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Wampler launches the Gearbox, a signature dual overdrive for Andy Wood

The dual-channel drive pedal combines a Tumnus and a Pinnacle.

Wampler's Gearbox

Image: Wampler

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Wampler has launched a new signature overdrive for country-rock guitarist Andy Wood. The pedal is a two-sided affair, with customisable signal chain order and discrete input and outputs for each side, for more complex parallel or stereo rigs.

The Gearbox combines and modifies two of the brand’s previously-existing overdrive pedals. One side features the Tumnus, while the other features the Pinnacle – two vastly different drive sounds, making the pedal suitable for a vast range of gain needs.

The Tumnus takes after the classic ‘transparent overdrive’ sound, with a straightforward set of controls for level, gain and tone. It can work as a purely clean boost, or add a smooth, overdriven character to a clean sound.

The second channel features a lot more gain, as the Pinnacle is based on the ‘Brown Sound’ – a soaring, distorting British-style distortion. To keep the gain from getting too out of control, this channel features an adjustable noise gate, as well as a three-band EQ for more in-depth tone sculpting.

The order switch in the centre of the pedal means that its stacking possibilities are expanded: you can run the Tumnus side into the Pinnacle, or vice-versa. On top of this, if splitting your signal is your thing, you have two sets of ins and outs to split the two sides and run them parallel to each other. Alternatively, these extra connections mean you can stack more effects between the two sides.

Wampler describes the sound of the two channels stacked together as “tonal bliss – warm, yet brutal grunt; delicate and controllable harmonic overtones; and beautifully defined distortion that cuts through the mix.”

The pedal lists for $269.97. Find out more at wamplerpedals.com.

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