Wampler Triple Wreck Distortion Pedal

With a devastating amount of gain and a full complement of onboard controls, the Wampler Triple Wreck offers distortion tones for any setting and style.

Overall User Ratings (based on 9 ratings)
  • Overall:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(9) (see rating details)
Submitted November 26, 2013 by a customer from gmail.com

"Metallica in a box!"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Recently, I sold my Mesa Mark V for an EVH 5150 III. I wanted something a little more aggressive with better low end and higher saturation. While the EVH does this perfectly, it doesn't have quite the creaminess that the Mark V does. This would't be an issue except that I love playing Metallica riffs, and you can't get any closer to a creamy old-school Metallica tone than you can with a Mesa. Well, until now that is. Enter Triple Wreck, aka, Metallica in a box. The Triple Wreck does an absolutely amazing job of emulating a Mesa Rectifier tone. It is incredibly easy to dial into and sounds great at any volume. Having played around with Dual Recs, I find them hard to dial into and they don't sound the best unless they're really cranked. I live in an apartment, so finding gear that sounds great at lower levels is very important to me (and my neighbors). The Triple Wreck takes the best of the Dual Recs and allows you to do less tweaking and more playing. As I mentioned before, I bought this primarily to match the Metallica tone, and that it does. Just using the recommended 80s settings in the instruction manual, I'm able to get a very decent Black Album tone right away. The pedal is also capable of a plethora of other tones, but I use it entirely for Metallica metal. While I love the Triple Wreck, this box of holy grail tone goodness is not perfect. Being a pedal, it does lend itself slightly to a more digital sound, but only slightly. I only say this because when I bypass the pedal and play channel 3 on my amp, I notice the tubes more. That is to be expected though. Secondly, this little sucker is expensive. Almost $300 for a pedal is quite a bit, but it does sound the best of any other metal pedal, hands down. I've seen people of forums say that you can achieve the same sound with cheaper pedals, but I completely disagree. I tried a variety of pedals out before picking up the Triple Wreck, and they all sounded fizzy and artificial in comparison. I hoped this review helped give you some insight into the pedal, and how it suits the needs of a bedroom playing metal head. Here is my gear setup as well in case you're curious: EVH 5150 III 50 watt head, Mesa Dual Rec 2x12 cab, and a LTD EC-1000 with active EMG pickups. Cheers!

Musical Style:

Metal, Hard Rock, Punk
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Submitted August 2, 2018 by Joe Zakucia in Rocky River, OH

"The best distortion pedal ever made!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Since ive been playing ive always been searchingbfor a distortion pedal that emulated the sound i heard in my head. I use fender amps for their cleans and i wasnt ready to give that up or spend 4000 on a mesa triple rec. This thing has distortion for days but not that fizzy ice picky stuff. Everything is balanced. Highs, mids, lows, and the distortion has this clarity to it. It literally turns your amp into something completely different. Youll just have to hear it in person. Ive had'em all--the pinnacle, dracarys, and sovereign distortion, and tjis one is the king of all overdrives and distortion pedals. The price is a steal if you ask me for what this thing does

Musical Background:

Lead guitar--Professional musician

Musical Style:

Blues, rock, classic rock, hard rock, metal and reggae
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Submitted September 6, 2012 by Don C in Raleigh, NC

"Metal Pedal"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
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Great pedal for dialing in some pretty heavy tones through a clean/cleanish amp. Boost feature is basically a fuzz but cool for some stuff. Very well built with high quality parts. Not exactly a recto but still very cool. Plus I can use it at home for very low volume noodling.

Musical Background:

Semi professional guitarist for 20+ years

Musical Style:

Funk, dance, rock, pop, hard rock
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Submitted January 6, 2014 by Chuck P in Holly Springs, NC

"Awsome Effects!!"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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I recently purchased the Wampler Triple Wreck in search of a multi distortion effects pedal...WOW!!...I definitely found it here. With some tweaking if the knobs, you can pretty much cover any sound your looking for, between Metallica, AC/DC, Scorpions...no matter what your taste is, Wampler stuffed all these in this pedal...If your looking for a "Great All Around Distortion Pedal", this is the one!!

Musical Background:

Playing for 1 1/2 years...Jam at home for now

Musical Style:

Metal, Rock, Country,Raggae
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Submitted May 5, 2015 by Paul A in McKinney, TX

"Wampler Triple Wreck "

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Big fan of Wampler pedals, they never disappoint. This is an "amp-in-a-box" pedal designed to mimic the Triple Rec Mesa, I do not have that amp but have of course heard it. Uber high gain here, articulate, nice range of EQ adjust for any sort of taste in mid structure, top end and bass blend. Boost is actually a fuzz type circuit which I seldom use but nice to have there should one need the extra kick. Another winner from Wampler Pedals, this one has been around for some time and remains a consistent uber high gain that sounds better than a lot of pedals and has a range of adjust few others can offer. You cannot go wrong with Wampler, hand made USA pedals, first choice for me if they have one I need.

Musical Background:

guitarist 40 yrs

Musical Style:

mix of heavy fusion
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Submitted December 13, 2011 by a customer from msn.com

"It enhances my sound . BY itself It's not as noisy when you stop playing compare to some distortions out there . Does have some"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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This gives me a verity to my pedal board . If I had extra cash I'd replace it . I'm able to get the sounds of my Guitar Hero's . Vai , Beck & Gilmore .... It gives me the confidence to know the Sound I'm playing is a Quaility Sound .
Sound
I'm using it though a Jazz Roland 120 amp . The triple wreck gives a good Overdrive signal for both rhythm and lead - Plenty of head room , better to have more than not enuff . And thanks to the tone knobs , mids (4:00) and treble (4:00) and the Bass (1:00) , I can shape the sound with better distorted clarity . Seems to work well with other pedals . Presently I have it placed first in the overdrive section of the pedal board .
Features
Find the sweet spots - mark it - and just Play .
Ease of Use
If you have a lot of other Pedals , Experiment , find where it sounds best that works well with your other pedals . It's easy enough , just take your time . By itself , it'll take you no time to find a good sound .
Quality
Reminds me of a Brick , in the pedal board . Doesn't feel to be flimsy . Time will tell . For the money it better last for ever . I've only owned it for a month . And I've been constantly playing it every day with no problems .
Value
I think it's a bit high . Justified , as long as it's sounds good and your able play something good with it and If it last .
Manufacturer Support
Haven't had reason to contact the compamy .
The Wow Factor
It's all about the Music . How well this pedals plays with other pedals . Pinched harmonics are an ease .

Musical Background:

40 yrs. Guitar . Both .

Musical Style:

Rock , Blues , Some Jazz
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Submitted November 13, 2012 by Seth O in Pittsburgh, PA

"Not sure for the price..."

Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars
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I bought this after reviews and watching tons of youtube videos of it being the best high gain pedal for a clean amp. I play a '71 Fender Twin Reverb, doesn't get much more classic clean then vintage fender. First of all the pedal has way too much bass, had to dial it back to almost off to get a descent sound. Once I did that the pedal does have a great high gain sound. However my beef was that it wasn't all that for the high price... I set it up beside a Boss Metal Zone and a Boss Metal Core and could get almost the same sound, (if not better/tigher) from those pedals. So for the price I'm not convinved this was all that. Also NONE of the reviews stated that they used this pedal in a live situation or for a rehearsal of a full band. that being said you can get great metal tones at low volumes with this pedal but when you try to bring it into the mix for a live/rehersal sitation it fizzes out or is oversaturated in the mix. I'm sure this pedal is awsome for anyone trying to get a mesa rec sound out of a small solid state / tube amp with one speaker, but when you put in front of a real tube amp and crank it up... it just gets lost in the mix.Great pedal for lower volumes and smaller amps. but I'd question it for live situations through bigger rigs... Lastly if you can afford this pedal... seems to me that you could swing a Mesa and just get the real deal.This pedal will be returned for a refund.

Musical Background:

musician for 24 years

Musical Style:

90s/00s Rock, Alternative, Rock/Blues, Classic Rock
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Submitted August 19, 2012 by dale jones in tomball, TX

"recent purchase review"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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I bought a factory blemished Wampler pedal at a reduced price. It was defective when I received it so zZounds took it back and replaced it with a brand new one at no extra charge. Awesome service and awesome pedal too.

Musical Background:

2 yrs, guitar just jamming at home and with friends.

Musical Style:

rock and blues
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Submitted January 25, 2014 by N N in Hell, PA

"I didn't keep it..."

Overall: 0.5 out of 5 stars
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Was really looking forward to this from the reviews I have been reading but I was not impressed. I use to play out of a 5150 combo, sold it and bought a blues jr. So I had a perfect clean sound but just wanted to have a heavy sound when I wanted. This was suppose to be that pedal but I felt it was just a expensive metal zone. For me the boost made it sound muddy and farty and the gain turned up all the way was to hairy and hissy. If I'm spending this kind of money I want a real deal heavy sound.

Musical Background:

Metal, blues, hardrock
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