Shin-Ei/Companion Wah Volume Noise Siren

This Japanese wah pedal must be from the seventies. At the right side it has three rotary switches which select the function of the pedal. Three "modes" are availiable. 1) wah mode, in which the pedal mechanism works as a wah. The response is opposite to what's considered normal,i.e. it screams when pushed forward. 2) volume pedal mode in wich the pedal acts as a standard volume pedal. 3) noise mode in which a noise signal is fed to the output. This noise can be wah-ed or volume-ed. Sounds weird but I've checked. There's truly a noise generation cicuit inside. The selected effect is switched in/out by a switch located under the pedal (Dunlop style). On top of the pedal, in front of the pedal mechanism is the "siren switch" When (foot) pressed a siren starts to work with a rising frequency. When depressed the frequency falls again.

It takes a little to get used to the wah for the reason of the pedal working in reverse. When gotten used it sounds quite well when used with a warm and clean sound. For lead it misses some of the high end and for that reason sounds pretty nasal. The volume pedal works as a standard volume pedal. The siren has a little trouble with starting up once in a while. It's hard to say anything at all about the noise generator for there's nothing to compare. It works and, as well as the siren, can be considered a gadget...

I bought this pedal second hand. All I had to do was place a new battery. The only problem is the easy movement of the pedal mechanism due to aging and use. This increases the chance of accidentaly switching off the effect. Personally I'd use the thing for home recording only.

I bought this device for curiosity (especially the siren). Compared to A dunlop wah is a choice between a cracky pot in the dunlop or a reverse mechanism in the companion. I think it could do pretty wel for clean-guitar stuff.