Morley PWO Power Wah Chrome

This pedal is easy enough to use, a stompswitch to switch from wah to volume pedal mode, and a stomp for power boost with a level pot on the side, and a very wide sweeping tretle. The downside is when you switch it to wah, it's way too quiet, which is why I believe they added the power boost. This was a good idea, but I've never used the wah without the boost, and the 2 stompswitches are on oposite sides of the tretle, making it tricky to kick on the wah, the boost, and distortion on another pedal. To remedy this, I had the pedal moded, and now there's one stompswitch that activates both wah and boost.

Without the boost, this is a very weak pedal. I tried the Fuzz-Wah from the same era, and that pedal sounded horible to me. This pedal is a great bass wah, it works for guitars, but excels for bass. It has a super wide sweep range and gets throaty, a good example of this pedals true abilities can be heard on the Metalica box set video from their Justice tour, where Jason Newstead uses it for his massive solo, as well as his intro to "For Whom the Bell Tolls", which is quite different sounding then Cliff Burton's original sound for that sound.

I've had this bastard apart so many times for repairs, but I alsways seem to be able to bring it back to life. Due to the optical circuitry that the pedal runs on, there's always concern for the light bulb.

Morley is located in the Chicago suburb of Cary, and I stopped in, asked them if they had any bulbs for this pedal, and their response was "How many do you need?". I told them I just needed one, and they gave it to me at no charge. I've emailed them questions about this and other pedals, and their response time was excellent.

I've gone through many a pedal in my 17 years of playing, and I will never give this pedal up. If I ever come across another one used (these things were made in the 60's), I'd probably grab it. The only downside was the original design with the 2 switches, but my little mod took care of that. I also had a Dunlop Bass wah, which doesn't have nearly the sound of this pedal, this wah is almost an instrument in itself. Plus you can usually find these used for under $50.

It's a wah, easy to use: no manual, editing pages, firmare needed. Just step on it and go. I prefer the bypass switch on the side of the treadle, so I can set the tone in a spot and switch in and out without having to go full trebble like the crybaby.

This is my favorite wah. Wider range than even my heavily modified crybaby, no pots or gears to wear out. I get MY sound with it...like it or not!
Never had a problem using it with other effects. Usually the Morley is first in the chain.
Pretty quiet for 1980 vintage, hasn't gotten noisey over time.
Played through tons of different amps.

Built like a tank, never let me down, only needed on in 27+ years.
Ever since that "incedent" in Santa Monica in '77 I have an AB switch at the front that bypasses the entire board.
In contrast, a mechanical VOX or Crybaby would last me a year at most before the pot and/or gear was shot.

Only dealt with them once...long agon...Bubba tossed the wah in a trap case with the cord hanging out, clamped the lid down TIGHT and adversely modified the cord. Called Morley to buy a replacement, explaining how it had come to greif by no fault of it's own...they sent me a new one OVERNIGHT EXPRESS and FREE OF CHARGE...how cool is that?

I play whatever style I can get away with, been doing it too long to admit. Example:
http://music.blindcreek.com/tunes/TIOK%20-%20Ozone81%20-%20Cruising%20(Ozone-81%20Demo%202).mp3
That's the Morley, Fender 75 amp, Gibson ES325 (from 1981)
Gear: Fender amps, wah, chorus, echo. Use Gibson guitars: Les Pauls, Firebird, ES325TD and sometimes a Tele.
Used crybaby and vox before Morley came along. Wish they still made it. In my KISB (Keep it Simple, Bubba) method the Wah is amazingly expressive. Only way it gets in the way is if you dance around alot, you might trip over it as it is a lot bigger than the VOX/crybaby.
Value? It's cost less than $5/year to own...

Just like most wahs, very easy to use.

The True Bypass is placed beside the footpedal, so turning it on during solos is a bit complicated.

Also you REALLY have to pump the wah in order for it to work. Now I know why Morley won't reissue these.

I think of this as a "big mouth" wah. The range goes past the guitar's frequency and beyond.

Works very well on a clean sound, nice and throaty. You will mute your sound if you go past a certain point in the sweep. That might be an issue for some, but if you pay attention to where your foot goes you won't have a problem.

If you're using distortion, the range is perfect. The mute problem goes away and you'll be able to use the wah's entire range. VERY COOL

ADDED BONUS: FUZZ PEDALS

The wah retains its entire sweep even when you put it in front of a fuzz. Something most other wahs can't do.

It is rigged for true bypass so there's no noise problem. The TB is placed beside the footpedal, so turning it on during solos is a bit complicated.

I've used a lot of wah's before and I've never heard one like this. I would choose this one over any other. If you can find one of these, GET IT.

Well it`s a Wah, the on/off switch is on the right side of the rocker pedal.

My setup is pretty simple, a Strat like G&L Legacy special in line with the Wah to my Amp ( a pretty versatile Crate Dual Valve GXT100 ) with a BOSS Chorus-2 in the effect line, that's it. I can get any type of sound I want from crystal clear to bleusy, classic overdrive sound to completely devastating.

Well this Wah was made to be used not only with guitar, but with bass and keyboard as well, So the frequency sweap is pretty wide, beyond the frequency of a guitar. So the first half acts more or less like a volume attenuator, the second half is in the frequency range of the guitar, so this is the Wah effect itself, a pure one. Very expressive, the effect is superb with clean tone, bleusy overdrives or with heavy gain. Can be use to color the sound, do that wahka-wahka sound, ... I can say that I'm using it often when doing leads, I mean not onlyu to do drastic effects but often in a subtil way, to get more boost, more sustain, and feedback if I want, you just need to follow the notes you are playing, pleasant !!!

The bypass is a true one, so it does not affect your sound while not in Wah mode. It is not a noisy pedal at all.
This pedal is very cool looking, a plus for it.

I think this is the same as Santana was using years ago.

Well that big chrome metal box is very sturdy, I don't see what could happen to it. There is no battery, just an AC cord, so no power problem. And since there is no pot, it's optical, it won't start crackling and wear.

I bought this thing used 25 years ago, I only had to change the same light bulb once, I still have 9 of them in spare.

When I called them to get new light bulbfor it 10 years ago, they did sent me 10 of them for free, what else can you ask ?

I bought a lot of effects in my guitarist life, sold almost everything, about except for this one, it is a keeper. If it was still manufactured, I would recommand it to anybody. It is definitely a collector's item. I hope I will never lost it, it is getting pretty rare, if you see one, take it.