AMT WH-1B Mini bass Wah Review

[TussinBot.]

Intro: I will be comparing this pedal to my Dunlop 105q quite a bit as it is a wah that many of us are familiar with. I will also make references to the plutonium bass chi wah wah which I had the displeasure of spending a couple weeks with. Note: I DID receive this pedal for free, but I do not work for AMT, nor do I have any affiliation with them. I emailed the right person at the right time and said the right things = free pedal. I am just a pedal enthusiast like the rest of you.

AMT WH1B Review:

Features/Construction:
Solid steel housing, sturdy jacks (located on sides), 2 blue led's located on either side of the pedal that light when the pedal is engaged, true bypass switching, standard boss 9v DC power req/room for a 9v battery, 3 fixed switching bandpass filter ranges: 0.22-2kHz, 0.15-1kHz, 0.1-0.6kHz. Completely analog. No volume control. No spring like many wahs we are used to seeing. There is a set screw for adjusting the movement speed of the treadle. dimensions: 4 1/4"l x 2 3/8"w x 2 1/4"h. Less than half the length of a standard dunlop wah.

Initial thoughts:
First thing I noticed after plugging in, before even turning the pedal on, was the lack of signal loss I was used to with my Dunlop 105q. I personally did enjoy the sounds from my 105q, but every time I plugged in I hated the signal deterioration that came along with it. Many people don't notice this, but I did and it bothered me a lot. The WH-1B is true bypass, it has a switch for engaging the pedal which the 105q doesn't, but the trade off is worth it. Secondly, I had never used a springless wah before. This is taking some time for me to get used to but the more I use it the more natural it feels. I felt the throw range was a little small being that the pedal is so compact, but now that I have had more time to play with the WH-1B it doesn't bother me at all. I think the lack of a spring (no force pushed back against my foot) and overall quicker movement speed/wide freq sweep threw me off, making me think the throw range was quite a bit smaller than a normal wah. I was worried about the lack of a volume knob as wahs can be peaky, but I am not missing it at all. I have yet to test it out at my jam session, but I do not believe the lack of a volume knob will be an issue when it comes to soloing/wanting to cut through the mix.

The Sound:
First review I've done so bare with me. I thought I would be a little limited with just a switch to select between 3 frequency presets, I enjoyed having a sweepable knob on the 105q, but thats not the case. AMT did a great job with their freq selection in my opinion, as I find every preset usable. With the selector in the most forward position (0.1-0.6kHz) and the treadle all the way back, we get a fat bass boost. Ive honestly had a lot of fun just leaving the pedal sitting all the way back in this position playing some finger style motownish grooves. This freq position has balls that the 105q and (especially) the Plutonium bass chi wah wah cannot achieve. Obviously as we move the selector we are getting into the higher freq ranges. the mids and highs are hot and clear, but with the volume being pretty much set I don't find my ears bleeding from scorching highs - which I am glad about. Bubbly funk is very easily achievable utilizing the first half of the sweep, but I would say this pedal shines in being pretty vocal in its mids/highs. Not "quacky" (?) like the 105q, but vocal - more smooth once you get a hang of the movement of the treadle. It sounds more wet all around than the 105q which may not be to some of your liking, as the fundamental is held pretty decently with the 105q IMO, but the effect is more noticeable and just better sounding to my ears than that of the 105q.

Overall I think this pedal solves a lot of the issues I had with the 105q and Chi Wah Wah. The form factor is great (size of most standard pedals), no signal loss in bypass, a nice wet effected signal with a wide clear range unachievable on the 105q or Chi Wah Wah. Doesn't have the backwards use like the chiwahwah i.e. lows are up and highs are down with only the ability to use your toes to control the wah. And at $139 brand new it comes in 20 bucks more than the 105q and $50 less than the chi wah wah.


TL,DR I would take the AMT WH-1B over a Dunlop 105q and Plutonium Bass Chi Wah Wah any day. I will do my best to get some sound clips up in the near future, and maybe a youtube demo.

[Andy Will]

Awesome, cheers for the review!

One more question, is it noisy at all? A YouTube clip of the Chi wah-wah was shocking with the amount of hiss created, while the 105Q was fine when I had it.

[TussinBot.]

No hiss. I actually forgot about that, thanks for bringing it up. I did hate that when I had the chi wah wah

[Andy Will]

Any further thoughts on the Wah after some time with it?
Still on the borderline of ordering it but can't believe AMT expect to sell their pedals without any form of sound clips or demos.

[TussinBot.]

Since Ive gotten more used to the springless wah Ive loosened the pedal up a bit so it sweeps more easily, it moves faster. It feels better this way to me, more natural. It is a far wetter wah than the dunlop 105q also, your fundamental is more in tact with the dunlop, but this wah cuts through way better - the wah is heard for sure. I like it a lot, and would choose it any day over the chiwahwah, but it will take some time to get used to if you're not used to the smaller throw and springless type of wah. Also like I mentioned in my first post, it does NOT have the tonesuck like the 105q, that is actually one of my favorite things about it. Personally, I think I may eventually replace it all together with an envelope filter, but as far as wahs go Im enjoying it. I only use it in the two lower frequency positions now, the highest is way too trebly for my taste, the lowest puts out some serious lows if thats what your looking for. Itll do some dubbyness if you only use about half of the throw. I wanted to do soundclips but i began having issues with my audio interface, lot of hiss, I think its coming from the USB connection on my interface so I havent gotten around to doing any. Not to mention Im moving so all my crap is getting packed up. If I find some time to do some in the next week or so I will try to get them up. When they sent it to me Im pretty sure they were hoping I would just do the clips for them (i told them I would try my best to get some done), but I may send it to excane to see if he can do some since people are always watching his clips.

It does suck that they dont have soundclips and arent in any stores so it is a risk to just buy one, but with any retailer if you dont like it you should be able to return it. Not to mention none are on the used market, I think I may be the only person on this board who has one, or has atleast posted about having one.

[TussinBot.]

Update: I will be sending the pedal to MrExcane in a day or two to make a demo of it so he should receive it by the end of the week hopefully. Ill get a link posted to his demo whenever he gets it done.

[Andy Will]

Originally Posted by TussinBot.

Since Ive gotten more used to the springless wah Ive loosened the pedal up a bit so it sweeps more easily, it moves faster. It feels better this way to me, more natural. It is a far wetter wah than the dunlop 105q also, your fundamental is more in tact with the dunlop, but this wah cuts through way better - the wah is heard for sure. I like it a lot, and would choose it any day over the chiwahwah, but it will take some time to get used to if you're not used to the smaller throw and springless type of wah. Also like I mentioned in my first post, it does NOT have the tonesuck like the 105q, that is actually one of my favorite things about it. Personally, I think I may eventually replace it all together with an envelope filter, but as far as wahs go Im enjoying it. I only use it in the two lower frequency positions now, the highest is way too trebly for my taste, the lowest puts out some serious lows if thats what your looking for. Itll do some dubbyness if you only use about half of the throw. I wanted to do soundclips but i began having issues with my audio interface, lot of hiss, I think its coming from the USB connection on my interface so I havent gotten around to doing any. Not to mention Im moving so all my crap is getting packed up. If I find some time to do some in the next week or so I will try to get them up. When they sent it to me Im pretty sure they were hoping I would just do the clips for them (i told them I would try my best to get some done), but I may send it to excane to see if he can do some since people are always watching his clips.

It does suck that they dont have soundclips and arent in any stores so it is a risk to just buy one, but with any retailer if you dont like it you should be able to return it. Not to mention none are on the used market, I think I may be the only person on this board who has one, or has atleast posted about having one.

Many thanks for the update and the replies!
Will have a think about ordering after Christmas once the postal rush is over.

No offence, but am afraid I'm not the biggest fan of MrExcane's reviews/demos so will have to skip the clips.

[alec]

IMO he goes into unusable territory too often but a wah doesn't offer much scope for that so his review should be good.

[Andy Will]

Originally Posted by BassMister11

How come? Just curious that's all

Just can't listen to them after a few notes to be honest.
Is also down to tone and how pedals are used in the clips not showing the pedals in their best light.

[EskimoBassist]

You guys are being a little harsh on Mr. Excane! He definitely has a penchant for pushing pedals into their most extreme settings - but that's one of the first things we all do when we get a new toy. Between him and Grygrx, they have the most comprehensive collection bass effects pedal demos about.

[Andy Will]

Not really if other people are enjoying the clips.
Am glad and appreciative of anyone taking time to make demos, just wish AMT and other companies would show their products as best they can especially when they have developed something Bass specific like this Wah.

[TussinBot.]

Yeah Im really not sure why they didnt make clips. With no stores stocking their items really itd seem like they want to gather the internet buzz with some youtube demos. Excane does push pedals to the limits a lot of times in his demos, and has a very distinct style of playing, but its also a way to get this pedal out to a lot of people at once since a lot of people watch his videos. Not to mention its a wah, not a lot of room to push it hard, until he couples some intense fuzz with it! If I get a chance I will try to make some soundclips myself, offering a different style of playing. Ive also talked to behndy about sending it to him to do a demo as well but have yet to follow up.

[BassManPatsFan]

Very intrigued by this. I'd love to hear some clips soon.

[TussinBot.]

been slacking on getting over to UPS due to holiday stuff but I will get it in the mail to him tomorrow. He should receive it next week some time, all the way across the country from me. Dont know how long it will be till he gets a review done but it will be coming sometime soon!

[Gerardcg8]

Any updates?

[TussinBot.]

Excane received the pedal a few days ago, UPS was moving slow I guess. He will be sending me a link when hes done the demo and Ill throw it up here.

[icecycle66]

Thank you.

[CrayZee_One]

I just received one of these during the week (Thomman.de).
I must say I have never owned a "bass wah" as such. Been more into the LP/BP filters operated by exp pedal (Xero) so I can't really compare this to other wah peds.

Have had a few plays with it at home, through monitors, will take it into jam room tomorrow for a full-bore dig into it.

First impressions;

It's small! I like that allot (so far), wah/exp pedals are bulky buggers.

No noise to speak of (loud amp test pending).

For me, the lowest eq setting range - 0.1-0.6kHz - sounds best and the lower end of the scale sounds nice and subby (loud amp test pending).

Pedal action/operation is ok, a little to get used too but doable. Obiviuosly need a bit more space around the pedal to fit ur foot or learn to operate with ur tippee toes.

Sounds promising and a bit of fun at least so far........

[Toy Elephant]

Thank you, very helpful information...ordered

[Johno Dunn]

Originally Posted by Toy Elephant

Thank you, very helpful information...ordered

We're did you order from?