The Wampler Euphoria (formerly the Ecstacy, but the good people at Bogner took exception) is an extremely versatile overdrive pedal that pushes well into distortion-pedal space before it’s done. Wampler promotes it as their “Dumble Box,” a description I think their marketing department should give another once over.
The dark green metallic case sports four knob controls – Volume, Gain, Tone and Bass, which all do exactly what you’d expect – and a 3-postion toggle switch, marked “Voicing.” Here’s where the interesting stuff happens. The three positions of the switch are Smooth, Open and Crunch. Smooth is intended to reproduce the clean-shaven OD of a Dumble or Fuchs-style amplifier… but to be honest, it doesn’t really succeed. It’s a perfectly usable setting, but too grainy to pass for, say, a Zendrive. The Open setting gets a nice transparent grind going. Kind of like your amp, only louder and grittier. It reminds me of my Crowther Hotcake, only, once again, not quite as good. Finally, the Crunch setting is real Carlos Santana/Triple Rectifier burn-down-the-house drive and sustain, with enough compression to make you smell burning tubes.
I liked the Euphoria enough to buy it, but it has lost its place in my collection. I think it would be a dynamite first OD pedal, or perfect for a player on a budget. If you wish you had a Zendrive and a Hotcake and a Mesa Throttle Box lined up, but don’t feel like spending that kind of kale, the Euphoria will get you most of the way there. But if you’re lusting after the purest examples of those sounds, you may find yourself wishing for that extra 10% the Euphoria lacks.
Specs:
• Handbuilt in the U.S.A.
• High grade film capacitors and resistors picked for their superior sound and response
• Completely true bypass
• Battery connection and 9v power jack (barrel plug like Boss)
• Power draw: 8mA
• 4 knobs – Volume/gain/bass/treble
• Switch goes from overdrive setting to distortion setting (top: creamy tone, middle: crunchy tone, bottom, light fuzz tone)
• Advanced Gain Structure, amazing array of sounds.
• 2.5″ x 4.5″ x 1.5″ (63.5mm x 114.3mm x 38.1mm) – height excludes knobs and switches
• Very transparent
• Very dynamic
• Completely original circuitry
March 25, 2015
Nice review! I like how you’re giving an honest review of this pedal and that you’re not saying that it’s the best pedal ever made.
I also have this pedal, but mine is an Ecstasy. I don’t think it’s fair to compare this pedal to all of the ones you mentioned. But I can see how it disappoints you. For me, it’s a great pedal, I prefer my ODs to have grit, so the fact that the ‘smooth’ setting is not super smooth is perfect for me. My favorite setting is ‘open’. Again, I want my ODs to have some hair, so this is perfect for a ‘transparent’ sound for me. It’s a great match for my Ampeg and Fender Blackface amps. I really like the bass knob on this pedal, it never makes your tone muddy. My gripe with the pedal though is that it’s loose sounding. It’s less noticeable at lower gain settings, but when you get into higher gain settings, it’s a bit too loose for my liking.
But again, to each his own! I definitely like your honest opinion of the pedal.