Wampler Pedalhead

[Frodebro]

I am going to have to try the Wampler pedal. If it works like that, I could run it through my 2:90 with deep and modern engaged, copy it to the pedal, and have a frickin’ 2:90 on my pedalboard. Insanity.

There's no way to connect the Wampler to an amp like that, because it IS the amp. It appears that the "learning" bit applies to measuring the speaker impedance curve from whatever cabinet you're plugged into, and the power amp emulation bit is selectable from three preset choices.

Regardless, I'm definitely getting one of these as soon as I can, along with the Tone King Royalist preamp pedal. Combine those with my FM9 and I will be one happy camper.

 

[Desertdweller]

There's no way to connect the Wampler to an amp like that, because it IS the amp. It appears that the "learning" bit applies to measuring the speaker impedance curve from whatever cabinet you're plugged into, and the power amp emulation bit is selectable from three preset choices.

Regardless, I'm definitely getting one of these as soon as I can, along with the Tone King Royalist preamp pedal. Combine those with my FM9 and I will be one happy camper.

Then what is he doing at 6:55 in the video? I wish he actually explained what he was doing when he pressed the “learn” button, but that specific part was not described in the video, and that’s the part I most wanted him to describe.

I bet I could connect it to the amp, my Suhr RL, and get the response. Time will tell if it’s possible, but it seems like a super cool amp.

 

[MatrixClaw]

The "equivalent to 50w tube" marketing cracks me up on this. While it might have some truth to it, tell that to your 2x12 with Greenbacks in it when this thing wrecks your speakers

“A no-compromise amplifier solution”: Synergy teams up with Wampler and Friedman to launch its machine-learning power amp – and promises to change the game for tube modeling

A new Friedman IR-Loaded and Wampler Pedalhead are the first new products to benefit from the new tech

www.guitarworld.com

 

[Whizzinby]

The "equivalent to 50w tube" marketing cracks me up on this. While it might have some truth to it, tell that to your 2x12 with Greenbacks in it when this thing wrecks your speakers

“A no-compromise amplifier solution”: Synergy teams up with Wampler and Friedman to launch its machine-learning power amp – and promises to change the game for tube modeling

A new Friedman IR-Loaded and Wampler Pedalhead are the first new products to benefit from the new tech

www.guitarworld.com

Trying to read a GuitarWorld page…

 

[Chocol8]

if these are using standard OEM SS boards used on everything else

One of the Synergy devs said it is using proprietary amp modules and that was necessary in order to do what they are doing. It does seem like they would need to be able to do real time voltage and current measurement at a minimum, but who knows what else is different.

 

[Frodebro]

Then what is he doing at 6:55 in the video? I wish he actually explained what he was doing when he pressed the “learn” button, but that specific part was not described in the video, and that’s the part I most wanted him to describe.

I bet I could connect it to the amp, my Suhr RL, and get the response. Time will tell if it’s possible, but it seems like a super cool amp.

The Wampler was plugged directly into the cabinet, with a Tone King Royalist preamp plugged into it. When he pressed the 'learn' button it sent a test signal to the speaker cabinet and I'm guessing that's how it learned the SIC. But it doesn't "learn" the characteristics of a power amp-those are already baked into the software and selectable with the mini toggle.

 

[Blix]

Then what is he doing at 6:55 in the video? I wish he actually explained what he was doing when he pressed the “learn” button, but that specific part was not described in the video, and that’s the part I most wanted him to describe.

The Wampler is "learning" the cabinet that's connected, to generate a impedance curve. You can't profile a 2:90 with it.. :)

 

[Chocol8]

Then what is he doing at 6:55 in the video?

It is measuring the impedance curve of the attached cab. It then models how the selected power amp model (one of three? but he also said six earlier) would interact with the cab.

 

[banned]

Confused - what is this thing? If it's a SS power amp - what's the 'Machine Learning' bit about?

 

[Whizzinby]

One of the Synergy devs said it is using proprietary amp modules and that was necessary in order to do what they are doing. It does seem like they would need to be able to do real time voltage and current measurement at a minimum, but who knows what else is different.

Badass if the case. I need to have more faith in those dudes until we get the full rundown. My skepticism overrides at times.

 

[Blix]

Confused - what is this thing? If it's a SS power amp - what's the 'Machine Learning' bit about?

See the two posts above yours.

 

[Frodebro]

The "equivalent to 50w tube" marketing cracks me up on this. While it might have some truth to it, tell that to your 2x12 with Greenbacks in it when this thing wrecks your speakers

“A no-compromise amplifier solution”: Synergy teams up with Wampler and Friedman to launch its machine-learning power amp – and promises to change the game for tube modeling

A new Friedman IR-Loaded and Wampler Pedalhead are the first new products to benefit from the new tech

www.guitarworld.com

That is unfortunately a necessary approach to take, because the internet has tragically solidified the erroneous belief that "tube watts are louder than solid state watts."

A tube amp can be pushed far beyond its rated output, because the resulting distortion is desirable. A 100 watt Plexi, when wound up, is actually putting out upwards of 180 watts. It's distorted power, but it's 180 watts nonetheless.

A solid state amp is good right up to its rated output power, but if you try to push it beyond that it hard clips in a most unpleasant manner and can generate power spikes that kill speakers.

Total harmonic distortion is what you need to be looking at. A 100W tube amp pushed to the point of 1% THD is going to be exactly the same power output (and volume) as a solid state power amp pushed to the same THD level.

 

[ejecta]

This could totally displace the SD170. Size is amazing.

I wonder if you can bypass the PA modeling and just use it flat without any conversion.

Thought the same. I was about to buy a SD100S but now I'll wait to check this out.

 

[Chocol8]

That is unfortunately a necessary approach to take, because the internet has tragically solidified the erroneous belief that "tube watts are louder than solid state watts."

It's not necessarily erroneous. It is erroneous in the sense that an actual watt put out by a tube amp is the same as a watt put out by a SS amp. It is accurate in the sense that a tune amp rated at 22 watts may be able to put out as much or more power than a SS amp rated at 100 watts. It's the way the amps are rated that is grossly misleading.

It is also not just the issue with distortion, there is also the way they react to the impedance of the load that can reduce the clean output of a SS amp well below the rated value, so you need much more (rated) headroom to be able to deliver the same clean signal.

 

[Desertdweller]

The Wampler is "learning" the cabinet that's connected, to generate an impedance curve. You can't profile a 2:90 with it.. :)

I’m going to need to read up on it more. I have a reactive load box for my amps, I have a pedal power amp. The speaker impedance curve I use is in my RL that comes after the power amp. I’m interested, but I’m going to need to test it to really see the value in that for me.

 

[Chocol8]

I’m going to need to read up on it more. I have a reactive load box for my amps, I have a pedal power amp. The speaker impedance curve I use is in my RL that comes after the power amp. I’m interested, but I’m going to need to test it to really see the value in that for me.

I don't think this is meant for your use case. It may have a flat mode and more power/better sound than your current pedal power amp, so there may be some value to you. That said, I think this is really aimed at pre-amp pedals and digital solutions with the cab block (and associated SIC) turned off.

 

[Desertdweller]

I don't think this is meant for your use case. It may have a flat mode and more power/better sound than your current pedal power amp, so there may be some value to you. That said, I think this is really aimed at pre-amp pedals and digital solutions with the cab block (and associated SIC) turned off.

That makes sense. Using something like that with maybe a Friedman IR-X could be powerful. Maybe next level over something like the Amped-1.

 

[politoleo]

Synergy employe said it is the equivalent of a 50 watt tube amp (per side) into any load, presumably 4-16 ohms, not sure about 2 ohm. If true, that is significantly more power than a PS170 or other similar sized devices.

Edit: video above says 240 total/120 per side, or 60 tube watt equivalent. Interesting for sure if it holds that in to 16 ohm.

I'm Leo from Synergy, part of the DSP team, was invited here by a moderator to help answering some questions!!

Yes it's equivalent to a 50W/60W tube poweramp also at 16ohm

 

[politoleo]

I’m going to laugh my ass off if these are using standard OEM SS boards used on everything else, with a model running over it. (Like everything else) I think the secret sauce to this point is the impedance matching thingy?

This could be badass though because of the size. The SD170 was a chunky boy, this seems way more in line with a normal pedal.

It's a proprietary design as the tech needs more hardware and high quality codec to perform real time continuous current/voltage measurement. Also OEM power modules of that power are literally bigger then the whole pedal!

 

[Chocol8]

I'm Leo from Synergy, part of the DSP team, was invited here by a moderator to help answering some questions!!

Yes it's equivalent to a 50W/60W tube poweramp also at 16ohm

Can you comment on if it does 3 or 6 different power amp models, and is there a flat amp option for use with a separate reactive load?

Also, can you simultaneously have no IR on the speaker outs with IR enable on the DI outputs?

Thanks!