What are your four ‘must-have’ pedals? That is what we ask our guests to share with you in our Four On the Floor podcast segment.
Aside from creating his own successful pedal brand, Brian Wampler literally wrote the book on modding and building your own pedal effects. His efforts have been a major influence on the vast array of boutique pedal builders our there, which we are now obsessed with. If you are not familiar with Wampler Pedals do yourself a favor and check them out. Brian gave us a fantastic interview too! You can hear the episode for yourself right here. Check out Brian’s choices for his Four On The Floor.
1. ProCo – RAT Distortion
“A Good ol’ RAT with an LM308 chip and a 150K potentiometer. I like the old ones, but don’t believe in the “(components) mojo” stuff. The old ones frankly have higher resale value haha! They also have 150k potentiometers, not 100k like in the modern ones. It is an odd value so it’s really kind of cool from a collectors point of view.
Editors note: If you have a newer one that you want to mod it as Brian does, it is super easy! Pick up his book and learn how. ”
Check out the ProCo – RAT Distortion
2. Ibanez – Tube Screamer
“I don’t care if it’s a TS808, TS5, TS7, TS9, TS10…whatever! But that is just from a playing perspective. From a collector perspective, it would be an excellent condition TS808. A great tube screamer circuit is just fantastic.”
Check out the Ibanez – Tube Screamer
3. Big Muff – Black Russian Big Muff Pi
“I have this black Russian Big Muff that has been modded a hundred times. The circuit board is all torn up and the wires are halfway hanging in there but it just sounds so good. I’ve taken everything out of that one and built an identical duplicate and it still didn’t sound the same–not bad, just not the same. So I just keep hanging on to it.”
Check out the Big Muff – Black Russian Big Muff Pi
4. MXR – DynaComp Compressor
“I like compression, and I used to like A LOT of compression when I was playing a lot of country stuff like Brad Paisley. I use compression a bit different now, especially on clean stuff. Just a little bit helps give everything an overall boost.”
Check out the MXR – DynaComp Compressor
Huge thanks to Brian for being a guest on our show and please check out Wampler Pedals. We wish him continued success!