Colorsound Wah Pedal

What can you say? Nice long throw. Comfortable on the foot. No gadgets to fool with. Switch it on and wah away

Don't see how any wah pedal from the 60's until now could sound any better

Bought the darn thing in 1972 for about 50 bucks. Seemed like the price of a house back then but..... That was 37 years ago. Had to replace the scratch pot about 3 years ago. Looks awfully cheap compared to an old cry baby but it sounds way better and has a much better and wider throw range. Bought a cry baby before I realized I just had a scratchy pot and I never use the thing.

Doubt they are in business

Wonder if they can be found out there

It's a wah, how hard could it be? The one thing that probably needs mentioned is that the long throw of this pedal can feel a bit odd for those used to a Vox or Crybaby, especially when trying to emulate those rapid gurgling sounds like "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" etc, but it's just a small adjustment for your foot and well worth the payoff.

OK, let me preface this by saying that I've had this for about 20 something years and it's been in steady rotation with other wah pedals I've owned including the standard cry-baby's, vox etc etc.

Now that being said, I would have to say this is probably the best sounding wah I've had. As others have noted, it's very quiet and it doesn't have the accentuated mid range that other wahs have (and please don't read that as being that fad of a phrase "transparent" - if you want transparent effects, just use a damn cable...), which I think is why it sounds so very "vocal". The wide sweep and long throw means there's plenty of tones to be had when you get used to it.

For fuzz players this pedal is a god send. I don't know if the manufacturers went out to solve the impedance mismatch of wah and fuzz pedals all those years ago, but this is the only stock wah with the exception of modern boutique wah's that include inbuilt buffers that does not oscillate when used with a fuzz face! Don't know how they did it, don't care - I'm just happy that it has such a major advantage...

This is THE wah for late 60's tones, although I have not been able to directly compare it to an original 60's Vox, but it has all the sounds I want and yes, it's totally funk approved also, this is the wah preferred by Prince no less. It's also the only wah pedal I've played that can nail Hendrix's "Up From the Skies" tone, so that alone is pretty damn impressive. Honestly, after all the others I've tried, this is the wah sound I hear in my head! Maybe you can begin to see why it's my fav.

I've seen some very strange comments here about these being cheaply made -well despite the seemingly flimsy casing mine has been VERY robust. A few years ago the on/off switch finally stopped working and that is the only thing that's gone wrong after at least 35 years! Everything else is sweet, including the pot - no scratchiness or problems(touch wood) after all these years? Hell, my Vox had 3 replacement (expensive)pots in about 8 years! From my experience, the reliability of this is second to none.

Never needed to contact them. I'm pretty sure it's well past any warranty...

Been playing about 25 years, all sorts of bands, blah blah blah.
I've had a few wah pedals over the years, and my current other is a Vox V847 reissue that's been modded a bit, and as much as I do like my Vox, I still prefer the Colorsound. If it were stolen, I would be devastated, seeing as the originals of these are increasingly hard to come by and are only going to get more expensive as time goes on. I have not as yet tried the re-issues but if my experience of other pedal re-issues is anything to go by it won't capture the glory of the original.

Stick a battery on, plug n play!

I am a wah wah fan, although not a guitarist. I own a cry baby and a morley wah/volume. This one is the best to my taste. Very funky. I dont know whether mine is malfunctioning but its range is just thrill! At both ends there is hardly no sound almost mute and this is a unique feature for me.I also love the distance between the 2 ranges, you can really be very expressive as there is enough distance to spot the desired freq you are after. But you have to well practise on this one as i found that other guitar players who have used it they can not controll it. You need to tame this little pedal..... Also noticed a bit of volume loss and a bit of o/drive with the wah on. Dirty sound for dirty music man!

Not very reliable, it's the wah switch that sometimes doesnt obey. It looks like of a very simple piece of electronics but it works!

My super favorite wah! very expressive but at the same time very noisy! Terribly noisy with single coiled guitars (fender strat) very noisy with humbucker pickups.Still i use it with all the noise and the dirtiness. if the reissue has dealt with this problem (without any other changes) then I would definately would buy it. Overall a great funky and dirty Wah !

Easy to use. No manual (who needs one?). Old-school analog. Mine is the reissue (a yellow one).

I play Les Pauls w/EMG's > colorsound wah > dunlop switchless wah > Boss EQ pedal(solos) > Boss super chorus(@ a univibe setting)> DOD 1981 orange flanger > whammy reissue pedal > Soldano SP-77 tube pre-amp > TC M-ONE(chorus always on) > one side to Alesis Nanoverb > other side (and both eventually to) > Mesa 2:90 power amp > 2 4x12's. One w/65wt celestions & one w/25wt celestions.
I love the sound of the wah. Very deep (long throw). I think that that makes it easy to control and get a good sound out of.
The only drawback I found was a very SLIGHT volume loss when the effect is engaged. I have found that most (all that I've played) Crybaby's and Vox's have a short throw (bad for me) but a mid-range bump (good) that lets them cut through the mix. I wish the colorsound had a variable boost-that would be GREAT!

I have 2, and niether has ever gone bad on me....

Never had to contact them....

I'm a rock'n'roll guy (old & new) and I think it fits any kind of music. I've been playin' for 17 years (I'm 30) and I own 2-I think that says enough in itself.

THE COLOR SOUND WAH PEDAL THAT I PURCHASED TWO YEARS AGO SEEMS TO HAVE A NICE WIDE BAND SPECTRUM. VERY USEABLE, AND CLEAN SOUNDING. NO HIGH SHRILLS AND NO DARK BOTTOMS... IT APPEARS THAT IT'S VOICED MORE ALONG THE MID-RANGE. THERE IS NO MANUAL FOR IT AND NO UPGRADE'S WERE PEROFRMED ON IT. IT WAS PURCHASED RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX, BRAND NEW.

MY SETUP IS AS FOLLOWS: TRAINER 40 WATT COMBO 112,212 EXTENTION SPEAKERS. PEDAL BOARD CONSISTS OF SD9 MAXON, 808 RE ISSUE MAXON. A CHORUS AND A DELAY. ALL VERY HIGH QUALITY PEDALS AS YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN. THE WAH PEDAL IS NOT NOISY AT ALL, IT SEEMS VERY SMOOTH.

I WOULD RATE THE RELIABILITY OF THIS WAH AND BUILD QUALITY VERY POOR. APPARENTLY IT'S MADE IN ENGLAND AND I DONT KNOW WHERE IN ENGLAND IT WAS MADE AS I'VE PURCHASED OTHER PEDALS FROM ENGLAND BEFORE BUT I'VE EXPERIENCED A GRADUAL BREAK DOWN OF SOME OF THE INTERIOR COMPONENTS, AND I'M NOT PLEASED AT ALL. I'M SCARED TO USE IT AT ALL ON STAGE, NUMEROUS TIMES I'VE HAD TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO FIX IT. I PAID NEAR TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR THIS PEDAL AND I FEEL I'VE BEEN RIPPED OFF. TAKE IT FROM ME DONT BUY ONE! YOU'RE BETTER OFF WITH A DUNLOP 535 Q WHICH PROBABLY SOUNDS BETTER ANYWAYS AND HAS BETTER BUILD QUALITY.

NEVER DEALT WITH THEM AS OF TWO YEARS THE PEDAL STARTED TO DETERIERATE QUICKLY, SOLDERS CAME APART QUICKLY, AND THE PLASTIC NUTS THAT HELD THE JACKS IN PLACE UN-SCREWED AND WERE LOST. THIS ALL HAPPENED TWO YEARS AFTER I'VE PURCHASED IT AND IT WASNT COVERED.

I PLAY MAINLY LAGATO ROCK/CLASSIC ROCK AND WANTED TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN THE STANDARD CRY BABY WAH, WHICH HAS A VERY HIGH SQUEAL TO MY AUDIBLE SENSES.I'VE BEEN PLAYING MOST OF MY LIFE AND I'VE ALREADY EXPLAINED THE GEAR I OWN, BYT HE WAY I PLAY STRAT'S AND SUPER STRATS.I RARELY HAVE IT PLUGGED IN. OTHER THAN THE NICE BAND FREQUENCY, THIS PEDAL IS A TOTAL WRITE OFF.

Can't go wrong

used it with usa strat & peavey bandit bought it for next to nothing at car boot sale it was an old thing and was surprised it worked.It actually sounded pretty good kept it for a couple of years then sold it to get a cry baby . I shouldn't of sold it has it had a different sound than the much much more expensive cry baby & not an inferior sound mine looked exactly like hedrix's vox wha only with colosound written on it. it probably dated from the 70's, well worth checking out.

no problems

good for hendrixy claptony wha wha stuff try it even if you have a cry baby i was surprised.

Just plug in like any other simple wah's

Hmm not so easy to explain in words...let's say 'very restrained'.
It's a simple circuit inside with only one transistor, so the output is a bit too low in my oppinion. Besides, the range is a bit wider than a crybaby

Poor! If you move the pedal up/down it's scratching (mechanically) because: The whole pedal is built like a cheap crap game from China for a few bugs. I'm sorry to say that but if I compare to other brands it's nothing but the truth! As an electronician I noticed as well that the circuit inside is not made as the vintage colorsound pedals are built. This is a bad surprise!

Don't know but I heard that Colorsound has just stopped the production...

I would not buy a new one an am very disappointed. I would not use it for a gig and I would not care if someone would steal it from me despite of the high price I paid.

All in all it's a crappy remake of the famous vintage ones and despite of the really cool design, I don't like to use it

I love this pedal. I do not have a manual for it. The ease of use hardly requires a manual. The electronics are also basic and can be repaired fairly quickly, if anything did go wrong.

I am using an American Strat and Fender Deluxe DSP 90 with a Fender D112 additional speaker cabinet.I can get most effects I need, either playing simple styles or pounding hard on everything. No matter what other effects i use with this pedal the sounds are great.

The dependability of the unit is based on the 9volt battery. That is not good. i am going to wire in an adaptor for home use. IF I did use it in any gig, I would have a fresh battery with me at all times.

N/A

I play various styles. mostly country, some blues and rock.

Dead easy to use - as long as you plug in the cords in the right place. Murphy says you won't but it is clearly marked under the case. Instrument - Amplifier.

The pedal has a wide variety of sounds from growly bass, quacky mids and wailing treble, and sounds better if driven from a distortion pedal rather than using it by itself

Very well made and reliable. The pot is scratchey, but can easily be replaced.

The company does not exist any more, but I have the schematic so I can repair it if it (ever) goes faulty

This is a fairy tale come true. I found this pedal at my local church sale about 5 years ago. It was in its original box and was in a pristine condition, the people selling it thought it was an organ pedal! I bought it for ----- $1 no jokes!!. The colour is that sixties shade of burnt orange - very cool.
I am a electronics engineer and have been building my own equipment for a quarter of a century now. The Internet is a treasure cast of information and schematics so I can build the effects that are either unoptainable or too expensive here in South Africa. Because of the mechanical structure, a wah pedal is difficult to build so I was fortunate to find one.
I only have one guitar - A Washburn HB35S which is a beatiful version of the Gibson 355 and I play through a homemade 20W valve amplifier which was loosly based on Vox and Marshall designs. I dont like valve preamp distortion so I use a EF86 (early, Shadows era, Vox)stage and EL84 power amp. The amp is very clean until you crank it up - then it is too loud.
I rely on a Fuzz face clone for distortion, which has a bias pot to get the sweet spot. The Fuzz face is fantastic, but it has no tone control. This is where the Colorsound Wah Wah comes in to give me a vast palate of cool sounds,a mere sweep away.
I also use it as a tone control, and this is where I find a problem with it. The pedal won't stay in the position I want when I take my foot off. I have to use a soft piece of rubber to keep it in place.
The pedal is old and has become a little scratchey - but these a minor complaints.
I have not used any other Wah Wah pedals, so I cannot compare the sound. But I am very happy with it as is and do not intend to modify it in any way.
The music I like to play varies from gospel - no effects, to seventies era rock where I use distortion and Wah and digital delay / reverb from a Zoom 507

with it's long sweep and reverse action i.e. foot down on the front of the pedal accentuates the bottom end, that's when it turns on, you can rip into some blasting lead gently.

Fender Twin Preamp, solid state power amp, run the wah before any other fx, which include Marshall valve preamp used as distortion box. Very quiet, strong, a fat sounding all-rounder with some strong mellow that sets it apart from the cheap wah-wah-wah pedals - all they do is go wah-wah, they don't have the musical expression of the Colorsound.

I used mine for 15 years without a failure, I did fit a 9V socket to it to use a plugpack, recently I left it in a shoulder bag with some other stuff unattended for 6 mins and it ran away, hence the vist to this site to reminisce....them's the breaks...

I modded mine in the early days, only minor stuff like boost the output, and disconnect the volume/swell function, add the 9v socket as stated above, change a cap for a slightly different range, but it was always from the start a very nice sounding wah pedal - what is customer support for a Colorsound?Is there still some old fuddy-duddy out there?

Been playing rock and similar 20 years, pedal stolen, would love to buy another but think my chances small in Australia, don't want anything else to replace it except Colorsound, I've heard heaps of wahs over the years, Colorsounds are rare over here, but they cut it. I'm going to try to build a replica, I drew the cct diagram years ago...wish me luck!

Opening the door to the 9V battery compartment is rather difficult. So is closing it. Good news is that once you get past this, the results are great. It operates just like a Crybaby wah...your foot clicks it on or off and your foot rocks it back and forth.

I play funk and rock n' roll through Telecasters and Fender or Reverend amps. This has a very long pedal throw and a very "quacky," midrangy, quality to it. It sounds great! It is the classic 1970's wah sound. It is made for funk or funky type of rock. Think "Nutbush City Limits" by Ike and Tina Turner, or "Industrial Disease" by Dire Straits, or "Polk Salad Annie" by Tony Joe White or any Parliament/Funkadelic thang. Very different from the razor-sharp sound of a Crybaby.

Colorsounds are pretty tough, although they are not quite the bricks that Crybaby is made like.

No dealings, as of yet.

This is the best sounding wahwah I've used. If it came with a 9v power supply connection, I would give it a 10, but nothing is perfect----however, if you dig funk and funky old rock 'n roll, the sound IS perfect.

I've found with wah-wahs that you find pretty much the sound of the thing within about two minutes, tops.
I've previously had very cheap wahs (less than #30 new, can't remember the brand, but it was an ok introduction, before it fell apart) to cry-babies, which I went along with on account of thinking that everyone else knows what they're talking about.
What I'm saying is that I instantly knew that the sound I was getting here was the one I was after. And it's easy to wobble your foot up and down, isn't it? The only problem I had was that I wasn't used to the enormous travel and tonal sweep, so if you're used to a Cry baby and you get one of these, prepare for an aching ankle for a bit.

I've used this (and others) with a Twin, a DSL-50 and a Hot-rodded Deville. And let me tell you, it makes a difference, but you're hardly likely to change your amp so your wah sounds like it. I wouldn't, but basically it sounds quality on the Fenders, and I got shut of the Marshall because it didn't appeal to me, tonally. I play a Casino and a 335.
Quiet as any I've heard, and I've tried them all, about fifteen morleys, the range of cry-babys, Danelectro etc. This wah DOES sound different to the others and p'raps you won't like it, but it does it for me. Who does it sound like? Well funky's what the others on here say, and I dig it, but wah wahs are meant to be funky, aren't they? This is just funkier than the rest. I'm not trying to sound like anyone in particular, but thae massive sweep on this bugger means that you can have a good stab at Hendrix, John Squire, even George Harrison (slide with wah, and see Let It Be). I've got a 70's Small Stone, which cancels the wah out, or the other way 'round, Dunno about other phasers, but I don't use these two together.

It ISN'T as sturdy as a cry baby, but then again it isn't as sturdy as a brick either and I wouldn't use one of those either. It does, however appear to have stood up to 30 odd years of use, and it's still working. The pot seems good, but the casing looks a bit thin. It's old, look after it...

Due to buying it in a junk shop in Hull (Yorkshire, England, home of Mick Ronson, you American types) for the princely sum of #2.50 (about $4) I don't expect any support at all. If it breaks I'll take it to my local outfit for repair. When I got it, there weren't any rubber feet on it, so I've sorted that, but for half the price of a pack of fags, I'm not complaining.

I will say I fancied a go on a Vox Clyde Fulltone, or whoever it is, but I couldn't find one at a reasonable price. I had a go on the reissue Voxs, and there IS a big tone suck going on then. Yeah, you could get it modded for a true bypass, or alternatively, like 90% of guitarist out there, you'll buy something that works like you want it from the shop. Anyway, I love this. I'd get a new one if lost of nicked, but I don't think I'd find one. So good luck to me, I say. It is inspirational, as most good instruments are, but I don't play it very often, just the odd bit of the odd song. I'm not in Funkadelic, y'know?

it's a wah, not brain-surgery. easy as kicking your little brother in the ass.

i'm using this with a fender jazzmaster through a fender bandmaster reverb head into a 2-15" Kustom cab. I think this sounds great, i've played numerous other wahs, from fultone clyde's to dunlop crybaby's(535, mister, bass), the vox reissue, a vox italian wah, a thomas organ crybaby, snarling dogs super-piece-o-crap wah, even a teese wah (although in fairness, i didn't mess with the internal trimpots), a morley chrome wah, and the morley bad-horsie wah. this has a great sweep, comparible o that of the fultone or bad-horsie wah, which gives you more operating room. It has a great open wah, instead of the elbowed crybaby. VERy funk sounding, must be careful with that, unless you play funk.

seems pretty tough.

i play noise rock/ spacey kinda stuff, so a wah isn't the easiest effect to use, but i looked long and hard for THE wah for me, and this was just a damn good sound, with the longer sweep that i love. Comparing wah's is such a tough thing, almost as hard as comparing distortion pedals, i had a vox reissue that i liked, but it broke, i have a thomas organ crybaby, which sound sooo much better that a dunlop, but a crybaby sound is just not my thing. I think this pedal is just as good as the fultone, and i got mine for a lot less money, although i have seen other colorsound pedals priced terribly high. this is the only wah that works for me, and i would try to replace it, if anything happened to it. BUT, i would never pay more than $150 for any wah pedal, no matter what brand, (after all, all you do is move your foot back and forth)

Pedal, in/out jacks,it has a sweep so big that it will give you shin splints...- for that it gets a 9, ***BUT*** the battery compartment SUCKS ASS. you have to use a pocket knife or something to get it open...sucks. Other than that its golden

This is as quiet as the come and it is FAR better than my Crybaby...I can get that funk sound I love outta it..whaackka whaackka!!

this thing is vintage, made in the early '70s, smells like an ashtray and IS SOLID. Only downer is that i am gonna put a battery holder in it...the funky little BROWN piece of foam that holds the battery currently HAS GOT TO GO....

This is THE pedal to have if you are into funk...the sweep on it is great, smooth and long...a friend of mine said it would give U shin splints. I would like to ocompare this the re-issue, and yea, I would buy another on.

I give it a "9" only because most players are used to the relatively short sweep of the Vox style pedals. As such, you'll have to re-educate your foot to accomodate this pedal's longer sweep. Once that's done, it's as easy as any other wah.

I use this pedal with a Gibson Custom Shop ES-335, and a Gibson Melody Maker (with P-90s). I play through an ancient Gibsonette amp and a Hiwatt Custom 20 (reviewed in the amp database). My main other effect is a re-issue Tone Bender Professional Mk-II fuzz (also reviewed here). The two effects compliment each other beautifully -- much better than with my Cry Baby.
The "wah" is more pronounded than on the Vox style pedals (admittedly, this may be a good or bad thing depending on your tastes). I found, however, that the wah cuts through much better than the other pedals with a fuller, less nasal tone. And the longer sweep lets me get the standard "wah" and "vomit" sounds along with a kind of "quack" -- which the others don't seem to get.

It's an old pedal (made by Sola Sound) that still works like a dream...

While I've never tried a "Clyde Mc Coy" Vox, I have owned several other wahs over the years including: Vox re-issue (yuk!), '80s Crybaby (double-yuk!), '70s Crybaby, "TDK" Crybaby. I like this pedal better than all the others -- and it doesn't muffle your guitar tone when it's not in use!
A final note -- if you're feeling rude, the sound of the Colorsound Wah Wah with Tone Bender on full throttle produces a roar and a wail that's got to be heard to be believed... It'll raise the hairs on the back of your neck!!! If the pedal were lost or stolen I'd buy another (if I could fine one) or check out the re-issue. But I'd definately buy another Colorsound (Sola Sound)...

There's no knobs, just a on/off switch on the left side. The battery replacement is horrible! I had to use my pocket knife to get it out. That's the only reason I rated it 7.

I think it's slightly better than the Cry Baby. It gives a smooth sweep, and it doesn't distort when put at max wha. Works well with distortion, (sounds almost like Hendrix), and with clean it's perfect for funk/fusion. When placed in 1/3 - 2/3 position (fixed wha) it sounds incredible (you can get that "Money for nothing"-sound, if you know what I mean)

I havent had any problems with it at all. It seems very sturdy.

I'd probably buy it again, cause it sound good, and it's quite cheap. I really planned to buy a Cry Baby, but I thought the Colorsound sounded better with distortion. I wish it had a LED.