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• BOSS PW-10 V-Wah review (part 3) |
Notes
And now some remarks.
Firstly, the following operations are NOT EASY to perform (that is, you won't be able to make them quickly, for example during live performance):
1)Creating your own CUSTOM effect.
2)Selecting a drive to be used in 'Manual' mode.
3)Heel switch function selection.
4)Pedal Calibration.
5)Factory reset.
I think that (except for drive selection) its normal. But it's a big mistake to make a dist selection such an awkward procedure (thanx to memory, you can store any distortions there!)
And in general this pedal is rather complicated..may be too complicated (you can read the same thing in Harmony-Central's reviews).
Then, about pedal calibration. When I bought V-Wah, it seemed very inconvinient for me - all the sound variation was produced during the first 20 percent of pedal's way. That is, it was too sensitive (I never used a WAH before, so I was in doubts if it's normal). So, although they say that "pedal sensitivity has been adjusted at the factory", it's not my case. After calibration everything seems OK. So if there are some problems with sensitivity, CALIBRATE IT!
As I said in the beginning, I bought this thing for a CryBaby sound only. But as you can clearly see, it's almost a guitar processor:) I think, it's just a great opportunity to get some idea of the sound of legendary dists, like MT-2, Guv'nor, Big Muff etc. And having Morley with Vox in one pedal is a great thing, too! It's just like some museum or exhibition for me. Even if you won't use all these things in your playing, it's simply interesting.
Booster seems very noisy. I've set Noise Suppressor to max, and the noise disappeared. I don't know what's the reason. Anyway, if you experience problems with noise, DON'T FORGET ABOUT NOISE SUPPRESSOR!
I already mentioned that voice sound is cool on a clean sound. With dist on, it's just like a different wah-like effect, not a voice. But when clean sound is on, it's pretty funny. It's like having WAH that says for example "o-i-e" instead of "w-a-h":) When I looked for some info on a V-Wah before buying it, I thought that turning WAH RANGE knob (which changes sounds pronounced in VOICE mode) makes the sound just to go smoothly from one vowel to another (so it's rather hard to browse for a needed sound). But in fact it acts like some discrete switch: when you play a note on a guitar and rotate the knob (not touching the expression pedal) the vowels just abruptly changes. I think it's good, 'cause it helps you to browse through sounds quickly (instead of carefully listening and thinking 'yeah, it sounds like "O".. no, it's more like "E"..').
Here comes a rather strange (and funny?) thing. The pedal is equipped with 6 AA type batteries. But I guess it would be more comfortable to use it with an AC adaptor instead. Here are the mysteries. The manual says you are to use a BOSS PSA adaptor. The same thing is written near the adaptor jack on the pedal. There were no adaptors at the shop where I bought V-Wah, so I had to buy some other adaptor. But what to buy? You need to know plug polarity (there are adaptors with different polarity, so when you are using wrong adaptor you can just kill your WAH, I suppose). But I didn't find a single trace of the information. At last I managed to find the answer, so here it is: plug polarity is POSITIVE ON THE BARREL and NEGATIVE IN THE CENTER (you should use a 9V adaptor). I don't know if it's a real problem, but for me it was (maybe it's funny). But, anyway, use it at your own risk. After all, may be I'm wrong:) It just works in my case:
Yeah, besides a bulky manual and a 'cautions-warnings' leaflet there was a "BOSS product lineup 2002" poster (35x50 cm or so) in the box. Nice. Strangely, the V-Wah is not on the list, although there are many new products.
To be honest, none of the dists of the V-Wah sounds to me as nice as my Randall RG75 built-in overdrives. Maybe I'm just too used to it:) By the way, I guess that my Randall's GAIN1 channel is closer to GuvDist of V-Wah than to any other of its overdrives.
And I can't get even normal sound from the PW-10's MetalZone dist. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I just plug my guitar into PW-10 and then PW-10 to Randall's RETURN jack with RETURN LEVEL on max. And there's nothing similar to the demo on the BOSS' site. What's wrong?.. Well, keep on trying:)
So, these are my first impressions. I have to play with the thing to know it better. But I think that, given all features, this pedal is definitely worth purchasing. At the same time, if all that you need is a clasic sound, and you are OK with a classic construction (I mean, you are ready to change pots once in a year or two), I guess you'd better look at some Dunlops and VOXes. At least it would be cheaper:)
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