Wampler Triumph Overdrive Pedal

As someone who owns far too many pedals, this one still stands out. I didn’t expect this much for this cheap, but it sounds incredible and is as well built and solid as any Keeley, EQD, or JHS pedal I own. I actually own an original Bad Monkey and always loved the tone, but not so much the form factor, so having it in a better enclosure, with another drive to boot, is a pretty solid deal at what Wampler is asking for these. I haven’t played around with the dip switches under the hood yet either, I found it sounds great as is. If you told me it was a $200 pedal, I’d believe it. This is my first Wampler pedal too. Just buy it. It’s great.

This pedal doesn’t get its due, in part because it contains two circuits that aren’t exactly revolutionary. An SD-1? Classic of course. A Bad Monkey? Sure it was hot for a while but it is a modded TS. These are two of the most common drives so why would you want a Triumph? Well, what if you have limited board space and you can’t decide whether to throw an SD-1 or a TS on there? They’re similar but different enough that sometimes you want both, especially if you’re switching guitars or playing with different pickup selections. And what if you find the tone stack of these pedals limiting, and find you need to throw an EQ pedal in front of them? That’s a 3rd pedal. The Triumph solves that with a TMB tone stack that has tons of range. There are also dip switches inside that add in presence (I love them). Best of all it can get even cleaner and higher headroom if you run it on 18v. Those who find the tone bland are probably making the same mistake they make with the TS or SD-1 and running it into a clean amp. As with these original circuits, the Triumph is best into a dirty or edge of breakup amp. There are better pedals for replicating a driven amp vs pushing one. I love this pedal into my Marshall SV20H and my AC15. It is not so inspiring into my Princeton Reverb, UNLESS stacking it into another drive first. Then it shines once more.

Sounds like a very bright blues driver, but with more control. Still tweaking it for my flavor but do like the overall sound. I don’t think this is suitable for a filteron since those are a naturally bright pickup

Brian Wampler has combined 2 of his favorite pedals and added some upgrades. The Digitech Bad Monkey and the Boss SD-1. Both well known stand alone. Triumph is a fine choice for Classic Rock and Blues. The Bad Monkey has stupid, used price scalping. This followed a JHS video. Not Josh's fault. Seriously, some people follow the Herd. Forget that overpaying for used gear. Wampler has the Monkey and Boss SD-1 covered here. A bargain price at under $100. Triumph is quiet when not engaged. It has a powerful EQ. A deluxe feature is a mids control. Choose between the 2 circuits with the hand thrown switch. I am a veteran player who enjoys many Wampler pedals over the years. This Triumph is even better than expected. A no-brainer for a very reasonable price!

Highly recommended. Nothing better at this price! This is a warm, smooth, very affordable OD pedal. It has lots of tone tweaking options with the 3 channel EQ, gain dial, and 'Smooth' and 'Punch' switch. It's a Wampler pedal so it's U.S. made and built like a tank. You'll hand it down to your grandkids. The pedal adds some nice warm grit on the clean channel and gargles up my tone nicely for classic and roots rock tones on the gain/crunch channel. If you're a high-gain metal player this is probably not an angry enough OD unless you stack it with another OD. IMPORTANT TIP #1: No battery option. This pedal must be used with a 9v power supply and doesn't come with one. IMPORTANT TIP #2: There are internal dip switches inside the pedal case to turn on and off a presence or "glass" type EQ effect for both the Smooth and Punch settings. It's very subtle and how it works is highly dependent on your amp. There are some YouTube videos that go into this in detail and I strongly recommend you research and test the sounds with your amp. I made some changes with the switches that definitely improved the sound of the pedal with my amp.

Please know that my three-star review is not a reflection on the great work that Brian Wampler consistently does with his line of guitar pedals. I have a version 1.5 Ego compressor and absolutely love it. But, like many others, I was looking for a specific tone and just could not dial it in with the Triumph. The pedal is constructed excellently. The knobs and switches are both sturdy. But my set up (Strat into a Boss Katana) wasn't conducive with the Triumph. My recommendation is to test out the Triumph at a music store with your set up replicated as close as possible and then buy the pedal. Love Wampler and wanted to give this American made company the business, but I ended up with (another) Timmy.

I use it for boosting a Marshall Plexi and a Bogner Ecstasy. Really good for my intended purposes, and it’s dynamic with the volume knob on my guitar. I’ve also ran it into the a stand-alone clean amp, and it really shines with my Stratocaster as well as my Les Paul. The EQ is super useable, especially the mid control! This is the best deal on a great OD pedal I’ve seen in a long time.

Can be run at 9 or 18v. Sounds especially good when I have it hooked up at 18v.