Hiwatt Wah

Plug in and play - only 1 dial - too easy. Controlling the sweep in the area I want to use it is a bit more difficult. I really only like the sound it gives from the last 2/3s to a 1/2 inch (the treble region). The rest of the sweep seems pointless to me. Maybe it's a matter of practice but I'll probably put something to lessen the sweep at the heel of the control so I don't go into that region at all.

Sound is good. Unique, given that it's a double gang pot. It's closer to human speech than others (I also have a Keely Vox fully modded, a crybaby and an old Moreley so I'm comparing it to them). I'll keep it for it's sound quality, but probably won't use it live. It's a very useful sound and I love the presence it has even when there's no sound coming from your instrument. The electricity sound is next to zero (unlike my Moreley).

Not sure, I've seen reviews where people have said it's stopped working on them and having had a look inside I can say the components aren't the best so I don't doubt them. It would be easy enough for a tech to fix anything though. The actual housing itself looks very, very tough.

N/A

There are plenty of questions here and almost none of them matter.

It is true bypass as they say but there is a residual nasty sounding high that you will probably notice if you're tuned in enough. That's ok, it's the electricity that's attached to the input jack (it's connected in order to turn the battery on-well close the circuit so the current flows). The double gang pot makes the sound very unique. The reverse polarity AC input is just stupid! They should have reversed it for us rather than make everyone go out and buy something extra.

It is wah pedal, don't have too much options but it sounds pretty good. Besides I bought this because it is true-bypass. So actually I bought this for how it sounds when I don't use it, not the other way ...I use voddo lab pedal power 2, I ordered a reverse polarity cable and it worked..

No Noisy, good sounds. The adjustable knob didn't help me in anyways, since I needed to cut the low-end because it goes really low, the high-end is the same as my guitar without it so there is no point in a knob cutting that. I wish I could cut it to get that low. Less sweeeping effect might be better. (at least for me)

I bought one from samedaymusic.com. It stopped working after 7 weeks suddenly without anby reason. They sent me another one I was happy with it it stopped yesterday after 7 weeks :)

When it works it works but I don't want it anymore cause it is not realiable. I took it away from my pedalboard...DON'T BUY THIS ITEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I wish i beleived the reviews here but I guess I had to see it with my own eyes...

never dealt with them...

I play all styles, have been playing for twenty years, professional player, endorser for major companies, toured internationally with big names...and I say DON'T BUY THIS. The only reason I bought this was because it had true bypass. Now I guess I will have to find something else and have truebypass mod on it...

this is an update of my earlier review. I have found an ac adapter that works w/ this unit. Its from an old radio shack cordless phone.

well I finally have this thing working with ac power from an old radio shack phone adapter. All of my pedals work with the power supplies i have except the wah for whatever reason. Hiwat really needs to figure this out. And yes I did have all the polarity stuff correct when using the power supplies , even tried the battery adapter. The pedal is durable and sounds great. Just has this issue. It is true bypass and the price is lowish for a wah. Alot of headaches though figuring out the ac issue.

This is an update of my last review. I've started having some problems with this thing, I do like its sound, but it has become a liability and I can't use it in my pedal chain.

The problem is that it is losing power at certain times for reasons I can't understand. I'll step on it, and it will work for a second or two, then it will die out and take all of my other pedals with it!!! (since they are behind it in the chain) Of course I could re-arrange the chain, but what's the point of having a wah that shuts itself off when you don't want it to? The only adapter I could find to work with it has several plugs at the end to fit different inputs, and if one of them hits the patch cord (they're RIGHT next to each other) it shorts and makes a god-awful noise. Too many problems with this thing, very poor design, while it originally seemed very solid. Disappointing. When it's working it sounds great, but its become so difficult to make it work...

not very reliable...

it's not under warranty, haven't talked to them so I can't slag them here.

All it would take would be a normal input jack. They must have saved like $.10 per unit by buying these terrible jacks. BIG mistake!!!

very easy

several different effects, rat II modded, DOD corrosion, Ibanez De7, Arion stereo flanger, marshall compressor, etc. goes into sunn concert lead head into earcandy buzzbomb cab. i use a gibson blueshawk, epiphone les paul jr. w/evans el2 pu, or fender fat strat. No noice, great control over the tone and sounds. can make lots of vowel type sounds, or just do the straight up wah thing with ease

seems very dependable, a bit stiff

never dealt with them

the reverse polarity thing is a bit of a pain, it can take a battery, but get an Li one, as normal ones won't last long. i have a danelectro no-hum, but it doesn't work with this. the only adapter I've found that works is one with a polarity switch on it, so I use that, and my 1spot for the rest. other than that, no complaints.

Q knob, needless to say it's easy to use.

Very nice pedal. Using it with a '93 US Std Strat and a Marshall 8080. If you like nice harmonics coupled with a true wah sound, that's the deal. Using the boost channel (OD 2,) I set the Q knob around 10-11 o'clock and I can get pretty nice harmonics when nearly all the way down pushing. The true bypass is no shit. It really worked when the wah is off, no signal loss at all. The reverse polarity adaptor thing is so easy an issue to solve. I bought a random switchable polarity adaptor (paid less than ?10) and no longer need a battery. It also sounds nice using the clean channel with a slight chorus: it's amazing how it sounds so balanced, neither the chorus or the wah dominates the other effect.

Got it for hardly a week. Seems very reliable though. Heavy baby, you better not try to kick it or you may crush your toes!!!

Hopefully, I won't have to deal with them.

I'm classic rock/hard rock addict (Zeppelin, GNR, Stones, Pearl Jam) and this pedal is a good and rather cheap deal for those who're looking for a wah which is able to sound vintage and modern at the same time. Also, you may consider the true bypass.

Follow to my previous ratings

After using this pedal for a while, it's reaaly grown on me.

The thing I've noticed and others as well is that the ac aapter jack is very touchy. My powerall power supply won't work with it even with the reverse polarity adapter, but strangely enough a 9V center + adapter from an old answering machine worked great.

This is a follow-up to my previous review.

Plug and play. Couldn't get any simpler. Resonance usefull for finding the "sweetspot".

I use srats with loww noise p/u's->guyatone od2->hiwatt wah->1980 mesa mkII modded to operate in class"A". Good Wah sound considering there is no analog inductor inside, only IC chips. True bypass does't suck tone when the effect is turned off. I use a wah only once in awhile for certain gigs, so I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for one. This is a good choice for this situation.

Seems rugged enough, but I don't like the plastic jacks mouted to the IC board. Wound't use a back-up.

never dealt with them.

I play all kinds of music from classic rock to blues to jazz to funk, r&b etc., whatever gigs I can get.I've been playing professionally for 28 years, so this is a tool to make music for me, that's all.If it was ripped off, I might get another one eventually.

This is an addendum to my other review.

see below

see below

Very Bad customer support both from zzounds and from hiwatt. My first wah would not work with either of my 2 rev pol. adapters , even using a battery clip and the adapter wouldnt work. One of the manufacturers of the power supply that i have says hiwatt may have used reverse polarity transistors in the curcuit which would explain its inability to perform with an adapter. I dont know if this is the case. I bought the wah because i thought i could use a power supply. Zzounds wouldnt take it back because i put velcro on the bottom before knowing it didnt work properly. I didnt think i could get the velcro off and they wouldnt take it back because they couldnt resell it (although I would wonder why they would want to sell a broken wah anyway). I paid shipping and sent the thing to hiwatt , about 2 weeks later i got a new one that also doesnt work with a power supply. My refund time is over at zzounds , hiwatt wont do anything else , I've paid a bunch for shipping and long distance phone charges to hiwatt and now they are refusing to do anything else despite me having a pedal that doesnt function properly. DONT BUY HIWATT/FERNANDEZ products as they dont back them up!

DONT BUY , SEE ABOVE

This is an update to my review directly below. I have now tried the Hiwatt Wah with an AC adapter. I bought a Danelectro Zero Hum for $10. It is 9V 200mA NEGATIVE CENTER. I also had on hand an adapter from an old Uniden cordless phone. It is 9V 210mA POSITIVE CENTER.

The Danelectro did not work. But the Uniden works perfectly, which means that the Hiwatt Wah requires a plug with a POSITIVE CENTER. This is the opposite of many pedals, such as Danelectro and Boss.

Users of the Hiwatt wah who want to use an AC adapter have two options. (1) Buy a POSITIVE CENTER ADAPTER or (2) get a a reverse polarity cable for the NEGATIVE CENTER adapter that you already own. Good luck!

And by the way, the Hiwatt Wah sounds awesome whether I use a battery or an adapter. It is just amazing!