Boss PW-10 V-Wah

As easy as a normal pedal wah: rock back to increase bass & forward to increase treble. The true-bypass mode is a bit of a trouble though, u hav to hold it like for 2 seconds, which is really not anything u're gonna waste ur time w/ in the middle of a song. There's also another additional wah bypass which only disengages the wah (not od/ds) when used. And ya, these switches r only possible to activate when standing up (yup, really that hard). Overall the normal sweeping is as easy as 1-2-3 period.
So,
Normal use :8
Other purposes:5

The wahs r definitely tasty & almost true to the original. But the wacka-wacka stuff is not possible though, it just couldn't do the kwa thing & also the reverse wah sweep (imagine aaoouu like in Joe Satriani's Souls Of Distortion). The wah is sweet but if u put it on the down position, it just goes oooomph, which is a bit of a disappointment. The wah itself produces no noise though....but when u put in the od/ds, everything goes hhhhhmmmmm (due to static hum)& when sustaining a note, it goes a bit eeeeeeee (no, not a harmonic, just somekind of a statical tonal degration) on the high end & really sucks! The built-in noise-supresser is nowhere as good as the renowned NS-2 & adds on to the eeeeeeee of the od/ds.
So my advise is to use it ONLY as a wah pedal & don't think twice to consider the od/ds.
Wah :8 (I'm reviewing this only)
OD/DS:4
NS :2

Reliable ONLY as a stand-alone wah pedal. Forget about the od/ds it also has, remember that u can't switch the whole thing into bypass easily. Only relied it as a wah pedal during gigs

Never needed it, the whole thing is tough as a tank & believe me, I've seen a Boss pedal w/o the cover (my friend's) still work as if nothing happened to it before.

As I said, only good as a stand-alone wah & nothing else. But the better thing compared to normal wah pedals is that it catches no dust in its systems & produces no noise (wah ALONE).
Overall it is a good product but I think Bosscorp should put more work into the swithching system & od/ds.

If you use it only as a wah, it's simple, but if you are using all the other things, like the heel switch to select among your own saved presets, then it is a little more complicated. Turn the knob to select which wah or any of the functions, turn the wah range knob for obviously the range of the wah, and the drive knob to add in some distortion or volume boost. Selecting different distortions if very stupid like others said, they should have came up with a better idea for that. It's very easy if you just use it as a wah, don't use it for saving presets or whatever else.

The wahs actually are pretty good, they all sound somewhat like the ones they are simulating. Just tweak the wah range to get the wah sound you want, it's that simple. Really, don't use the other functions that this pedal has to offer, they aren't that great. The distortions are weak, you can tell which one each is. The voice mode is too wierd, and the uni-v is pretty good, nothing to really complain or really talk about. You will get an annoying noise from the wahs if you don't have the noise suppressor turned up a bit, not feedback, but a swooshing sort of noise. You can really get any range and sound you want from the selection of wahs, from very wide and deep, to very thin.

I've had mine for about a year, it's a Boss pedal, it will keep going. If it did break or something, I have a lot of backup gear, so I don't need to worry. But, the pedal doesn't seem to be a cheap, low quality pedal, buily nice and sturdy, you can even adjust the footpedal itself, how loose or tight you want it. You can't do that with most wah pedals can ya?

You are either going to like the pedal or not, just try one out, it's very versatile. I do wish the distortions sounded better, they are too weak, and there should be an easier, more convenient way to change the distortions. Also, the voice mode is kinda wierd, they could have done without it. Overall, the pedal is a nice thing to have, it can compare to the Dunlop 535Q wah in some ways, but it isn't better than the 535Q wah.

In order to operate this pedal and use many of it's functions, is so dumb! It does have the regular toe switch like most wahs, but it also has some stupid heel switch, which I never wasted my time to figure out. The manual is very helpful, explains everything, but there is so much. Also, the manual is condensed on the bottom of the pedal, so if you forget something and are crazy enough to use this pedal for shows, you just flip the pedal over and check out what you want? Yeah, sounds pretty stupid, and you'll look like an idiot doing it. Rating it a 5, because there is too much to the pedal, you don't even need what's on it, it should have just been a wah, not all this other crap it also has on it!

I will start with everything other than the wahs 1st. The voice mode is quite a bad idea Boss had, you can use it if you want, maybe just to fool around with, but definitly not for anything else. The Uni-V isn't bad, but leave it to Boss to ruin a classic. The onboard distortions and overdrives are literally a JOKE! I at least thought before I bought the pedal that, since it's a Boss pedal, the distortions shuld be really good like all of there compact pedals... But, wow, they are so bad! They are weak copies off their own pedals and a few other companies. You can get them to sound decent with an EQ, but why? Ok, onto the wahs. I never used or tried out the custom wah, so I can't say anything about it. The advanced wah is like an enhanced wah, the wah sound will be more pronounced and be heard better over your other pedals, but not by much. The Dunlop wah is the best on the pedal, it's the best sounding and best overall for the pedal, can't even compare to a real Dunlop wah. You can get a really nice range with the dunlop wah. The Vox wah sounds nothing like a real Vox, it sounds just like the Dunlop wah, but with a little bit of added mid. And no, you can't get a Hendrix-y sound (opening part of Voodoo chile-slight return) out of this pedal, not with any of them, even with a lot of tweaking, not possible. The Morley wah is wierd, it is a deeper wah than all of the wahs on the pedal. They have the Q/Range knob for tweaking each wah. I own, or have owned each of the wahs this pedal emulates, and none of them can compare. One thing, if you use a Dunlop GCB-95, or any of their other wahs, when playing it, you get the constant wah-ing sound (if you want to know what I mean, listen to Joe Satriani's Souls of Distortion) evening when you let a chord or a note ring out, but with the Boss wahs, once you let a note or chord ring out, the wah dies out. I have a bunch of wah pedals, Vox V847 and V846, Morley Vol/dist/wah and the Vai Bad Horsie, and a Dunlop GCB-95 and 535Q wah. I bought the Boss wah before buying the 535q, i thought the boss wah could have been good, but it isn't. ALso, there are I think 3 or 4 memory locations you can use, but it's really not necessary. If you buy this to use it as a wah, only use it as a wah, keep one one, and just turn it on and off like a regular wah, don't waste your time with all the other crappy features on the Boss wah. I rate it a 6, because the distortions, voice mode, Uni-v, and most of the wahs suck on this pedal.

I bought mine when this pedal came out, not sure how long ago that was, but it still works like new. It's a Boss pedal, it's going to last you a long time. I have plenty of good wah pedals, I don't even consider bringing this pedal to shows as backup. If this is your only wah pedal, it should be reliable, I just don't bring it because I don't really like the pedal. I rate it a 10, because nothing went out on me yet, and shows no signs of wearing out when I actually bring it out for whatever reason.

They are a great company, I have called them up to get demo's of some of their stuff, they are very quick and helpful.

Overall, this pedal should have JUST been made a wah pedal, they should have kept out all of the other functions, I bet the wahs would have been much better. This is one of the more expensive wahs out right now, not even my Dunlop 535Q wah cost more than this thing!? I don't think this pedal should cost how much it does, it's really not anything great. Like someone else said, if you can pick from a bunch of wahs, don't go with the Boss wah. If you are willing to dish out $150, or whatever this pedal goes for now, buy the Dunlop 535Q wah, like $30 or $40 less than the boss wah, and is a TOP of the line wah, 10 times better than the Boss wah, more versatile, and sounds so much better. My Boss wah has been sitting in my basement with a bunch of my unused pedals. I rate it a 6, because for the $, you can get something way better.

- It's hard to get a good tone, because in order to customise a new wah setting you have to turn off the power (pull the plug), hold a button down while you plug it in again, then fiddle with the knobs. When you're done you can save the settings. Also, in this mode you only have access to the wah Q and presence settings, so you can't adjust Q and range simultaneously.

- This is a giant pain in the ass. If they ever make a PW-20, it should have all controls available all the time. Basically I want something like the 535Q, where you have a wah range and Q control right on the box. I would gladly pay more for the pedal if it had twice as many knobs that could make it so much easier to use.

I'm using an Ibanez JS1 into a Peavey JSX with a 4x12 XXX slant cab.

- The modelled wah sounds are excellent. You have access to every wah tone you ever wanted, plus a huge range that you never thought were possible.

- The distortion sounds are OK, but they don't compare to the dedicated effects they emulate. They are also hard to use for the same reason as the wah: you have to pull the plug, enter a program mode when plugging it in again, then adjust some of the settings, save, adjust other settings. Stupid.

I've only had it for a couple of months, and I don't gig.

This pedal can do it all. It's just so damn hard to use!

I've had this pedal for at least a year, it isn't the simplest pedal to use when you first start off with it. I really didn't like the heel switch or whatever it is, I never used it for the entire time I used the pedal. One really dumb idea about this pedal is how you have to change the distortion on this pedal. You gotta take the power supply out, turn the knob to a certain wah, hold down the memory button, and put the power supply back in? Pretty stupid, and not worth wasting your time over, because the distortions aren't very good. I did have to check out the manual when i first got it to find out how to do a few things, cause this pedal is more like a multi effects pedal, rather then a wah!?!

One thing I don't get it how Boss calls it a wah pedal when it has other, not needed effects? The wahs on this pedal sound kinda good, but I took this off my pedalboard to put my Dunlop 535Q wah back in, that is a wah pedal for ya! But, the Boss wah has all these other things on it like the "voice" mode, I think it is pretty stupid, it doesn't sound good at all unless you use the onboard distortions, which also aren't too good. The voice mode is pretty bad when I tried to use it with my own distortion pedal, you can't really hear it, and when you do, it just sounds bad, no reason for the voice mode. There are a few distortion to pick from, but all sound pretty bad, you can throw in an EQ after this pedal, but it's a wah, (or supposed to be) not a distortion pedal! There is also the uni-v, it's ok, but another unecessary effect. I won't say much about the uni-v, cause it really shouldn't be on this pedal, along with most of the other effects. Finally, onto the wahs... It is a pretty quiet pedal, they say there are no pots or anything to wear out, and so far that seems to be true. The custom wah is just terrible, doesn't even sound like a wah, I have no idea where Boss got that sound from, or even why they put in on this pedal? When I did use the pedal, I only used it for the "crybaby" wah, it worked for me while I was working on my Vox V847 wah and while I was saving up for my Dunlop 535Q wah. Now that I bought the 535Q wah, that's been on my board and will never leave my board unless I need to fix it or replace it. The Vox wah on the Boss wah sounds like a cheap emulation, which it pretty much is. The crybaby and the vox wah on the Boss pedal sound almost the same, which it shouldn't. The Morley wah on this pedal is just a deeper wah. They all sound almost the same, they each have their own small difference in sound, but are almost the same, just different wah ranges.

This pedal was my backup while I was working on my Vox V847 wah, and while I was saving up for my Dunlop 535Q wah. I had to make the wah work for me while I was out of a good wah pedal, it worked to an extent, but just couldn't give me the sound I needed. Luckily, I have a few wahs, I have a Morley wah, I don't use it because I don't like it. I have a Dunlop GCB-95, it was my best and favorite wah until I bought the 535Q wah, I did have the GCB-95 on my pedalboard along with the Boss wah, I usually used the Dunlop wah more than the Boss wah, actually, I rarely used the Boss wah. I guess this pedal is dependable if it will give you the sound you are looking for, but it didn't work for me, it can't even compare to any of the Dunlop wahs.

If you have the chance to pick from a selection of wahs, don't pick the Boss wah, unless it's what you really want, but if you can pick from either Vox or Dunlop, go with one of them, it'll definitly be the best way to go. I think if Boss would have concentrated more on making a wah pedal, rather than making a multi effects pedal in a wah, the pedal maybe could have turned out better than it is. They just jammed too many effects into one pedal, and most of the effects are pretty weak and bad. Trust me, go with Dunlop or Vox, even if you have to order one of them off the internet, don't buy the Boss PW-10 V-Wah, there are way better wahs out there!!!

not so easy. the heel switch is a good idea in theroy, to go through your three presets, however, I'm used to using my toe and it can get confusing. also to switch back to "bypass stage" you either click away at the heel switch and hear it between presets or hold the heel down for 2 seconds. 2 SECONDS!!! what the..... resetting the pedal and adding your own presets means sitting down with the book for a half hour or reading the instructions off the bottom of the pedal which is useless.d

The vox and the Crybaby wahs are pretty good the univibe is a great idea but it is noisy as hell when engaged. I only played around with the distortions a bit and found it pretty crappy. I'm running it through a Traynor YCV80Q and the amps distortion is FAR better.

Aside from having to reset it, which gets easy after 20 times, the thing is built very well. You could drop it with out thinking.

never delt with

I have had it for about a year and pretty soon will swap for just a crybaby. I can see that it would probably be good in the studio but having to wait 2 seconds for a bypass simply means good luck onstage. I actually only used once onstage and was nervous. the song called for wah and there was nobody there to borrow a normal wah from.

You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to handel this thing! But you can get confused with storing the sounds in the beginning. Take your time and think of it as a 19" rack unit that has a lot of possibilities. The manuel should be read carefully and will help you to go to the first pains of learning the device. Ofcourse you want to use it immediately, but then you'll be missing a lot and I'm really astound that there are people who discovered the heel switch after a long period of using the pedal!!! You should stay with the cry baby..... But serieus, it's not that difficult and sleeping with the manuel under your pillow you should know how to program this wonderful peace of engineering the next day......
O, and the pedal pressure for the toe switch you need is somewhat high. I sat on my chair and fell off while pushing the pedal to get the wah's going!! But standing up with big shoes it will be okay.

I,ve only had this Bossbaby for a week and tried it in my studio in front of a Marshall JMP-1 pre-amp and then to the mixer.... sound is very impressive!! Next week I'll trie it in the rehearsel room with the JMP-1, a Peavey Classic 50/50 tubeamp and a Marshall 1960AV (4/12) and I know it will sound awesome!!
The wah's are clean, strong and have a wide reach. There must be a favourite one for you....mine is the "cry baby" (I have an original, the Boss is the better one) and the "advance", very usable. I am not fond of the distortions but that's because I never use a stompbox kind of unit, I rely on the pre-amp for a pure distortion. I had hoped to thicken the sound a bit with the OD-1 or 2 option, but it gets muddy as soon as you only look at the drive knob. The noiselevel is, with the drive knob activated, very present (with gain on the pre-amp) and I don't like to use the supressor. Maybe I have to learn to deal with it more...... I admit. Programming the distortion type is odd but you get used to while playing with this sturdy metal box. The univibe seems nice for certain solo's or intro's and is of good quality. The voice isn't that human at all unless you're drunk, then it could resemble a bit. I think it is not very useful.....these kind of effects are used very now and then anyway, otherwise it will bore the audiance. I haven't tried the double resonance option and I think I never will, cause I like guitarsounds and not synthlike things out of my guitar!
The heel switch could be a addition for more preset sounds but I have to experience this one the upcoming time. As wah pedal it is unbeatable and knowing that it has a great sound AND reliability (no pot's and moving things in it.....) it will do the job for me. O, and you better buy the adapter with it.

It seems there is warranty so I can sleep at night with no problems on my mind. The cry-baby could be my back-up but it crawled under my mixertable after hearing the Boss......I just leave it there, crying....
I thrust Boss and expect no problems. I have the thing for a week only, so what can I say.

This unit suits me very well cause I play a lot of rocksolo's in our coverband (classic rock of the 80's). The wah's sounds are authentic and therefor useful. I've been playing for 25 years and the equipment I use is already mentioned above, but I also use an Alesis quadraverb and ofcourse some guitars like superstrats, Fender strat , Maverick
X-1 and Ibanez (oldie). I don't wanna think about it being stolen but I like the size because it fits in my guitarcase. I hate nothing about it but maybe I will once using it gigging or rehearsing....I'll let you know. The cry baby I have is simply out of date (I say this respectfully..) and won't serve me in the 21th century. The Boss will!!They promised me in the add...... I wil see. When you have an open mind for new developments like this and don't want to use everything at once, it will certainly improve your playing and sound. Wah is always stunning and very lively sounding when not overdone, that is.
So, have patience with it.....make fun and play music! That's all it's about......

Once you figure out what sounds you want out of it, it's a snap, but getting them can be a bit of a pain with having to unplug it and all. But as far as using the dials and switches it's pretty straight foward.

I use a Gibson lp special with this pedal third in my chain of about 10 pedals before my VS65R. When using the wah with my amps distortion or my Jackhammer, it just doesn't blend well, but when used with my mt-2, it helps tighten things up and sounds great. Sounds great with cleans too as it doesn't color the sound. When using the synth mode and matching it with a big muff (or using the built in distortion)...wow. All that said, as far a wahing goes, I still favor my crybaby 535.

Boss. Reliable.

n/a

I play mostly rock/metal but try to play a bit of everything. As I said, I favor my crybaby for general wah duties, but this thing does come in handy. I got it as a birthday present, and probably wouldn't have gotten it if I had to pay for it, but it's nice to have.

Too many options for a wah. you want a wah? Buy a damn wah... Simple enough to use, but why bother when the real deal is available?

I only had this one for a couple of days. At the time I was using my Warmoth VIP hollowbody with PRS pickups into a Boogie Solo Rectoverb head and 4 x 12. Sound quality? It was really awesome....after I turned it off and put it back in the box, took it back to the shop and swapped it. Actually, now that I think back, it sounded bad even just sitting in the box. Seriously though, these things are expensive and sound like garbage. Dont waste your time, buy a true real deal wah....Crybaby, Vox, Snarling Dogs (cool) or the bomb, a RMC Picture Wah (the coolest). Any of those pedals will absolutely shit on this thing. And I've had all of them, so I know! Some of the options on this thing are mildly amusing, but it sucks tone like a vampire....

Didnt keep it long enough to know. Heard Boss are very reliable, but I'm not so sure I could resist smashing it to pieces anyway because of its crap tone.

Never used it.

Trust me. Buy a real deal wah and forget this toy crap. why work around problems and worry about noise reduction and boosting volume levels because of its inherent suckiness, when you can buy a handmade RMC wah, and have a friend for life?

There is really no need for a wah pedal that is this complicated to use , sorry. Guitar playing is about technique , this thing is more complicated than most mixers, the heel bypass mode and the in built distortion - Give me a break!

Of Course it sounds good in fact it sounds unbelievale with distortion . Its own distortion/drive is a joke though (like the DS-1).
But if you don't use the drive it sucks your bloody volume ...hello?, turn the drive up and it bleeds your ears! As i said it sounds good if you hire an engineer to come to your gigs and compensate for volume loss and volume swell every time you break your foot using the heel bypass to switch the bloody thing on !!!!
The funky mode i forget what its called is my favourite, (shaft mode , whatever)
But as i said this thing is just not worth it ,the bloody hiss of it ,and you can still hear it with a ns-2 noise suppressor in your chain its like a fucking train , the built in noise suppressor itself is a joke ,cuts all your notes!
This is a sound quality rating though so overall i have to give it a 6

i Don't trust this pedal so how can i rely on it?

I feel i have to write this review to stop others from wasting their cash on it. I am a serious gutarist , and i now use a fulltone clyde deluxe wah pedal which are a tad more expensive but you get what you pay for. 3 modes,toe it on quality wah , very hendrixy, no volume loss/boost, no colouration - organic.
As Far as the boss goes , i havn't put it on ebay yet but i will have to as i am having problems getting rid of it - NOBODY WANTS IT!
some bloke wrote a good review ( a few down) on this pedal and listed
at least 8 problems catagorically which i respect, then he went on about how to solve them . Read this one carefully - I REST MY CASE!!!!
I think the reason people do this is becase they are too proud to admit to themselves that they got a raw deal when they purchased this pedal .SELL IT!!!!
And for all those pot heads who gave this pedal an overall rating of 9 or 10 do not know what a fucking wah pedal is supposed to be in the first place. They probably fuck up their bands songs by using the the fucking 'uni-v' funtion all the time , what in jesus christ is this function doing on a wah pedal in the first place , never mind those who think it sounds good!