Spud
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Ego 76 Compressor - Wampler Pedals
The EGO 76 is Brian Wampler’s tribute to the iconic studio compressor that has shaped the fabric of music for decades – the legendary 1176Peak Limiter.

I have an old Boss CS3, a script reissue Dyna Comp, the Keeley, and still am getting the Wampler.The 1176 is the only compressor I geek out about. I own the WARM clone, and it's the only piece of outboard gear that I consider indispensable to my project studio.
That said, I am not sure any pedal can oust the Keeley comp that has been on my board forever. It's pretty much tops for guitar.
That said, I'd love to give one a try and see!
EDIT: Also, the description on Wampler's site is a beautiful exercise in flowery hyperbole. I wish I had written it.
I sometimes like to fiddle about, and even like to make exaggerated/injudicious, or unnatural sounds with them. Sometimes I even run one into another. I can appreciate simple and straight forward too though. Dynacomp is 2 knobs. I am sure yours is awesome too.Glad you guys like those compressors. I've used them (and a bunch of others) and I did find it hard to dial in a tone with all those knobs.
The Flat Earth looks and sounds great, but I do like having release and sidechain HPF. For those reasons the Walrus Audio Mira has been perfect for me (plus nice opto tone). Discontinued but worth hunting down the heavily discounted remaining stock.Glad you guys like those compressors. I've used them (and a bunch of others) and I did find it hard to dial in a tone with all those knobs.
I still am getting one.I gotta say something about these 1176 guitar pedals that have been making appearances recently:
The UA 1176 is and traditionally was a studio piece of equipment used on tracks in the studio (I have UA 1176, Waves CLA etc DAW plugins myself).
Rarely, they were used with a guitar plugged direct into them (e.g. the 2x 1176 setup used on "Black Dog" by Zep).
But they're mainly used for guitar tracks, drums tracks, bus tracks etc... in a studio environment.
Therefore, I find it eyebrow-raising that CaliFX (seems to be the first to market) creates an 1176... for your guitar pedalboard.
And now Wampler is getting in on the 1176-for-guitar-pedalboard theme.
Now, I'm not saying they're useless; undoubtedly they would work great as a compressor. But the fact that they incorporate some of the 1176 circuit (in a pedal-sized format) doesn't make them some sort of "golden fleece" type of guitar compressor. Point is, you'll get pretty much the same compression performance out of a regular Wampler EGO Compressor (I have one), Keely or even the standard-for-decades MXR DynaComp on your pedalboard... simply because you're playing the guitar with it, not mixing tracks.
I mean, we're talking about guitar here - and compression here (not like, guitar & Roland Dimension D type effect) And if it's a distorted tone, you've already got compression. A standard school of thought on putting compression (1176, LA-2A, LA-3A, Distressor, etc) on distorted guitar tracks in the studio is: "no compression needed - it's already compressed enough" (although it's not a rule). Clean tones are of course a different ballgame.
For an example, I suppose a parallel would be "let's make an API channel strip pedal for your guitar pedalboard"... i.e. questionable.
Would it work? Yes. Is it really useful? Hmm. Does it make sense? Meh.
Good points. I haven't played a Cali76, let alone compared it to a real 1176, so I do find the notion that it's an 1176 in a pedal dubious although unverified.I gotta say something about these 1176 guitar pedals that have been making appearances recently:
The UA 1176 is and traditionally was a studio piece of equipment used on tracks in the studio (I have UA 1176, Waves CLA etc DAW plugins myself).
Rarely, they were used with a guitar plugged direct into them (e.g. the 2x 1176 setup used on "Black Dog" by Zep).
But they're mainly used for guitar tracks, drums tracks, bus tracks etc... in a studio environment.
Therefore, I find it eyebrow-raising that CaliFX (seems to be the first to market) creates an 1176... for your guitar pedalboard.
And now Wampler is getting in on the 1176-for-guitar-pedalboard theme.
Now, I'm not saying they're useless; undoubtedly they would work great as a compressor. But the fact that they incorporate some of the 1176 circuit (in a pedal-sized format) doesn't make them some sort of "golden fleece" type of guitar compressor. Point is, you'll get pretty much the same compression performance out of a regular Wampler EGO Compressor (I have one), Keely or even the standard-for-decades MXR DynaComp on your pedalboard... simply because you're playing the guitar with it, not mixing tracks.
I mean, we're talking about guitar here - and compression here (not like, guitar & Roland Dimension D type effect) And if it's a distorted tone, you've already got compression. A standard school of thought on putting compression (1176, LA-2A, LA-3A, Distressor, etc) on distorted guitar tracks in the studio is: "no compression needed - it's already compressed enough" (although it's not a rule). Clean tones are of course a different ballgame.
For an example, I suppose a parallel would be "let's make an API channel strip pedal for your guitar pedalboard"... i.e. questionable.
Would it work? Yes. Is it really useful? Hmm. Does it make sense? Meh.