Hot _Grits
Buttery Toneologist
I had a chance to play the new Vox Satriani wah over at my friend's amp/pedal dealership last friday.
Now, those who know me know that Joe Satriani isn't someone I tend to look to in terms of tone, and my experiences with the Satchurator certainly didn't lend me to expect much from any of his subsequent releases. But hey, I'll try anything...
...and I was very pleasantly surprised with what I heard. Compared alongside a newish reissue Vox wah I'd characterise it as slightly warmer (sightly -not the kind of difference between a crybaby and a Hendrix crybaby), with a stronger signal throughout the wah's range. One very positive thing was there were no thin spots in the wah's travel, which is great. Very useful for those slow sweeps through long solo passages.
There's also lots of options: a wah1/wah2 toggle, which engages a variable gain boost, hi/lo switch and inductor switch. The inductor switch goes between a more taditional Vox inductor and a brighter inductor -perhaps more similar to one of Joe's fulltones. The hi-lo is a VERY subtle voicing difference in terms of brightness, and the switchable gain boost is very cool: it adds a very musical, tailorable overdrive boost, which is very useful for soloing, and a much better option than simply offering a brighter voicing like many pedals do.
And the BBW is more than just a good mountaintop-solo wah. That strong sweep means you can get some very interesting textures for clean tones, or clean with the drive engaged. I think it'd be a good choice for someone who is texture and soundscape-minded, or for someone dealing with replicating the kind of automated sweeps you hear on lots of post-protools recordings.
The coolest thing about the BBW is how useful the features are and how it can do a lot of stuff, but still very much sound like a classic wah. The drive control on the BBW will definitely help your leads along, but it's only one option with this wah. Joe hasn't gone with some modern, toppy, exaggerated wah, and as a result it can cover a lot of ground.
So yeah, very cool pedal. Roll on the delay...
Now, those who know me know that Joe Satriani isn't someone I tend to look to in terms of tone, and my experiences with the Satchurator certainly didn't lend me to expect much from any of his subsequent releases. But hey, I'll try anything...
...and I was very pleasantly surprised with what I heard. Compared alongside a newish reissue Vox wah I'd characterise it as slightly warmer (sightly -not the kind of difference between a crybaby and a Hendrix crybaby), with a stronger signal throughout the wah's range. One very positive thing was there were no thin spots in the wah's travel, which is great. Very useful for those slow sweeps through long solo passages.
There's also lots of options: a wah1/wah2 toggle, which engages a variable gain boost, hi/lo switch and inductor switch. The inductor switch goes between a more taditional Vox inductor and a brighter inductor -perhaps more similar to one of Joe's fulltones. The hi-lo is a VERY subtle voicing difference in terms of brightness, and the switchable gain boost is very cool: it adds a very musical, tailorable overdrive boost, which is very useful for soloing, and a much better option than simply offering a brighter voicing like many pedals do.
And the BBW is more than just a good mountaintop-solo wah. That strong sweep means you can get some very interesting textures for clean tones, or clean with the drive engaged. I think it'd be a good choice for someone who is texture and soundscape-minded, or for someone dealing with replicating the kind of automated sweeps you hear on lots of post-protools recordings.
The coolest thing about the BBW is how useful the features are and how it can do a lot of stuff, but still very much sound like a classic wah. The drive control on the BBW will definitely help your leads along, but it's only one option with this wah. Joe hasn't gone with some modern, toppy, exaggerated wah, and as a result it can cover a lot of ground.
So yeah, very cool pedal. Roll on the delay...
