Fulltone CLYDE Wah Wah

wah pedals are not difficult. the pressure with which you need to activate your wah can be adjusted by moving the switch up and down w/in the case. the manual for this pedal was extremely thoough, and well written. you can tell mike fulltone put a lot of time and effort into this pedal and his other effects.

I mainly play this unit with the a Les Paul, but i have been known to use my strat and a Godin SD. I play it all through a fender hot rod amp. I bought a vox reissue wah, which i thought was a spectacular wah, and played that for three years. when i tried the clyde, it completely blew it away in tone, clarity, and construction. it is far and away the best sounding wah i have ever heard. you can tweak your sound with the internal pot to your liking, providing a variety of tones. its very hot and exellent sounding. i have never heard another wah do what this thing does. i was guided to this after hearing Marc Ford and Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes. I also have a boss metal zone that i have in my signal chain. it doesn't sound very good with the clyde, but it is a bad sounding pedal all on its own. besides, pairing a Boss and a Fulltone are like oil and water. however, the clyde sounds better with the nasal zone than the vox did. sometimes the switch on the clyde makes a loud pop, but i think its mostly a grounding problem with one of my cables. i seemed to have eliminated it.

this is one solid piece of equipment. i always gig without a backup. i don't think anything could take it down. however, i have only had it for a half a year, and as we all know, time will tell.

i haven't dealt with them, but they seem very accessable. i have heard good things.

i play hard rock, blues and jazz... this pedal suits my style very well, it is just what i was looking for. i have been playing for seven years. if it were stolen, i would definitely replace it, however, that might take a while, it is a pricey effect. I love the tones that come out of it (that's the main reason i bought it), the wide sweep of the pedal, which directly contributes to a wide tonal sweep. the one thing i don't like is that its ugly as sin. it has a great slip of non-slip stuff for your foot. this wah is hands-down better than any crybaby and vox wah. its definitely expensive, but if your tone is very important, and you frequently use a wah, then its a great buy, now only if it would help me get laid....

Simple to use, wah's are by nature simplistic. The only adjustment one can make is via a pot hidden in the case. This is not something you'd change often anyway. I did make an adjustment to mine (more later). Manual is clearly written.

I use humbucker-equipped guitars. USA Charvels, Jacksons, Les Paul, and PRS Custom 24. I adjusted the internal pot to dettune it. The pot if for increasing bass and gain (compensation for SC pickups) and it comes from the factory hot. I detuned mine about an eigth of a turn. Dialed right in first time! I am using a Soldano SLO100 with a Marshall 4x12 with 25's. I use only wah, chorus, and a compressor. The CLYDE sounds great through my rig. No noise, quiet switching, smooth tone.

Only one day old but looking good judging from apparent quality of construction and components. I love the non-slip treadle surface.

I have emailed MF a few times and have great response. No problems.

I play all kinds of music. Lots of variety. I had a Cry Baby 535 and sold that sucker right away. Absolutely no comparison. Great product, I'd buy another one.

Wahs are a no brainer to use so I'll comment on the trim pot which you can turn by hand after taking the bottom cover off. Clockwise gives you more bass and gain (which I presume is to help out vintage strats and tele's). I have it set to about 2:00 looking at it from the bottom. I've been in a humbucker phase lately, so the 2:00 position, which he says in the manual is equivalent to a vintage vox, has less bass then Mike's hand drawn "arrow" at about 4:00. He probably tested the pedal with a strat on bridge p.u. which he likes to use for soloing (as per his equipment notes on his cd "days into years"). So when I get some kinmans for my strat, I will try the recommended postion again. (The current single coils are too noisy for the bars with neon signs I play in). Someone below complained about the way the foot switch works... To be honest, I didn't understand the complaint. When I got it, I found it very comfortable. Works better than a dunlop which I sometimes have trouble getting the switch to click.

Maybe 8.5?? But to be honest, it's probably me and not the pedal. I never played a real wah. I have two 80's crybaby's and had a dod optical thing which I rarely used then sold. Oh, and a few years a go I had the dunlop 535Q? and sold that after about 6 months. I have to admit, I had a lot of fun with the old crybabys, but once I got used to true bypass I could never gig with one again. When I play the clyde by myself, I do pickup on the Cream/Hendrix vibe and it is the best wah *I* ever played. The first couple of times at gigs I got buried in the mix when using it. It was probably the rest of my settings, and the fact I had the gain/bass set at 4:00 and was using humbuckers. I had better success with a little less gain, and the trim pot at 2:00. I may upgrade this to a 10 later down the road as my taste in tone and equipment grows. This "sport" is very much like golf which I drive myself crazy with trying to improve. I love it.

I'll get back to the database on this in two or more years. So far so good, don't foresee any problems though.

I bought mine used and asked Mike for an electronic copy of the manual and he got it to me within minutes. Sometimes a little strange to deal with via email... I would guess he's the mysterious, dry sense of humor type (a Monty Python fan perhaps?).

I'm looking forward to an all-boutique, true bypass tone board. And I'm about half way there. My next purchase will be a univibe, and I am up in the air over the deja or the Rx. Now thinking about it, I have a boss analog delay at the end of my chain, and will test the clyde at the next gig with the delay totally out of the chain. The boss pedal could be sucking tone, and was one of the reasons for buying the clyde in the first place.

This a very easy product to use and very fun! Just plug in and go. Switch is a little stiff, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

I guess here's where I have to be honest with my opinion. First, Mr. Fuller makes an outstanding Wah pedal. Hands down. It's packaged neatly, all the wires and parts are definetely assembled with great care prior to shipment. I was really impressed with it! I used a G&L Legacy Special and a '76 Marshall Super Lead to try it out. Sound quality is great. I have a Teese RMC3 and Mr. Fullers is quite comparable. I feel Mr. Teese has done his homework a bit more then Mr. Fuller in the richness of the sound, but you have to have a feel for music beyond the normal club scene player or weekend money maker to notice it. I know what sound Mr. Fuller was attempting to emulate and I think he came very close to that. Jimi use a '68 Chicago made Thomas Organ Wah to record Voodoo Child and this pedal comes real close to that sound. I happen to know who has that pedal but he does not want to part with it since it was a gift from Jimi's Engineer. As far as Stevie's Say What sound, you have to use 2 wahs in tandam to get it, that's how he did it! So, rethink your thinking kiddies about one pedal doing it all,....but, this pedal is very close to that sound! I think that's as fair as it comes. The only Wah pedal that tops them all is still a vintage Clyde McCoy. Some of them just have that creamy, rich, vocal, cry to them that makes your mouth drop,....it's in a class by itself. NO ONE has topped it yet as far as I have heard! I think this rating is as fair as it comes.

Highly dependable, durability speaks for itself.

I feel Mr. Fuller would stand by his product. I've never had to send anything back to him so far. I feel 8 is more than fair unless I experienced a problem, of which I haven't to this day.

My style of music I prefer is clasic rock/blues. I do like some of the newer styles such as Metallica, Creed, Candlebox, but the old rock has got the feel (bands like Korn will wear out their welcome soon). I know my rating is low overall but, the price is not!!! It's a really nice pedal, but it's too much money. I don't feel I can tell someone they are getting a real deal here or the "best of the best" either, ok?! If this was the best, my rating would be higher. Don't get me wrong, it's a really great pedal and some want to make it out to be priceless item, but it is not the best. Ask anyone who shelled out $450 to $600 to buy that great sounding Clyde McCoy, if they want to part with it? Most will say no. I'm not into debates about it, but I won't be like the other chickens**t Anonymous people,...my e-mail is posted if you have questions.

Pretty easy to use. Just step on to activate, and wah to your heart's content. The only semi-complicated thing about this unit is the small pot on the inside to adjust the flavor of the wah to your taste.

The Clyde sounds great. Actually, it is the best sounding wah I've ever heard or tried. I tried one on a trip to Chicago and was knocked out by the tone and range of the unit. It has a wider sweep than most wahs, and sounds great low to high. I personally did not care for the marked spot on the pot inside my wah -too midrangy without enough low end depth. Once I adjusted it, it sounded better than the unit I tried in Chicago (but did not have the cash at the time). I own 2 other wahs - a Budda and an older chrome Dunlop 4 posistion 535. They both sound great, but the Clyde is far superior in feel and sound. Mike Fuller hit a home run with this one.

Fulltone products are incredibly well built. I do gig without a backup.

He does better than me at answering e-mails, and Lord knows he gets more than I do.

I am in a rock/r&b/jazz band that plays some great music that other bands stay away from. I use this wah with a Victoria Double Deluxe (try this amp, it's tone for days!) I would replace this wah if it were stolen and would recommend it to anyone, even though it's a little pricey.

Any wah pedal's usability comes down to its switch. It's a simple enough device to use, but it's a bummer when you get to the end of a solo and don't get the thing to switch off properly. The Clyde's switching works beautifully. And when it's switched off, there isn't any drag on your tone. I've worn out two crybabys over the years, and the first thing to go is always the switch. And there's no getting around the fact that when a crybaby is turned off, it's never really off. It sucks all the lows and highs from your tone. And it doesn't have much of a range of sweep, as does the Clyde.

To my mind, the wah pedal is most functional when used with a stratocaster, or a guitar with a similar tonal range--using single coil pickups. And the Clyde is outstanding with mine. I haven't felt the need to adjust the internal control. Maybe I would if I was using the les paul exclusively, but I'm not. My '74 strat (with warmoth neck, duncan antiquity/lindy fralins, shielded cavity, graphite nut) sings with the Clyde like I'd never heard it before. I've become quite a fan of fulltone products, and the Clyde works very nicely in conjunction with the Fulldrive 2 and Ultimate Octave. I'm either using an old boogie combo, or I'm going direct with a Line6 POD, and it's been fun using the Clyde with some of the vintage Marshall models to see how it sounds with them. I'm sure Mike Fuller would consider this heresy, but sorry Mike, I don't have a stable of vintage plexis and echoplexes like you do. For now, this will have to do. And, it's doing very nicely. It sounds great whether I'm running it into the real tube amp, or into the virtual ones.

Lifetime warranty. For $300, I not only expect the warranty to be honored, I expect it to be unnecessary. It's a very well-made unit. I don't expect problems.

Mike is very hands-on. He answers phone calls, e-mails, even stays in touch on the various newsgroups. I had a question a few months ago to which I received two different replies--one from Mike and one from another guy at Fulltone. What more could you expect?

Just a note to some of the other reviewers who mentioned having some problems......if it's making a weird noise, it's probably a dead battery. Wahs make weird noises when the battery goes dead. If you're bothered by the clicking of the metal switch, turn up your amp. Metal clicks when it touches other metal. That's what's so cool about wah pedals--they're mechanical and tactile. Anyway, I waited a while before reviewing this pedal. I was nervous about spending this kind of money on a wah, but I'm happy I did. If a wah-wah isn't part of your style, I see no reason to fork over this much cash, but if it is, look at it as a lifetime investment. If you just play for fun, and are not super-particular about your tone, then go ahead and get a crybaby, but if you care about tone and your overall sound, then this is the pinnacle. If Jimi was alive today, he'd have one too.

This pedal is incredibly easy to use if you want just plug it in toe tap and rock the pedal so that is sounds musical. Or if you want to mess with the sound there is an internal pot to change the bass. I have two fulltone pedals and have messed with the internal pots with both,But I always put it back to the place where Mike Fuller left it. I get nervous messing with the innards of any piece of equipment but to my surprise it was no big deal at all and if you remember where the pot was before you moved it you can always get it to sound like when you bought it

I use this pedal with a fulltone soulbender fuzz, a boss Ds-2 or Ds-1 distortion, a script logo MXR Phase 90 phasor, and a line 6 dl-4 delay pedal. A lot of people won't mix boutique pedals (like the fulltone's) and mass produced boxes (like the boss Ds-1 and 2) but I use what I like and to my ears the clyde and the boss and pedals sound great together even thought the bosses aren't true bypass. the clyde is not noisy at all and the wah sounds are very smooth. On clean it sounds really funky and on distortion it doesn't sound sterile or generic it retains its personality even through thick distortion. I use it with a 1978 marshall superlead. I am a huge mick ronson (Bowie and Mott the Hoople) and dave davies (Kinks) fan but I play mostley spacey music like pink floyd, space needle and Mazzy Star. It is great for both rock and spacey music

The pot is a very high quality part at the website it says how many turns it could take, it was a high number which means it probably won't wear out for a long time. I never play out but if I ever did I would do so without a backup I believe it is very dependable if it broke than I would just be out a wah for the night (and fulltone would fix it for free) it would be different for a fuzz or distortion where a backup is a must.

Mike fuller is the best He alway's responds in a day, so I have to constanty fight the impulse to bother him with stupid questions. If the pedals brakes and has not been abused than fulltone will fix it

I have been playing for 9 years and I do a lot of recording in my little home studio. I have tried vox reissue wahs and I have owned a crybaby and a mr crybaby and I didn't know I was missing anything till I tried the clyde it is a really sweet sounding wah and it runs laps around the other wahs I tried. If it were stolen I would buy a new one as soon as my budget would allow. Also this doesn't mean anything but I really dig the name.

I bought mine new, liked the crybaby, tried various others, but my biggest complaint with wahs has always been being assured you've activated it when you step on it. No such problem with the Clyde, rock forward it goes on, doesn't click off when you use it. I don't feel like I'm fighting the rubber feet to turn the thing on, and in the middle or beginning of a solo I don't want to worry that I've stepped hard enough.

I like the sound of the Clyde, has a good voice, I'm not a big wah user, maybe 15% of our music calls for it, but when I need it, I need it. This one has a good sweep, not too bright, bass stays tight, and it's adjustable in this regard. A bit noisy when engaged, but most wahs are. I use it with a variety of amps, mostly I use it for signature songs (metallica, GNR, etc) where a wah is necessary. I gave it a 9 cause I'm not a wah aficionado, but it sounds good to me.

Here's the bad part. Something about this wah, don't know what, but after about an hour of use the thing will emit this loud "ground loop" type of hum. It won't start doing this right off, but sporadically happens, or has happened, in the middle of a set. It's not something to live with, it's incredibly noisy when it occurs. I sent the unit back to fulltone explaining the problem, it was sent back with no explanation of repair/no repair. I started using it again and the problem resurfaced. I replaced it with the crybaby, absolutely no problems at all. I called Mike Fuller, he was, as one other reviewer noted "terse but helpful", good words, I felt like I was really bothering him trying to work out this problem with a near $300 wah. He made some suggestions, none of which has worked, and I have tried changing everything imaginable. I'm back to my crybaby, and the wah is on its way to Fulltone. So this gets a 1, "it worked once".

See above. I really felt like I was bothering the guy, maybe it was my perception. Sound is very important to me, and so is spending that kind of money for a wah wah pedal.

This is a super easy to use wah, sounds great, but I had a big problem with mine that I really feel should have been solved long ago, if nothing else then in the form of a new wah. Don't know if I'd recommend it or not; I know I wouldn't buy another right now. If this problem gets solved correctly I'll update.

very easy to use

using a 57 reissue with fralin pu's into a ts9 modded to 808 specs into a dimed super reverb i a/b'd this with 2 Teese RMC3's. I had the internal knob dimed for the most agressive sound possible. this pedal sounds incredible. i prefered the sound of the CLyde over one of the teese wahs but the other had this unbelievable agressiveness and throatyness to it that could not be matched by the fulltone. Both are amazing however. I walked out of the store empty handed cos im waiting on a used teese to come back from Teese himself who is setting it up at the moment. If the used one sounds as amazing as the agressive one i tried, im gonna get it. If not ill get the fulltone cos it was also very very good.

very well built

great for everything although i wish it could be just a little more agressive. very good nonetheless.

I've held off writing this review for a year so I could put this pedal through it's paces and give an honest review. I have to admit that this is the best Wah pedal I have ever played through. It isn't cheap by any means but it is a high quality product that is definately a keeper. You may have read my review on the Thomas Wah - yeah, I'm the guy that trashed that pedal (and you'd agree if you heard mine). In the past I owned a old Colorsound Wah which I cringe whenever I think about how I let that one go. I also own a Vox reissue (which is almost 1/3 the price of the Fulltone Clyde). The Vox is a great pedal as well. It seems to have a lower end growl that I really like. Mike Fuller's Clyde has an incredible range - mostly on the higher end which I have never heard with any other wah. It is very full and vocal sounding. When I first got the Clyde I was messing around with the internal trimmer a lot because I just could not quite get the sound I expected. It turned out to be a bad patch cable. A pair of wire cutters fixed that problem. Now I keep the trimmer just where Mike set it. But it says a lot for this pedal that it could compensate for a shitty cable by messing with the internal trimmer. Is this pedal worth the almost $300? I think so. To me it's like a Porche vs a Volkswagon. Both will get you to the grocery store but you'll probably take the scenic route with the first. I have never spoken with Mike Fuller but I may because I am real interested in his new Deja Vibe II. I also bought the 69 pedal several months ago - still putting that through its paces.

Solid - what else would you expect?

I've never dealt with them yet - I'm sure I will soon.

It's sleek, and enjoyable to play. I really do love it and can justify the expense one time. If I ever lost it it'd be the shits to come up with the $$$ again but eventually I probably would.