Touchy Feely
Again featuring a custom transformer designed by Rupert Neve, the Wessex has controls for Treble, Bass, Gain and Level with an additional ‘Enhance/Natural’ switch to alter the gain stage for either vintage or modern sounds. The taper on the pots feels nice and seems to react proportionally too allowing you to roll through settings with ease rather than going from all to nothing and vice versa.
OD
Man, the Wessex sounds great! Light to mild overdrive, really clear and defined (played with humbuckers and single coils) and dare I say it? Touch sensitive. You can have just a hair of dirt but then dig a little harder and get it to break up more. With more gain dialled in you can open up big chords or more singing, sustained lead tones. Both the enhanced and neutral settings are usable and there’s plenty of level to blend with a range of guitars and amps.
Boom!
You’ve seen the copious amounts of overdrive pedals on the market and no doubt played plenty of them. I’ve tried a heap, and have quite a list of favourites for varying reasons. I think the Wessex is going to work its way in there somewhere too. Clear and almost clean, it’s great for solos and adding some oopmph to open chords. Increase the Gain a little and you get bluesy breakup and rock tones. Push it some more and you’ve got a super musical stomp box that is perfect for big riffs, chords and solos. Killer!
