Hello folks,
(I have posted a similar post on basschat too I don't want to be seen as spamming!)
I have just preordered a Sonuus Wahoo (
www.sonuus.com) as they are on prerelease special offer for £200 inc vat. I think they will cost at least £50 more when they are widely available so maybe worth considering. Not sure what the dollar price will be (maybe $317) Sorry if this seems a bit of a sales pitch, I'm not connected to Sonuus but am genuinely really excited about what I hope this pedal will bring and I want to share that with my fellow bass brethren!
I am excited about this pedal for a number of different reasons but let me give you some background as to why. I am a bit of an FX junkie for bass but really when it comes down to it many FX just don't cut it live. I have pretty much given up on spacey fx (phasers and flangers), chorus doesn't really float my boat, reverb - great in isolation but can add so much mush to the mix etc etc However, filters really work for me. I have experimented with so many over the years seeking out that almost holy grail of low pass filter sweep. For years I used my White Dunlop Wah which can be great but is very peaky and recently I have been using an EHX Enigma with an expression pedal. This is a great pedal with tons of possibilities but is too twitchy to change live. For example on the EHX if you want to change tones with the envelope follower, slight differences can really ruin what was a great sound. This is very difficult because of the interdependent nature of the controls. What the Enigma really needs is presets....
Enter the Wahoo. This is an Analogue filter (well two actually - more later) that is digitally controlled. This really is the best of both worlds as the bass signal remains totally within the analogue realm whilst the operation of it can use all the benefits of digital control. I have messed around with many digital filters and although can be pretty good, seem to lack the warmth and smoothness of a real analogue one. The Wahoo has 100 presets and 100 user patches plus has a computer editor accessible via a USB port. Great! I will be able to back up my settings too.
It's when you crack open the manual and start looking at what this can can do that's when it gets really impressive. I am going to bullet point the cool stuff:
• Analogue signal path
• 24dB lowpass or 12dB Bandpass
• Two completely separate filters
• 100 user/100 presets plus USB editor
http://www.sonuus.co...hoo_editor.html (is this the best looking fx editor software?)
• Battery power/9volt (pos or neg) adaptor or USB. Cool thing here is that either USB or adaptor overrides the battery
• Hold two buttons down and yes! battery life indicator - why can't more pedals/devices have this?
• If battery fails, unit goes straight into true bypass mode
• Effect can be induced by the footswitch or by toe down on the exp pedal
• Expression pedal works as class compliant midi controller over USB - such a cool feature. You could use it to map any synth parameter on your computer
• LFO can be clocked to tap tempo or midi sync over USB
• Dry/wet mix essential for low end retain
• Made out of metal, looks really sturdy. I'll post back once I receive mine to update on this.
• Filter response curves. Now for me this is one of the killer features as it lets you tailor the shape of the filter. If like me you hate it when all the action on an expression pedal takes place in a really small part of the pedals travel, this should cure this.
• Preset lock. With this enabled, presets can't be changed and footswitch acts as preset selector. Ace for live. Exp toe down = button goes up through patches, exp heel down is the opposite.
• Updatable firmware over USB - always nice to be able to do this
• Pitch tracking filter. This means that the filter can actually move around following the pitch of what you are playing. I have not experienced this before but am hoping that you could use it as a subtle frequency bump (in bandpass) that will enhance each note that you play. It is a monophonic effect (based on their pitch to midi technology). It won't output midi though (although maybe in a firmware update?)
• Filter drive. Again analogue so hopefully it will function as a bit of a fuzz pedal as well. My Enigma has a switchable drive control which is great fun so hopefully it will sound nice. Filter drive is great for making that edge on the cutoff
Okay I'm going to hold my horses there before I bore everyone there is still much more! Again I haven't got my unit yet but think that due to the prerelease offer some of you may want to take the plunge. As I said I will return to this thread with an update once I have one. I am planning on making a video about it too. Anyway I'll leave you with a link to the manual. Cheers!
http://www.sonuus.com/downloads/sonu...oo-Manual..pdf
