Opinions on Wampler Pinnacle (now an NPD)

Kebabkid

Exactly that. Played one at the recent Gearfest and looks like I'll be getting one and just wanted to gauge opinion, get some settings and wondered how people used there's etc

John_P

I went through a phase of trying drive pedals and the pinnacle (and zendrive) were the only two to survive.  It sounds great but also feels great - easy to tweak with the contour control (compared to the plextortion that I expected to prefer).   I use mine into a fender twin or to give another tone option with an evh 5153.   I still chop and change pedals as I try options but I can't imagine the pinnacle getting knocked off the board any time soon.

monquixote

I used to have one. 

Really great pedal. 

Quite compressed which might not be everyones cup of tea and I would have appreciated a bass control (if so then a Plextortion might be a better choice) , but if you want that EVH type tone then it's right up there. 

I wouldn't bother with the Deluxe version as I didn't find the gain boost was something I really fiddled with much.

hubobulous

Not very good IMO. Lacks the warmth of a Klon, not as transparent as a Timmy and has fewer dynamics than a Tubescreamer.

Buy at your peril. ;-)

Grunfeld

Superb pedal.  A regular on my board.  At gig volumes I've found that it needs a noise gate after it. 

dindude

I knew it was only a matter of time KK! It certainly sounded great at grearfest. I'm trying to block it from my memory.

"La la la I'm very happy with my Shaman la la la" etc

Kebabkid

Thanks guys for your input and @dindude, you know me well and we had some fun with it, didn't we although your Shaman is also a beast!

It's the Standard one that I'll be getting courtesy of @hubobulous who was, of course, joking here with his comments

I'm not sure if this will be going onto my board or whether it'll just be brought out for some occasional 80's fun. Whatever the case, I just knew I had to get me one and it sounded pretty sweet through my rig at Gearfest with just a touch of delay and an Xotic EP boost for solos. Oh, and I note this is a pedal that prefers a clean channel.

As to being a tad noisy, I have heard that can come into play when you engage the boost and play at volume, but I didn't hear anything worrying when I tried it and being compressed is fine by me too.

Does anyone know what this is like in the lower gain registers and does anyone use it for any other styles other than what it's being touted for?

Along with my Keeley TS808, Catalinbread Formula 5F6 and Fulltone OCD, I really do feel I have all overdrive sounds covered, well, the ones I want.

There may be a Part 2 to all this as I may be acquiring an Ibanez S470 to accompany said pedal as I haven't got a guitar with a locking trem, and that was another thing that whetted my appetite at the recent Gearfest. Those events really should carry government health warnings and I wonder who else has purchased gear on the back of trying something on that day. I'd still love a Kotzen Tele though - lush!

dindude

^ ha ha! I can relate to this. I have spent so much time and effort (and money!) building my very tasteful and well chosen "main" rig and guitars, but I've slowly built a secondary rig that consists of a metallic orange Charvel and pedals that give cheesy chorus and gobs of modded-marshall style gain.

It's good for the soul.

Kebabkid

dindude said:

^ ha ha! I can relate to this. I have spent so much time and effort (and money!) building my very tasteful and well chosen "main" rig and guitars, but I've slowly built a secondary rig that consists of a metallic orange Charvel and pedals that give cheesy chorus and gobs of modded-marshall style gain.

It's good for the soul.

It certainly is D and I blame you entirely for this 80s Cock Rock retro-fetish-phase

monquixote

I probably used it outside of the expected use as I was using it as a one click fusiony type sustained lead stuff from a Fendery clean sound. 

I used to use it in vintage with the boost off and the gain fairly low and it's still pretty full on even at that level.

TheMarlin

I had the Pinnacle.  Hated it.  Couldn't get a decent tone out of it.  Put me off Wampler.

Grunfeld

Kebabkid said:

...As to being a tad noisy, I have heard that can come into play when you engage the boost and play at volume, but I didn't hear anything worrying when I tried it and being compressed is fine by me too.

Does anyone know what this is like in the lower gain registers and does anyone use it for any other styles other than what it's being touted for?

As it happens I've found it's not an especially noisy pedal in that it doesn't generate its own, extra, "crappy" white noise... it's more that the gain it can produce will be inherently er.. noisy.  Which is why I need a gate with it because without one, at gig volumes it's just like an "instant howling feedback" pedal.  Which is great fun but frightens the horses (and bridesmaids).  I don't think I've ever engaged the boost for playing live, that would be mental.  I basically keep it on "vintage" without the boost. 

But as for "lower gain registers" --  I don't think that's really its forte.

EDIT:  Just another thought:  the combinations of sounds you can get from the interplay of the tone, contour, and gain controls is incredible and even subtle adjustments can make a big difference.  It's one of the few pedals on which I've needed to add masking tape and draw position markers on to quickly find the sounds I like.

siraxeman

I have one (the deluxe ) on my board....its a great pedal but just to say go first check out the mooer cruncher! I have one of those also and they are pretty similar apart from in price. The pinnacle I got over a year before the cruncher, had I had the cruncher first I'd not have bothered getting the pinnacle.....the contour control is about all that gives the pinnacle the edge as they're so similarly voiced otherwise! During the gig last night I hardly used the pinnacle as the switch seems to have a bit of a fault on it so it was the rat that got the job of providing the heavy dirt.....and I was rather enjoying that despite being different.

Kebabkid

NPD - finally got the one I tried at the Gearfest from hubobulous. Superb pedal that cleans up really well from the guitar volume and considering the gain on tap, it's pretty quiet. It also sounds decent in the lower gain ranges but it really excels at the "brown sound"/80s rock thing when you wind up the gain and harmonics jump out at you. Previously, to get close to this sound, I had to stack an OCD, Keeley 808 and an Xotic EP.
EDIT: it's the newer one but NOT the Deluxe with the separate boost switch.

SquireJapan

I personally flip flop between the Plextortion and the Pinnacle. I'm a massive wampler fan boy though. Those two into a clean amp get me in the same ballpark as my JCM900 with and SD1 in front of it. 

I find I get a better VH1 tone with the Plextortion than the Pinnacle for what it's worth (I can't begin to play like the man though). 

Don't get on as well with the OCD or DLS, I should spend more time with them I think.

maidenfan

Kebabkid said:

Thanks guys for your input and @dindude, you know me well and we had some fun with it, didn't we although your Shaman is also a beast!

It's the Standard one that I'll be getting courtesy of @hubobulous who was, of course, joking here with his comments

I'm not sure if this will be going onto my board or whether it'll just be brought out for some occasional 80's fun. Whatever the case, I just knew I had to get me one and it sounded pretty sweet through my rig at Gearfest with just a touch of delay and an Xotic EP boost for solos. Oh, and I note this is a pedal that prefers a clean channel.

As to being a tad noisy, I have heard that can come into play when you engage the boost and play at volume, but I didn't hear anything worrying when I tried it and being compressed is fine by me too.

Does anyone know what this is like in the lower gain registers and does anyone use it for any other styles other than what it's being touted for?

Along with my Keeley TS808, Catalinbread Formula 5F6 and Fulltone OCD, I really do feel I have all overdrive sounds covered, well, the ones I want.

There may be a Part 2 to all this as I may be acquiring an Ibanez S470 to accompany said pedal as I haven't got a guitar with a locking trem, and that was another thing that whetted my appetite at the recent Gearfest. Those events really should carry government health warnings and I wonder who else has purchased gear on the back of trying something on that day. I'd still love a Kotzen Tele though - lush!

Try to do a back to back comparison with a guitar with a proper Floyd if you can, the ZR trem is different, I did'nt feel it was as expressive as a Floyd.

Kebabkid

I've had Floyds before but I preferred the ZR as I liked the play in it and the fact you could palm mute without the system moving or digging into your wrist. Makes no odds now as the Ibanez was only on loan and has since gone to a mate.
Re:the Pinnacle, I plan to have it on a small board (the inside and one half of a DVD case lined with velcro and some glued rubber matting on the other to stop slippage) with an Xotic EP and a Zoom MS70-CDR and this will satisfy my 80s/AOR stuff, but all the pedals will all go back onto my main board too.

I have @dindude to thank for whetting my appetite for an 80s board.

Kebabkid

Grunfeld said:

Superb pedal.  A regular on my board.  At gig volumes I've found that it needs a noise gate after it. 

I wrote the following based on my initial trial at Gearfest "As to being a tad noisy, I have heard that can come into play when you engage the boost and play at volume, but I didn't hear anything worrying when I tried it ". Well, I have found it to be a noisy bastard, especially once the gain goes past 12 o'clock, so I will need to introduce some noise reduction which I have courtesy of my Zoom MS70-CDR.

Crikey, I usually employ an OCD, Keeley TS 808 and Xotic EP Booster to get close to this sound and with all of those on, not one bit of noise, but the Pinnacle is very good and feels especially good under fingers - it's got some real amp thump to it!

dindude

Glad you finally got it KK. Are you setting up a separate board for it or is it going on your main one? Also, did you also go for the Ibby in the end?

jeztone2

I like the Pinnacle, but I thought the whole point of it was to sound like Van Halen, I didnt really see it as a subtle overdrive. So not sure why the Klon & TS9 have been mentioned?

Kebabkid

@dindude - I may put it on a small makeshift board I've got or have it as an occasional pedal. It's just fun to have.
The Ibanez went to my mate and I just couldn't go back to a locking nut trem and 16" radius despite having a lot of fun with it.

@jeztone - how you doing Jez? The Pinnacle does sound like VH, especially in the Vintage Mode and I like to think of it like a Peavey 5150 in a box. I'm not using it in a subtle way at all although in the lower gain registers, it's surprisingly good. What I was saying is that to get anywhere near that sort of gain and sustain and get close to the Pinnacle sound, I currently employ all 3 of the aforementioned pedals (the OCD has the gain turned up a fair bit with the 808 feeding it on a lower gain setting and pushing it like you would an amp, and the EP just bumps it another notch). That's 3 gainy pedals all on at the same time but with hardly any resultant noise, yet the Pinnacle gives off some noise on its own. The mid/contour switch is a gem!
EDIT:I've actually reduced the noise of it a little by switching off my Keeley Compressor and that definitely contributed to it, as you'd expect.With an Xotic EP and Zoom MS-70 CDR, it's not that noisy and it must've been something on my normally quiet board as well as the Keeley Compressor. I love the sound and feel under fingers of this pedal.