So, when I tried the Cliff Burton Power Fuzz Wah, I enjoyed the sound but lamented the fact that you had to switch on the fuzz and wah individually before stepping on the treadle and all that good stuff. Well, apparently they listened, heh.
Just saw this pop up on Reverb and thought I'd give it a shot. It's one of their new lineup of Wahs that are smaller and have some new juju going on. I got it for under 150 bucks new.
The wah is automatic/switchless like we're used to these days especially in bass wahs, and there is a footswitch on the right side to turn the fuzz on/off, and one on the left side to switch between vintage/modern fuzz flavors. Fuzz has level and intensity (gain) knobs, Wah has a level knob. Nice.
Pros: I like the sound (even if it's not instantly the greatest thing you ever heard), I like the new size (it fits on the bottom row of my 2-tier Accel board), and I like the switchless functionality a whole lot.
The cons:
- The wah sweep is not suuuper pronounced? I wish it were just a little moreso, maybe a little wider, even though they say it's the widest sweep yet.
- Even with the internal trimpot set to the shortest delay, the delay to bypass when you step off is audible
"Maybe a con for some people": Having the fuzz before the wah, internally, makes fuzz-wah-ing with the pedal alone very dry and quacky, instead of the throaty screamy sound you get when pushing a dirty channel with it. They also have a 20/20 Distortion Wah that has the wah before the dirt, which I'd love to try as well.
Verdict: I don't really know yet. I like it better than the Cliff version. Running into an overdriven channel makes it sound better (both with and without the fuzz) than running into clean, but the fuzz is very old school sounding even on the modern setting and I like it even by itself - kinda farty, tubey, and they say the vintage mode is ripped speaker cones which I can sort of agree with. I can't tell if it keeps enough low end on its own. Seems to be more low when running into a drive. I have no band, so someone else will have to objectively characterize this part.
Is it better than your favorite fuzz paired with your favorite wah? Probably not, but for the size and money I think it'll do, pig.
Just saw this pop up on Reverb and thought I'd give it a shot. It's one of their new lineup of Wahs that are smaller and have some new juju going on. I got it for under 150 bucks new.
The wah is automatic/switchless like we're used to these days especially in bass wahs, and there is a footswitch on the right side to turn the fuzz on/off, and one on the left side to switch between vintage/modern fuzz flavors. Fuzz has level and intensity (gain) knobs, Wah has a level knob. Nice.
Pros: I like the sound (even if it's not instantly the greatest thing you ever heard), I like the new size (it fits on the bottom row of my 2-tier Accel board), and I like the switchless functionality a whole lot.
The cons:
- The wah sweep is not suuuper pronounced? I wish it were just a little moreso, maybe a little wider, even though they say it's the widest sweep yet.
- Even with the internal trimpot set to the shortest delay, the delay to bypass when you step off is audible
"Maybe a con for some people": Having the fuzz before the wah, internally, makes fuzz-wah-ing with the pedal alone very dry and quacky, instead of the throaty screamy sound you get when pushing a dirty channel with it. They also have a 20/20 Distortion Wah that has the wah before the dirt, which I'd love to try as well.
Verdict: I don't really know yet. I like it better than the Cliff version. Running into an overdriven channel makes it sound better (both with and without the fuzz) than running into clean, but the fuzz is very old school sounding even on the modern setting and I like it even by itself - kinda farty, tubey, and they say the vintage mode is ripped speaker cones which I can sort of agree with. I can't tell if it keeps enough low end on its own. Seems to be more low when running into a drive. I have no band, so someone else will have to objectively characterize this part.
Is it better than your favorite fuzz paired with your favorite wah? Probably not, but for the size and money I think it'll do, pig.
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