Wampler announces Pantheon, a Bluesbreaker-inspired overdrive pedal

April 8, 2022 · 3 sources

Wampler announced the Pantheon, an overdrive pedal voiced after the vintage Marshall Bluesbreaker circuit, according to Delicious Audio, which published its report on April 8, 2022¹. The pedal is an analog overdrive with an active Baxandall bass control, a treble control, a presence control, volume and gain knobs, and two three-way switches²¹.

The Gain Level switch toggles between three drive ranges, and the Overdrive Voice switch selects between hard and soft clipping or a mix of both, Delicious Audio reported¹. A Sweetwater demo describes the Gain Level switch as offering the lowest gain in the down position, a higher setting, and the highest gain in the center, and the Overdrive Voice switch as controlling compression and articulation through clipping diodes, with the most articulation down, the most compression up, and a blend in the center³. The bass control is neutral at noon and sweeps widely, and the presence control adds top-end, according to Delicious Audio¹. The pedal has top-mounted jacks¹.

RockBoard's PedalPedia lists the circuit as analog, running on 9V DC center negative at 17.3mA². Neither source gives a US price or a ship date.

Delicious Audio described the Bluesbreaker as a stompbox modeled after the amplifier of the same name, associated with mid-sixties British blues-rock and with artists including Eric Clapton and John Mayall¹. Wampler's own description, as carried by RockBoard, says the pedal delivers "everything from sweet and creamy push to cranked British Grind" and places all controls on the front rather than inside². The Sweetwater demo, published in 2018, said Wampler analyzed original Bluesbreaker units and popular clone circuits and combined what it called the best sonic characteristics of them³.

The Pantheon sits alongside other overdrive pedals from the Indiana-based builder, which Delicious Audio noted has built a reputation for gain pedals including the Sovereign Distortion and the Tumnus overdrive¹.