Keeley Katana Clean Boost V2 vs Z.Vex Super Hard On
The Keeley Katana Clean Boost V2 and the Z.Vex Super Hard On are both pedals sharing transparent. The Z.Vex Super Hard On leans clean boost and compressed. Current prices: $169.15 vs $189.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.47% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- transparent
Z.Vex Super Hard On
Zvex · pedal
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$169.15via Reverb
$189via Reverb
The Keeley Katana Clean Boost V2 is a precision clean boost pedal from Keeley Electronics providing transparent, high-quality signal level increase with up to 35 dB of available boost. The original Katana was one of Keeley's first and most acclaimed original designs, and the V2 refines the JFET-based circuit with improvements addressing noise floor, headroom, and control range. Used by professional musicians worldwide as a transparent signal level tool for pushing tube amplifiers, raising solo volumes, and conditioning signal chains.
The Z.Vex Super Hard On is one of the most influential boutique clean boost pedals ever released, built around a JFET-based circuit that adds significant clean gain and a subtle, musical harmonic push without introducing audible distortion at moderate settings. Zachary Vex hand-painted the earliest units himself, cementing the pedal's status as a cornerstone of the boutique effects movement that emerged in the 1990s, when small builders began challenging mass-produced pedals with hand-built, character-driven circuits. Its deceptively simple single-knob design belies a circuit that's been widely studied, cloned, and referenced by countless other boost and overdrive pedals in the decades since its release.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Electronic
- alternative
- indie rock
- country
- clean boost
- compressed