Rocktron Black Cat Moan

Sorry, I'm writing to amend my last review on this thing. I've had it for about 3 weeks now... it's seriously a VERY NICE pedal. I'm finding a use for the combine button too (gosh, I feel like a moron...). You use the combine button to make sure both the wah and the moan turn off at the same time when you stomp the box off (since there are seperate switches for the moan and the wah).

I now have a one spot adaptor for it... it's still quiet for a wah, minus the popping sound when you turn it on/off, but that's due to it being a TRUE BYPASS wah!

I've learned how to use the moan now too... on the low end, it's a very smooth sounding OD, on the high end it's a scary sounding "who knows what to call it but a black cat moan" noise.

I don't want to jack up the ratings for this pedal, but I'm doubly happy with it now.

The wah on this pedal is a normal wah. The 3 position mode switch is pretty straightforward too. The moan is fairly tricky though, it can sound great or just plain crazy... There is a switch for moan/wah combine... which is pretty much useless (unless you are super lazy).

The wah on this puppy (no pun intended) is awesome! It sounds just like a crybaby. However, when the wah is switched on, you get a loud "pop" (it's a true bypass). If you can handle the pop, I would wholehearted recommend this pedal to you as a stand alone wah. The classic mode is my favorite.

The moan is a different beast though. Maybe I'm just not good at it, but it's really hard to get a usable sound out of the moan. When you do however, it's pretty cool.

My setup is as follows: Cort Z42-> BlackCat -> MXR Supercomp -> Badmonkey -> #1 Echo -> Fender blues Jr.

I give this pedal a 10 for the wah, but a 9 for overall (because the moan is tough to use, and the pops)

I've heard bad things about the reliability of this pedal, but it's been good to me so far. I just got a nice pedal case (from rondo) and I hope it'll keep this cat safe.
It's built like a tank though... HEAVY. The bottom cover is a bit flimsy though.

NA. I used samedaymusic.com to get this pedal... THIER SERVICE ROCKS!!! a 10 for sameday...

For the money, it's a steal. The wah is seriously AWESOME... and the moan is tricky but cool when you get a hang of it.

I've been playing on and off for over 17 years. I play all types of music and have gotten alot better since I switched back to single stomp boxes. This wah has indeed helped make it much easier to fiddle with my tone.

I just got one of those units, used on ebay. I've been searching my wah for a long, and it is probably this one regarding my playing. I don't agree with previous reviewer : this one is easy to use. Easier than a 535Q, and much more than an Ibanez WD7.
Basically, the wah uses 1 knob to go change the core frequency, and that's all folks. It could take as much as 1 minute for a musician to find where each can be used.
Then there is the moan effect, which is a "medium" boost they say. The moan uses 2 pots and 2 switches to feed you needs. It akes a few more minutes to figure out how it works, and what it can bring you. It can be used all the time, or only when the wah is engaged.

A true bypass wah, not so common.
The wah itself is a good vox/dunlop clone. I have compared it side by side with a Dunlop 535Q, 2 italian Jens (V846 clones), an Ibanez WD7, an old KAY, a Colorsound (yellow reissue) and a Morley PWA. I have Spent the whole afternoon to play, and I have decided to sell all of them...

Yes, the black cat is that good. As a wah, without the moan, it is not more than a very good crybaby/vox clone. Thanks to the rotary switch, can go from modern Crybaby to older Vox 846/Jen, red faseled wah. Not better, not worst. Maybe just a little less 'Q' than the old italian wahs (the black cat uses a halo inductor, not a red fasel). At that point, the Ibanez WD7 seems much more versatile. the "normal" mode is treebly, low Q, it will sound very close to a Colorsound, for funky rythmes. Not really the same as a colorsound, which is unbeatable for funk, but very close to. The "classic" mode is a nice clone of those old italian Jen/Vox wah.

Now switch the moan on, and you could dye for it. If you play clean, funky music, you will never use it. If you play blues, you will probably let it "on" all the time, but with a very low setting. If you play hard rock or metal, then I guess the moan will become your secret weapon. Rocktron says it is a "medium boost", but what I hear is loads of resonating frequencies. The more moan, the more feedback - can quickly go to larsen. Ir provides a truly organic feedback, the one you can play with for hours.

This wah is incredible. Alone it is a good dunlop clone, with the moan it becomes much more powerfull than a WD7.

I mainly plays reggae, blues and metal, but indeed I like to play anything between - even pop music if needed. I mainly use a 77 telecaster, and a 89 lace sensor strat plugged into a peavey classic 50 410 (or a wonderfull cort NTL custom for acoustic peaces).

The pedal itself is very cool, but its back seems very fragile. Just a thin plastic cover, but OK nobody will walk on that part, no ? I bought it used on ebay, and the battery cover was brocken and repairede. Same as the Dunlop 535Q, which brokes after a few open/close... Just look at a Morley PWA, or a colorsound : their solution for quick access to the battery is so nice...
Otherwise, seems build like a rock !
I own a voodoo valve online rack, and had no problems 7 years after.

never ask them

Clearly a fantastic value.
If you play funky, you could prefer a colorsound. Otherwise, whatever is your style, the wah + moan effect will bring news sounds to you. It is really different, really musical, a 'must have'.
I never tried buddah or Fulltone wahs, which are maybe better or different : I don't know. But for the most common wah on the market, which are a lot, the black cat moan is clearly a winner, and bring me as a musician so many new tones that I am writing some songs just to fit it. A very creative, unique tool. Give it a chance, it will probably surprise you!

Hard to use than a standard wah because it has a few more features than your typical wah. It has 3 wah modes (normal, classic, bass) which basically shift the frequency response. It also has a moan feature which is a germanium diode fuzz (which is pretty much a standard tube-screamer type circuit - I am told). This fuzz can be used when wah is on, or when wah is off, depending on the settings. It has a gain knob too.

It's reasonably tricky to get the sound you want, because you might need to fiddle with the settings for a while - or even open her up and mod a few things. For example, you can get a little more reach in the treble/toe end by loosening the plastic teeth on the pot, turning the pot a couple of notches, then tightening it back up again. And reverse, if it has too much treble. All you need is a philips screwdriver.

Also, one might find that the bass/heel end of the wah is too muddy. The volume might *seem* to drop at the end because of this. The main wah circuit (I am told) is very similar to a Cry Baby or a Vox, so it's fairly easy to mod. To fix the mud problem, I replaced resistor R9 (390ohm) with a 560ohm. If that is too dramatic for you, then maybe a 470ohm might suit.

Sounded so-so unmodded. Sounds better when swapping resistor R9. One could try doing some of the Crybaby/Vox mods. There is no reason that one could not make this pedal sound as good or better than a Vox wah, with a little know-how.

Mine was dead when I bought it second hand. The protection diodes were blown, so I presume that the previous owner had plugged in a the wrong power supply. These diodes saved the rest of the wah from getting fried. The build is well built, except for the cheap pot and plastic cogs. No biggie to replace though. The two circuit boards are fairly easy to get at and mod.

Emailed tech support and they were very helpful. They emailed me a schematic real fast.

I am yet to unlock the potential from this pedal. I reckon it probably has a heap of untapped mojo if you are comfortable with a soldering iron. Having the moan circuit is a real bonus - plenty of options here! For a DIY type person, I'd rate this pedal a 9 or 10. For the stock pedal, perhaps a 6 or 7. Hence my overall rating of an 8.

Took a couple of Hours to get the hang of it, but its easy once you get it....

This Pedal is now my favorite pedal, Great a a stand alone distortion or wah, plus it has the moan effect, really bluesy, or hard rock, I wouldnt call itan overdrive but it has a bit of that feel to it...

I Can't say yet, I don't like the fact that the Gear and treaddle teeth are constructed from plastic. that is the ONLY thing about the pedal that i'm suspicious of, but I can't complain yet as it is currently flawless. If this gearing goes bad I will most likely try to find a metal set from a dead pedal off of ebay and find a way to make it work so it will live forever....

I don't know but the pedal are made in china (yeck), but the company is an American company from Michigan so I guess we are supporting American business. "Buy American!!!"

I play Blues, Classic Rock & Modern Rock, and this pedal is an awesome match to my musical taste. I've been playing about 4 years, I own a strat, tele & a strat copy, Amp is a peavey classic 50/212, also a small behringer for practice, numberous pedals, black cat moan, compressor, Hot rod, envlope filter, metal master, chorus, flanger, phaser & Octave, recording software sony acid music studio 5.0, If it were stolen I'd be pissed and yes I would replace the black cat moan, Yes I really researched the wahs and this was my favorite I compared it to the vox 847(a true classic), cry baby 535Q(over rated, but does have metal gearing), Danelectro Trip-L-Wah (junk), snarling dogs(good/fair), (Morley & Budda also good). as I said earlier metal gears would be a real plus...one post said it was only ok, they are high this pedal is awesome, rocktron used to make cheap crappy effects but that has certainly changed for the better, hats off to Rocktron

Excessively easy

This wah sounds great.
i have a rocktron 120 watt amp. i use it on the clean channel
this wha sounds great on clean, or through my boss metal zone or electro harmonix fuzz pi.

ive had it for 4 months
still works EXCELLENT. i dont get why the other people had problems with theirs but i think that its rocktrons fault. my 1st amp from them was defective after a few weeks, then they gave me another one and i havent had any problems with it. i think that they dont quality check their products properly ?
but for the wah, ive had no problems and i use it everyday

i called them once for my amp, never had to deal with them for the wah, but they are helpful

This is an excellent wah. i play Funk, Rock and Prog and this wah really kicks ass, when i bough tit, i tried about 6 wahs, the snarling dogs , the cry baby, the killer wail and others which i cant remember. this one was by far the coolest!

as far as tone controls for the moan/ moan gain, these were very easy to use and understand. this pedal seemed to need a "wah volume" when you switched over to the wah sound, like the crybaby bass wah has. as for the "wah" control, i found it very difficult to use, because it seemed to only operate about 1/5 of the pedal variance. basically, it's just like a clutch on a stickshift. some clutches you have the entire way to push down, and some, you have about 6 inches.

the manual is ok. you don't really need to look through it... it's a wah pedal.

the side "kick" switch is nice, if you don't use any other pedals and are very prescise (you better not hit something you don't mean to on this pedal, because everyone will know.

the sound is really intense, and sounds incredibly definate, but my pedal started buzzing 2 months after i bought it. i miss my old DeArmond wah pedal. the effect is ok, but not wonder-dull.

would i use it on a gig without a backup? i did, but i really wouldn't. (i did because "backups" aren't easy to get when you're "broke".) i haven't had too much of a good time with this pedal, because i've spent more time trying to get the buzz out and learning how to use it. i kind of expected more out of rocktron (considering they used to be the giants)

i never delt with the company, but it seems to be that if you're cool, most are more than helpful. i bought it at guitar center, and they seem to be ok people in there. they had some kind of insurance plan for $20 that entitled me to a new pedal if it broke, so that's definately cool for me...

i play a wide variety of styles, and i found the pedal to be less than accommodating. this pedal would be much much better if it had the following:
1. a volume for the wah. when you switch from clean to wah, your db rating goes up enough to notice it, especially if you're turned up in band practice.
2. a "moan" ammount for "just a little" moan. it's like this... i can't eat desert all the time, but i do like going by the ice cream stand once in awhile....
3. a combo for a wah/volume pedal
4. more expression pedal movement up and down (it just feels tiny.)

i was using it (while it was still working) inline this effect string:

amp --> boss compression --> line6 delay --> boss octaver --> black cat moan --> maxon OD (tube screamer)

the tube screamer made the pedal sound good, but it wasn't knocking my socks off the way just a tube screamer (or 3 in line) can....

this pedal is "an experience", but i really really miss my deArmond 74' wah. it just sounds freakin' tantric. stay up playaz!

Pretty easy once you get the hang of it.There is far more to learn on this pedal than the regular wha pedal.

I have the Boss pw 10, Ibanez weeping devil. Also had one old Vox and a cry baby. Basically, the Rocktron pedal is there for the thick analog wha tones. When comes down to playing bluey jams,this one gets plugged in. I really the amount of gain you can get out of it.

I have had mine for about 6 month, no problems at all, and I do not baby it during playing. It seems to be just as strongly build as the other analog wha pedals that I owned.

I did call them once, and they were quite friendly and helphul.

I would give it 9 for the overall rating. This is a wha pedal with for more features than your typical offerings from Jim dunlop,morley,Vox. Seems to be solidly build. Rocktron did one right with this one.

This is mainly a wah pedal with three settings, "Normal", "Classic" and "Bass". It also has a unique feature Rocktron calls the "Moan". The wah is engaged like a classic wah pedal by pressing forward on the pedal. The large silver knob on the left side switches from original to classic or bass. It has a bright blue LED to tell you when it is on, which is a feature I like.
The 4 knobs/ switches on the right side of the pedal operate the "moan" part.
The pedal is powerable by a battery or a 9V plug.

The wah part of this pedal sounds good on both "Original" and "Classic". However, I only had about 5 minutes of playing time with it before it broke so it was hard to really judge.
The "moan" part is a waste of time in my opinion. It makes the pedal look cumbersome and the sound doesn't really add much. At best it boots the signal and gives a nasally sound without the wah part engaged. I would much rather to just have a wah pedal, if it worked, that is! Read on.....

I bought home the pedal new from the store and used it for about 5 minutes. Then, I switched the wah off by pressing down on the pedal. It never came on again. I returned it to the store and they replaced it with a new one. I brought the new one home. This one never came on! It had the exact same problem. Someone else who posted here had the same problem as me so obviously the wah switch is really weak.

The guy did email back fairly quickly but he kept telling me to phone tech support. They never answered the phone and when I did get through and left a message, I never got a call back.
I did have some email correspondence with the guy but he was short with me and overall pretty unhelpful. After having the same problem and wasting my time with two of these Rocktron pedals direct from the store I expected better treatment.

Useless. I could not get a working version of this pedal. It's a shame because there are not a whole lot of options in the wah pedal market.

We've all used wahs for years, haven't we? This one is no harder and no easier to use. Hook it up in seconds and go! Little instruction manual shows you just what to do. I had no problems, of course.

This is by far the best sounding wah I've ever used. The distortion sounds ultra cool, but kick in the moan feature and it screams!! There is a ton of versatility to this wah. I can use it just as a wahwah pedal, or I can use it as a distortion pedal (which sounds very cool), or I can add in some "MOAN" effect to the distortion and all of a sudden my guitar is screaming. I use this through a 100 watt Marshall and slap it on the end of my stomp chain, and it kicks some real ass!!!

Had it for a couple of months. No problems so far. Rocktron products are always built pretty good, not like little toys that some of the other companies put out. Any time I've had a problem in the past, Rocktron took care of me immediately!! Some people say they don't answer their emails at tech support, but hey man, not all email gets through, ya know?

See my last comments.

Very versatile addition to my floor arsenal. For hard rock/metal it is great. I've been playing for years and never had a wah wah that gave me so much. I'll probably still use my old one, because I like the sound of that too, but the Moan is way cool as an add on.

it's pretty easy to use, but it's kind of a bitch trying to switch it on and off, so i'm more of a switchless wah pedal person

this pedal sounds great, it's awesome on the modern setting, and also great on the classic setting.

here's the bad thing, if you play constantly and do practically nothing else like me, you will need to know that this pedal, isn't your pedal. i broke the switch just from pressing on it, the got bent inside and i didn't even stomp on it, so basically, this thing is a piece of shit.

Customer support was great, they were polite and all, but still, the pedal shouldn't break within 2 weeks of it being purchased.

overall, this pedal is crap, don't buy this, i suggest the Morley Steve Vai wah pedals, but the Rocktron Metal Planet is a must, i love that pedal

Really easy to use -- just plug it in and go. Getting to the "Moan" toggle button with your foot is a little tricky, because it sticks out the side. I'm not going to use the moan mode, though, so no big deal. I'm a little annoyed that it didn't come with the DC power adapter, but it did come with a 9-volt battery.

I'm playing an Epiphone SG special through a Fender RockPro amp and 2x12 Avatar cab. I like the "classic" setting -- very rich. "Normal" is a little twangy for my taste, but others may like it.

I've only had it for a day, but so far so good.

N/A

This is my first Wah. I play a sort of indie/reggae/dub fusion. I'm very percussive and rhythmic with the instrument. This wah makes our slow jams sound downright pornographic -- which is exactly what I was going for. I don't know if I'm going to work it into our noisier, more aggressive numbers, but I'll probably write a couple songs specifically for this effect.

Wow! I have finally found the wah pedal I have been looking for! This pedal is the rip. I have spent so much money buying wah pedals over the past years that I can't even believe it. The Black Cat Moan is pretty easy to use. Initially I had to play around with it to get it to do what the manual says, but I was able to figure it out. It was a little different using it with the band, I had to adjust the settings differently, mostly because of the volume levels. I have not heard a sound like this out of any wah pedal I have ever had. The manual is pretty easy to understand, but it would help if there was some settings in there. There is a super bright Blue LED - sort of lights up my foot on stage, certainly noticable and looks cool. I will have to see how it does on the battery, however. Probably won't be too bad as it is only on when I'm using the wah.

OK, here is where this thing shines! It has a knob that gives you some selection of the wah sound. I love the "classic" sound! It is simply the best sound I have ever heard from a wah. The sweep is perfect and wide and the tone is unbelieveable. I would buy another just for this sound. You can also select a normal sound - which is OK or bass. I don't play bass so it is of no real value to me, but I let my bass player try it and he loved it - so I told him to piss off!

The moan effect seems to be a distortion and works well when I really need a boost and edge for the solos. I had to mess around with this a bit to get it to really sound like they claim. I found that leaving the moan about about 8 o'clock and the gain at 9 o'clock on the knobs it was really useful.

I'm not sure if it is true bypass or not, I need to check it out. But I did not hear any noticable difference in my tone.

I just recently bought it, so I really can't say. The overall unit is heavy so it seems sturdy.

I haven't had any reason to look into this.

I play a wide variety of music with a couple of different bands. But I have one rig that I gig with. I have a Mesa Boogie Triple Recitifier head with a 4x12. On the floor I have a Boss Digital Delay, an Ibanez Tube screamer and the Dime wah. I have now replaced the Dime with the Black Cat.