Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah
Hooked everything up and tried it in clean, crunch and distortion mode. Fortunately, the ground hum I got at home was gone (running everything through amp sim and the house has some seriously old wiring, so not surprised).
The sweep of this pedal is really weird. Tons of soft end, really sharp high end and a quite abrupt shift between them. But it has tons of play where nothing much really seems to happen. Wah effect is as expected much more noticable when playing clean. There are to mini trim screws located inside the pedal that someone obviously has fiddled with before. Will play it for a bit longer so I know what I'm dealing with before attempting any tweaks.
Level knob is plastic-y and feels rather flimsy, but is also spring loaded and recesses, so not much of a concern. Overall, it doesn't feel as sturdy as my old, beat-up crybaby, but then again, that's basically like comparing a Volvo 240 to a T-34. One is built "like" a tank, the other is literally a tank. Doubt I'll be able to kill this one, in other words. So that's good.
Auto-off delay is not what I expected. Thought it would slowly fade out the wah effect, but it really is just literally a delay. Remove your foot from the pedal and it turns off abruptly, just not immediately. Nevertheless, auto-off is frickin' awesome. Not having to press down on a clicky footswitch is awesome. And level setting - which, BTW is not a dry/wet mix knob, it's literally a volume knob - is handy dandy.
Not sure I like the sound, TBH. But I remain hopeful. Will try it out a bit more and then go to town on the setting screws. And the lower signal-to-noise ratio (in no small part due to photosensor rather than pot) means I'd still rather use this than the Crybaby. Considering price paid ($21/€22) I'm pretty happy.
I can see why this model didn't remain on the market for as long as its clunky big brother, though. Honestly, if they had chosen the middle road - control knobs from the larger one but without the clunky battery compartment or operation mode switch - that would've probably made for a much more appealing pedal.
