Wampler Ecstasy Overdrive

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I used to run a website / blog / magazine type thing and did pedal reviews demos etc. I was feeling pretty nostalgic today so decided to use way back machine to go and capture some of the good reviews from the site.

Features
The Ecstasy is reasonably complex for having such a small footprint. It features four knobs and a three-way toggle switch. It uses high quality components throughout and looks well wired together. The only thing I don’t like about the layout is the fact the power jack socket is mounted on the outside of the case, it is no biggie and nothing that will affect the pedal at all, just personal preference and to be honest there is a lot going on at that end of the enclosure anyway, without trying to fit in an internal mounted power socket.

Maybe a point to note is that I really like the look of this pedal. Sure it isn’t really important but it looks sleek and the sparkly dark green finish (which the pictures don’t do justice) looks great in real life, I have nicknamed this colour ‘Galaxy Green.’

Anyway, the controls…
Tone – This dial feeds in the amount of treble you require. There is a lot available so you can actually use this as a treble boost too. I tend to prefer warmer sounds so this dial is usually under half way on my box but boosting the treble on clean tones can yield some great, sparkly results.

Volume – Needless to say, the volume control. This has a lot of boost available actually, I tend to set it at unity or just above if I want a boost. Turned fully clockwise this really gets your amp working, it is very loud!

Bass – this dial feeds in the amount of bass you require. Again a lot of boost is available but even with the bass close to full it doesn’t get too flabby or loose, just very warm and dare I say woolly, but in a good way if that is the kind of sound your going for. Also a point to note is that the bass is pre-clipping, meaning you alter the bass before the distortion stage instead of afterwards which is how the famed Dumble amps did it.

Gain – Needless to say, the gain control. A lot of gain is available especially on the Crunch setting but all of it is very usable and musical.

Toggle Switch – The fun part and the switch that gives this pedal such a great versatility!

Smooth – The smooth channel is Brian’s take on the famed Dumble sound. So we are talking warm, smooth, sweet overdrive that is very touch responsive yet beautifully compressed at the same time.

Open – This is the setting I have found works great as a clean boost. Lower the gain and up the volume and make your already driven amp work harder. Setting the volume at unity and boosting the treble works great on clean tones too livening up a dull guitar sound.

Crunch – Surprisingly my favourite channel. I bet you all thought I would rave about the Smooth channel didn’t you? The crunch channel is incredibly versatile taking you everywhere from a subtle, dirty crunch to a fat and full almost fuzz sound and this, surprisingly, is my favourite setting. Roll the bass and gain up high and just let rip with some sweet Eric Johnson / Joe Bonamassa-esque fuzz sounds. That kinds of fuzz where every note is still very intelligible yet covered in dirt at the same time.

Sounds
Phew, we could be here for a while! Pull up a comfy chair and get a cuppa!
Okay, let us try and do this logically. Brian states that this pedal was primarily designed to be used on a clean channel cranked up loud, so that is where we should start and is primarily what we will focus on.

So, the Smooth setting; the smooth setting is exactly that, smooth, warm, round and definitely akin to the Dumble sound of other pedals like the Zen Drive and Custom Drive. It is nicely compressed yet touch-sensitive, very ‘creamy’ and classic. It works perfectly for blues and fusion, perhaps not so much if you are into rock or metal but using this channel to boost an already driven amp will open you up to that world of screaming rock tone.

On this channel I like to have the bass pretty high (as usual!) and the treble just under half way. This gives you a very warm sound but with just enough treble to have a much defined pick attack. What I like about this channel is its ability to give you a great ‘dirty clean’ tone. The gain is so smooth and clear that there are no harsh edges and it almost sounds like a saturated clean channel, with TONS of sustain.

It is a great channel and I find myself flicking over to this one a lot when playing blues or jazz based stuff.

Now then, the Open setting. First thing I noticed about this is the drop in volume which COULD cause problems at a gig if you are using more than one setting of the switch during a gig, you would have to tweak the volume control too to find unity volume. This is probably my least favourite setting on the pedal to be honest, but that does not mean it is bad! It is indeed ‘open’ and clear, each note sounds with clarity and the overall sound is a lot more transparent than the other settings and for this reason I have found that this is the setting to use if you want a clean, or slightly dirty, boost. As I stated earlier using this setting with unity volume, low gain, and high treble on a clean channel of your amp produces a wonderfully sparkly and ‘spanky’ sound, probably great with a telecaster but alas I do not own one to try it out.
Because of its useful properties as a boost this functions perfectly for boosting a lead channel or even for ‘crunching up’ a rhythm channel by setting the treble slightly higher than the bass, you can get some good sounds, but not my favourite from this pedal.

Ah the Crunch setting! Definitely my favourite! This can take you anywhere from a slightly dirty old-school blues sound to a very rich and warm fuzz sound with the gain at extremer settings. This setting definitely works best on a clean amp channel and by raising the treble you can definitely get that 70’s – 80’s British rhythm crunch sound, not too far from the Brian May tone a lot of folks dig.

My personal favourite is having the bass and gain very high up, the treble just under halfway and the volume just higher than unity, this gives a very thick, woolly but still clear and defined fuzz-stortion that at louder volumes reminds me somewhat of Bonamassa’s sound but with subtle differences. I did not expect to get this almost fuzz face sound from this pedal when I bought it, but I am so pleased I did as it has become my favourite, and most used, setting.

Like I said though, this channel is versatile in itself. On an already crunchy amp sound boosting this slightly with high treble can give you a rather ‘djenty’ rhythm sound, probably not one for the extreme metallers amongst you, but certainly more than tight enough for my personal use.

This pedal even stacks pretty well with others, it does everything! I found a great combination using this to push my Butler tube Driver a little harder and I achieved a very raw and open sound, somewhere in the realms of Gilmour. It also takes a wah pretty well, particularly impressive was its ability to handle wah even when on fuzzier settings.
Okay I am going to end this section of the review by saying again that this has a lot of different sounds in it and if you had say, six or seven Ecstasy all lined up you would still want to pull the trigger and buy one more to achieve a slightly different sound. I think I could be satisfied with about five or six of these on a pedal board and that would cover most of my dirt needs!
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Overall
What else can I say? I am firmly on the ‘Wampler Is Great’ bandwagon and hope to be checking out more of Brian’s stuff in the future. I am sure that all of his pedals will offer equally great tonal quality.