Boss AW-2 Auto Wah

A very unintuitive pedal. Perhaps because it tries to do too much, which means all the controls interact greatly.

As others have said it's possible to get a decent sound out of the AW-2 but you have to persist with it. The biggest problem is that the sensitivity knob is too sensitive. Even with a low-output guitar like a Strat once the sensitivity is set above 9-o-clock every single note is wah'd aonce the guitar volume is set above seven.

The "manual" knob which sets the basic frequency of the effect (kind of like where you would put the pedal on a foot-wah to control the lowest point of the filter sweep) is also very sensitive and has a very narrow band. If it's good for the middle pickup it'll be too bassy for the neck. This control in particular seems to need constant fiddling with.

It does a decent touch-sensitive picking wah (with the rate and depth set to zero). The sound is a bit thin though and lacks the kind of fullness you get from an old Cry Baby with a Fasel inductor. It's also thinner than the EH DR Q.

At low volumes there's a definite volume drop when it's switched on (this can be countered a bit with the manual control). At gigging volume the drop isn't as noticable.

Doesn't like being run into distortion pedals much, it can thin out the sound until it's too brittle.

The AW-2 can be very noisy indeed and is inclined to hum lots when used with a power supply (including the Boss PSA series).

BTW - Fender guitars, Orange amp, Ccelestion speakers, Fender valve reverb. A mix of pedals usually including 1970s Jen Crybaby, RatII, VoodooLab Chorus, T-Rex trem, MXR Super-Comp, Line6 Echo Park (though not in that order). Put the AW-2 before compressors or distortion or the compression caused by the first pedal will keep the AW-2 constantly wha-ing every single note, and you probably don't want that.

Mine's very old and I got it second hand. It still works perfectly well so in that sense it's reliable.

On the other hand it is very susceptible to interference from electromagnetic background. At last night's gig for example it was unusable because the house lighting dimmers made it hum at incredible volume - even when run off a battery. Nothing else used by an entire band was in the least bit bothered, nor was my 1970s Crybaby.

No, it's not reliable enough to gig with because of the noise problem.

The noise issues and the complexity reduce the overall rating quite a lot.

If you know effects units and how they work, it's a snap. If you're new to guitar effects, it might seem complicated.

I'm playing Gibsons and Fenders through a 1968 Vox AC30TB. This pedal is not noisy compared to wah and autowah pedals. This is a very misunderstood pedal judging by the other reviews. Boss designed this box to do three different effects and it does all quite well. Some reviewers have complained that they can hear a "swooshing" sound when the pedal is on, but they are not playing. They probably have it after a distortion pedal, and this is to be expected. When mine is on, it's very quiet. If you want to completyely eliminate the "swooshing", just turn the rate knob down all the way, it's that simple.

Here are the three different effects this pedal produces:

- For a standard Wah sound, turn the rate knob all the way down and this box is an autowah pedal. It's very easy to adjust and sounds great before a distortion pedal. Use the Manual control to adjust the wah tonal range. The sensitivity adjusts how loud you have to play to kick in the wah. The depth adjusts the...depth.

- For a fixed Wah sound (just like the Dunlop Q-Zone pedal), turn the rate and the sensitivity knobs all the way down and use the manual to adjust the boosted frequency and the depth for...you guessed it, the depth of the effect.

- For a modulated wah sound turn all the knobs halfway up and experiment from there. You can get anything from vibrato to pseudo-chorus to cyclic wah tones. there is a lot of range on all of the knobs and a lot of different effect possibilities.

I've been through literally hundreds of vintage and boutique pedals and honestly, most pedals do not work great in a band situation. I've recently gone back to a few Boss pedals for modulation, delay and autowah and am using a Carl Martin HD'NB Mk II for overdrive and a Wolftone Chaos for fuzz. The Boss pedals are quieter, more rugged and sound better in a band context then most of the stuff out there. Boss has made many lousy sounding pedals IMHO, but this is not one of them. This pedal does a few things very well and it sounds great in a full band situation. There is nothing else that has ever been produced that does the Autowah thing this well. It replaced an EH Tube Zipper on my pedalboard.

Very roadworthy.

I've tried Boss CS a while ago for schematics and they wer completely unresponsive, the worst.

I think this will be one of the sought-after Boss pedals in about 15-20 years, like the Spectrum and the Dimension C. It is weird and can go way over the top unlike most Boss pedals which are more conservative. at $50 it's a bargain. I have had a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe (hated the notchy sweep, but nice overall tone), Teese RMC (very nice) and TDK and Fasel inductor vintage Cry Babies (great tone and value). The Boss AW-2 does not have the drippy vintage tone of the above, but it does sound great and works perfect with a full band.

A bit complicated- I don't think the manual is up to speed. I learned more by experimenting than by reading it.

62 reissue strat/Jap strat->George Dennis wah/o'drive->Tubescreamer 10->Boss OD2 turbo o'drive->MXR micro-amp boost->Boss BF-2 flanger->George Dennis tremolo/volume->Ibanez DL-10 delayBoss CH-1 chorus->Fender Super 210 all-tube combo.

I didn't think I'd need this pedal given that the George Dennis wah is amazingly good and not tone-sucking. BUT I had been thinking of getting a Dunlop Q-zone which is like a manual wah that you can hold any position in the wah sweep BUT this does that and with much less (ie none) tone sucking. That's mainly what I use it for. But the autowah is good except for a weird digital-sounding noise on some settings.

Boss...

Boss... If it's not still made, they don't want to know you.

I really don't don't use it for auto-wah but for the q-zone effect. I love it (used sparingly, of course) and it's going to be a part of my setup for years to come. We play indie and this pedal makes some tones that you simply cannot get anywhere else.

After reading the manual carefully, the setup process was easy. At first I din't plug it correctly. I purchased the pedal from Ebay and downloaded the manual in PDF.

settings 3.4.4.7 with a 1952 Les Paul played through twin Marshall Stacks. ALso setting 0.3.3.7 using my Gibson ES-175 through any of six VOX amps the group currently owns.
THe quality of the sound is worth it. There is no noise, even at Hotel room levels. My favorite artist is Matisse.

No comment. My pedal configuration is tended to by my tech.

I have called Boss numerous times regarding my ideas on Waveform modification. The engineers said they would consider my ideas, if backstage passes were offered.

Grunge, Jazz, Classic Rock, Disco, Childrens Music.
45 years playing. Marshall, Vox, Fender Amps. Fender Strat, Telecaster, Gibson ES, LP Junior, LP, SG.
If it were lost I would throw a fit. Heads would roll.
I mostly like the flesh-colored box.
Creatively speaking I would be up shizt creek without it.

Well, I've never really tried to use it in the auto-wah function - like one of the other reviewers, I bought this thing to use as an envelope filter, so it was just a question of finding the right sensitivity setting.

Ibanez Roadstar, or Epiphone Bully SG and Peavey Special 130, more recently, Fender Princeton 65 and Marshall 5212. Generally, I use this pedal without any distortion, and in conjunction with a DSD-2 delay. Very closely approximates the mid-late 70s Jerry Garcia sound, and that's what I got it for. It can be kind of noisy.

At the risk of repeating what's been said many times, it's a Boss - I've never had to call them.

It's a Boss.

I play mildly psychedelicized blues-rock. I've been playing for 25 years. I've been very happy with this pedal - it does exactly what I want it to do - I also use a Crybaby (not on the same songs!), so I never saw this as a replacement for a "real" wah-wah, so I don't have issues with that aspect of it. I would probably replace it, or get something similar.

Great with the manual, without it there is no problem getting great sounds, but the fact that there is the possibility to use it as manual wah, as modulation wah or as combination of both is hard to get.

Best autowah i've ever had. I used to have two AW-2s one in front and one after my overdrive (boss sd-2), but I sold one on eBay, because I have only five 9volt plugs on my pedalboard and i needed other effects. Today I replaced the remaining AW-2 by my relativly new Crybaby from hell, but not for reasons concerning the AW-2's sound. Autowahs generally limit the possibilities. I use my wah mostly in solos, manual wah always reacts on picking a string, modulation wah works with a setted rate, usually it fits not really the speed of the song. So a pedal wah gives more control for speed or pronouncing certain wahed parts. The AW-2s extreme settings are more subtile than a standard crybaby, but anyway the AW-2 is powerfull enough to replace a pedalwah if you like. Perfect solution for lazy people.

No Probs ever with bossfx

?

Great thing, very flexible autowah. Only a slight and volumedrop (any wah without booster does this). I love it, i would prefer it to standard morleys or crybabys, but not to my dimebag darrel signature wah.

not necessarily intuitive to get a good sound out of this pedal. four knobs, so you will get it eventually. rate, depth, tone (lo/hi), and "sensitivity". you want minimum to get the most wah for your buck.

i use vintage tube amps and speakers - sg guitars with hot humbuckers. i keep the rate between 10 o'clock and noon, it will give a wild tremolo flutter sound past that, the depth circa noon, the tone at about 10 o'clock (deep wah without bass), and the sens control kept at "min" for maximum wah. gets that cool porno sound baby yeah!

boss is built to last and makes a good weapon when the club turns ugly. use a power pack and batt. as a backup.

don't call if it don't break.

this is the lazy man's wah, but bad if you want to control it. for rhythm that is straight ahead 4/4 this is great, can do the rage v. machine and porno wah stuff. real basic. i like it for that, esp. to wig people out by turning the rate up to the suicidal trem setting. that will really piss people off.

I got this one used, no manual. No manual is needed.
Set the dials to 12:00 and you get a usable sound right away. Play with them one at a time and you figure out what does what. Then just mix it to get the effect you desire. It ain't rocket science.
btw- There are some good setup tips in these reviews.

I keep reading in some of these reviews how noisy this pedal is. Mine is very quiet. Sure, you can here some of the effect when it's turned on, but I only turn it on when I use it, doesn't everyone?
Currently using it through a Peavey amp, with OD-2, FL-2, PH-3...Stratocaster, Les Paul Custom, and Les Paul Junior, pickup on Washburn accoustic.

I've never had a backup BOSS pedal on a gig. NEVER NEEDED ONE!
And I don't mean one night a month reliable, I mean 5 sets a night, 6-7 nights a week, 52 weeks a year. So far, the AW-2 seems to be as reliable as all BOSS pedals I've owned.

I don't honestly know. I've never had a problem which needed their help!
Never had to repair a BOSS pedal.
Upgrade is just; eBay the old one and buy the latest one.

Been playing for decades. The AW-2 is very useful for funk and rock stuff, and to add a little spice to the blues. I don't like the newer AW-3 as much, because I don't like the human voicing thing.
This is the fourth auto-wah I've owned....and the best. Although I loved my old Electro-Harmonics "Doctor Q" back in 1978 (one knob and a great sound), it was waaaay to fragile for stage use.....flimsy even. The Ibanez and DOD versions I had were more stout, but with less control. The AW-2 is stout and has good controls...I like it! But hey, opinion varies.

Took a little tweaking to figure out, but only 4 knobs.

Can be a little noisy, but I bought it for one thing only. Not as a auto Crybaby, but as a Jerry Garcia sound emmulator. Set the first 2 knobs to 9:00 and the other 2 knobs to 3:00. To further the effect, drive the AW2 with a tube screamer in front. Play this on a clean amp setting. Everyone notices immediately. "Nothin shakin' on Shakedown Street..."

as with all Boss pedals....very sturdy

n/a

I play a Gibson SG Special > TS9 > Crybaby > Blues Jr. I use the Autowah just to mess around with Jerry / Grateful Dead sounds. This is not a cheat for a Wah-wah pedal. There is no way for expression in that sense.

"...California, I'll be knocking on the golden door
Like an angel, standing in a shaft of light
Rising up to paradise, I know I'm gonna shine...."

I am pretty good when it comes to effects, so I have to say this pedal actually is pretty complicated. That is a good thing of course. Its more versatile. Depending on your guitar, you should adjuct the pedal so it will "wah" in sync to your playing. Thats the SENS setting. Depth is done to your liking but its best to equal the highs and lows to your liking. Manual is set to how "interactive" you want it. ANd rate is for speed of course. So, you gotta actually, hehe, take time and make sure the settings are correct to your liking. You cant just plug it in and play like a od or ds box. Easy when you get the hang of it...learning to operate it the first time takes patience and experimenting.

Sounds awesome. I never liked it in the beginning. My wife, then girlfried, bought it for me. It was my first gift from her when we started dating so I thought that alone made it a keeper. Sappy stupid huh? Anyways, I didnt like it much...thought of it as a one trick pony. But later found it to be a great tool and even a cool volume, or treble, boost perfect for solos. Makes a telecaster sound toooo bright and tooo high. Tooo good in my opinion. Bring on the hiss and hum and all that beautiful noise.

Yup. You know what they say...so I aint gonna repeat it.

I am beyond the impersonate your idol phase of guitar playing. I am more into my own sound and this gives me a cool signature sound..yeah as if i was a rock star or something. Anyways, I love it and its perfect for recording and live and everything else. They is no wrong way to use a pedal. Hiss is something that sould be appreciated. You listen to old recordings and you can even hear the messed up wire fzz up during old blues records. I love it. Makes it sound raw, unedited and make the player count the most. You get what I am saying? No, oh well. I play a tele through a roland jazz chorus. I use it with a delay and dist/od. I am getting a HM2 and cant wait to try it with it. I play alterna tunes I guess. Mellow soundscape stuff. I listen to Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Sparklehorse, SFA etc etc so you can get an idea of my flavor.