geared towards the professional musician’s demand for an inspiring tone when performance demands it. From the meticulously built electronic circuit boards to our in-house fabricated aluminum enclosure, Keeley pedals are professional grade. We make guitar effect pedals to be finely crafted musical instruments.
A Born and Bread Winner
Winner of Premier Guitar’s Premier Gear Award!
Launch Colorways
The new Keeley Manis is available in three distinct colorways at launch. Our Standard Brushed Silver (center), the PGH Exclusive Black (right), and the Guitar Center Exclusive Gold (left).
Instructions:
10 reviews for Manis Overdrive
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Dan Voetmann (verified owner) –
This is my new favorite Klon variant. I have a pedal board I gig with and also a couple of pedal boards I leave set up and plugged in at places where I play regularly. I decided to make some updates and I tried Keeley pedals for the first time. Wow! Keeley pedals are my new favorites. Great sounding pedals, powerful but simple to use live where I can’t be bending over all the time tweaking parameters between songs. I’ve purchased multiple copies of the Blues Disorder, Mantis, Phat, Noble Screamer, Hydra, 30ms, Seafoam Chorus,… to install on all my different pedal boards. They are replacing many of my long term favorites. Not a complaint but if wishes came true I’d love for more of the pedals to have A/B/C settings (like the Hydra does) so I could switch between the settings I use live with just the push of a button. Keep up the good work and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next! Thanks!
Andrew LoBiondo (verified owner) –
I hate the sound of the Klon Centaur. Hate it. Yet I always hoped there would be a take on the circuit that would come along and blow me away. The closest I came was the Keeley Oxblood but I wasn’t 100% convinced based on the limited number of demos online that were nearly a decade old. Then came Manis mania. I saw the demos. I read the praises of the Manis in the Keeley Facebook group from those with opinions I’ve come to trust. But I waited a couple months for the hype to die down and dust to settle to see if people’s opinions changed once the honeymoon period was over. And it didn’t end. The hype was real. So I pulled the trigger and ordered the black one. Robert Keeley himself helped me secure a set of black knobs to match the aesthetic of my nearly all-Keeley blacked out board. What can I say? This pedal has main overdrive potential. I’ve been through dozens of overdrives in the last 20 years and this one is the closest I’ve come to the sound in my head. Stacked with the Keeley Super Bass I can turn my 1×12” fender combo into a high gain Marshall. On its own, it does it all- mild to wild. An awesome clean boost, edge or breakup and some serious dirt. The bass boost pairs perfectly with my single coil guitars. The different clipping options give this pedal extra versatility and I can see why so many people are taking the Trey Anastasio route and putting two on their boards. For additional context, I primarily play garage rock, punk, and lofi genres and this pedal destroyed my misconception of klon style drives being best suited for blues inspired playing. Another hit from the Keeley crew.
blake.r.nelson2 –
Simply excellent. I did not expect to find a pedal that would push my Lightspeed or Morning Glory off my board, but this one did. I’m buying a second one so I can easily switch between lower and higher gain and between the two gain settings. It’s hard to explain, just buy one.
Postman –
Well I finally got a Manis! I’m a Klon nut I absolutely love the pedal so it was natural that as I love anything Robert puts out I had to have one. Up until now I’ve always said outside of getting an actual Klon, the Centura was the O.G of all Klon clones. My Centura has never left my board for over 6 yrs, so my Manis arrives and I set up my board with the Centura and my Manis side by side, I could almost feel my Centura say I’m King on this board and the Manis just smiling saying Oh yeah listen here, I set the Manis exact to my clone and hit my first cord with the Manis E to G to A to G and just let it ring and right away I was like man that’s a juicy nice tone, clicked the Centura and as I still liked it and maybe to somebody not used to that pedal may not have heard a difference yes they were super similar but then I did the back and forth and I noticed the Manis just had that something to it something that kept me going back to it for the next hour, My Manis looked at the Centura and said Son your days are numbered, It was definately the O.K Corral with these 2 pedals and as the the centura is no slouch I unplugged mine and said you get to rest for a while there’s a new sheriff in town. So after one day the Manis is now in my #1 spot for my overdrives, I noticed it was really a quiet pedal even dimed it was not overly white noise at all. The controls are very user friendly and smoooth and do what they are supposed to do, after playing in the standard Klon mode I flipped it up to Roberts interpretation of the Klon and WOW!!Noting flappy here dimed very clean articulate notes,that just had the right amount if sustain and feel, I was actually able to get it to sound like my old thrash days, it has this sweet full bottom end and midrange that isn’t over done on any setting but is perfection, Pumping out some pretty fast picking the notes were clean and just sounded great. Now this isn’t a thrash machine pedal but you could definitely pull it off, Think Testament. I’m confident this pedal will cover virtually most musical needs anybody would have you just gotta tweak amp and pedal for that perfect marriage of tone.The bass boost on the Manis is awesome Im not a single coil guy but man my H150 just went into beast mode with the boost which again was not floppy or over done it was like seasoning on a Filet steak. If your on the fence with the Manis get off and order yourself one you’ll love it, check out all the demos online which in person it sounds even better. My hats off to Robert and his team I think they have created the next level on this pedal that will fast become a go to for most loving this style pedal, Thank you Robert for this pedal…my Centura doesn’t thank you so much lol…..Sheriff Manis now runs this territory..
jeff.a.conrad-9485 –
The Manis! Where do I even start?
This mythical circuit is often thought of as a low-gain boost or just a stacking tool — but the Keeley Manis shows it goes well beyond those limits.
It shines all on its own, even into my super-clean Twin Reverb loaded with JBLs — which, let’s be honest, is a brutal test for any drive or boost. Most pedals expose their “pedalness”. The Manis delivers the goods without a hint boxiness or unnatural grain.
Thanks to the Bass+ control, at full gain, it transforms into a full-range distortion beast capable of pushing that Twin into AC/DC crunch territory. But it also nails the mid-pushed, rounded, soul-grabbing tone this classic circuit is known for — and does so with clarity and depth.
That’s the thing: there’s something extra going on here. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it’s the feel. Maybe it’s the response. Maybe it’s the inspiration. Or maybe… it’s addiction.
Whatever it is, it makes you want to play until your fingers give out.
Honestly, this review is taking too much time away from my Manis.
Thank you Keeley Team!!
Mark Lyon [verified buyer] –
The Manis rules. In so many ways it rules.
This weekend it will be used as an always on sweetener in an acoustic context for an outdoor folk show I’m playing. Any other time it might be used in combination with other drive pedals to punch through for solos, or as an always on for my electric tone. This pedal stacks tremendously well, and is downright awesome in all of the ways that you would hope a Klon-type pedal would be — RKFX really evolved this circuit with the Manis. The bass boost and Germanium Diode/Transisor toggle switches really add a tremendous amount of function and versatility to this pedal. I’ve been playing a Strat with single coils through a Fender Princeton — toggles up for the bass boost and Germanium Transistors rather than Diodes has been a really, really inspiring sound to explore.
Thank you Robert Keeley and team! RKFX truly knocked it out of the park with this pedal. I could not recommend getting one strongly enough.
ecker1991 –
The Manis is everything that I’ve been seeking from a K-style overdrive since day one. I have owned the Ceriatone Centura, Bowlan Audio’s Bowman Overdrive, the J Rockett Archer and Archer Ikon, and the Crazy Tube Circuits Unobtanium. None of the aforementioned pedals are as versatile as the Manis.
So many pedal companies attempt to do a recreation of the original circuit, and just that. Maybe a diode or clipping swap at most. But this is Keeley we are talking about, so of course there are some major tweaks available.
The stock mode behaves exactly as it should and stands toe to toe with my other K-style drives, both of which are supposed to be perfect or near perfect recreations of the original circuit. The ability to run the Manis at 18v is a killer feature, as I love higher headroom pedals that allow for more control over the sweep of the gain.
The bass boost comes in handy, especially for single coil guitars, with the Strat bridge positions being the ideal pairing, balancing out the EQ and thinness of the quacky pickup.
The transistor mode is a major bonus, again for those that use single coil guitars into brighter amps, this is a major bonus, as the highs are tamed.
For those that have been reluctant about K-style drives, I’d highly recommend checking the Manis out, as it helps address some of the issues people have with the circuit.
Larry Carter –
This is THE pedal I have been looking for for low gain..edge of breakup tone but it has an incredible higher gain usefulness as well…This pedal is an instant classic
mikeandrobinfreed (verified owner) –
Absolute Beast of a pedal. I have a thing for that mythical pedal and when I started hearing about the Manis I immediately was curious. I think this one blows all of the others away. Love the versatility and the ability to add that bass boost in. My new favorite Overdrive!!!
crobbins74 (verified owner) –
I have been waiting for this pedal to drop since I first heard about it. I had a Klon type pedal before and really liked what it did. Unfortunately, it died and I didn’t replace it. I’ve been through dozens of pedals since trying to get the sound I wanted.
The Manis has it.
Let me explain, it has “it”…that sound that is distinct. To me, it doesn’t sound like the others. Even the Klon I had. It’s better. The mojo is in the switches. I played it for the first time last weekend, through my main rig at church. It has a warm, thick sound (love the Bass switch for single coils) and at low gain settings, it isn’t muddy at all. I haven’t played it with a guitar running humbuckers yet, but I know it will be great. The Manis is punchy, clean, warm, and very present in a mix. I’ve been looking for that for a long time and am absolutely not disappointed.
I am so glad the Keeley crew dropped this when they did. My search for that OD I’ve been looking for is most likely over. Now, I need to add a second one to the board…