Here's a pedal shootout to make a comparison between the Wampler Plextortion, the Celmo Pimento and the Tanabe.tv Dumkudo. 3 very different pedals to add overdrive or distorsion (in the case of the Plextortion) to your pedalboard. Wampler comes from the US, Celmo is built in France and Tanabe.tv is built in Japan.

Pedal Shootout: pedalboard

The cab simulation and power amp section is done by the Torpedo CAB Two-Notes. A touch of reverb is added by the Boss RV-5. The boost used is the Lucy's Drive by Doc Music Station which is an excellent Klon Centaur from France.

Pedal Shootout: the websites

• Wampler: www.wamplerpedals.com
• Celmo: www.pimentocelmo.com
• Tanabe.tv: tanabe.tv/top/kudou/index-e.html

Conclusion

These 3 pedals provide very different colors, so there is no question of making a choice between them. The Plextortion will work well in a rock and hard rock framework. This is a distortion which gets even better when boosted with Lucy's Drive Doc Music Station to push into Brown Sound territories. The Pimento works great in light crunch sound that you can "trigger" by your right hand attack right, gently playing is almost clean, playing it harder gives you crunch. It is also good to add a boost in front of it. The Dumkudo has a wide range of sounds from Dumble like crunch to more compressed type of Marshall sounds.

Regarding price, the Dumkudo is a bit pricey, especially if you have to pay the customs. You can find a complete test of this pedal tanabe.tv in this article.

The Plextortion is a good value as is the Pimento which is $149 shipping included in the continental US or Europe for the Backstage Pass owners.

Until the next gear review, keep on playing the guitar!

Pierre.