Wampler: Pinnacle 2 (Part 3)

I've finished putting the Pinnacle 2 through my playing rigours, some stuff:

• this is the revised Pinnacle pedal (hence the '2'), in a dimension which would appeal to pedal board users
• the pedal has the primary aim of replicating Van Halen's Marshall brown sound but let it not put you off because for someone not keen on this signature tone, I find the overall offering very appealing
• the BOOST feature here adds more intensity to the overdrive to such an extent you'd hear distortion grittiness instead of more drive so it's really a mode switch which would take you from overdrive to distortion. Judging from the mere change in tonal output, I believe it's wired to be post-drive, giving the output a bump in volume as well. It also alters the overall tone character, giving it more depth in overall EQ- to the rest of us, it sounds 'fatter'
• Mr. Wampler took time to give us a pedal which has a good palette of tonal offerings; the TONE/ CONTOUR controls are capable of serving the vintage & modern tone mongers alike in terms of EQ. These are in addition to the immediate tone-shaping flick switch which takes the user into the aforementioned vintage & contemporary settings in terms of drive character

So much fanfare, can the Pinnalce 2 serve the metal dweebs?

• immediate answer: NO. It's not an intense distortion type, not in the same league as your favourite (BOSS) Metal Zone
• but wait till you attach a mild overdrive/ distortion pedal between your guitar & this pedal (the reason you see my Coolcat overdrive in the pic above); listen to the heightened saturation & intensity (but still not the metal-type ferocity) of the final output. The Pinnacle 2 accepts other mild drive type pedals very well. If you've tried the Sound Drive amps (especially the SG612R) & like what you hear in terms of drive, then you'd like what this red menace has to offer

What's that? You don't have a clue what the Brown Sound is all about? It's time you find out, you're 30 years behind...