“It’s analogous to Napster, for those who remember that”: Brian Wampler says digital modelling and profiling tech is taking “a big chunk” of the pedal and tube amp market

Brian Wampler playing his Telecaster.

It is hard to look at our pedalboards today and think anything other than we are living through a golden age for guitar effects pedals.

The past decade has been a boom time for stompbox design; from a Bigsby-style vibrato to a Peavey Decade practice amp, or from high-functioning digital delay pedals from Strymon et al to genuine spring reverb, you can get almost anything in a pedal.