Boss PW-10 V-Wah

I've had this pedal for about two days now, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Thiers a learning curve sure, but it's pretty easy to understand once you read the manual.

Thier some things I don't like though... They coulda made the manual/cycle effect mode easier to turn off/on (by using another selector switch, instead of having to unplug and all that...) Would probably make changing effect loops harder for gigs... thanks to the unpluging for doing any major changes. But the manual is great, and if you just want a multi-wah and don't wanna fiddle, it's great right out of the box!

My favorite line up for this wah at the moment has to be my Danelectro Hodad (with phase tap) running with no other effects on, right into my 80's Fender red knob Twin Reverb amp using the voice effect. It's kinda hard to control on the factory torque settings, but a 5mm hex key will solve that problem quickly.

I wish the distortion effects had more variation controls, but they are good and sound like what their trying to emulate. As with Boss distortion products, great sound!

The Uni-V effect is cool too, as is the wierd synth effects. I'm more into the wierd stuff...

ALSO, this is a great bass wah!

It seems reliable, and since I'm using a power supply, batteries are not a problem. I wouldn't need a backup, but thats because of my pedal setup...

not dealt with yet....

I play a lot of surf, rock, ska, punk, blues, and jazz, and this wah covers me pretty good. I've become a big fan of the uni-v, double ressonance, voice, and Vox wah models.

I had to play with the pedal a bit to get what I like, but it's still good for the price.

My main guitar setup consists of: Danelectro Hodad, Fender stomp tuner, Boss V-Wah, Dunlop Crybaby, Danelectro Black Coffee, Boss Blues Driver, Boss Acoustic Sim, Boss Tremelo, Danelectro Cool Cat, Fender 80's Redknob Twin (or Vox AC-30)

I also run it with a bass setup: Ibanez SG5, Boss V-Wah, Yorkville 400 bass head running a 212 Harkte bass cab.

If it was stolen... I would hope I found it once again, or that I could get one for under $100, because I wouldn't buy a new one...I would buy a GT-6 :)

After spending a little time with the manual, and more importantly playing, you can get really good sounds. The factory settings are too loud, but easy to adjust. One real drawback is having to turn off the power to change overdrive/distortion modes, hence the 8.You will have up to four sounds ( five if you include bypass ).I usually use the Boss Turbo OD mode, can get close the sound of my TS-9 Tube Screamer.
The manual is good, but there are some typos. It is quite easy to edit patches opnce you catch on it.

This thing really sounds good. I play an American Strat into a Boogie Mark 1, which provides beautiful overdrive at volume, but I generally play at apartment/bedroom levels, so I must rely on pedals for distortion. I have a homemade pedal board with TS-9, Boss BF-2 Flanger, DD-3 delay, PH-2 Phaser, Fab-Tone, Ibanez Chorus and Boss TU-2 tuner and NS-2 Suppressor. The P-Wah gets along fine with all of it's new friends, but I often run it as my only pedal.Easier to drag around than the board. The versatility of the overdrive modes, wahs, and vibe is very good. It also has an internal noise suppressor which is very effective. When going into bypass mode there is an annoying pause during which it will step into the next mode, but with a little timing and twisting of your guitar volume knob, you can make the transition from brutal distortion to a clean sound.Gets docked a point for that. The Uni-Vibe model is pretty good, but it ain't the real thing, but close enough. The Marshall Guv'nor overdrive is quite good. I play mostly classic rock and this pedal has most of the sounds I want in it. The Double Resonance and Voice effects are really just a novelty.( For me anyway ).The Morely wah is my favorite, it works well clean and distorted. The Advanced Wah is good also. For the amount of gain you can run through this thing, it is very quiet. Going to dock it a point for not having more than 3 memory settings. Now if Boss could have included the DD-3 Delay into this pedal, it could be the only pedal you would need. But needing and wanting are two different things. We are guitarist's and will have as many toys as possible. Oh, the Crybaby model is pretty good also,just because it works ( I have two dead Crybabys, (may get them fixed some day).

Can you depend on it ?It's a Boss ! I don't gig at this time, but would certainly use it without worrying about a back up. Well, I would keep my Tube Screamer for overdrive close by, just in case. I do think it is more dependable wah than a Crybaby or a Vox.

Have never had any reason to deal with them.

Been playing off and on for 20 years, and have seen many guitars, effects and amps come and go. This is a keeper. If lost or stolen, I would defintly replace it. It is very cost effective for the effects it provides. How else could you even get half of the distorions, let alone the wahs for $150 bucks? Like I said above, I wish it contained some delay. This is a very good pedal to have.

As has been stated before, it's a fine enough wah to just stomp on it and be happy, but to really get the knack out of the thing, take your time with the manual. Adjusting wah type and range is easy and rather self-explanatory, the controls are much more user-friendly than in the Crybaby 535Q I used to have. I found the bypass solution rather impracticable, though, so my way around it was to program the normal ("manual") setting choosing the booster option instead of any OD/distortion (the factory setting is Metal Zone, which I have in my pedal board anyway), with Drive at practically zero. This comes close enough to the unaffected sound for normal ears, and there's still the three memory patches left for distortion settings. One thing I noticed in comparison with the Crybaby is that the PW-10 needs some real hard stompin'. No problem for most of you guys out there, I presume, but as a 60-kg woman I have to press the pedal down with my full weight to operate the toe and heel switches. But that's a matter of getting used to...

I play an Epiphone JA Riviera Deluxe & an Ibanez SA 160 through Boss HR2 Harmonist > SD1 Overdrive > MT2 Metalzone > PW-10 > Ibanez AD9 Delay > Boss RV3 Reverb > CE2 Chorus into a 1970's Mesa Boogie Amp and the different sounds of this wah fit in well. Roland's COSM system offers a very versatile array of sounds in excellent quality, and I haven't had any noise problems so far (haven't used the Wah at full volume yet). I really like the Advanced & Double Resonance sounds!

No Boss pedal has ever let me down...

No need to deal with them so far.

I play psychedelic-influenced heavy rock/metal, sort of Jefferson Airplane meets Iron Maiden. In my band, we play mostly Sabbath/Metallica type stuff, and I think I'll use this wah much more extensively than I ever used the Crybaby (which was a good wah, but just not as versatile). I'd sure buy it again, but I won't let anyone steal it in the first place!

This device is very easy to use.
It took me just a cuple of minutes to figuer out how to use
and controll the wah range, distorsion and switching between the four
possibilities .
I only regreat that when you shift from one possebility to the other
you have to step on the pedal thowards you really hard and when you switch to distorsion and back to clean wah (no light/red light to green light) you end up with the advanced type wah even if it is on another, if you have really quick hand and feet it is no problem as i found out just takes a little practice beside that very easy.
i haven't dealt with the editing patches yet but the manual is very good and after a short reading time i understood how to do it.

It just doesn't get any better...
I am playing on a 96' Fernandes B.K fluid throw the v-wah+ MT-2 metal-zone by boss into a Marshll G30CD amp.
it sounds great i can play very soft things like eric clapton or i can play Hendrix using the the crybaby type wah , Metallicas' kirks' sound is also avalible using the metal zone combined with the v-wah and onward til any kind of metal you wish.
it is not noisey at all infact by using the inboard noise repressor iwas able to rase my gain and get a clear sound like in fade to black.
it is great....!!!!

certainly!!!
i haven't been in any problem with it .
I would count on it without backup like any other boss effect.

never dealt with them.

I am playing for a year and a half now, i play all kinds of styles like : Rock, Metal,Hard rock and blues....
it fits in every kind of style if you know how to use it .
It is a remarkable thing well done boss...
I do not know if i would buy it again because it costs a lot here in Israel and i don't have much money but as soon as i could get that kind of money again i would have certainly buy it.
it really helps me some of my bands' new songs are filled with wah and could not make ot with out it.

I will have to add this if you really looking for a wah for life that is great in any type of music and ready to spend some money this is the ultimate one none of the existing wahs surpasses it.

Ease of Use - 4 , Boss jammed ALOT of stuff behind too few controls. I got VCRitis.
I spent 3 hours checking it out, before deciding it was going back. That was enough time
for me to figure out the interface, audition the sounds, an performance test it.
I think the PW-10 would have benefited from a physical layout simular to Digitechs RP200.
The 3 modeled WAHs, Dunlop, Vox, & Morley, sounded closest to what I remember a WAH pedal sounding like,
but not different enough to spend the Mizerly 3 memory locations on them. This units
also supposed to have 8 different distortion models too. I did find some nice distortion
settings, but trying to change from one to another, even with a cheat sheet,
isn't something I'd try to do on stage. You have to UNPLUG the unit an hold down a button
to change the Function of the Knobs, to change the distortion type...
and if you do include distortion in a patch, you can't switch it on or off without reaching
down an twisting the drive knob, and you can't use the distortion with out a Wah ?
Also, I couldn't get the 2 second shut off to work realiably in memory mode.

Sound Quality - 7 , mostly because if theres great sounds in there, I couldn't find a way to use them.
though the UniVibe effect was my favorite of the bunch, and the double resonance was pretty cool,
none of them, including the 3 Modeled WAHs, filled the ache in my tone, left by my long lost crybaby.
I didn't find the talker usable on any setting, the vowels all seem jammed into a few degrees of pedal sweep.
I did find some nice distortions, but it drove me crazy that I could'nt switch them independently of the wah,
or shut the wah off an use the distortion, or use the pedal to control the drive or volume.

Reliability - 10 , well if construction is any indicator... I don't think I've ever seen
a more SuperDuty Pedal design. You might be able to bust a knob, if you drop it just right.

Overall Rating - 6 , The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much Boss
put into this pedal, and why it didn't work for me. I've never seen an instance where
overloading a simple interface to support added functionality was worth the increase in complexity.
just look at the long list of VCRs , Cell Phones , Fax's and answering machines...
somebody took the time to program them, an most nobody else takes the time to figure them out.
In this instance, that functionality is for a musician, in a performance setting ?
Possibly a case of mis-expectation, that might be eliminated by advertising the design targets.
the PW-10 CAN do alot, but the interaction of its controls and functions severly limit its
capablities in operation .

This pedal is kinda tricky to use. I actually had to use the directions for it. It is very easy to get the custom sound you want out of it. this pedal always has a good sound to it no matter what the settings are.

The sound of this pedal is just awsome. It has a great wah to it which can be tweeked in any way. there are many different types of wah to suit your different styles. This boss is using the cosm sound bank and they have many different distortion sounds which replicate other boss pedals such as the blues driver. You dont even need to use the wah feature because the distortion sounds great and can be used as a distortion pedal alone. I would recommend this pedal to everyone because of its versatility and the inexpensive price. You are able to program this pedal so you just toggle through the settings you want and you can turn off the distortion at any time.

this thing is built like a tank.

never broke but has great five year warranty

AWSOME!

It's a little complicated to get ALL POSSIBLE sounds out of it, but you can easily just click and play. It also has some great presets you can get to easily. But to take advantage of all the sonic possiblities, you'd have to have the manual handy.

I'm using a Carvin DC127 with a Fishman Acoustic Pickup, to the Boss V-Wah, to a Boss AD-5 Acoustic Processor, to Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, to SWR Strawberry Blonde Acoustic Amplifier. Not noisy at all and all the effects are great. I especially love the added Univibe sound. I can get that great Hendrix, Band of Gypsies sound out of it. The Wahs are great. So many different kinds and their all tweakable too. It's really a great toy! You'll be playing for hours!!

Seems like its pretty reliable. I just got it yesterday so I dont really know. But Boss products are always great quality so I'll give this a ten anyway.

nope

I play a fusion of jazz, psychedelic rock, blues and reggae. This pedal is PERFECT for me, I absolutely LOVE it! Talk about psychedelic!?!! I was also pleasantly surprised with the synth sound. Reminds me of Zawinal. I was gonna invest $250 in the line 6 FM4 filter modeler, but I just couldn't see spending that much money again. The Boss might even be better... and cheaper too. They could easily charge over $200 for this thing, it's that good! I've been playing for 15 years and I've owned a few Crybabys in my day. The Boss V-Wah is even better. If you're looking for a wah and then some, the Boss will be perfect. Dont forget that it has EIGHT quality Boss distortions on board. (Wow, I almost forgot about that!!) After I bought it, I played with it for like 3 hours... experimenting with all the different possible sounds. I think I ended up in an extended version of "Machine Gun" (Man I love that Univibe!!)I still havent scratched the surface on what can be accomplished with this pedal, but I'll have a blast tryin!!

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
The sound of a wah is good no matter what, the default sound when you turn it on really is impressive and the rest of the sounds are great but not everyones a fan of the Fuzz Box distortion I guess. so it's pretty easy to get a good sound.

How about Editing patches?
Now here comes the tricky part this unit isnt easy to use and you would never get full potential without reading the manual because theirs so many different things it can do. One thing you need to know how to do is change the function of the heel switch to function B because without this it would pretty much be useless on stage as a few people here have said.. Heel = distortion on/off Toes = Wah on and off.. instead of the standard way which kinda really does get confusing and takes a lot of time. you dont need to do the 2 second bypass if you learn how to use this unit propperly Boss have catered for everyones needs here just read the bloody manual.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
it's great but u'd be screwed if you lost it.

Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
Well I got it the day it was released in the UK so im guessing it's an original unless it's been updated already??!

My final verditct is quiet hard to use but, it's always just gonna be a standard wah, so u cant not use it, but it's tricky to get multiple sounds and a good setup for the switches etc..

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?
Fenix Les Paul Custom DiMarzio bridge pickup into a Valvestate 8040.

Is it noisy? On what settings?
it's got a built in boss noise gate if you set this feature up propperly to your own tastes u can illimate background/white noise and not loose any sustain or tone. but it can be noisy if you dont know how to use this feature.

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?
They sound great this is the best sounding wah I've ever heard.
It's boss though so I expected quality.

What amp are you using it with?
Marshall Valvestate 8040 40v 1x12 Combo

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?

This wah has the Morley Badhorsie steve vai signature wah sound on this wah plus the VOX and Crybaby sounds.. I can get anything from Hendrix to Hammett to Vai to Satch to Zakk Wylde.. it's the most versitile wah I've ever heard.
But it doesnt just do wah, It does Voice Box, Univibe and several boss distortions and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff.. the thing I was most impressed with was the Metal-Zone distortion with the Morley Bad Horsie wah this nailed the Kirk Hammett lead sound for the black album so unbelievbly well.

Can you depend on it?
Dude it's boss you dont get many things built like tanks these days but boss still do it.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
Sure.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
I just play lead guitar for all genres and this just covers them all and then some. it's great.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
7 years, alsorts of other stuff 2 long list.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
Yes plain and simple yes.

what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?
love? everything. hate? nothing now I've learnt how to use it propperly reading the manual fully. my fav feature is the Metal-Zone distortion because it adds such liquid sustain to highgain lead it's gorgeous really it's lovely.

Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
Vox,Crybaby,Morley,Bespeco I tried them all and this just was the holy grail of the wah pedal.

Anything you wish it had?
More nobs and buttons instead of having to do the turn off and on thing to change features but it's compact and sturdy. so I guess it's a trade off.

Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
Yea it makes music!

Anything else you'd like to share?
Well done boss!

Very intimidating pedal. I've had it for a few days now and have completely read the manual and tested everything out. It needs a few more knobs. Distortion settings are WAAAAAAY to hard to change. Definately not a live pedal. To make any changes you have to turn off the unit, and then turn it back on while holding down a certain button then make your changes and press the button again. It's hard to tell if you are back to normal operation or if you're still in the settings
mode. So why did I give it an 8? Because it is usable, just a little hard at first. Boss crammed so much stuff into this pedal that I guess that have to sacrifice a little ease-of-use, which is okay. The manual is great, if you look past the typos. In conclusion, it trades off some ease-of-use for a lot of features.

Mexican Strat > V-Wah > Peavey Classic 30

It has a built in Noise Suppressor which works great! Absolutely no noise whatsoever. The effects sound very good to me, but I've never used any of the original effects so I can't really compare. It suits my needs very well. There's just so much stuff on it! You can use all the Wahs with distortion or without, or you can just use distortion. The 8 distortion models are good, (it is modeling, after all). Very, very versatile. If

I already dropped it once on a concrete floor and it is fine. Boss is rock-solid.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for about 2 years and this is the first wah pedal I've bought. It is amazing for the price. Probably not for the pro who wants one awesome wah model, but if you're just a hobbyist like me, who wants a big bang for the buck, get this pedal. You won't regret it.

This thing is easier than some other reviewers have claimed. I got about ten different sounds out of it in 45 minutes. Editing is simple and The manual is good.

Fat Strat -> PW-10 -> Fender Tube amp. This thing has so many good sounds it blew me away. There was a little noise when you turned the distortion up but that's what happens with most distortions. Yep, this wah has good distortion. It sounded like the Boss SD-1! I got some great Crybaby sounds out of this than I get out of my Dunlop Crybaby 95Q. The Voice, double resonance, and Univibe patches adre also great!

You can rely on this. It doesn't have a pot and it will never squeak. It is built solid. I will gig without a backup.

When my Boss SD-1 pedal died I sent it to Boss and had it fixed for free in 4 weeks.

I play in a Jamband (funk, blues, rock, jazz). This pedal is great because it has 3 options of wahs or you can use just the distortions. I've been playing 10 years and have tried many different wahs. This is my favorite so far. If it was stolen I'd replace it when I saved up the cash again. It definitely helps inspire me to make more music.