NPD: Wampler Belle Overdrive

[jellodog]

The pedal delivers on the promise of "your amp tone, but moar".

Context: I'm not looking for soaring leads with lots of mid push and gobs of gain. I'm using a Princeton with single coils and low gain; I mostly play pushed cleans to crunch.

I love this pedal already, but I had a hilariously bad first impression. Most people know that the ODR-1 that this pedal is based on has a lot of bass that can be overwhelming.

Wary of too much bass from the get go, I set the bass knob at noon and played my first few notes. It sounded gross. Thin, scratchy and harsh. Oh no!

Eventually I dialed the bass up to 4 o'clock and experienced fat, sumptuous, rich harmonics with a little compression and "give" in the notes. YES!

It was still a little woofy, so I dialed the bass back a little more and there was the sound. My amp, but more. And with a delightful amp-like feel. It's silky under the fingers.

The Belle is great on both the Cutlass (Lollar Strat) neck and bridge pickups. Cleans up well. It does not feel like an effect that has been layered on - the pedal merges well with the sound of the guitar and amp. This one's a keeper.

The bass knob is key!

 

[Whizzinby]

Been wanting to try a Belle. I see the Tumnus Deluxe peeking in on your shot, which is the GOAT imo. (Sorry OCD, you’re still awesome)

 

[jellodog]

Been wanting to try a Belle. I see the Tumnus Deluxe peeking in on your shot, which is the GOAT imo. (Sorry OCD, you’re still awesome)

Yes! It was you that pushed me over the edge on the TD with your GOAT comments on this forum.

You also said "Tumnus Deluxe is on the Mt Rushmore of OD’s". How could I resist that?

I still need to do a NPD for the Tumnus. It arrived the same day as the Belle. I'm out of control on the pedal buying front right now!

Given that I love all the tones on your recordings that I've heard, I feel that we have a lot of shared tonal tastes. I reckon you'll really enjoy the Belle; it's tasty!

 

[jellodog]

 

[la szum]

Why not just a Nobels, JD?

 

[jellodog]

Why not just a Nobels, JD?

• I want the bass control. Apparently all the way up on the Belle is where it's at on the standard Nobels. But yes new models have a cut switch.
• Nobels has made so many versions over the years and they don't all sound the same. Some sound harsher to me. Minefield. Screw that.
• I trust Brian's ears to reproduce what was good about the original coveted version. I like his company. Belle is a known "good one".
• Belle has a sneaky switch on the side for more tone options; although I'm enjoying it set standard at the moment.
• Footprint. Yes, I know Nobels brought out a mini recently (although no bass knob).
• Wampler is TGF-approved

I got the impression that Nobels, after decades, only started addressing people's wishes _after_ the competition addressed them. Didn't feel inclined to reward that.

 

[Stone]

Congrats JD thats awesome I'm sure many hours of tonal bliss lie ahead for you
and yes 100% Brian knows a thing or two about pedals

 

[Whizzinby]

Yes! It was you that pushed me over the edge on the TD with your GOAT comments on this forum.

You also said "Tumnus Deluxe is on the Mt Rushmore of OD’s". How could I resist that?

I still need to do a NPD for the Tumnus. It arrived the same day as the Belle. I'm out of control on the pedal buying front right now!

Given that I love all the tones on your recordings that I've heard, I feel that we have a lot of shared tonal tastes. I reckon you'll really enjoy the Belle; it's tasty!

@Wampler Pedals killed the game with the TD. So good, so versatile. I’ve used it for everything from a clean boost, the traditional no gain all level for high gain, and it’s one of the few OD’s that produces nice pedal distortion. (I generally only like amp distortion)

I think I’m going buy the Belle because of this thread now. Wamps knows OD’s.