Morley CWA Compact Wah/Volume

This is one pedal that needs some serious tweaking to get it to sound good.

Its ok in that morley kind of way, but doesn't sound great without fiddling with values of the circuit.

Otherwise its just a wah.

I don't use an amp, but a pair of nice DI's that happen to be built into the Digitech Bad monkey(I have 2 of 'em).

The Morley CVW is noisy.
Its an easy fix though if you have a soldering iron (took less than 10 minutes). The opamp that drives the wah circuit is an LM741 but the noise factor in that chip is too much for a circuit like a wah.
I pulled it off the board and popped in an IC socket with a TL071 opamp and the noise went away right away. Cost maybe $3 to mod that.
The result is that you get a clean tone and a bit more gain.

This pedal was designed on the cheap. Seriously maybe $10 in electronics and fishing line.

I'm planning on modding this one further to get more resonance out of the filter.

I don't see much going wrong with it aside from the nylon line breaking and the sliders wearing out over time, which I've found readily available from Farnell (ALPS RS4511150K)

Surprisingly they have the circuit diagram available for download.
Funnily enough the original opamp designation on the schematic is the one I used as a substitute for the stock LM741.

Several other single opamps will work just fine.

I mess around with noises on guitar and synth, not really a style but a hobby. I'm a hobbyist pedal builder so I mod nearly every pedal I get my hands on.

I'd probably buy something different, or make a clone of the clyde mccoy wah rather than buy this thing again.

I do wish that it was a little bigger so the bypass switch wasn't under the treadle.
I have little feet and this thing is a bit on the small side even for me!

I have an older version, and the power switch is on the bottom righ corner and I actually find the switch easy to use, except of course, when you turn the Wah mode Off, you have no volume and have to fade back in; the centre pivot is a bit awkward.

Unfortunately, the wah is very very sweet and round (no honk like a crybaby) but at full depression of the pedal I get line buzz sound and a screechy treble, if I don't full sweep, it's nice. BECAUSE the volume pedal is energized and there is no true bypass, the volume pedal mode completely sucks tone out of my guitar, so this will simply get a bottom rating. (I couldn't figure out why my amp was sounding dull, and i took this out of the circuit and shimmer and sparkle returned) - (I run a strat though a boogie mkIV)

The case is thick steel and bullet proof. Inside, there is a monofilament line that holds volume and wah sliders, if these ever break, you're done. The gear to round-pot setup is probably easier to repair and more reliable.

I was hoping someone had a modification to fix the loss of tone in volume mode and a new pot for the wah function, but can't find any. The case is really small, solid, appears bullet proof which is why I bought it for putting in a road board. (hate big pedals)

I wish it had a bypass or didn't suck tone out of the guitar (so i could at least use the wah mode)

If someone knows how I could fix this thing, please email me.

This wah/volume is not easy to use. The pedal consists of a foot rocking pedal which is fulcrummed in the middle. There is a power switch underneath the left front of the foot rocking pedal. Unlike Dunlop pedals the power switch can not be turned on or off by pressing the rocker forward. In order to turn on the power you must rock the pedal all the way forward and then press a plunger switch that sits in a hole at the left front of the rocker. Pressing the plunger in this position will in turn press the power switch. The position of the plunger interferes with the natural positioning of one?s right foot. It is impossible to plant you foot squarely on the pedal.
When the power is turned off the pedal acts as a passive volume control, when the power is turned on the pedal acts as a wah. There is a red LED which lights to indicate whether the power is on or off.
Unlike a standard Vox, Dunlop, or Buddha wah the foot rocker pivots backwards AND FORWARDS, standard wah pedals only rock backward. This means you must shift your center of gravity to enable your right toes to point at a 45 degree angle to the ground in order to rock the pedal to the full position. (This is the position required to turn the power on and off.) This is a completely unnatural motion when compared to other wahs.

My set up is a 1989 Fender HM Strat --> Morley Compact wah --> TS9 --> Fender Blues Jr. I use only Spectraflex cables, for accurate signal transfer. The pedal sucks volume, there is a significant signal decrease when I plug through the pedal. The volume also CUTS OUT when you the rocker is pushed all the way back in wah mode. The range of the wah sweep is nice and wide, like a Clyde Mccoy; however, the signal drop is unacceptable

The pedal is built well, the steel case is very rugged. The battery door is also a heavy gauge steel. Unfortunately, the battery door is held in place by two flimsy pieces of plastic. This plastic pieces breaks off easily rendering the battery door useless. This is a major design flaw!

Morley discontinued this model long ago.

The big selling point of the pedal was its compact size. It may fit into some pedal boards (especially the ones designed by Morley) but is still bigger than the average stomp box 4.5? X 6.5?. Its not really that small. Best to avoid this one, except for collectors.