Brian Wampler Doubles Down on the Pantheon with his New Pantheon Dual Overdrive Deluxe

Fun fact to start this off is that my favourite ever Blues Breaker tone was achieved on the Pantheon Overdrive - set to Blended Voicing with Volume at circa 2 o’c, and Gain between 2 and 3 o’c - Bass, Treble and Presence to taste - but fairly neutral.

There are a number of great Blues Breaker pedals out there - and I have several of them - including of course King of Tone, JA Golden Boy, Snouse Black Box, Tsakalis Six x 2, and VFE Blues King. I’ve always wanted a decent Mini too - including the Mooer Blues Crab, and Function F(x) / Pickdropper MicroFracture!

The Pantheon is my favourite Brian Wampler Gain Pedal to-date - it’s superbly versatile and extended range as is - so going even further with a Dual Deluxe Version is a no-brainer really. This is near enough a two Pantheons in one - albeit they share the same Presence control! Other than that all the controls are retained - Bass, Treble, Volume, Gain, and the 2 option switches - Gain Level and Voicing - which are on either side of the Dual version.

The Dual Version adds an Order Toggle-switch 1>2 / 2>1, along with Midi - 2 x 3.5mm TRS MIDI In/Out.

The two Channels here are actually a little bit different - where the right-channel / Channel 1 is modelled more closely on the original Marshall Blues Breaker pedal, while the left-hand / Channel 2 leans more toward the King of Tone take on the same. So in fact this Pantheon seems to be voiced very slightly differently to the original single edition. Note also that each channel has its own In/Out ports / sockets - for smart wiring combinations and extended MIDI and Looper control.

Overall though, this is really a dual helping of Brian’s best realised gain pedal to date. Originally I questioned the wisdom of having Bass, Treble and Presences in place of the more conventional 3-Band EQ of Bass, Mids, and Treble - but the results I have managed to achieve with the original more than justify this particular arrangement of controls - as the variety you can get from this pedal is immense - and there are so many sweet-spots to be found. For my own preferred settings as mentioned above - the pedal delivers the most beautiful harmonic richness - just wonderfully rounded and textured - it really sounds amazing to my ears - and was a happy surprise as I though the King of Tone would make this rather redundant - but each does their own things to a degree and they’re both wonderful gain pedals of this sort of genre / type.

I’m undecided as to whether I need the Dual version as I have so many other complementary pedals already in the chain. I feel it’s a really cool addition in any case - while I don’t think it’s sufficiently brand new or innovative to feature in my end of year selections - which are heavily congested and contested as is - nice to have this around though. Available right now I believe at all the usual dealers for $270 equivalent. Many are of the opinion that the Euphoria is Brian’s best Overdrive, some say Tumnus, while for me it will always be the Pantheon!

Any other Pantheon fans out there?