“There’s no shortcut to mastering his skill, but there is a shortcut to getting his legendary tone”: Wampler Pedals and master of the Telecaster Brent Mason team up for ReWired overdrive/distortion
Grammy winning tone in a box? This two-channel twofer has all Mason’s go-to tones and then some for one of the most versatile dirt pedals you'll see this year
Wampler Pedals and Brent Mason have unveiled the latest version of the session ace’s signature overdrive and distortion pedal, ReWired.
A two-channel monster, designed to create all of the master Telecaster wrangler’s signature tones, ReWired presents overdrive on one side for rhythm, distortion on the other for leads, and you can stack them because, well, it would be rude not to. And Brian Wampler loves gain and knows just how to stack ‘em.
If you are looking to nail Mason’s tone it would help if you have a Telecaster to hand. he is rarely seen without one, particularly his heavily modded three-pickup Tele that Fender launched as a signature guitar out of its Stories Series in 2020. Brian Wampler owns one of them, too. In fact, Wampler is such a Brent Mason super-fan that he named his son after him.
But don’t worry if not. ReWired is so tweakable it’d work gangbusters with any electric guitar in your collection. With Blend control on the Overdrive channel allowing you to adjust the balance of overdriven and clean signal, we could imagine this even working well on an acoustic electric guitar’s signal, too.
ReWired conforms to Mason’s exact specs. “The Overdrive side is perfect for rhythm and Chicken Pickin’ – built for warmth and maximum clarity,” says Wampler. “The Distortion channel is a perfect lead tone and offers a weighty “British” Plexi-like punch.”
Not only can you stack the Overdrive and Distortion channels you can also swap around the order of the effects via a toggle switch.
You will find the Overdrive channel on the right-hand side of the pedal, with dials for Level, Gain, Tone, Blend and Fat. The Distortion channel has Level, Gain, Tone and Fat dials.
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All of these pretty much behave as you might expect but the Fat dial is worthy of further explanation. Wampler says it is all about shaping the “low end thump and presence” of your guitar amp, allowing you to “tame” amps with big speakers or give the Champ or small-speakered in your life some more oomph.
Other features include dual inputs for each channel, allowing you to connect to each channel independently when using a loop switcher, or if you want to stick a pedal between the overdrive and distortion circuits.
Wampler suggests a compressor pedal or an EQ. But other options are available. You do you. Experimentation is always key to finding new sounds from your pedalboard.
In a subtle nod to the auto primer gray finish on Mason’s signature Telecaster, this is finished in Prime Silver. The Rewired overdrive/distortion can be run on 9V or 18V DC from a pedalboard power supply. It is made in the USA and it’s priced $279. See Wampler Pedals for more details.
Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.