Boss PW-10 V-Wah

To use this pedal as a regular wah is easy as any other wah. You just press the toe down to turn it on or off just like a Dunlop. To use it any other way can de a bit challenging. Switching between the different presets and editing the presets is easy too. When it comes to saving those presets or creating your own, it's like a puzzle you might see in the movie National Treasure. I love figuring out gear and have been knw to spend hours on end just programing gear like old Digitech 2101's and Roland stuff. This pedal was just ridiculously un-intuitive. Once I got it to do what I wanted it was great but figuring out how to do that was NOT easy. The manual was written well enough but it's obvious that the manual was written to explain the technology and not written to establish an ideal method for the technoloigy to be designed around. To my knowledge there is no firmware/software versions.

My rig was a Music Man Silhouette with EMG pickups, the Boss PW-10 and a Mesa rig witha Triaxis preamp, 2:90 power amp and a Mesa Recto 4x12. I put the wah between my guitar and the Triaxis with no other gear in the chain.

The unit is inherently noisy but a simple turn of the threshhold knob for the silencer virtually eliminated all noise. Made a handy noise gate for general use too. Once adjusted the pedal is pretty much silent.

The pedal sounds GREAT! I've only owned one other wah, a Dunlop 535Q, and I was not impressed at all. The Dunlop had a weak range, considerably mild effect and the little boost button on the side broke off in a week and I didn't even use it. The Boss is built in their usual tank-like fashion... The wah effect from the Boss is unmistakable and totally dominating. Regardless of where in the sweep the pedal is you can hear the wah effect. The distortion on the pedal is cool for boost I guess but with no other controls for it but gain it's not very useful as, say, a "distortion with wah" pedal. It's definitely a great wah with some distortion in it. As for the accuracy of the modeling of the various wahs, I can't vouch for that but each model does sound notably different, all sound good and are very useable. Anyone wondering if this thing has a good range? It's range is nuts! I wanted a pedal with lots of range and I found myself using the controls to decrease the range more than to increase it. Also, the smoothness of the sweep is perfect. There are not hot spots in the sweep range. Overall, I say this is a perfect wah pedal.

This pedal is about the same size as a Dunlop wah and suprisingly heavy. I would definitely consider this pedal reliable. I knocked mine off the top of a full stack and it had no affect on the pedal. It's an all metal chassis and very solid.

Never needed it...

One last thing I thought was sweet was the ability to tighten the bolts that hold the pedal on to change the stiffness of the motion. Totally cool feature! I can't imagine anyone not liking the sound of this pedal. It's definitely a bitch to use if you wanna do all the fancy stuff it does but as a simple wah it is really easy to use.

I've been playing various styles of metal for about 18 years. I've seen lots of gear come and go and I consider myself a pretty picky ( pun intended ) gear head ( pun also intended ). If stuff doesn;t feel sound great, I dump it and move on. This pedal is a definite keeper.

I would buy another one of these if it were stolen, although I'd most likely buy the Boss GT-8 since it has this pedal and way more but for the money, if all you want is a great sonding wah, get this.

Again, as a distortion pedal, it sux. There are no tone controls and the distortion, despite being described as several different types, sounds like one OK pedal with just a really wide range of gain. As a wah, it's phenomenal.

As for features I wish it had? A more intuitive system for editing. With all it's ability it seems like it needs a USB port and a PC editor. They have too much in this thing for just three knobs and a couple of buttons.

For it's presets, it's very easy to use. You will have to read the manual or look under the pedal to customize your own settings. However, it's nothing too complicated.

It's just like most other pedals out there (minus the noise supressor). The emulation of the various pedals is decent but it really shines in it's double resonance feature. I also LOVE the Q and band frequency controls that this unite offers. The noise supressor is nice little tool that can really come in handy.

For a Boss Pedal, this feels a bit weak. I haven't had any problems at the moment, but the input for AC adapter is a little bit loose on my unit.

I've never needed to deal with them

It doesn't provide the best emaulation of various pedals but it does have it's own unique sound. It can somewhat emulate an analog synth filter with the use of the Uni-Vibe and double resonance features. If you want something simple that can accurately emulate vintage pedals, this pedal might not be for you (try a tesse mccoy). If you want something to experiment with (and don't mind programming in dual layers), then this pedal is perfect for you.

It does take a few tries to get this pedal set up. A little effort goes a long way. The manual is ok. Needs more steps and need to drop the "turn off/turn on amp" in every paragraph. The distortions need a tone control and a volume separate from the drive. Also, need a variable for the input so the wah's don't distort with a hot pickup.

I using this with a Marshall DSL 50. With the Wah engaged I was getting distortion when playing on the clean channel. The manual says roll down the volume on the guitar. I did and it cleaned up nicely. The distortions sound ok. I like the overdrive on my amp a lot better. I bought it for the Wah pedals, not the overdrives. I will try a few as a boost for the red channel on my amp but so far I can't use them. I am using all four channel with zero drive. I like being able to pick different Wah pedals. It gets the job done.

I don't know how reliable it is. I took it apart and it looks pretty solid. I don't use a Wah much so I don't need a backup.

The website had the manual to download. So that was helpful enough.

Overall, I like it. It will add another dimension to my playing. Hopefully, not a gimmick. I have been playing for 18 years and this is my third Wah. I had the original bad horsie but took it back. If I lost it I would try something else.

Using it as a standard wah pedal is easy enough, but the custom configuration takes alot of concentration and patience.

The bottom line is that you will eventualy figure out how to save the pedals settings in three states in addition to however the knobs are set at that moment, and they provide access to them by foot either in on/off fashion or 1/2/3/off fashion so that's much apreciated.

Unfortunately there is a one second delay kick in when activating the memory so that's a huge disapointment if you need to kick in the effect at a certain measure.

Also the full width of the wah seems to be encompased in the first half of the pedal's rock, the upper half of the rock is in it's peak position. Recalibration didn't fix it. I'll probably tighten the pedal and see if that helps control the wah in a shorter range of movement.

It's truely amazing that the designers though it was a better idea to make the controls as difficult to use as they are rather than add an extra knob and an extra button to spread out the functions. It's obvious that this pedal style is going to become increasingly complex like other multi effects pedal with digital readouts and multiple rockers because there's so much un realized potential in this model alone.

This pedal is realy good for blues or classic rock players because the incorperated overdrives sound realy good but switching between the effects is kind of risky, and with classic rock there usualy isn't as much switching as with modern music which relies on effects to create its highs and lows. I just set the OD1 or blues driver effect to it's fullest and reduce the effect with the volume knob on my guitar and no effect switching is neccessary because at about "5" the sound is pretty clean and plenty loud. With this pedal I can probably leave my oem tube screamer at home because the nobody will realize the difference.

The Big Muff distortion is very convincing but unless you want Big Muff from begining to end of a song, good luck trying to seemlessly switch it on or off since it takes a second for the effect to kick in.

I also have a Crybaby pedal, and it's true that the real thing is a bit richer in tone but the difference is superficial and it doesn't sound bad by any stretch of the imagination. It should be good enough for anyone and if it isn't I question their motives. In general, I can't realy hear a significant difference between most of the classic wahs. The modern wah options are fun to mess with, they might make for interesting lead guitar tones some day.

Here's another big plus, the univibe effect is a convincing chorus if you set it realy low.

It's fine as long as you configure the heel switch to be in toggle mode becuase if you accidently hit it you don't want to have to figure out how to get back to the last setting or potentialy have to press it three times to get to any particular effect.

n/a

It's great if you look at it for what it can do for you right now and ignore the lost potential it has to be so much better. It's especialy good for classic rock or blues because they were nice enough to throw in several overdrives.

I spent about half an hour playing with this at my local guitar shop today. I've been trying tremolo and vibrato (leslie effect attemps) pedals all week, spending about 45 min./day.

Get this -- I tried this pedal because of its UNIVIBE effect implementation! I also wanted a wah pedal, but wasn't planning to get one for a while -- I was planning to wait for the Behringer Hell Baby pedal to come out in May or June or July or whenever. The Behringer will cost $39, honest to God.

But I tried this Boss pedal. The Uni effect was pretty good, I thought. The wha sounds were frickin fantastic.

Over-all it was an amazing pedal, just in terms of the sounds it made. It's QUIET. It has a broad, clear, rich sound, with plenty of low end.

I love the way you can set the range of the wah.

It is built like a metal brick. If someone climbed in my window to steal it, I would beat them to death with the wah pedal! It is a weapon. You could kill several people, wipe off the pedal with a damp rag, and then play all night. (Ok, I am making all this up. I have not killed anyone with this wah pedal. I am using a sort of literary license to communicate the build quality of this product. Please do not contact the police. Thank you.)

I think I'm gonna buy it. It was the sound, which is what I think should matter most.

The unit is very easy to use. Until you want to program it, because then things get more complicated.
I would say you can operate it on two levels:
Level 1: out-of-the-(stomp)-box mode: no problems, great sounds
Level 2: a bit more complicated, more interesting sounds

Given the complex nature of the unit's operation (compared to normal wahs), the manual is pretty accurate. And there's even a manual on the bottom plate!

The way one has to change settings is simply ridiculous. You have to remove the power plug, fiddle around with some buttons, insert the power plug again while keeping a button depressed &c.

I use the unit with a 6120 and Stratocaster. Both sound quite good through this versatile baby.

It gives a very sturdy impression.

The actual pedal is a bit shorter than normal wah pedals, but that's not really a problem.

Problem: On most stomp-boxes, you can adjust the balance between volume and distortion. Not on this one: the more drive, the more volume. This renders the drive function useless to me, because I like to play clean and with drive at the same volume (an extra level control would solve this problem). If this problem would be solved, I would gladly get rid of my tubescreamer and use this one as my sole (!) effect box.

This pedal is not easy to setup, but once setup is dead simple. Many people have complained about how complicated it is to switch between the various options. True, but how many voicings do you go through in the run of a session? Set it up the way you want it and just use it.
I have programmed mine twice, and now have exactly what I want and will probably not change it for several months.

Programmability - 5
Use - 9

The Wahs are good.

Distortion/OD are good, but do not provide for on-pedal tone control. I use BD, MT-2, Pi, and booster. They seem to be pretty good models of the originals and suit my music. The booster does seem to add some colour, however.

Noise suppression is ok.

This is a pedal, the rest of my gear is irrelevant. Try it with your own as "sound quality" is subjective.

So far so good. Saying it is a "Boss" doesn't carry much water for me as this is a firmware based unit, not analog. Boss analog, however, is a sure bet and speaks well about their products in general.

Certainly would gig without a backup. It seems fine, and if it dies.. well that's where the fun starts..

Reliability to date is a 10.

Not used it.

Use it wherever you would a wah pedal. Find your own sound. Why does everyone want to sound like someone else anyway?

I program it to be switchable between MT-2 and booster with the foot switch. You can still access the other two memories with the button.

I get a single, useable, footswitchable distortion and the wah I want. The boost manual setting is "clean" and allows me to select another wah with the turn of a dial. If you need more than one wah voice in a song, I think you are probably over-doing it.

I would replace it immediately.

Used as a straight wah, it is very simple. (Toe switch turns the wah on and off.) A heel switch cycles through 3 memory locations. Both switches are stiff, and very difficult to operate from a seated position. To make use of the distortions and memory functions requires some reading of the manual, and changing distortions is fiddly. Manual is perfectly adequate (Handy to have some of the instructions on the bottom panel)

However, a previous reviewer said that only one distortion can be used at a time, and that the drive knob controls the level regardless of the memory setting. This is not true.
You can save up to 3 different distortions into memory, and have 1 more on the manual setting. You just have to change the distortion to a different type before you save to a given memory setting.
Also, the manual clearly states that if you do not have the drive knob turned up past "0" before getting ready to save to memory, you will not be able to adjust the drive level in that memory setting prior to saving.
Thus you can actually have 3 memory setting with different distortions set to individual drive levels, enabling you to switch to a memory location with the heel switch and call up a distortion type by itself (with the wah turned off).

My setup is Gibson LP Standard---->Boss TU-2---->CS-3---->PW-10 Wah---->Marshall JCM 601 combo---->DD-20(in effects loop)

I've tried the Wah before and after my Boss compressor, and it sounds better after the CS-3. There can be a little noise with the distortion drive turned up, but judicious use of the noise suppressor virtually eliminates hiss.

The wah models certainly give you a chance to experience a few of the classic wahs. Not having any of the original pedals, I am reluctant to swear to their accuracy, but you can hear the distinct differences in each setting, and the pedal has a great range. My favourite is the Vox wah; works great with clean and dirty channels.

I didn't buy the pedal for the distortion models, but again, it is well worth trying the various types. In use I just keep one memory setting with the Blues Driver (drive set to 3-4)and use it with the wah off (mostly) Sounds really good on the clean channel of my amp. Picking dynamics are clearly heard, just like the real BD-2 pedal. However, I wish those reviewing this pedal would stop making comments like "the distortions are a weak imitation of the real thing" Actually the distortions are quite accurate; what you don't have is the ability to tweak them to the same degree as on the individual pedals. {Seriously, if anyone reading this knows where you can buy a modelling pedal of any kind that actually puts 5 or 10 or 15 exact replica pedals in one small electronic package, with a stunningly simple user interface,for a fraction of the price of the originals, I would like to know.} Depending on your guitar, amp and other pedals, you can certainly find at least one good distortion here to fit your sound. You just can't expect to tweak all 8 models to perfection.

For live use the 2 memory setup is preferable so you are not cycling between 4 presets, as there can be a slight noise when switching through the 4 positions. The 4 memory use is better for trying out several different settings quickly (ie at home).
I find the sound quality very good, and the V-Wah is very quiet. The ability to adjust the wah frequency range makes it easy to fit the sound to your equipment, and prevents an extreme trebly sound (eg. on the Crybaby). The Univibe is just okay, but I don't use the other settings for the custom and advanced wah, or voice.

The pedal is mostly metal, and appears very robust. However, about 11 months after buying it, I started having a little trouble when switching between memory positions. It kept wanting to switch directly to the manual setting. A quick trip to Boss service (in Toronto) resulted in a software upgrade (IIRC; apparently the problem was not unheard of) and now the pedal is as good as new.

I've dealt with Toronto CS on a couple of occasions, for this pedal and my GT-3 (software upgrade); they are always prompt in returning calls and so far turn-around times are quicker than stated. They have always been very helpful.

I'm 45, still into classic rock, and trying to learn some blues. Think Gary Moore, SRV, Boston, VH, Aerosmith, Journey, etc. Played on and off 28 years. I bought this pedal to avoid having to work my way through a few wahs to get a perfect fit. I think this pedal works best as a sampler of different sounds, with the ultimate goal being to settle on your favourite 1 or 2 setting/s. The user interface is too complicated to make big changes in a live setting, but once you are dialed in, this pedal works great. No noise, no faulty pots, and I find almost no difference between bypass or user mode.

Don't like - 2 second wait for bypass, noisy and stiff switching
Like - built-in noise suppressor, frequency control, distortion options

If lost or stolen I would probably replace this pedal. Pretty hard to find another wah this versatile for the money, and I do use the distortions. The versatility is what makes this a keeper!

it not to hard to use. it is a boss pedal and you really dont need to be an engineer to figure it out.

ok this thing dose not sound good at all in my opinion. all the wah sounds are weak though it is pretty quiet and dont seem to suck tone like an unbypassed wah. but there is not enough sweep to the pedal and no matter how hard i tried i just couldnt find a sweet spot i liked so am sending my old crybaby out to get modded true bypassed.
gear wise i am using a 1963 strat with a twin silver face dont ask me what year it is with analog man modded pedals.

it is a boss i doubt that it would break unless ya threw it out of a building several floors up. and if it sounded good i would use it without a back up.

never dealt with boss never had a pedal break on me and some of them i have had since 1990.

well the only reason i gave it a 4 here is the fact it is dependable and it not to hard to use but the sounds on it are weak. a person is probably better off buying a wah and having it true bypassed and would have much more tonal qualities than with this pedal.

i agree with the comments about programming the distortion, i never use it (though i might try it this week so.....)
everything else is a no-brainer

it sounds great doing what i want it too plus it wont crap out on me like the cry babies do (ive had 3 die on me)
i can get the sound i want so it gets a 9

built like a tank i would have no need to take a back-up

i have ;lots of roland stuff and have always found them great at support

i play everything from thrash to jazz (lots of funk especially)
i would definately recommend this thing