NEW PRICE!! Keeley Freak of the Week #3 “Flux Driver” – 2002 Custom BOSS BD-2 Mod – Hand Signed – EXTREMELY RARE

A Quick Note on Pricing & Provenance: When I initially posted this listing, I relied on ChatGPT to help evaluate its unique history, which led to an overly aggressive initial price of $2,795 (importantly, ChatGPT did not include an assessment of comparable pedals). After taking a step back and consulting Gemini for a more grounded market analysis, it became clear that the initial figure was significantly overpriced compared to historical comps for rare Keeley BD-2 variations and other rare boutique pedals. Please accept my apologies for this newbie AI error—my goal at Sterno's STRATosphere & Pedal Emporium is to share genuine, rare pieces of pedal history (and sell great Strats, of course) at a fair market value, not to appear greedy.  While this "Flux Driver" is a genuinely rare, signed artifact from Keeley’s  "Dream Shop" at the dawn of boutique pedal culture, market reality matters. I have adjusted the listing to $1,199.95 OBO—which I now believe to be a fair market price for a serious Keeley collector—and I hope you will give it your serious consideration.

The Freak of the Week #3” aka: “The FLUX DRIVER” is a wild early Robert Keeley experimental build from his “Dream Shop” with hand signed provenance, visible germanium components & square-wave gain mode. This pedal is extremely rare!!

• Early custom-shop era Robert Keeley creation
• Based on a genuine Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
• Handwritten “#4” and signed by Keeley on pedal exterior and interior plate
• Includes original BOSS box candy + 2002 BOSS catalog
• Includes Keeley’s original multi-page typed tone/circuit guide
• Visible germanium transistor and diode components
• “Square Wave” gain mode with dedicated blue LED
• Massive asymmetrical clipping and harmonic complexity
• Mint collector-grade condition

Sterno’s STRATosphere is offering a piece of boutique pedal history!!! An extraordinary snapshot from the earliest days of boutique pedal experimentation. This is not merely a modified BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver. This is a collector-grade piece from the early Robert Keeley “Dream Shop” era.  This experimental creation uses a custom Keeley circuit architecture from the formative years of the boutique pedal movement. It was built circa 2002 when Keeley was personally hand-modifying pedals one-by-one and pushing classic circuits into entirely new sonic territory. “The FLUX DRIVER” captures a moment in time when boutique pedal design was still raw, inventive, personal, and gloriously experimental.

PROVENANCE & BUILDER SIGNATURES

• Handwritten “#4” in green marker on the pedal exterior
• Personally signed by Robert Keeley on the bottom plate
• Bottom plate interior also hand signed by Keeley
• Interior plate handwritten inscription includes:  “thanks” and “#4”

INCLUDED MATERIALS

• Original BOSS (“BOX CANDY”), including BOSS user manual
• Original warranty registration card
• Original 2002 BOSS catalog
• Keeley’s original typed multi-page description of the circuitry and controls
• Original instructions for switch functions and tonal options

ROBERT KEELEY CUSTOM CIRCUIT ARCHITECTURE - Keeley described the concept perfectly: “Some things are Dynamic, some are Changing, and some are in Flux~!” Starting with the BD-2 platform, Keeley performed extensive modifications including:

• Phat Mod architecture
• silver mica capacitors
• metal film coupling caps
• expanded bass response
• improved tone circuit
• silver-solder construction
• additional custom voicing changes

GERMANIUM PISTONS – The visible metal-can germanium transistors protruding from the pedal are not cosmetic. According to Mr. Keeley himself, “See the little metal cans poking through on the right side? Those are Germanium transistors used as diodes in the op amp section of the pedal to increase the chance of 2nd order harmonics and to give it a tube sound. I thought they were so cool that they needed to be seen! Part 1 of the tone…”

FIRE BOTTLES – These are internal circuit board mods. I don’t have pictures of them from the pedal from this listing, I didn’t want to disassemble the unit.  But I have included a picture from the original Ebay listing (it is NOT from my pedal). Keeley described this mod this way: “See the two glass bottles on the inside? Sorry the picture is fuzzy but, the tone of the pedal is Germanium Diode fuzzy too! These two glass diodes are huge germanium diodes and I used them to create a huge asymmetrical difference. Again, to create that lush tube sound and to increase the chance of sweet octave effects!”

SQUARE WAVE SWITCH – This comes from a period when Robert Keeley was still personally experimenting with circuits by hand, inventing sounds in real time, and creating intensely custom pieces for players and collectors. Per the Ebay posting, Keeley said: “Yep, the blue light lets you know that the square wave mod is active.  A great booster shot of gain that puts a good old fashion square wave on yer guitar! Not harsh at all, but a great sounding edge. Really cool. Plus with the Blue LED status light you will know when Square is on before you turn on the BD-2.”

GAIN –  For this, Keeley said it best: “This one breathes square wave fire!” “Yep, more than stock and really fully sounding. This is what most pedals dream about sounding like! Does it clean up like a stock blues driver? Well...ummm...No! ;-) Doesn't quite come as clean as a stock one.”

CONDITION

• Mint condition
• Fully functional
• Collector-grade example
• Includes all original materials and documentation

FINAL WORD – Robert Keeley’s Freak of the Week #3 Flux Driver BD-2  is simultaneously:

• boutique pedal history
• playable art piece
• signed collector artifact
• extraordinary sounding gain pedal

Sterno’s STRATosphere is offering a truly rare piece from the earliest era of modern boutique pedal culture.