Andy Wood

Andy Wood is a guitarist and mandolinist based in Knoxville, Tennessee whose music is known for blurring the line between genres. Wampler Pedals describes him as an artist whose work crosses bluegrass, metal, country, pop, blues and rock, and in a Sweetwater demo video Don Carr called him "a genre busting bluegrass metal country pop blues rock guitarist who also absolutely scorches on mandolin"¹. He has toured professionally with a wide range of acts including Rascal Flatts, Gary Allan, Locash, Scott Stapp and Sebastian Bach², and he is currently touring as a solo guitarist and mandolinist while performing live with his own band³.

For pedal players, Wood is best known through his gear: two signature pedals carry his name, the Wampler Gearbox overdrive and the Suhr Woodshed Comp compressor, and his XTS-built Van Halen pedalboard drew wide press attention in early 2024.

Background and touring work

Wood grew up in bluegrass. Wampler says he spent most of his childhood playing and competing in festivals and touring the bluegrass circuit with his cousin and grandfather³. On electric guitar, Wampler says that by the age of 22 he demonstrated his outstanding electric guitar skills being crowned champion of Guitar Center's "Guitarmageddon" competition⁷.

His touring résumé spans country and rock. Wampler lists professional touring with Rascal Flatts, Gary Allan, Locash, Scott Stapp and Sebastian Bach², and Pedal of the Day describes him as "an influential guitarist whose touring acts range from Rascal Flatts to Locash to Gary Allen to Sebastian Bach and more"⁸. Today he tours as a solo guitarist and mandolinist, performs live with his own band, and works on a host of additional musical projects³.

The Wampler Gearbox and Junktown

The Gearbox is Wood's signature overdrive with Wampler Pedals, developed by Brian Wampler with Andy Wood⁷⁴. It puts two independent drive circuits in one enclosure: channel one is based on the Tumnus and channel two on the Pinnacle, two of Brian Wampler's best-loved drive circuits, tweaked to Wood's specs³¹. Guitar World reported that the pedal "combines two of the company's most popular drive circuits, the Tumnus and the Pinnacle, into one enclosure"⁹, and gearnews.com noted that Mr Wampler designed it with two separate channels¹⁰.

Both channels can be used at the same time for stacking tones, the pedal uses relay true bypass, and it carries Wampler's limited 5-year warranty⁷. Wampler says Wood uses it live and in the studio⁷, and that Andy named the pedal the Gearbox "as it was designed to be the driving force behind your sound"³.

The album connection is direct: Wampler says Wood's album Junktown was recorded with a prototype of what is now the Wampler Gearbox Andy Wood Signature Overdrive pedal³⁷. Delicious Audio reported on the tweaking Brian Wampler made to the resulting circuit to suit it to the ear of the multifaceted Knoxville-based guitarist⁴.

In Sweetwater's demo video, Don Carr walked through both channels and Wood's use of them:

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Carr explained that the Gearbox contains the Tumnus and Pinnacle circuits tweaked to Andy's specs, with channel one offering a medium-gain drive that cleans up really well and stays responsive even at the lowest gain setting, making it great as a boost into an amp¹.

Wampler's earlier Fearbox page also credits Wood: the Fearbox was developed with Andy Wood and, like the Gearbox, is listed as used by him live and in the studio².

The Suhr Woodshed Comp

Wood's other signature pedal is the Suhr Andy Wood Signature Woodshed Compressor, a compressor pedal built with Kevin Suhr⁵¹¹. Suhr's manual calls it "the first pedal designed alongside one of our Suhr artists," describing Wood as a Suhr artist who plays in multiple musical environments¹¹. Suhr says that together, Kevin Suhr and Andy Wood have built a compressor that is the foundation of some of Andy's favorite tones¹¹.

Technically, the manual describes the Woodshed Comp as "a very simple, feed-forward studio-type VCA compressor circuit that has been tailored to work incre"¹¹, an analog VCA design. One of its most notable features is headroom: the manual says it has a massive amount of headroom, the most of any Suhr pedal, and is usable as a clean boost with minimal to no compression¹¹. RockBoard's PedalPedia entry calls it a tiny pedal with durable build, saying "Don't let its size fool you. The tonal characteristics of this tiny pedal can only be eclipsed by its durability."¹²

Wood himself describes how he uses compression:

He says he uses it to add as much as 3, 4 or 5 decibels in front of a clean channel⁵.

Beyond his two signature pedals, Wood is named on Carl Martin's artist page as a user of the PlexiTone⁶.

The Van Halen pedalboard

In January 2024, MusicRadar reported that Wood had published a full hour-long demo of his XTS-built Van Halen pedalboard, a rig revealed late the previous year¹³. The video shows how the board sounds, with XTS explaining how it works and guest players reacting to the rig, and XTS even put it on a striped pedalboard¹³. MusicRadar's Rob Laing wrote that "in case you didn't know, Andy has his EVH chops down"¹³.

The idea for the project came about when Wood was going to do a Van Halen-leaning video on the BOSS SDE 3000VH before fellow Van Halen fanatic Pete Thorn beat him to it¹³.

FAQ

What compressor does Andy Wood use?

Wood uses the Suhr Woodshed Comp, the Andy Wood Signature Woodshed Compressor. It is an analog VCA compressor circuit he helped design with Kevin Suhr, and Suhr describes it as the foundation of some of Andy's favorite tones. Wood says he uses compression mainly to boost the signal, adding as much as 3, 4 or 5 decibels in front of a clean channel.

Is the Suhr Woodshed Comp an Andy Wood signature pedal?

Yes. It is the Andy Wood Signature Woodshed Compressor, built by Suhr. Suhr's manual calls it the first pedal designed alongside one of their artists, and says Kevin Suhr and Andy Wood built it together as a compressor that is the foundation of some of Andy's favorite tones.

What pedal did Andy Wood record Junktown with?

Wood recorded his album Junktown with a prototype of the Wampler Gearbox, the pedal that became the Wampler Gearbox Andy Wood Signature Overdrive. The Gearbox combines two Wampler drive circuits, the Tumnus and the Pinnacle, tweaked to Wood's specs in a single enclosure.

Who has Andy Wood toured with?

Wood has toured professionally with Rascal Flatts, Gary Allan, Locash, Scott Stapp and Sebastian Bach. He is currently touring as a solo guitarist and mandolinist, performing live with his own band, and working on additional musical projects.

Does Andy Wood play mandolin?

Yes. Wood is a guitarist who also plays mandolin, and he currently tours as a solo guitarist and mandolinist. In Sweetwater's demo video, Don Carr described him as a genre-busting bluegrass, metal, country, pop, blues and rock guitarist who also scorches on mandolin.

How old was Andy Wood when he won Guitarmageddon?

Wood was crowned champion of Guitar Center's "Guitarmageddon" competition by the age of 22. Wampler says that by that age he had demonstrated his outstanding electric guitar skills in the competition, after a childhood spent playing and competing in festivals on the bluegrass circuit with his cousin and grandfather.

Questions