The Wampler Triumph -- Worth It?

[Aceguitar1]

Hey everyone! I could not help the temptation to pick up the new-ish Wampler Triumph during a recent visit to the guitar store. As part of Wampler's new $99 line, I was initially not sure what to expect when taking it out of the box -- nor was I sure about the target consumer. Was this an "entry" level pedal for folks new to the world of pedals that would give the person a handful of the "standard" overdrive sounds? After all, the copy on Wampler's own sales material describes the circuit as a combination of two very well known overdrives (the Boss SD-1 and Digitech Bad Monkey, which is in and of itself a spin on the classic TS-808). Or was this pedal meant for the hardcore pedal fan to provide them with new sounds or use cases?

Regardless of these questions, my experience with the pedal has been decent. The pedal itself is fairly versatile, and I did not hit any point where I thought "this sounds cheap," for whatever that is worth. I will say that I think Wampler knocked it out of the park when it comes to the combination of those two classic circuits; it really does sound like what you would imagine in that scenario.

Also, as someone who struggles to use overdrive in the first place, and even more so struggles to use a tube screamer, I found this pedal more useable than others. I am still a huge fan of the Greer Lightspeed, but this Triumph puts in the work. And for $99, the buy-in price worked.

Either way, I made a short video with the pedal using some different gain settings that I found worked for me.

 

[GlenP]

Great demo of the Triumph,
that’s the way to really Lay it on the Line!

 

[Aceguitar1]

Great demo of the Triumph,
that’s the way to really Lay it on the Line!

Thank you so much!

Honestly, I was not totally convinced about the pedal until I started trying it over some tracks I was working on. By itself, I struggled hearing too many use cases for it. However, after recording with it, I realized this pedal was actually pretty versatile!

 

[NJDevil]

Thank you so much!

Honestly, I was not totally convinced about the pedal until I started trying it over some tracks I was working on. By itself, I struggled hearing too many use cases for it. However, after recording with it, I realized this pedal was actually pretty versatile!

That was well done and I certainly heard the versatility in that very well done 3 minute demo and really covering "all the bases". I really dig your playing which helped express the capabilities also.

At $99? Great value. I have a Keeley Halo coming in and my thoughts were how well the tones from your demo would pair with some Halo's settings.

 

[General_Lee]

Great to see young people embracing that classic country guitar style. You do it well. Solid demo re the pedal. I also like that Esquire and the many cool amps stacked behind you. Are they all yours?

 

[Aceguitar1]

That was well done and I certainly heard the versatility in that very well done 3 minute demo and really covering "all the bases". I really dig your playing which helped express the capabilities also.

At $99? Great value. I have a Keeley Halo coming in and my thoughts were how well the tones from your demo would pair with some Halo's settings.

The Halo looks like such a cool pedal! I’d love to get my hands on one at some point to try. You’ll have to share your thoughts on yours!

 

[Aceguitar1]

Great to see young people embracing that classic country guitar style. You do it well. Solid demo re the pedal. I also like that Esquire and the many cool amps stacked behind you. Are they all yours?

Ah, thanks for that! Yes, those are some of my amps. I need a bigger rack to fit the rest — I’ve recently gone down the vintage Valco, Harmony, and Kay route... but I’ve always been a sucker for vintage Fender, if that’s not obvious. I’ve just been really lucky over the years to come across some fantastic deals and situations when it comes to gear.

 

[Londoner]

That's how a demo should be made.

 

[Ricochet]

Nice demo, the “in the mix” is such a useful aspect of this demo but often overlooked. Context is everything. Also tnx for keeping it 3 minutes.

 

[Ricochet]

Great demo of the Triumph,
that’s the way to really Lay it on the Line!

Ahh! He definitely didn’t waste our time.

 

[GlenP]

That’s a really good deal now considering the recent price gouging on the used Bad Monkey market!

 

[FretsOnFaiar]

I've also recently kind of "succumbed" to my curiosity regarding this pedal. I'm still "getting to know" this pedal but I'll say this. It doesn't sound like the SD-1 to me. The SD-1 seems to have far more possibility to make the sound more "bassy" than this pedal here. What I hear is a very sharp peak in the mids whenever I turn it on, which I don't necessarily view as positive. Granted, you can steer the amount of mids, but the general range puts you in a mid-focussed territory. The sound itself, though, is very nice. On the "smooth" setting it's kind of "transparent" almost, and very dynamic. In fact, the touch sensitivity of this pedal and its reaction to your fingers and what you play may be a reason for me to keep it, even though I don't quite enjoy that "mid-centered" territory of the pedal. The "punch" setting is a bit thicker, less transparent and better for "meaty riffs", while retaining the touch sensitivity.

These are my impressions so far. I still need to "play around" with the switches inside, so far I've turned both off to make the pedal less bright.

Regarding the physical attributes, the pedal seems sturdy enough and well-made. Still kind of unsure as to really needing this pedal or not, considering I already own an SD-1.

 

[GlenP]

Maybe JHS can do a side by side comparison of the Wampler Triumph and Tumnus Deluxe and … never mind, that would just be too derivative.

 

[FretsOnFaiar]

Anyone else have an issue with the strong "mid hump" of this pedal? I realize that this is more or less a "TS style" pedal, but even the SD-1 I own has a much wider frequency sweep than the Wampler does. The Wampler "zooms" you into a certain mid-range territory and leaves little room for tonal changes, unfortunately.

 

[Ricochet]

Anyone else have an issue with the strong "mid hump" of this pedal? I realize that this is more or less a "TS style" pedal, but even the SD-1 I own has a much wider frequency sweep than the Wampler does. The Wampler "zooms" you into a certain mid-range territory and leaves little room for tonal changes, unfortunately.

Have you played around with the switches yet?

 

[stevo]

You're my hero! Nice stuff.

I like overdrives for country when used right - like you're doing here. Wampler Paisley is another favorite.

 

[FretsOnFaiar]

Have you played around with the switches yet?

I did, strangely, that mid hump doesn't seem to go away. The bass seems to go more in the direction of increasing low mids. I'll try experiment further, perhaps setting mids and treble to 0 and seeing what happens, but something tells me that the results won't be too favourable. Don't get me wrong, I really like the "feel" or "touch sensitivity" of the pedal, which is boost-like. It may be a reason for me to keep it. I also like the fact that it's somewhat transparent on the "smooth" setting. Maybe a Wampler Tumnus would be more like my cup of tea, but I don't have one (yet), so I can't compare. At any rate, I can see that Mr. Wampler certainly had a sound in mind when he made the pedal but so far the tonal range leaves a bit to be desired.