Morley Bad Horsie Wah

I'm giving it an eight for ease of use because the ability to adjust the delay time via a trimpot inside the unit is great but hardly user friendly. I think there are a lot of users out there who have picked one of these up second-hand and have no idea that this feature exists.

In terms of use, it's as easy to operate as any wah, although you'll instantly notice that the pedal is sprung and returns to position when you lift your foot off. You can't 'fix' the wah into a favoured position, like the Crybaby and Vox etc

The cool thing about this pedal is that you don't 'switch' it on. The wah effect is activated when you step on it, and it switches itself off once you've taken your foot off. There is a delay between the unit switching off and you removing your foot, which is set by a trim pot inside the unit (adjustable by a flat-head screwdriver).

Ok. I've been playing with this pedal all afternoon so that I could compare it to my George Dennis GD30 Wah. The GD30 is based on the Crybaby sound but, like the Morley Bad Horsie, is optical.

So.....after playing these two pedals side by side I can tell you the following.

This Wah is a FANTASTIC wah for metal and hard rock lead playing. Pump up the overdrive/distortion and this Wah truly sings. If you want to know what it sounds like, go dig out the "Reaper Rap" by Steve Vai. The first couple of licks in that song is this pedal personified (I don't know if a Bad Horsie was used on that record, but it definately sounds like one). Overdriven, this is a very aggressive wah, a unison bend with a sweep from this wah is very dramatic and the way the tone 'falls into' the treble part of the wah is great for high-energy leads. Think Zakk Wylde on the solo for 'No More Tears'

However.......on a clean setting.....this pedal really doesn't cut it. The reason being that the sweep, although dramatic, is not a smooth transition from Bass to Treble. The pedal seems to, about a 3rd of the way forward, just literally JUMP to the treble part of the sweep. it is not subtle. If you repeatedly pick a clean note and move the pedal back and forth across it's whole sweep, it's really obvious where the jump in tone is and it's useless for clean funk work, or those wah'd, spacy picked chords that Jimmy Page gets in 'No Quarter' on the 'Song Remains the Same' DVD. If you want to simulate that sound, you have to rock the pedal only within the first two thirds of it's sweep, for fear of hitting the 'treble zone' !!!

That being said, this is a much more 'lively' and 'modern' pedal than a Crybaby or the George Dennis GD30. The extra treble that is has in it's sweep makes soloing very articulate and crisp (with overdrive), whereas the funkier, warmer GD30 did seem 'muffled' in comparison to the Morley.

Tonewise, the Morley seems to take very little tone out of the guitar when on, and I didn't notice any discernible drop or increase in volume when engaging the pedal. Great, great designed pedal, but in the end, not a keeper for me. I prefer the warmer George Dennis GD30, BUT I will miss this pedal, just for it's sheer exuberance for rock soloing. This thing would really cut through the mix at a gig and most likely tear the face off the front row!

It's looks tough. I've never gigged it but I believe Morley pedals to be very durable. With the optical, switchless design, I really can't imagine it crapping out on you at all.

never dealt with Morley

A great pedal. I reccommend it to modern metal/rock players, NOT to more classic rockers who need a clean wah from time to time for funky passages and chords.

For overdriven, lead guitar though, this baby rocks! But I'll take my George Dennis GD30 over it, anyday.

Oh, come on!! Rock it back and forth to get the killer wah sound...

This wah has a great sweep, and I can get a lot of good Steve Vai and Slash tones out of it. No noise whatsoever. Does not suck your tone. I absolutely love this pedal, much better tone than crybaby, crybabies are overated!! Here is my setup: 2002 PRS Tremonti SE- 1991 Squier Standard strat- Digitech RP80 Processor- Danelectro Free Speech Talkbox- Bad Horsie- Randall RG75. I know, it aint the best setup, i will be making changes soon.

This thing is built like a tank, i could probably drop it down a flight of stairs and it would be fine. It was left on my porch for 5 hours after being shipped because I wasn't home, and it works fine anyway! I would definitely gig without a backup, this thing can hold its own.

Never had to contact 'em, but I heard they're pretty good.

I play blues, rock and metal, and it matched my style perfectly. The switchless feature on it works like a dream! If it was ever stolen, I would find the guy who did it, and beat them senseless with the pedal! I cmpared it with the crybaby classic, and i chose the bad horsie because it was switchless and it just sounded better overall. Hey, if Steve Vai uses it, i suggest u get out there and get it, he is one of the best players out there. So go to guitar center (or ebay) and get a bad horsie!!

Very easy to use, just plug it in, step on it and that's it. The only problem here is that you have to open it to adjust the off-delay time, but you won't do that regularly, so it's just a one-time issue. I suggest setting the off-delay to zero, than you can pull off some nice tricks on it which aren't possible with mechanically switched wahs, like playing a lick and just only wah-ing some notes in the middle of it, or wah-ing every second note, or...

The wah sound is very neutral, doesn't have so much "character" as e.g. a Crybaby, but that's not necessarily bad, especially when played with lots of distortion, but the clean sound is nice, too. However, there is a big problem when playing clean: the pedal produces an immense volume boost when turned on, so when you set your clean sound at a sensible volume, it will blast your ears when you turn the wah on. This makes it almost impossible to use the pedal clean, the only way out is to turn down your volume pedal (if you have one... now, everyone sould have one!) before wah-ing and turn it up afterwards, but that makes switching to and from wah even slower than mechanical switching on a Crybaby-style pedal. They should have included a trim pot for adjusting the wah level. Thus, it can't get a rating higher than 6 in this category.

Seems to be very reliable, has never failed and I have it for years.

Never dealt with them.

I play Rock (pretty much everything that fits in this large category), Funk and Jazz. I play clean most of the time, and thus the pedal's volume boost is a big problem for me. If you play mostly with distortion, it should be no problem for you. That aside, it's a nice pedal, but HUGE, probably the biggest wah-only pedal on the planet, and eats a lot of pedalboard space. If you look inside it, it's clearly unnecessary for it to be so big, they could have made it smaller.
Conclusion: if you don't care about the volume boost and have lot's of space on your pedalboard, get it, because the step-on function is just brilliant. Otherwise, better look further.

this is a follow up on my past review

The actual effect and operation is ok. I recently a/b ed this thing and it totally sucks your guitar tone big time on or bypassed. After this realization, i have remove it from my pedal board permanantly. I would adise anyone that cares about tone loss through effects to stay away from this buzz kill. I am now looking at a RMC or Fulltone Wah which both are true bypass and sound wonderful. You get what you pay for folks.

its very easy to use, just step on it and you will get steve vai sound

fender stratocaster usa> Ibanez S series> Ashdown peacemaker 60 head amp> boss ds1 Arammat mod.

its not noisy, i use my ds 1 and step it on my bad horsie, it sound perfect, but when i play the wah, and i let go my foot, it has a delay time, but i think its ok, only half a second.

i can depend on this pedal for my gig, i dont think its easy to break, you can see all protected by metal, its pretty heavy compared to dunlop.

recommended A+

Well folks, I'm here again now posting my impression of the Bad Horsie.
EASY and comfortable to use, the pedal feels tight and firm, just adjust the "delay off" to your liking, anyway you don't have to worry about not getting the very lower frequencies fearing that you can go to bypass accidentally, the lower frequency have something like 1cm free of sweep after bypass position, anyway adjust the "delay off" as you wish.

The wah effect is really cool, the sweep is smooth and accurate!!! It sounds exactlly as Steve Vai does, little bit noisy at high gain settings, not a problem for me in a live situation bearing in mind that all wahs do the same thing at high gain settings ayway I use noise gate to keep things quiet while I'm not playing.
I don't notice any coloration or tone sucking at bypass mode and most important THIS IS A TRUE WAH WAH SOUND.

For a complete display of my live rig setup see below...

Really solid, rugged and well built.

Bill Wenzloff is a really cool guy who will help you with any issue you could have.

I play lots of types of music but rock is my main stuff, I've been playing since almost 12 years ago, and definetely this is a great option for a wah pedal out there, as I said in my past review, somebody will prefer to keep their Dunlops or Vox(I've owned both), but I suggest you to try something different, the Bad Horsie does things really fine and I decided to replace my Crybaby because of the features, not having pots and switches is really cool and that doesn't mean you won't get a true wah effect, for me this is a traditional, well done wah sound achieved by a modern design so try it!!! Remember THIS IS A REAL WAH SOUND so do not hesitate about getting one.

Here is my live rig setup for those intrested:

guitars: Fender American Stratocaster, Ibanez RG2020XTLB, Ibanez JEM7VSBL.

amp: Marshall JCM900 4502.

pedals:(FURMAN SPB-8 pedalboard) MXR Wylde Overdrive, Morley Bad Horsie, Digitech Whammy Reissue, Boss FV-50H volume pedal with a Boss TU-12 tuner.

rack: Shure Wireless reciever, Rack Rider power conditioner/light module, TC Electronic G-Major multi FX proccesor.

That's it guys, happy WHAING to everybody!!!

WELL I HOPE THIS CAN HELP YOU GUYS OUT THERE, I'M ABOUT TO GET A BAD HORSIE IN TWO DAYS, I HAVEN'T TRIED IT YET BUT I CAN ASSUME THE NEXT:

FOR ALL THOSE OF YOU THRASHMETAL-MIDSCOOPED TONE GUITAR FREAKS THIS MIGHT NOT BE THE WAH PEDAL FOR YOU DEFINITELY, I AGREE THAT THE BAD HORSIE DOESN'T HAVE THE EFFECT RANGE OF THE CRYBABYS, JUST BY HEARING AT BOTH PEDALS, BUT BEFORE TAKE YOUR LAST WORD, PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME TO TWEAK YOUR AMP IN DIFFERENT WAYS 'TIL YOU GET A GOOD BAD HORSIE PERFORMANCE, MR. VAI DOESN'T USE ANY SCOOPED TONE AT ALL, HE ACTUALLY USES LOTS OF MIDRANGE ON HIS LEGACY'S, I GUESS STEVE VAI AND MORLEY DIDN'T DESIGN THIS PEDAL WITH THE DIMEBAG DARREL TONE IN MIND... DIME LEFT A GREAT SIGNATURE WAH PEDAL TO CHOOSE FOR THAT.

ON THE OTHER HAND I CAN SEE A LOT OF REVIEWS POINTING THAT THE BAD HORSIE PERFORMS A LOT BETTER THAN THE OLDIE WAHS(DUNLOPS/VOX), SOMEBODY DECIDE TO STAY CLOSE THE OLDIES SO THERE'S A LOT OF DIVERSITY AT OPINIONS, SOME INTELLIGENT SOME NOT, QUITE INTRESTING IN FACT.

I'M POINTING MY FINGER DIRECTLY TO THOSE METAL GUYS, WHY??? WELL, CHECK REVIEWS ABOUT THIS PEDAL, AND A GREAT NUMBER OF NEGATIVE REVIEWS SAY IN THE "OVERALL RATING" SECTION: I PLAY METAL, I LIKE METAL, I PLAY METAL AND SO ON...

SO GUYS SLOW DOWN, TWEAK YOUR TONE, EXPERIMENT AND DON'T BE THAT NARROW MINDED, MAYBE THE PEDAL IS NOT THE PROBLEM BUT YOUR EQUALIZATIONS. I CAN TAKE FOR SURE THAT I WON'T HAVE ANY COMPLAINT ABOUT THE BAD HORSIE.

I LOVE DUNLOPS AS WELL, THEY COULD BE IMPERFECT, WEARING PARTS, OLD DESIGN, SUCK TONE... BUT THE W A H EFFECT IS GREAT...

I'LL BE BACK FOR MY COMPLETE REVIEW, AND I HOPE THIS OFFERS SOME HELP TO EVERYBODY.

You put your foot on it, it's on. You take your foot off it, it's off. Now you know all there is to know.

It's the only wah I use, and I've gone through a Vox, a Cry baby, a Singing Geisha and a Snarling Dogs (which was total crap, SD's should just roll over and die.)

Now I use a Peavey Wolfgang > Little Alligator volume > Bad Horsie wah > MXR Super Comp > Big Muff Pi (USA) > MXR 10 band EQ > Small Clone chorus > Line 6 Echo Park delay > another Little Alligator > one of two Marshall amps. I power it all with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 for absolutely no background noise and I'm set.

Never had an issue in 4 years, and I bought it from a guy who had had it for a couple years himself (he was upgrading to a Bad Horsie II, mind you)

Never had to call 'em. I bet they get bored, working for the manufacturer of the most idiot proof pedals out there.

Kick ass pedal.

Most User Friendly Wah ever made.

Mesa DC-5 head SG-1 and a few other pedals. I love the tone of this jewel. I like the limited sweep range because of the way I use the effect. It all depends on how you use it. Mechanically the pedal is fast because of its spring return to the bypass postion. This may be the reason for the limited sweep range. I tend to use the higher range, and to me it;s plenty high enough unlike the crybaby type wah's which get dog howling high freq. Now I have two small complaints. I have set the trim pot inside all the way off and there is still a little delay for the effect to turn on unlike the crybaby type where it turns on immediatly with the pushbutton switch. The other complaint goes along with the other in that wah is not true bypass and I get a small amount of tone kill in bypass. These complaints don't keep me from using it. It's well worth the functionality of effect that this one of akind wah has.

not problems it is metal cased.

Super easy to use, just plug it in and go wild.

Setup: Goth Explorer -> MXR Dynacomp -> Whammy II -> Bad Horsie -> Marshall DSL100 -> (effects loop send) Sovtek Big Muff Pi -> Morley Pro Flanger -> Danelectro Dan-Echo (effects loop return) -> Marshall 1960A 4x12 Cabinet.

I've adjusted the sweep to expand the range and adjusted the trim pot for the effect activation to its minimum. The pedal sounds awesome. Some other reviews mention that it's not suited to clean passages, but I use it all the time and love the tone. Maybe it's just the way I have it set up, but this pedal totally screams and goes absolutely apeshit when I want it to and also makes nice vocal sounds when I play it clean. Matches up really well with delay. Has a very slight hiss when in use.

I've had the pedal for 7 years and it's still going strong. The spring broke a while back and was easy to replace and something went wrong with it about 2 years into it where the effect would never shut off. See below.

Took the pedal back where I bought it (West Coast Guitars, Vancouver) long after the warranty had expired and asked them to take care of getting the thing repaired and I'd cover the costs involved. Two weeks later, I got a phone call and went to pick up my pedal and pay for the repair and Morley had not only fixed the pedal for free, but covered shipping both ways. So I bought a Morley channel switch right then and there, just to thank them. Damn thing works better than the supplied Marshall switch, anyway.

I play in a band called RANDOMBLIND (http://www.randomblind.com), it's heavy alternative rock, and this pedal is an integral part of my rig. I'll never own another wah, Morley won themselves a lifetime customer with this pedal's killer tone and their wicked service. I love the switchless activation, the durability of the thing, and the way it makes me sound like a better guitarist than I actually am. Previously, I owned a Crybaby and a DOD FX-17 wah and hated them both for different reasons: the Crybaby was scratchy and the DOD sounded like a DOD pedal. The Bad Horsie is a deadly pedal backed up by a top notch company. I'd own more Morley effects if they extended their product line. Bring back the Pro Phaser!!