GEAR REVIEW
WAMPLER BRAVADO 40 WATT COMBO AMP | Michael Hodge
KEY FEATURES
• 6L6 Pedal Platform Amp
• Friedman Buffered FX loop
• 6 Position Bright Control
• Point-to-Point Hand Wiring
• Custom USA Transformer
• Celestion G-12” 65 Watt
Brian Wampler’s quest for the perfect pedal
platform amplifier has led him to create the 40
watt all tube Bravado. His pedals are some
of the most popular, and best-loved in the
marketplace. His YouTube channel is top-rated
among guitar pedal geeks and tone chasers.
I’ve been a fan for years and was excited to
take this amp for a test drive.
OUT OF THE BOX:
There’s something beautiful about American
made products. Weighing in at 55 lbs, the
Bravado looks like it will last a lifetime. There
are two models, a combo 1-12” version and
a head version. Separate 1X12” and 2X12” with adjacent power and standby switches. turn the volume way up. To me, it’s similar
extension cabinets are also available. His 1-12” Underneath the chassis is a 3-way impedance to the power tube overdrive sound in a
extension cabinet weighs 37 lbs, so the amp switch for 4-8-16 Ohm and main/aux speaker Jim Kelley amp. There is a nice breakup at
chassis probably weighs about 18 lbs due to outputs. There’s also a Freidman designed 6:00 and beyond with a gentle, natural tube
the massive power transformer. A sign of a MOS-FET solid state EFX loop in and out. compression. You can also feel the give of the
Tube Rectifier that I like. Adding the Fat switch
great tube amp.
IN USE: gives a great midrange boost. Its smooth, and
Bravado is an all-tube design with 6L6 power I had the perfect opportunity to check out gives the upper mids authority.
tubes providing 40 watts. There is a 12AX7 this amp in the studio. We had a pile of songs preamp tube and a 12AT7 phase inverter. The to cut guitars on, and this producer likes a Next, I took a guitar with humbuckers and
rectifier tube is a 5AR4. combination of many different guitars layered. moved the Treble circuit knob to 4 for dirty and
First though, I plugged a Strat straight in to hear 5 for clean. Those were the sweet spots for me.
The cabinet is tongue and groove multi-ply how the amp sounded. The 6-position treble Now that I had my tone settings I was ready to
Baltic Birch. It comes loaded with a Celestion knob sounded best in the second position. hook up the pedal board. Every combination of
G12M-65 Creamback 16 Ohm speaker, with Many amps can be harsh plugging straight pedals I tried sounded great through this amp.
heavy-duty 12-gauge wire. The grill cloth is in, but I could see recording like this. Tons A vintage Fender Deluxe has been one of my
a fresh cream/grey with white piping. The of headroom and the amp sounds very silky favorite pedal amps, and the Wampler beats it
top controls include Volume, Bass, Mid, a 6 across the entire spectrum. and sounds much more prominent in the mix.
There’s a nice overdriven sound when you Next up was the EFX loop, so I added a Wampler
position Treble knob and a Fat switch for more
beef. There is a cool “W” shaped power light,
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June 2019
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