www.wamplerpedals.com
In the pedal market, the category of reverbs and delays is straight fire these days. Wampler has jumped in with the Catacombs, a stereo box that can operate as a floor unit or on a desktop for deeper experimentation.
At its top left is a selector knob that dials through the Catacombs’ presets, offering five reverbs (hall, spring, room, shimmer, plate) and six delays (analog, digital, bucket brigade style, tape, etc.). Like many digital boxes, there are two levels of controls – primary functions are in white text, “Alt” functions/selections in blue. Access the secondary level by holding the Bypass switch. You can save up to eight of your own sonic creations and scroll through them; there’s Tap Tempo for live jamming, too.
The Catacombs provides the sort of lush reverb heard on a million records and soundtracks, and sounds like you’re recording in an expensive studio. Its Shimmer preset gives guitar chords long sustain, as if the notes are decaying into a Hammond organ or heavenly strings as they fade.
The Catacombs scores points by putting high-end/studio-quality reverb and shimmer effects into one box, for a super-competitive price. A master wet/dry knob would make for easy tweaking, but there’s little else here to fault. On the floor or in a studio, this Wampler is a fun – and powerful – workstation of time-based effects.
This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
