Wampler pedals

In the world of Audio and Musical Instruments, every brand has their mainstays-certain models and makes that have withstood the test of time, continually redefining their appropriateness and relevance in the ever changing musical landscape and in this respect, pedal manufacturers are no different. But amongst all the re-issues, revisions and re-brands, only the select few manufacturers deviate from this ideology, by refining and expanding on tried and true circuits and taking them to interesting new places. Wampler Pedals is one of those brands.

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There’s some classic overdrives, distortions and delays, Constantly striving for the “ultimate tone”, Brian set about designing and crafting his own range that pushes the envelope (and filter it too!), while remaining functional, accessible but above all else: sound great.

Tumnus & Tumnus Deluxe

Wampler takes cues from classic designs in their Tumnus and Tumnus Deluxe (taking influence from a particular hoof-associated pedal), but augment the original design with modern flexibility. The Tumnus Deluxe has five knobs, allowing for a three-band EQ, with Level and Gain controls flanking a Normal/Hot toggle to adjust how aggressively your signal passes through the famous circuit. In a bid to offer players everything, the Tumnus Deluxe also has a Buffer on/off switch that acts to engage the buffer or remove it for true-bypass operation.

Their pedals speak for themselves, but don’t take our word for it. Wampler has a growing range of artists trusting them for their tone, namely the Cory Wong: Compressor, Brad Paisley: Paisley Deluxe and Drive, and the Andy Wood: Gearbox.

Andy Wood: Gearbox

The Gearbox is a lot to take in, but for good reason. It’s a two channel pedal, effectively giving you two drive sounds in one enclosure. Separate inputs and outputs for each channel allow uncompromising control, while the Order toggle allows you to switch between the channel order and use them as one chain if you wish. Channel one is based on the aforementioned Tumnus, while the second channel is based on Wampler’s Pinnacle pedal, Brian’s take on the famous “Brown Sound”.

Cory Wong is taking the world by storm with his solo work as well as with Vulfpeck. Armed with a crazy funky right hand, Cory uses compression extensively to level out the dynamics of his super fast rhythms.

The Cory Wong: Compressor is a compressor and boost pedal in one. The Compressor part of the pedal has controls for Volume, “Sustaaiiin”, Attack, and Blend allowing you to control how fast the compressor kicks in, or using the Blend knob to use the compression in parallel. The Boost has simple enough Boost control, as well as Mid/Flat mid boost, a ground lift and an XLR out for connection directly to a mixer or FOH of house system.

Brad Paisley’s signature pedals are in a league of their own. Brian Wampler famously threw a pedal onto Paisley’s stage in the hope he would use it, Brad Paisley’s tech quickly grabbing it, trying it out and loving it, and eventually passing it onto Paisley himself.

After a few years of using Wampler, Paisley and his tech approached Wampler for a signature pedal, Paisley wanting to harness everything he loved about pedals like the Ego, Underdog and Faux AnalogEcho into his own signature pedal.

Brad Paisley: Paisley Drive

The Brad Paisley: Paisley Drive and Deluxe are the result of that. The Paisley Drive has familiar controls in Gain, Tone and Volume, but adds a presence on/off and a switchable EQ for three different shapes.

Channel 2 of the Deluxe have similar controls, while Channel 1 is 5-knob drive with three band EQ in addition to Level and Gain. Like Andy Wood’s signature pedal, Channel 1 and 2 are available together or separate thanks to a handy toggle switch and independent in/out jacks for each channel.

Beyond their artist models, Wampler also offer a wide array of delays, modulation and other time-based effects, a bunch of these available within the Metaverse. Before we dive in, the Metaverse’s effects are also all available as 11 AU and VST3 plugins. Handy!

11 delay types are controlled by Delay, Feedback, Tone, Mod and Mix controls, with a switchable tail on/off for use as you see fit! There’s stereo in and out, and you can simply use one of these jacks as the mono in/out, with MIDI I/O available as well via 3.5mm jacks. There’s a Bypass switch and a Tap Tempo switch, your sounds all saveable and recallable via four preset spaces.

Wampler have a huge range of sounds, both familiar and entirely new, available for modern players. From traditional grit, drive and distortion to more modern recallability, MIDI integration and digital delays. They’re building on the best designs used on the most historic records, but with their own take with the help of more modern technology, parts and circuitry. Brian Wampler’s own tenacity in building the best possible products for players is on show in his artists collaborations, as well as forward-thinking routing, switching and controls for more control over your tone. 

Wampler’s range of reimagined classics, their own modern designs that are on the cusp of modern tech, all in service of guitarists and bass players have more at their fingertips. Wampler are bucking the re-issue trend, and sounding great while they do it.

For local enquiries, visit Amber Technology.