Ibanez Blubber Wah

It's a wah-wah pedal. Smack down the front of the treadle to turn it on. Stomp again to turn it off. Wiggle your foot around to make it wah.

Ease of use is even better since the modifications.

This variation on the Crybaby has the red TDK Fasel-alike inductor. It has a very 'vocal' sound. The pedal failed about two years ago and I replaced it with a Morley Powerwah. Whilst the Morley had a bit more grunt and was certainly reliable it did not have the same voicing and the treadle did not feel as friendly underfoot.

I eventually found the problem with the Blubber: a circuitboard tag had worked loose. A dab of hot solder fixed that. But the pot was scratchy. It was the original and wear is inevitable. A Hot Potz went in and hey! are we back in business...

The Blubber sits in my pedalboard which has mains power. Stomper sequence is:

Boss CS-3 > Blubber > Keeley SD-1 > Rat2 > Boss DD-3 into a Hiwatt DR103 and either 2x12 or 4x12 cab.

With a Les Paul Standard or Hamer Special P90 I deliberately set out for a British [60s] Blues sound. My Strat shifts the sounds in the Texas direction, so hopefully there is plenty of variation. The wah is selectively used to achieve tonal coloring.

For relatively old technology it is pretty quiet in use. Changing to a Hot Potz has made a big difference. Some things sound better lo-fi though, but not like a chippie in full flow on a Friday night; spitting, hissing and crackling.

I mentioned the circuitboard and pot problems. Easy to solve and sound-wise I now have no problem with the Blubber.

HOWEVER, I mount my stompboxes on a pedalboard with a mains power converter. The Blubber has no easy means of taking a 9 volt feed. So I drilled the case and fitted a Boss-style barrel socket and solved that particular shortcoming.

Whilst the Blubber was disembowelled, I also took the opportunity to fit an Electro Harmonix 3PDT footswitch to provide true bypass AND an LED indicator so I would at last definitely know whether the bloody thing was switched on or off!

With the Hot Potz, full bypass, mains power and an LED indicator the Blubber now sits on my pedalboard. I am quite confident that it will perform well and reliably for the foreseeable...

I may be accused of desecrating a 'vintage' pedal, but really it is not much different to fitting say Grovers on a '58 Les Paul. It is a functional tool that is now more reliable and user-friendly as a result of the mods.

None

I play in a blues band, so a good wah is pretty high on the list of essential tools. In its current form I would be distraught to lose the Blubber. It has been in my ownership since the very early 1980s. In truth I struck lucky when I acquired this pedal. Still wet behind the ears when I got it. It was cheaper than a Crybaby and sturdier than a Coloursound [remember them?]. I mean, who knows the difference when you're young and stupid? A wah is a wah, right?

Now, of course, I understand the TDK Fasel significance and all that techno-mumble - or at least appear to.

In some respects it is a crude piece of gear BUT it sounds so good, with a very vocal quality. It may lack a bit of punch but when you wiggle that treadle it produces the definitive wah sound. Cracking stompbox, Grommit!

nice and easy enough if you are familliar with wah pedals-has on/off LED which is kind of unusual it seems...it resembles a cry baby.

someone left this with me a while ago-it was presumed non-functional,i guess...not really being a wah user i let it sit around for a few years and came close to chucking it more than once since i thought it didn't work. well,it does and it seems to be a nice vocal sounding wah-a good bit better than others i've messed with.

uh,dunno how dependable this is-don't even know how old it is,but i figure with some basic care this wll keep working OK-change the switch,replace the pot...again,i'm no expert!

nyet...it's been around a while from the looks of it-well out of warranty!

i could see using this for some things,but the other guitar players i work with use wah's,so...i'll just mess with it at home for a while.it would be good to compare it with a 'popular' wah to see if it stacks up-i have a feeling it would,but you never know...it's a BLUBBER,after all!

It's a wah pedal. If it's confusing, you shouldn't be allowed to drive a car.

Sounds good, but a little noisy. I haven't adjusted the travel range of the pot yet (can be adjusted just like a Crybaby), right now it sounds a little trebly to me. Blubber Wah has a TDK inductor in it. I don't know if this one is true bypass, but it doesn't interfere with the guitar signal as far as I can tell. It's the only pedal I use in front of the amp (as opposed to the effects loop).

The one I found was pretty beat up cosmetically, but it still works ok. It's seen alot of use and all the internal components look original. I wouldn't worry about a backup for this, but the DPDT stomp switch will probably have to be replaced sooner or later. It's probably at least 15 years old so problems are to be expected.

Haven't talked with Ibanez about this one yet.

This is one of the two wah pedals that came out with the 9 series. It looks like a Crybaby with a slightly larger base, and it also has a red LED to indicate that it's in use. I bought it because it's part of the 9 series, and I collect them. I've had a few other wahs (Thomas Organ Crybaby, ancient Bruno Wau-Wau (Japanese), DOD FX17), and this one sounds good in comparison. The LED is a nice feature, but not necessary. It would be be nice if it had an AC adapter input, but I don't know of any older wahs that do. If it were lost or stolen, I'd look for another but only from a collectors perspective. This has been the only one I've seen for sale in the past year, but $225 is still pricey for what it offers.