Boss Dynamic Wah - aw-3

[newbold]

Anybody use this pedal?

How does it sound?

Is it entirely useful or should I just get a Q-tron?

[DosiYanarchy]

personally, I hated it, couldnt get any sort of good autowah sound, has a few fun functions like the Humanizer, but I doubt anyone would really take it seriously. I let my guitarist have a go on it, he couldnt get anything out of it either. Maybe mine was just lame, but persoanlly i'd go for the Q-tron all the way (ive had a Mini Q-tron, and XO Qtron+, a Boss AW-3, an EHX Bass Micro Synth, and a Ibanez Synthesizer bass - and all of these have Envelope Filer/Autowah capabilities)

The Mini Qtron was really cool, but there was a harsh volume spike which made it a little unuseable for me, apparently the Micro Q-tron isnt that great. the regular/XO Q-trons will give you a wide range of funky sounds, and the Q-tron+ adds an effects loop, so you can add effects that wont effect the input drive of the pedal (ie: you can put a distortion in there and the pedal will still retain its funk, where if you run a distortion into it, it'll overdrive the input and you'll get a cool synth-fuzz tone but it wont be as responisve dynamically)

This is probably overkill for your needs but here's a clip I did a while ago of the XO Qtron+ with a MXR Bass Blowtorch and a GLX bass chorus in the effects loop. The Clip is about 8 mins long.
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6493362

[keb]

I had one for a while, but it didn't do too much for me, so I sold it. The "humanizer" function is kinda one of those gimmicky things that you can only really use on one song before it got old, and, well, gimmicky.

[icarussmicarus]

Worst of the envelopes I've used by far.

Q-Tron was much better.

Best was an old DOD FX25.

[mpace]

I just got one and I am starting to tweek it- I do agree that it cuts out on vol and I am thinking that my best bet will be to use my overdrive as a booster with some gain w/out distortion to compromise. Any thoughts on settings for getting a nice drawn out wah sound? So far I am setting it on down with the decay at 1 oclock, manual at 9 oclock and sens at 1 oclock. Thanks!

PS- I like adding chorus for a real spacey effect and that also seems to help with boosting the vol, but I am also trying to boost with a more clean sound.

[Bassmike62]

Bought one last year, returned it 2 days later, only pedal I ever bought and brought back. Thought it was way too "artificial" (for lack of a better word) for my taste and found the humanizer settings unusable for my own band context... and quite annoying at that. Bear in mind it was the 1st filter/autowah I went for and did not really know what to expect, so I've only got myself to look at. Otherwise, its a quality pedal, quiet and well built, typical Boss unit.

After this experience, went for a Nano Bassballs (which I had modded), a Digitech BSW, a DOD FX25, a 25B, a Boss FT-2 and a Cry Baby Wah. Will probably get myself an Ibanez AW7 for X-Mas, as a present for putting up with myself. Read good things about it, tried it once and liked it and looking forward to have it looped in a Boss LS-2.

Voilà

[rpsands]

I use the aw3 for my godzilla bass solo and really dig it. I'll post a sample later. Sounds best with distortion to me.

[Chrisk-K]

I bought one and returned. The worst envelope filter I've ever used. Very fake sounding. Even the filter in a cheap Digitech BP80 sounds infinitely better.

[ilovenofrets]

I personally liked it. Yes, the Humanizer can get old after about 30 seconds, but otherwise not a bad pedal. It also has an exp. pedal input, alowing it to become a traditional wah as well. It is a tad on the "too perfect" side, but I kinda liked that. Otherwise, you may want to find an old Ibanez Soundtank series Autowah. I tried one out a few years ago, and the sound was really good. I should have bought it, but didn't really need it at the time.