Morley CLW Classic Wah

I bought this Classic Wah used on E-Bay so it came without an instruction manual. No Problems Here - after all it is a Wah Pedal.

I use both a handmade Telecaster with Dimarzio Twang Kings and an Epi Les Paul with Rockfield Vintage HB's.

Right now I run both a Randall RG75G3 112 Combo and a Crate V30 Head with a 212 Tone Tubby Half Cab.

I use this wah at the front of my chain because I also use an MXR 10 Band EQ and a Smart Gate at the end (to dial in the tone before it hits the amp).

I picked up this pedal based primarily on the post made by Bill Wenzloff of Morley Pedals (not to mention the great price). When I got the pedal I found that the sweep was very extreme and a very unnatural sweep - it was all or nothing. Toe up was very trebley and had a noticeble hiss. Toe down was completely flat like having the master tone turned down to nothing.

Following the advice from a previous poster and after contact Bill Wenzeloff I made the recommended advustments to the LED and Sensor. This adjustment was very easy to make and had a substantial affect on the sweep.

I have never used a traditional Cry Baby so I have very little experience here, however, I have transformed this pedal into something that sounds more natural and not so harsh and extreme.

This will likely not be my last Wah pedal, but for now I have something that was inexpensive, sounds pretty good, and will afford me some experience until I can figure out what sound I 'm after in a Wah.

When making the adjustments to the pedal sweep, I saw that this pedal was made in 2002. I'm not the original owner so I can't comment on how the previous owner used it. I did observed that the fram is solid steel of a suprisingly thick guage. I'm a big guy and have punished this pedal and have found no problems with it. Considering that it is 6 yrs old and still takes abuse, I'd say its reliable. Also, no potentiometer to fail.

Excellent. Probably one of the best. As indicated above, I got this pedal used and it was likely way over warranty. Before I got the pedal, I contacted Morley (Wenzeloff) and requested the instruction guide and the documents relating to the sweep adjustment. I explained to Wenzeloff that I was not the original owner. Morley was quick to send the pdf docemts via e-mail. I still had a few questions and called Morley. Within a few hours, I got a call from one of their techs that walked me through the entire procedure while I was on the phone. No that is what I call customer service!

Overall I appreciate the tones that I get from this pedal, it is not true by-pass and will invariabley alter my tone to some degree. The pedal had an extreme sweep at first but that was quickly and easily remedied While I wouldn't consider this product to be anywhere near professional calibre it suits my needs for now. I suspect that if I upgrade at a later date it would be to something like a BBE Wah. Who knows, maybe this wil be the last Wah I buy? Time will tell?

At the end of the day, I would recommend this Wah (with sweep modification)to anyone looking for an alternative to a CryBaby.

Want to share this with anyone owning a Morley Classic Wah. I bought one awhile back, got it home and it was the usual problem with these wahs - it didn't have a full, robust sweep. When the pedal was backed all the way up, it went from dark bassy sound, and then with just a slight movement downward, opened up into almost full treble. There was no mids, or a smooth opening of the tone from bass to treble. Well, I shelved it for almost a year without touching it. I've always loved the sound of a Crybaby, but became disgusted with buying new ones and within a short time they become practically unusable because of all the crackle and static that builds up in the pots.

So one day, I decided to see if anyone had posted anything re these wah pedals. I searched the web and found a site where someone from Morley had said all you need to do is bend the sensor light inside the wah, a tiny bit forward, or backward to change the sweeping sound. I did so and the pedal became fully usable, with deep throaty bass, opening accurately across the bass-to-mid-to-treb tone spectrum to fully stinging treble.

I'm very happy with it now, it has a full sweep in tone, responding to my foot's touch as it should. And best of all it doesn't have those stinking pots that ruins every Crybaby pedal! This Morley is 100% quiet, live or in studio and all it took was a tiny adjustment.

So, you may want to give this a try: I'm not a tech, or technically oriented, but here's all I did, per the instructions I found:

1) Stating the obvious - take the bottom plate off the Morley Classic wah and locate the optic sensor light. It should be adjacent a semi-circular ply-board (cardboard?) looking thing with holes of various shapes. When the pedal is moved, the ply-board semi-rotates, and the holes on the ply-board go up and down with the light passing thru, (changing the tone, I presume).

2) Make sure your wah has power (battery/wall-wart, etc.) Plug your guitar into wah; wah into amp (set at moderately low volume, unless you want to do wah-testing at screaming volumes, Einstein). The easiest way is to set everything up so that you're sitting down holding your guitar with the wah on a table in front of you. This way you can rock the pedal with your hand, turn the wah over to adjust the light, then turn it back to an upright position to test it. Hit strings or chord, rocking the wah full sweep - note the sound (probably goes from bass to full treble with a slight pedal movement, if it's like most Morley wahs).

3) Now, very gently - GENTLY for all you clumsy oafs that fat finger and tear up everything you touch (yes, I've seen your HC reviews: "Boo-hoo, the switch on my new gizmo only lasted 20 minutes after I bought it - can't understand why. I only stomped down on it with MY FULL WEIGHT!" But I digress) : |

Now - GENTLY bend the light ever so slightly toward the ply-board w/holes. Hit strings or chord on guitar, and rock the pedal again full sweep. See if the sound changed and the sweep is more accurate...that is, if the tone changes across the sweep with the pedal as it's moved. You should hear SOME difference.

4) Keep making tiny, tiny adjustments, i.e., tiny little bends to the light, testing the wah each and every time. I did this only a few times before I had the wah responding as well as any Crybaby I've owned. As I recall, I bent the light inward toward the ply-board with holes, and it started producing a full tone sweep, responding accurately to the pedal movement.

So - hope this helps. The potential is there in the Morley, and having the quiet optic sensor beats a noisy pot anyday. But, can't guarantee everyone will get the same results. I'm just glad I tried it and got it to work, and I don't have to look for another wah.

Happy modding, friends.

A WHOLE lot better after I adjusted the optic-sensor light. Fully useable on stage, and I've gigged with it many times since.

This wah is much more dependable than Dunlop - no pots to make noise or wear out. No extraneous noise in studio or jacked up loud thru an amp live.

See above...modified it per Morley instructions.

First off...it's a wah. How many songs a night are you really going to waaaaaa-waaaaaa-waaaaaa on the friggin' thing?!? I'm playing in a cover band and unless we put a song in the set that actually has wah, the thing is never used. So I really don't see it being worn out or anything. Should last a looooonnnnnggggg time, man.

And NOTE: Unless you're Jimi Hendrix, who pretty much explored just about EVERYTHING worth hearing/doing/saying with a wah pedal in his short 2-year public career, YOU should put it away also, except for an occasional wank now and then. Ain't nuthin' more boring than some guitarist noodlin' endlessly while waaaaaaa-in' away on a freakin' wah pedal. I'd rather hear the drone of a refrigerator motor - more musical.

It is straight-forward, tap teh switch and rock on it.

This is pretty dodgy. It sucks your tone in a horrible way, just dulls it out real bad. The difference between the uppermost position and the point where the wah engages is huge on mine, and with a clean sound I just can't use it because I can't leave it in the uppermost position for later engaging, and trying to leave it just engaged and htne returning it to that position is just too hard. It can get some cool noises when there is a lot of gain coming through your amp, and I found it nice for punctuating lead but not such a great replica of classic wah sounds

Very dependable - would be happy to use without backup and is very solid.

Never been required

Good for intro to wah, if you want a good wah you have to pay for it but you will find it worth it if you plan to use often and on stage etc.

Very easy,just a Wha,if need one you know !!!!

The is good,it??s a Morley,i have one GCB 95 F before, and a few weeks i forget the old Cry Baby,but you must be interested in your sound, i use a Les paul- fender ax12 tuner -Wha(morley) - Boss od3 into a Marshal 8040,and the morley is very quiet in all sound settings,clean or dirty,in the boost channel or normal.

The Built is very strong, you can use in a gig easily whithout any problem,is built like a tank

I don??t need yet.

This unit is very good for clean or dirty sounds,fast or slow,high or low,Tuned My Les Paul 1/2 tone(flat). and the is very intresting like this ,you can play RATM,western swing, and the is very responsable.

simple to use.. quiet switching. wide sweep range

Every bit as good as a crybaby without the anoying scratchy pot. switch is quiter when kicked on. treddle haslots of sweep.

built like a tank.should last for years

never dealt

Play christian and worship music. playing 35 years, good wah for the money. straightforward and simple. unlike all the power wahs out there (modelers) I like to keep things simple less to go wrong.

Manipulation of the wah effect is easy to use, hard to master. This Morley is no different, your foot needs to express how/where you want the wah's to swell. On/off switch easy enough to engage/disengage.

Lets look at the Pro's first; little or no signal degradation when effect is engaged, welcome absence of 'scratchy' effect that dirty/worn potentiometers are so prone to (this uses electro-optical circuitry), decent 'throw' from heel to toe. So very useable.
However, as Morleys Budget Wah model, we have some pronounced cons here; At full Heel (or Bass) mode, there is a noticeable volume loss, undesireable when soloing. Also,and more importantly, a true pro wah should have a continuous progression of tone modulation as your foot moves through,like a continuous 'curve of tone'. This feels more like hitting 3 or 4 'bumps' as you heel-to-toe,with the main prouncement kicking in all too suddenly (for my taste) in the mid position, so the wah is more abrupt. Some people like this, I feel this factor is what separates average/decent units from a really top pedal. However,remebering price to performance ratio, it 's giggable, quiet and performs quite well. Overall, the wah strength itself is reasonably prounounced.

Very sturdy construction indeed, certainly a roadworthy pedal, should serve you well for many years of wailing.

Havent dealt with Morley yet personally, but countless references including musicians I know, claim that their customer service ethic is absolutely superb, and I'll go along with the evidence. Well done Morley, keep it up, and prove that customer service is still alive and well (for once!)

In summation, most semi-pro or intermediate players could use this. It's well-priced, quiet and dependable, and performs reasonably well.
However, someone who lives by the Wah, or any top pro looking to make a purchase should be aware of the volume loss on Bass position and the fact that it is an abrupt sounding wah without that 'total' wah control that many players crave. Good value for money.

It doesn't get easier. Dont need a manual for this baby. I for one find the on/off switch to the side something that I like.

I tried several guitars to determine sound the sound quality rating. A 1985 Made in Japan strat with 3 single coils. A single p/u Phat Cat Strat. A Santana SE II. All had different sounds as one would expect. I ran the pedal through a Pathfinder 10, Gibson goldtone GA5 and a Roland cube 30. There were as many different results as there were adjustments to those amps. The distortion on the Pathfinder did not sound as good as the Gibson, the Roland did excellent. The point Im trying to make is the Wah pedal sounded as good as any other, Crybaby, Hendrix.......to me. I guess all this is really subjective. I sent an email to Bill at Morley. He answered right away with a PDF document indicating how simple it was to adjust the wah to exactly how I wanted it to sound. Now that's what it's all about. There is a lot of variance in sound/sweep and tone adjustments by simply bending the LED to apply light to the sensor. I found a sweet spot for me, put the screws back in and now I have the wah pedal I was looking for. It is soooo too simple.

I would say, I will be "pushin up daisys" before this unit breaks down. The construction is what it is all about. Qality construction.

I'm one of those guys that will go to a restaurant, get a bad meal and not complain about it. I just won't go back. What good does it do to complain, nothing will likely happen. Now when I send an email to a company about 50% of the time I can expect to get a late answer, lots of the time, I get no answer at all. Thechnical support at Musicians Friend for example, twice I emailed, finally I gave up, I just determined I'm not going to waste my time. I sent an email to Bill Wenzloff at Morley and got a prompt, concise answer that took care of my problems right away. That being said, Morley just gained a customer...Customer service is what it is all about. Customer service these days is taking a back seat to sales in most cases, NOT SO WITH MORLEY.

I play a lot of blues, been playing for 8 years. I have 25 guitars, I know, I know........I would buy another if I lost this one. I like the overall construction. It certainly is going to be reliable. It is simple, easy to use and allows me to have a wah pedal for the times I need one.

Very easy to engage with the switch on the side,LED a plus to know its on.

OK I got this wah 2 an half years ago , as a backup to my dying crybaby, I really did not like the sound and figured it was do to the Electro-Optical sencor circuit,well I was right .I lent it to my girlfriends newfew ,and when my crybabys PC board died I was wahless for a while. He never used the wah ,so I took it back,but still found it to be week sounding. I got a crybaby ,and was gonna ebay the CLW till I sent Bill Wenzloff at Morley an e-mail ,he sent me a great PDF doc showing differnt mods you can make to various Morley wahs. I was able to adjust the LED and sencor inside the unit ,and get a very good crybaby sound. The wah does sound less "whoosh" then a wah with a pod(Crybaby Dunlop,and Vox type) but you don't get any click when you ingage the switch.I A&B ed it next to a crybaby ,and played "Dazed and Confused " by Led Zeppelin and I got just as good sound from the CLW wah as I did with the Dunlope Crybaby.I use a Marshall JMC Lead 50 watt, Bad Monkey OD ,Big Muff,Dyna Comp ,Phase 90 , Dano BLT echo,and a Rocktron Short Timer Delay.You can get good wah tones with this,and if you have any probs e-mail Bill at demodude@hotmail.com,he'll help you with any questions.

This wahs design is great, built like a tank,and with the switch on the side ,less wear and tear(switchs on my old crybaby broke cuase I would bear down all my weight to engage the wah)Easy to replace switchs if they break, I would gig with out a backup.

The best! Bill got back to me very promptly. He really wants to answer questions,and get feedback on Morley products. Great customer service!

I play alot of Hendrix,Floyd,Zep, and the Stone's as far as classic wah rock goes,but I dig the funk of "Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome "by Parliment,and the Grateful Dead "Blues for Allah,and Terripin Station. Reagge Bob Marley & the Wailers ,Peter Tosh ,and Lee Scatch Perry.I love wah & it has to be one of my favorite effects.I would get another if lost ,stolen, or broke beyond repair,I think having an Optical Sencor wah is a plus to ones FX bag.

hallo there,

this wah is very easy to use, either sit or standing. i like the switch beside the pedal. it's help you to switch it on/off when you play sitting down.

well, i use a yamaha YG 521 (very rare)--> morley classic wah--> ROLAND cube 15

it's sound very clean. the tone is amazing. to feel the real sound of this wah pedal, you have to play loud... serious dude :)

this wah dont need backup!!! it's built to last forever!!!

hm... not so good.

the package is very simple. i dont like it.

i play mostly metal and some shredd, a little blues.

well, i'm very addicted to this wah pedal!!!

i like it because it look big and full metal built!!! HAHAHA!!!

i can't live without it man!!! go buy one!!! nmake sure you play LOUD!!!

i would buy it again if it were stolen. or maybe a dunlop crybaby from hell, but it too expensive.

i seriously don't know why people hate this wah.

well... it's a wah, you just step on it, and play!!!

no manual needed.

my setup is= IBANEZRG270MW-->MORLEY Classic wah-->LINE 6 POD 2.0--> Roland CUBE 15

hm, is sound good... very good actually...

on clean sound, you can get high with this pedal!!! hehehe!!!

with some overdrive, it's sound good to, not the best...

this pedal is like a TANK!!!

hm... ok

i play mainly from metal to blues.... and it's very good for blues.

if it got stolen, i would buy a dunlop jimi's wah2