Cory Wong

Cory Wong is a Grammy-nominated guitarist renowned for laying down some of the finest grooves across all genres¹. Wampler Pedals says he probably first hit their radar with his "legendary jams with Vulfpeck," and that since then he has "conquered the world with his dynamic rhythmic playing and pure positivity"¹. He is also a solo artist on the Temple Audio artist roster², and Pedal of the Day calls him a funk guitar maestro and 63rd Grammy nominee celebrated for his unique playing style and unmistakable crisp tone³.

His gear story is unusually tied to signature pedals. He has signature models from three makers: the Wampler Cory Wong Compressor, the Hotone Wong Press, and the Jackson Audio Optimist drive pedal. Around those sit a few pieces he uses without his name on them, including an Empress Buffer+ and an Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe for acoustic guitar.

The sound: rhythmic funk grooves

Wong's playing sits at the intersection of rock, jazz, and funk, built on dynamic, rhythmic guitar work¹. Guitar World calls him a "Vulfpeck rhythm hero"⁸, and his clean funk tone is the thread that runs through his gear choices. Guitar World reports that the Wong Compressor sits "at the heart of Wong's uber-clean funk tone"⁸.

Compression is clearly a central interest for him. By his own admission, he owns 43 compressor pedals and uses studio rack compressors⁹. His interest goes beyond owning them: he co-designed a compressor with Brian Wampler, saying, "What Brian Wampler and I have worked on is to find a compressor that will take that dynamic range, tighten it up"⁸.

Compression: the Wampler Cory Wong Compressor

The Wampler Cory Wong Compressor is a dual footswitch compressor and boost pedal with Wampler's tone shaping controls, a Boost mode switch for either a flat frequency or rich saturated mid boost, a unique "Comp On" mode to bypass the footswitch, and XLR connectivity for recording or live use⁴. Wampler describes it as a dynamic toolkit that shapes your tone with "sparkling cleans and responsive compression either direct to your amp or straight into your recording interface"¹. It was his second signature pedal in as many years, following the Jackson Audio Optimist in 2022⁸.

The compressor side is a tweaked version of the Wampler EGO Compressor, paired with a custom switchable boost on the other side, triggered by two separate footswitches¹⁰. The starting point makes sense: Wampler says the EGO "has been a big part of Cory Wong's signature tone for a long time, providing the light touch required to subtly drive the best from his tone"¹. Gearnews similarly notes the pedal looks like a tweaked version of the Wampler Ego Compressor⁹.

The side-mounted Comp On button gives an always-on mode for players who want the compressor permanently engaged while using the footswitch only for the boost⁸. The balanced XLR output means it can be plugged into an amp and a recording interface at the same time¹⁰. Wong demonstrated the pedal himself in a video on his YouTube channel¹⁰, and in Wampler's demo video he said, "This [pedal] is made for the modern player who seeks the analog tone of the past"⁸.

For more on this effect type generally, see compressor pedals.

Live: the Hotone Wong Press

For live performances, Wong's go-to pedal is a Hotone. In 2022 he discovered the multi-functional Soul Press II from Hotone and, as Pedal of the Day tells it, "instantly fell in love. Since then, it has become his go-to pedal for live performances"³. Hotone then built the Wong Press, a signature pedal tailored specifically to him³.

The Wong Press is a volume, wah and expression pedal built to his personal specs³¹¹:

• True bypass
• 4 in 1 functionality: volume, expression, wah, and volume/wah
• Dual-color status LED strip showing pedal mode and position in real time
• Cory's custom volume curve and wah Q control
• Classic-voiced wah tone with flexible tonal range
• Active volume design for keeping lossless tone
• Separate tuner and expression outputs
• 9V DC or 9V battery power¹¹

Related type pages: wah pedals, volume pedals, and expression pedals.

Does Cory Wong use a buffer?

Yes. Empress Effects names Cory Wong among the artists who use the Empress Buffer+⁶. The Buffer+ is an all-analog signal path pedal whose complete I/O puts "all the connections to your pedalboard consolidated in one place," which Empress says "makes setup and teardown quick and easy"⁶. See buffer pedals for how buffers fit on a board.

His Wampler compressor also handles buffering duty on its own: it uses a high quality op-amp buffered bypass rather than true bypass⁴.

EQ and The Optimist

The Jackson Audio Optimist is a signature drive pedal designed with Cory Wong to his specification⁵. It packs Klon and Timmy style circuits with MIDI control and a useful active three-band EQ section⁵. MusicRadar describes it as a stompbox collab that "takes circuits from two of the most-vaunted overdrive pedals in history, pairs them with a Baxandall-inspired active EQ section and then gives players MIDI control over the whole shebang"¹². Wong calls it "the most versatile overdrive pedal" he has ever used¹², and in Pedal Haven's announcement he is quoted simply: "This is the drive I've always wanted"¹³.

The EQ section came from a long-running argument. In his own words:

He explains what the EQ actually does for him: "We created an EQ section that focuses on the frequencies that you want more of in single coils and less of in humbuckers"¹². In practice, that lets him tone shape guitars to match each other, or dial in a perfect clean tone from an amp¹². On the two drive circuits, he says the Klon "pairs incredibly with the flat response overdrive"¹².

For context on the effect type, GuitarPlayer's guide to EQ pedals notes that "an EQ (equalizer/equalization) pedal could be one of the most genuinely useful stompboxes you don't own"¹⁴. See also equalization pedals, overdrive pedals, and MIDI pedals.

Acoustic guitar

For acoustic guitar, Wong has used the Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe, a compressor. In his own words on Origin Effects' artist page:

See acoustic pedals for gear aimed at acoustic players.

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