Boss PW-10 V-Wah

Well, you HAVE to read the manual to figure this thing out. I don't think that anyone will have trouble with it once they've done so, but this thing is not exactly easy to use... for instance, to change distortion effects: turn off amp, unplug pedel, turn know to advanced, and plug back in... Not a big deal, but when your in the middle of playing and you just want to dail in some fuzz or some overdrive, it gets tiring. Of course that fact that a wah pedal does all that is also kind of a bonus anyways, so you can't get that picky. Getting a good sound was no problem at all, but there are 1001 ways to tweak this thing, so be prepared to be overwhelmed: I personally found that part fun!

Wah's: The wah's are all pretty decent... I find myself mostly just using the morley vox and crybaby sounds, but there are a couple other weird and wonderful sounds to which you can definitely have some fun with... I would say that it does a pretty good job of emulating the classics. I've owned a crybaby, and I cannot tell any difference.

Uni-V: Well, I'm borrowing my freinds Dunlop Univibe right now, so I compared the two. No question, the real thing sounds better, but this one sounds pretty good too, and after not using the real Univibe for a while, I don't even notice that it's missing anything... Let's put it this way, unless your REALLY into that sound, you will be totally happy imitating hendrix with this thing ;)

Distortions: There are like 6 or 7 built in distortions, and I have to say, they're all pretty good! Particularily the Metal Zone, Fuzz, and Blues Driver (just my opinion). You don't have any tone control for these settings, but they are still nice.. My only complaint, they are noisy, and the built in noise supressor kind of eats your sound so I just leave it off :( But it's no big deal, I like them. I am going to have to take off at least one point for this noisyness though...

Oh yeah, and this thing has optical sensors, so the POT's will never get squeeky

Well, within a couple weeks of having it, the Wah stopped working... It turned out that it was not broken, but that I had to recalibrate the pedel. Instructions for this were in the manual, but I was kind of upset until I figured that out... It has a 5 year warranty though, and boss is well known for pedels that live forever, so I wouldn't worry too much. Solid metel construction, ect...

I almost called customer support, but then I read the Troubleshooting part of the manual, and my problem was solved. I have no idea if they have good customer support.

Overall, this thing is a cool toy... I'm not sure if you'd want to use it on stage for everthing: The pedel controls the uni-v speed, so when you switch it on, you momentarily get this ultra fast vibrato effect until you pull it back and slow it down a bit (that really bugs me), and there is no on/off button for the overdrive, so you have to lean over and turn it off with the dail!! There are however 3 memory settings, which you can control with a heel clicker, which is neat, so depending on what you want to do with it, it might work great live. It would be ok for studio use, but maybe only with the wah. LIke I said, the distortions are kind of noisy... I suppose enough messing around would allow you to get it jsut right though. It does in general sound really nice though, and for the money, it comes loaded to the brim with 10x more goodies than any other wah pedel (most only wah). Anyways, I'm diggin it and it help me make cool music... I wouldn't replace it if it got lost, but that's only because it is kind of a toy: not really a necessity. Again, depends on how important the wah is to you. Distortion wise, as long as my TS-9 holds up, things can't be that bad ;) If you are looking at buying a crybaby or a morely, and don't mind spending an extra $50 of so, I would definetely get this. It will do EXACTLY what those two do, no questions asked.

Its dead easy to just plug straight in and get an excellent sound, in fact any number of excellent sounds. To get to grips with any other function other than this, though, you have to read the instructions! There's no way around this - the programming is not at all intuitive. But I feel the advantages of the memory system far outweigh the disadvantages and I definately wouldn't begrudge 10 mins learning how to use the thing to have this many awesome wah sounds at my disposal. One niggle is the bypass. It takes to long to turn the unit off. This is a problem for instance if you're using a memory slot with distortion on. Switching the wah on and off is easy with the toe switch. But if you want to switch the distortion off too you have to hold the heel switch down for about 2 secs! Not good! My solution - forget the distortions, or don't think in a live situation you can switch the distortion and wah seperately.

My set up consists of an Ibanez S540 into the PW-10, then onto my Rivera amp. The sounds are exactly how you want them to be. If its a vintage sound you need, the models are entirely warm with not a hint of 'digitalness' about them. Modern, more defined wah sounds are also catered for with plenty of range adjustment to create a typical Petrucci, bass heavy rhythm wah sound or the edgy Dimebag lead sound. The 4 sounds I have in saved at the moment are 1: Petrucci low rhythm sound 2: Vai Morley wah 3: Satch lead crybaby and the manual setting I have on a tight funk sound. All these sounds are totally authentic and rock big style! Noise is no problem I find. True, if you have stacks of gain, there's going to be some noise. But its not excessive and far in a way quieter than a crybaby. I thought the univibe and voice sounds a bit weak and superfluous to be honest. That's why the unit gets a 9 not a 10. That extra processing power/memory could have been used on improving the programming of the unit. The overdrive sounds are also authentic and highly usable. But due to the aformentioned difficulty with switching them in and out I have decided not to use them.

I feel totally secure gigging with this pedal. Once you know how it works and are confident that you can alter settings at a moments notice, you shouldn't have any doubts about using it live. The casing is all metal and the controls are all well out of the way even with my size 12s (UK).

Never dealt with Boss.

The reason I intially considered this pedal is down to the sheer number of styles I'm involved in. I can't afford a Morley, a Crybaby, a Vox etc. And who'd want to drag that many wah pedals to a gig anyway? So this was the 'next best thing'. But it isn't just that. Its far better because it gives me the ability to craft my own wah sound AND have the wah sounds of my heros at my disposal. There are a few problems, which have obviously been mentioned by most of the reviewers here like the bypass and laborious programming sequence. But I for one am willing to put up with/work around these inadequacies because the sound is just so good.

Easy to get started. It is slightly annoying in that you need to power down and back up again to change some of the effects. No problem when you get used to it.

Sounds really good on any of the wah settings. The univibe is a bit silly and I don't really see the point in it. The voices are pretty good. The distortions are great, and I love the way you can custoise your own wah sound.

Very dependable. Has an infrared system instead of an analouge potentiometer so no worries there. Solid, great rubber grip on the foot plate.

Nope

I play stoner mainly so it works well for me as I can change the sound easily. Good allrounder if not necessarily as good as a dedicated wah. But you dont get all the extras...

Some things such as changing distortion felt a bit difficult first, but the product luckily goes with a good manual so keeping it near would be a good idea. I've had it for a month and can operate it quite smoothly already. It would be nicer though if it had one more knob so one wouldn't have to shut off the amp and wah every time when doing some operations, mainly changing distortion.

I have a cheap stratocaser copy and small crate gx-15r amp, and pw-10 sure made my sound a lot better. I have played it a few times with better equipment and naturally it sounded better, but I do like the sound a lot with my own equipment too.

Wah effects are great. Voice is useful sometimes and very refreshing. Uni-v is nice too although I haven't played with it much yet. Distortions rule, it's great to have so many different distortions on a pedal, that even isn't kind of meant a distortion box!

It also has a built in noise supressor, so noise shouldn't be a problem.

Hard to say yet, but at least I haven't had any problems with it during the first month.

Haven't dealt with boss.

It's a great wah pedal, and I would for sure buy another if I lost it. After I got it, I have played practically all the time with it, I've been playing.

I've played guitar for some 4 years, I mainly play rock, funk, some metal and stuff like that. Nowadays I tend to use wah always when I'm playing, so I guess my bandmates will soon get pissed off on me.. :)

I would give a 10 if it was a bit easier to use, but it's still great and has a great sound, which is naturally the most important thing. I warmly recommend buying this unit for anyone thinking of getting a wah pedal.

I read the manual before I even plugged it in, so using it was a breeze. But its not that complicated anyways. The manual is straighforward...more in depth than a lot of Boss' i've seen. Sorry to all u old guys who complained about having to figure it all out.

I decided not to use the distortions and use only what i bought it for.. the wah and uni-vibe sounds. And to my knowledge it works almost exactly like a regular wah would with amp and pedal distortions. The only patch that benifits from the built in distortion is the Double Resonance, but its ok without it. It takes a little work to integrate it into your current rig, but it is well worth it. The patches are amazing (100x better than the Morley Classic Wah that i bought)

I've gigged with it once, and that worked great. I would say that gigging without a backup would be a safe thing to do... I have had some Boss' break on me before though.

I did not deal with them at all on this occasion...but i've tried before and it was too hard to get in touch with them.

This wah is good for whatever style of music you play... you've got the Hendrix sounds, the Steve Vai sounds, and the Shaft sounds all in one box. I've been playing 2.5 years, I use a Crate Stealth tube head, Avatar cab with Celestion Vintage 30's, Boss DS-1 SD-1 and CS-3, and an Ernie Ball Mono Volume pedal, they go together pretty well.
I would definatley buy another. My favorite feature would have to be the vox wah, u just can't beat that vintage sound. My least favorite would be the Bass Mix... it sounded pretty bad with my bass. I compared this with an original Crybaby and a Bad Horsie 2.....i think i chose wisely. I wish it only added distortion, and not volume too. Its definatley a great addition to your setup... get rid of those 30 year old pedals....let them retire, this will do the trick. And it costs slightly more for 10x the work.

The PW-10 in this area seems to lack simplicity. But then again the pedal offers alot of different features than most "plug-n-play" type wahs.

My setup is Jackson Rhoades V->Boss PW-10 Wah->Randall 2 by 12. through my setup the pedal sounds pretty damn good. As you can tell i dont use many pedals cause this one ended up replacing the others! The sound of this wah in comparison to other wahs is that it seems to be alot clearer. The sweep on it has gotten way more even and the horrible task of switching out tone pots is eliminated. Also, using the frequency knob, you can put more "bam" on your mids, highs, or lows.

It's real reliable, not one problem yet. I would use it live without a backup as long as i had both batteries and the ac adapter.

Well never had problems with boss, and the tradition continues.....

I give this pedal a "9". If your a player whose looking for flexability like myself this might be the wah for you. I play alot of metal, classical, and even country, and this pedal and tackle each equally well. The only thing i wish the pedal had is a delay. It seems to have most usuable effects (noise suppression, distortion etc.) but no delay. If this pedal were stolen i would difinity buy another , then i would take the pointed head stock of my jackson and cram it in the guys eye socket.

If you want to get the best out of the thing, you have to read the manual. That said, using the different wah's, the distortion, and a few settings could easily be used by a well-trained monkey. Three knobs- Wah type, wah range, and distortion- self explanitory. The only reason it doesn't get a ten is because this unit has a lot of cool hidden tricks that would be tough to discover on your own (Like programming the custom wah and distortion together, ultra-hip).

All I have to say is this: I compared the Vox wah simulator on this wah with an actual Vox in the store. The Boss' simulator sounded better then the Vox itself. The End.


P.S. No hissing.

I've gigged a fair bit with it, never had one problem.

No Opinion, eh.

My favorite feature of this is I can get close to Clapton's 'Woman Tone' with it. The distortions are impressive, considering there's eight of them crammed into a pedal that's not even meant for distortion. It's got some cool modulation effects, and some sounds on it I would expect to come more from the Electro-Harmonics company, not Boss. If it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't buy another right now, because it's just after Christmas and I have no money, but if I had the cash I would think long and hard between it or a nylon string guitar. Dee-lish!

Seems a diffucult to use. Editing? Good luck for live situations.
Manual seems complicated.

Sound quality is great! That's what sold me on this unit.

I am sure it will be a hell of alot more dependable that Dunlop!
Will try to use for live playing, just need to learn more about this
unit or will return it.

? I have not had to deal witht it.

Blues/Rock. Unit seems like a match?
25 years playing.
Would not replace it if stolen.
I am trying to use the univibe sound with Wah. Can't seem to find it.
Can anyone help?

This pedal is easy to use if you use the manuel. It took me an hour to figure the pedal has heel switch with the toe switch. options for this pedal is great!

the wha, voice and univibe sounds are a 10, but I dont like the distortion alone, not for my taste, but I had no intention on using the distortion alone when i bought the pedal. I have to admit though the distortion sound pretty good in the analog syth mode.

this thing is rugged and tuff, like all boss stuff.

boss/roland does not have the greatest support.

Ive owned a morley wha, vox, crybaby origonal, crybaby Qdial wha. I liked the crybaby sound the best. but every wha I have metioned above has broke in some way, usaully its the tone pots which are easy to replace $30. The pots seem to break after about 1 year of use, what a hassle! wha's also tend to be noisy, sqeaky, and suck your tone. The V-wha on the other hand is not noisy, sqeaky and does not suck your tone! I have to admit, I was not impressed after an hour, once I got used to it, and read the manuel i was very happy. I recommend leaving the wha tone on 9:00,10:00 or 11:00. this gives you a better wha tone.

It's got 2 modes: manual and memory.

Manual mode is very easy: just select the type of wah, the effect range (like the Q control on Dunlop wah's), and step on toe swich.

If you activate the heel switch, you go through 3 memory positions.

It's very easy to edit memory patches: select the wah type, the range, and press a button for 2 secs. Select the memory position (red, yellow or green) and it's saved.

Since there are many features, and just 3 knobs, to reach those features is a little difficul: you have to turn off the pedal, turn the type knob for the wanted position, and turn on the unit while pressing the "manual/memory"button. For instance, if you want to change the drive model, you must turn of the unit, turn the type knob to "advanced", and turn on the pedal while pressing "manual" button. Then you can change drive parameters.

The manual is very good, and it gives some practical hints to use the pedal

My rig: 2000 Am Std Tele -> Pw-10 Wah -> Fender 2000 Hot Rod Deluxe tube amp.

There's little noise when using the pedal on the HRDx "More Drive" channel (high gain). Otherwise, no noise, since it's got a buil-in noise supressor.

The wah models are very, very good, specially the Jimi Hendrix Wah model. The wah sounds available (Vox, Jimi and Bad Horsie) are very good, and are very similar to the originals. It's very easy to get that "Vodoo Chile" tone.

I played with my band, and the sound is not digital, or thin, but very "fat", just like the old analog pedals. The volume doesn't drop, as sometimes happens with original ones.

I also enjoy the Univibe sound. You can control speed using the pedal, and get that SRV's "Cold Shot" tone.

I haven't played yet with other the effects (Double Ressonance and Voice) - have the pedal for 3 days...

It's also got 8 drive/distortion pedals models, including Boss Overdrive, Turbo Overdrive, Distortion, Metal Zone and Blues Driver, Marshall Guv'nor, Big Muff, clean booster, which are very cool!

Well, it's a Boss pedal, so I think I won't have any problem!

And remember there are no pots to be cleanned, switches to be repaired. It uses infrared sensors to detect motion!

I was reading the reviews on Dunlop and Vox pedals, and the users were all telling how good there pedals were sounding after cleaning pots, fixing switches, upgrading bypass switches...

I play rock, blues, and some brazilian type of music. I've been playing for 15 years.

If the v-Wah was lost, or stolen, I would buy another one.

I have compared it with the "real" ones, and for price, features, reliability and tone it's really a winner!