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05 August 2012

Pedals: Wampler Sovereign - First contact

My friend flyed back from NY and, bring me that highly wanted pedal as a gift to me (God bless you, friend!).
Even that it wasn't the best moment to carefully check the pedal, I couldn't wait more. I had to test it and, I did it!.

Well, I was waiting a great distortion pedal, based on the videos I've already seen but, I wasn't expecting the best distortion pedal I've ever heard.
Does it resembles any particular gain voice?. Mmm... I don't think so.
Can you get any type of gain?. Still not sure, I bet it but, I really don't care.

The word is ORGANIC. There is nothing that can sound remotely synthetic on this pedal. No fuzz-like distortion, no SD1-like distortion. It is like to step over a pedal to switch to the gain channel of an awesome amp. What I hear is just the harmonics exploding in my valves.
Note definition is at the same level as the Pinnacle (even better) but, the gain structure is way different. There is not that harsh high-end that you can find on Pinnacle (but, I bet you can even tweak this).

I spent no time checking every controls position. I just incorporated the pedal to my pedal board (oin the place that I was already reserving for this exact pedal) and tweaked a bit the controls to obtain a liquid, lush and sustained distortion with pristine note definition and, I've enjoyed the short session.
I have to check everything in depth (and I will release a dedicated article after it) but, at least, it was damn easy to get an awesome distortion voice in a minute. Practically, plug & play and, the sound was there!.

What interested me more about this pedal was just the generic approach of this Wampler's creation. Not emulating any particular amp this time but, just getting the best of any good tube amp.
What I wanted is just a good and versatile distortion pedal to sculpt my own signature distortion sound and, OMG, this is certainly the tool!.
Up to now, the most organic distortion in a pedal that I've heard was the ProCo RAT (when gain was just a bit over 12:00h) but, this Sovereign enhances this late in a geometrical progression.
Imagine that you have a good full stack amp, well cranked, with its valves boiling and exploding in harmonics and, you will be in the same ball park of the sound that the Sovereign delivers.

Once again, thanks a lot Brian. God bless your ears and your ability to transform what you hear in an pedal effect. I don't know how do you do it but, please, don't stop doing it.
But, over everything else, thanks a lot, from heart, Pep, you made me the gift I've been waiting for a long, long time!. You made me really happy, more than what I could explain.

Stay tuned. I will come back with an in deep test of this pedal during this next week.

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