With the Belle, Wampler has taken a classic low gain overdrive circuit and tweaked it to perfection. This circuit has been around for a long time in various forms but most versions of it have too much of a “Hi Fi” sound about them, they fail to get the right mix of clarity and bass that is needed to make this overdrive sing. Wampler has added further gain capabilities to this circuit, and added a bass control that controls all the harmonics from smooth and creamy to tight and crunchy. Just like the gramophone pictured on the enclosure, this pedal exudes classical mechanical beauty, brassy clear tones, and just the right amount of deep thumping bass.
This circuit is a firm favourite in Nashville and Wampler’s take is everything you would expect it to be – high quality components, a beautiful enclosure, and a glorious tone. If you set the gain low and the bass control up high, you get a wonderful clean boost sound that can rival any Klone circuit, but when you spin the bass down and the gain all the way up, you suddenly find yourself with an awesome transparent overdrive / medium distortion sound with all the crunch you need.
The Colour control is more than just a standard tone control and it’s pretty unique to this circuit. Dialling it right or left will either boost or cut the high and low end a little, but the midrange frequencies are left well alone. Combine this with the Bass control and you have a very versatile tone shaping palette with Wampler’s legendary ease of use. Brian has also added a push switch on the side which will control the amount of compression and clipping structure in the circuit for some extra punch.
This pedal can add some serious muscle to your country, some extra grit to your blues, and some soaring boosts to rock – it’s such a flexible drive Wampler are sure you are going to love stacking it with your favourite pedals as much as playing it straight through a clean amp. This pedal really will be the “Belle of the Board” (Bad pun intentional)
The Belle features multiple controls including Gain (Controls the total amount of overdrive that is heard. The more you turn it clockwise, the more distorted the sound will become), Level (Controls the total output volume of the pedal), Bass (Adjust the level of bass that the pedal outputs/limits), Colour (high and low tone controls), Compression Clipping (Disengaged(out) for Smooth, Engaged(in) for Asymmetrical Clipping) and Power (This pedal was designed around the usage of a 9V or 18V DC power source and is intended to sound its best at 9V)
Features
- Built in the U.S.A
- High grade components picked for their superior sound and response
- True bypass
- 9v – 18v power jack (no battery connector inside)
- Power draw: between 11.4mA (9v) and 14.1mA (18v)
- Five controls – Level, Gain, Colour, Bass and Compression Clipping Switch
- 1.5" x 3.5" x 1.5" (38.1mm x 88.9mm x 38.1mm) – height excludes knobs and switches