Pinnacle & Pinnacle Deluxe - Distortion
Praised by
Zeke Clark
(former Van Halen gear tech) as being the pedal which
comes the closest to getting the "Brown Sound" of anything he's ever tried, the
Pinnacle and Pinnacle Deluxe are aimed squarely at trying to emulate every
aspect of that classic tone, from the powerful mids and highs to the low-end sag
when you really hit it.
The main difference between the two pedals is that the Pinnacle Deluxe model
allows you to switch from a lower to a higher gain mode on the fly, while the
Pinnacle standard has that functionality on a toggle switch, less foot-friendly!
(Seriously, don't step on a toggle switch, bad things happen.)
These pedals are for people who want one of two things (or both!). If you're
looking for classic, soaring tone inspired by Eddie's sound during the time David
Lee Roth was with the band especially, with Brian's typical attention to detail and
flexibility fully on board, the Pinnacle or Pinnacle Deluxe will get you where
you're going.
If you're looking for a great sounding, versatile, very responsive
Marshall®-in-a-Box type of pedal with lots of high end sizzle available, the
Pinnacle or Pinnacle deluxe can do those sounds too, and very well.
It will even do a killer higher gain tone, though it will always retain that more
classic voicing. Whether you went for the Pinnacle or the Pinnacle Deluxe, you
have in your possession a great pedal. Now I'll tell you how to get the most out of
it!
To get the most out of your new pedal, you'll want to become very familiar with the controls.
The Pinnacle features controls for Gain, Volume, Tone and Contour, as well as a Vint./Modern switch to change the overall tone
from a more classic, darker sound to a brighter, more forward tone, and a Boost switch which changes the internal gain structure
between lower and higher gain modes. If you purchased the Pinnacle Deluxe, the Boost control will be on its own foot switch for
on-the-fly gain control. If you are a Pinnacle Deluxe user, to ensure proper behavior, when you power up the pedal it's a good
idea to kick the boost on and let it "juice up" for a few seconds so that it will be 100% available to the pedal when you need it live.
Flexibility is a key feature, as usual, and the tone controls on the Pinnacle are intentionally very interactive, so experimentation
will go far. As with all Wampler Pedals products, the Pinnacle or the Pinnale deluxe includes a high-quality true-bypass switch
which takes it out of the signal path when bypassed. Experiment and enjoy!
Bypass Switch
– A true-bypass footswitch ensures solid, mechanical removal of the circuit when it isn't wanted, meaning you
don't lose any tone when the pedal is off.
Volume
– This control adjusts the output level of the Pinnacle or Pinnacle Deluxe. There's plenty of volume on tap in either
standard or Boost mode, so whether you want to go farther than your input level or just make sure it can do unity volume (the
same level of signal going out as you feed it, when active), you're covered. The Gain, Tone and Contour knobs, and the Boost
Toggle (or for Pinnacle Deluxe owners, footswitch) all have an impact on total output volume level, so you're probably better off
waiting to adjust the Volume until you've dialed in the other controls. Re-adjustment might be necessary if you get it to the
desired level and still need to tweak the sound.
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