When I think of Earthquaker Devices effects I think about the weird stuff. The Rainbow Machine and Organizer come to mind. So when I saw that Earthquaker was releasing a "Translucent" overdrive I was kind of surprised. The first thing I thought was, "Klone". This is a light to medium transparent overdrive, but to think that this an ordinary Klon clone, you are way wrong.
This pedal boasts a lot of impressive features. The active EQ section on this pedal is a powerful feature. 20db boost/cut to 2kHz and 80Hz really let you take control of your tone. However, the addition of center detent pot easily let you find the perfect center letting your tone pass through unaffected. Relay switching and an all-analog path make sure that you don't hear any click when turning on the effect while leaving your tone alone. It is touch-sensitive and volume-responsive like an amp making it attractive for dynamic players.
Everything looks great, but the Klone wars were some time ago. There is a good chance that you already have a light overdrive that you favor. If not, this pedal already has some pretty tough competition out there already. We've seen light overdrives with Treble and Bass controls. The Wampler Deluxe Tumnus gives you a three-band EQ. So is the Westwood too late? Well, probably not. The market for these beefed light-duty overdrives isn't quite oversaturated yet, and the Westwood seems to add enough of its extra special flair to stand out from the rest.
Happy 2018 everyone. I just wanted to take a moment to look back at the previous year and recognize some of the best things to happen to guitar pedals in 2017. This isn't everything that was great, nor is in any particular order. These are just the five pedal of last year that stand out the most. Starting with:
Boss expanded their line of 500 series effects. In a somewhat predictable manner, Boss added to the well-received DD-500 with an equally impressive Reverb unit. BOSS loyalist have been long-suffering devotees to a brand that took its time to catch up, but many feel like the 500 series is BOSS's answer to Eventide and Strymon. Not only do BOSS fans have an answer to the huge do-everything-delays, but so do those that can't bring themselves to throw down the big bucks. At $350 these delays look like a bargain.
2017 seemed like the year everyone was stepping up their delay game. TC was no different. Many love the Flashback delay, and for good reason. TC Electronic's Tone Print features are massive. How do you improve upon a pedal that you can update endlessly via a cable plugged into your computer? More functionality. Somehow TC crammed, even more, features into their Flashback II. The Smash feature is, for the most part, unprecedented. Now you can have an expression pedal built into your compact pedal. The Flashback II is a solid win.
Wampler stepped up their game with the Deluxe Tumnus. Despite its recent release, it has taken over pedalboard everywhere. I follow tons of guitarist and guitar pages and it seems like nearly all the boards posted on the internet in the last few months have a Deluxe Tumnus on them. The Klone Wars may be over. Many guitarists want more out of their light overdrives, and the Deluxe Tumnus delivers.
For the last few years, EHX has been the go-to place when looking for inexpensive pedals that deliver (especially if those pedals have a striking resemblance to another, rather iconic, pedal). Stopping short of making a re-issue, EHX opted to release a clone of an EHX classic. The Green Russian Big Muff is a copy of the Russian made Big Muff Pi. This isn't an original idea, but it's cool to see EHX reaching back to their roots. It doesn't hurt that it is inexpensive and compact.
I'll be honest. I've never really seen what was so special about the carbon copy. Analog delays are nice, but I've always like the expanded capabilities of digital delays. Not until I owned a Carbon Copy did I understand that it has a sound all of its own. The worst thing you can say about that pedal is that it is limited. The Carbon Copy does away with that complaint. The Deluxe is an improvement on the original in every way. This is a textbook example of how you update a fantastic original.
Today, I am a proud papa, metaphorically, I've been a father for several years now... But what I am talking today is the Wampler Tumnus Deluxe. You see, All the way back in October of 2015 I predicted this day will come. Yes, it was a stab in the dark, but it makes it no less true. Check it out if you don't believe me. The date of that post is from over two years ago. The Deluxe Tumnus features a three-band EQ, bypassable buffer, and switchable gain boost. This is a humble blog, so I don't think that I really influenced Brian Wampler to develop a new Tumnus pedal, but then again...
He Has Read My Blog
No really, He has even commented on posts before. Brian is very engaged with his audience. He is active on YouTube, social media, and forums. This is the formula that has made Wampler the brand that we know and love. Either he is a builder that wants connect to the users of his product, or he is an egomaniac that can't help Googling his own name. Given his demeanor on his YouTube channel, I believe it's the former.
He Basically Told Us He'd Do It
Back when the Tumnus was released, Brian told us that if he had put the Tumnus in a larger enclosure, then he would have been too tempted to mess with the circuit. So many people asked him to make a faithful reproduction of the Klon Centar that he didn't want to go modding the original just yet. Now that the Tumnus has become a respected pedal in its own right, a deluxe version is more sensible.
It's Still Pretty Risky
Sure, it sounds good in theory. First, give a Klon, then give us a Klon Deluxe. Deluxe must be better right? Well, we have to look at why we like the Klon in the first place. It's a simple transparent overdrive. Personally, I use my Klone to hit the front end of my amp (or another dirt pedal) to get it a little bit of crunch. I use the Treble knob to make everything just pokey enough. Season to taste using the Gain and you're done. However, a three band EQ on a Klon circuit might just be too much for some people. I know what you might be thinking, "More knobs = more better". The original only asked us how much treble we wanted. Too much? Turn it down. Not Enough? Turn it up. Now we can boost or cut Bass and Mids. In doing this, Wampler has given us the freedom to find a wide range of tones. Some of those tones are going to be crap. Now we have more rope, we can find a way to hang ourselves.
Conclusion
I'm excited about this. I mean, I did call it. Totally called it. Other than that, this is the first kind of progression. We've seen Klon circuit paired with other circuits. We've also seen transparent overdrives with fun little mods. But, to my knowledge, this is the first direct clone to get an update like this. I look forward to posting a full review soon. I wonder if other builders will follow suit. Will there be a Soul Food Deluxe, or an Archer Deluxe?
If you suffer from GAS as I do, then you are probably aware of the influx of pedals from china. I'm not talking about BOSS, or Digitech, or Mooer, or Mod Tone or any of the other pedal brands that manufacture overseas. As I remember, it started with Joyo. They made a brand for themselves by mostly copying other pedals and rebranding them, all at discount prices. There has been several others to come about. These pedals have a bit of a stigma already. The first time I ordered a Joyo pedal, the wrong pedal came, and customer service was so bad that I opted to sell the pedal outright instead of returning it. There has been several brands to come about since, and service and quality seem to be improving as well. However Tone City don't seem to be turning out the 'same old stuff' as these other brands. When I first saw their pedals, I did think they were just shined up Chinese copies. To start, you can find lists of the pedals that most of their micro-pedal like is emulating. What caught my attention was their release of their larger, seemingly more original, pedals. I learned of these when I saw my favorite two Brits fool around with them:
Chappers and The Captain are amusing to watch and their production quality is nearly unmatched on YouTube. Something that you have to remember is that they are representing a store. This store sells the products that they are demonstrating. Bare in mind that it would not be beneficial for them to complain about or criticize these pedals. They are going to speak favorably about them, but one thing that Lee 'The Captain' Anderton said made my ears perk up. Most of these dual button Tone City pedals are voiced like very particular amps. All except one, one is just called, "King of Blues". Lee mentioned that he thought that it could be a aNaLoG MaN King of Tone clone. I decided to find out for myself.
I Haven't Played A King of Tone
So this first one is telling on myself. I haven't had a chance to play through one of the more iconic boutique pedals. I have listened to many high quality demonstrations, but I know that there is a lot missing from these. There is no way of sensing the attack sensitivity or feeling how the pedal reacts with the amp. I will say that I've heard a wide range of tone from this one pedal. Obviously the amp these pedal being played through are very important, also the guitar and anything else that is in-line with the pedal. So everything taken with a grain of salt, the KOT is a full sounding flexible overdrive. It is capable of clean-ish 'transparent' boost and thick saturated overdrive. So I may not have played one of these pedals, but I've spent a lot of time researching just what makes this pedal so sought after.
The Pedal Has A Mix Message
Several descriptions of this pedal include that the first stage of this pedal is a straight Klon copy. Stating the the second stage is an 'original' design. I find this a little over simplified. I also think that this description is a little lazy. However, you can't dismiss it entirely. Tone City makes a spot on Klon copy in the 'Bad Horse' pedal. The famous circuit shrunk down just like the Tumnus from Wampler. This is completely likely, however, the KOT and the Klon have similar features as it stands, so the comparisons between each of these pedals may not be totally baseless. I've recently put the King of Blues pedal against every Klon circuit I could get my hands on, and my verdict is that it may share characteristics, I can't say that its a direct copy of the Klon. For one, the Tone knob works like a tone knob (low pass filter) rather than a treble boost. The amounts of gain are similar but the output from the pedal is notably less. The King of Blues of much warmer than any Klon or Klone that I've ever played. From what I've heard of the Tone City 'Bad Horse' (klone) these are not the same circuits.
If It Is A KOT Clone, Then I Have Bad News
Let's say that this is a KOT copy. The real deal goes for north of $300. That's three times the price I paid for this pedal. That's KTR money. Sure, there are other pedals that fetch that kind of money, but what is really striking is that the pedal is only so-so. I do like the pedal. It is capable of several good sounds, and it is really flexible. Two 'channels' make it a great option to handle your overdrive tones. But, if this is a actuate copy of the famous pedal, then I don't see what is so great about it. I'm able to do everything this pedal does with a couple of other overdrives already on my board. This might have had the appeal at the beginning of the boutique boom, but now it's just riding the way of hype from its glory days.
Conclusion
This is a fine pedal. If you are looking for a multi-stage low/medium gain overdrive then this might be the thing for you. I'd put it above a Fulltone Fulldrive (a pedal that I don't really care for all that much), but I'm probably not going to replace what I already have on my board with this. There might be certain situations that I'd prefer this pedal to others, like if I wanted to run a small-ish board for some running around, but it fall short of the litany of pedals that occupy my board. Its good, but it's not "sell all your pedals now and get one of these" good.
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Spending my morning reading some threads over at the fretboard, I found one about the new Wampler Tumnus. One thing led to another and I found this page. Brian Wampler, of Wampler pedals, seems to be very engaged with the online community. This isn't a surprise since he has a podcast and has even comment on this humble blog. Brian has engaged the people interested in his product better than most any other pedal developer.
When reading a the thread linked above, I noticed that there is a little disdain surrounding the Tumnus pedal. I enjoy the transparent-overdrive/treble-boosty qualities that come with a KLON circuit. I also enjoy saving space on crowded pedal boards. The Wampler Tumnus seemed to fill a gap in the KLONe offerings. Regardless, people seem to find fault will what Brian is doing. The idea that Wampler is only trying to cash in on making a compact KLON clone while that trend seem to be in full swing (thanks to the EHX Soul Food) is touted about. I find this a tad unsavory. It seems unfair to criticize a person for wanting to make a pedal that people want to buy. But this is what we find. Brian has done an excellent job of explaining why he has build this people (people asked him to).
Is There A Deluxe Version On The Way?
Allow me to step off my soap box for a moment and get back to the point at hand. If you clicked on the link at the beginning of this and read through everything, then you might have noticed that Brian alluded to a Deluxe Tumnus. Saying that if he put the circuit in a bigger box then he'd be temped to add extra features and mods. This is a more exciting prospect then a tiny KLON. So Brian, if you are reading this, please explore the Deluxe Tumnus. I have been a fan of your dirt pedals for a while and I have nothing but faith in your abilities to make an amazing pedal.
This morning I woke up to this in my Twitter feed:
Yes, this is a micro pedal from Wampler. It is only the second one, that I know of, from this company. Two things stand out from this picture: 1) the presence of a Treble knob and 2) the half hooven animal/half man image. Anyone who has been following trends in effects would say that it's a Klon copy. It is also described as a "transparent overdrive" by Wampler. So in all likely hood, this pedal will serve the same purpose as a Klon and Klon-type pedals.
Why do we need a new Klone? Well, we don't. Now we have another pedal doing the same thing as other klones, but it's twice the price as everyone's favorite Klone. The thing that this pedal offers is the compact size. I've actually been toying with the idea of a mirco-sized pedal board that's easy to transport. This would be ideal for that application. It would also be the most expensive piece on the board. I'm excited to see how this compares to the rest of the Klones out there. It looks like we will find out a lot more on October 1. That is when Wampler says this will drop!
