Wampler Leviathan Fuzz Pedal

Before I go into my speal about what I think, lets get to the controls

Treble: Controls the treble

Bass: Controls the bass
Volume: Controls the volume
Gain: Amount of grit

Toggle:
Roar: Less Compressed, a bit less gain, More open sounding, more cut. This mode uses germanium diodes.

Rumble: More compressed, gainier. This mode uses silicon diodes.

This is a new fuzz pedal by Brian Wampler. He spent a month designing and tweaking this pedal. He created it to be the meanest fuzz out there. (Good try, but nothing will ever beat the Fuzz Factory, its plain and simply as insane as anyone is gonna want to get.) However this pedal has a lot more useable and practical tones than the Fuzz Factory. He was going for a big thick rich sound like you hear on Smashing Pumpkins "Geek USA" Brian is quickly emerging as my favorite pedal designer. Every pedal I've tried of his has been golden. Also aparently Leviathan is a sea monster. Which is where the pedal got its name.

This is just about everything you could want in a fuzz pedal. Most of the controls are pretty standard. Except for the toggle switch. This allows you to do something I've never seen in another fuzz pedal. That is to switch between Germanium and Silicon diodes. Typically you buy fuzz pedals based on this. This pedal allows you to switch on the fly. Germanium is more open sounding, has more high end, and cuts through the mix a bit better. It also sounds a bit raspier to me. Silicone has more gain, is more compressed, sounds a bit smoother and thicker.

The EQ controls are very useable, although I would have liked to see a mid range control. It has tons of bass, like most wampler pedals. You can take it into ridicioulous territory.

Barely cranking the gain in rumble (Silicone) mode, you have nice thick gain. This is what I love, I tend to not like fuzz pedals that offer "low gain" fuzz. That's not what fuzz is about in my opinion. It's about being over the top. This is the reason I like EHX's Big Muff. And also the reason I love this pedal. You want thick? You can get it easily.

But, this thing somehow retains clarity of the notes. And it just sounds absolutely awesome. Dime it, keep it subdued. Either way you're gonna be happy.

Germanium gives you more cut so you can stand out in the mix. Its more open and "Throaty" Sounds more raspy to me as well.

I wont bore you with technical jargain. However, I will also mention that they made this pedal to stack with other effects. Some fuzzes you cannot do this with due to the impedances.

The only thing this thing doesn't do that I wish it did, is get that nice breakup on the tale end of notes. If only they'd added a control to starve the voltage, this could have been my perfect fuzz pedal.

Pro's

True Bypass

Stacks well with Wah's and other pedals

Choice of Germanium or Silicon diode operation

Thick and Rich

Very useable EQ
9V Operation via battery or standard power connection

Great sound all around!

Con's

No control for fuzzy breakup

Honestly the best place to check out demo's is right from Wampler's site.

http://www.wamplerpedals.com/fuzz/leviathan.html

There are plenty of demo's on youtube. Most good ones are linked there.