Wampler Bravado 40W Amplifier

Brian Wampler, best known for his unique line of boutique pedals, has been testing, tweaking and modifying amps for years. While pedals shape tone, an amplifier is at the heart of the signal chain, because no matter what guitar, cables and pedals you’re using, all of it funnels through the focal point of the amp - the “gateway” for unleashing tone to the world.

In 2010, Brian worked in conjunction with Kevin Shaw, of Shaw Amplifiers, to create 5 Brownface-style amp heads which were sold to a select few. Since then, Brian has been working on designing his own amplifier top down with the goal of creating the ultimate pedal platform amp.

Many amps today sound great, but not quite there in terms of great tone AND flexibility. Others offer a strong and focused voicing, but are not always flexible with pedals; and, most amps marketed as “clean platforms”, are plagued by EQ's that significantly effect the sound of the pedals being fed into them. On many amps, the FX loops either sucks tone or makes pedals sound brighter than they really are. Wampler's Bravado provides the solution for guitar players who entrust pedals for their tone.

The Bravado is the ultimate pedal platform amp designed so that no matter what overdrive, distortion, or fuzz pedal you put in front of it, it will deliver jaw drooping tone. Even broken down and beat up distortion pedals will come to life with the Bravado. Brian designed the input to make chorus, flange, phase, and univibe effects sound lush and more responsive… delays and reverbs will jump out with a depth and purity that is lost in other amps. Couple that with a special active effects loop, designed in cooperation with the one and only Dave Friedman, and you’ll notice that putting the effects in the loop bring a whole new meaning to “purity of tone”.

The Bravado is hand wired in the USA using premium hand selected components. With a full and balanced EQ, it has a full range and touch sensitive level response at any volume. A multi- position bright switch allows you to adjust the right amount of chime, and sculpts the top end to sound just right with your pedals. The fat switch adds a midrange bump for a bit more overall midrange boost, to help you cut through the mix. The high headroom 6L6 output stage delivers big and full bottom end, even with a 1x12 cabinet.

Brian literally spent months testing virtually every guitar speaker in the market today. After much deliberation and painstakingly listening critically to each detail in every situation, he decided on the ultimate speaker for this amp: The Celestion Creamback G12M-65.