Source Audio Hothand Wah/Filter

very easy as read otherwise...

this thing lost a good bit of volume when in my chain (i have very niced boutique pedals, mixed with buffers and true bypass and bypass switchers)I recently used it live and had to use a boost pedal before it in order to cut through the rest of the band. It is a one trick pony for the theramin sound,but it is good for that. Also I noticed the expression pedal (using a moog exp pedal) had very muddy lows,this is the pedal, not the expression. Also there was only one or two settings i could actually use that didnt sound like garbage. specifically, the volume pedal was not able to handle gain and maded tons of npoise when used a a volume pedal, and the classic wah is just lame, no life really. My advice, skip the big one and get one of the small tri-mod pedals at half the price and still be able to do the theramin sound.I am trading this for the small one, not saying everyone should, but you should try it first...

i have had to send my pedal and the wireless ring in once each because they both randomly died...better have a backup

customer support was great, they seemed shocked that my stuff wasnt working and immediately sent me new stuff, which was the same anyway, but they were really helpful, robert is truly a nice guy and wants to help everyone out. give them an 11 if i could

overall it wasnt for me, maybe someone else will get some good use of it live, but we shall see...look for mine on ebay

Very easy to get a good sound - I was confused at first but after 5 - 10 minutes I had it sussed out. Editing patches is simple - just use the 3 knobs (frequency, effect and Motion) and you're there.

Manual is short and sweet - I don't even want to open manuals, so it's got to be to the point for me.

I tried to get a nice Mick Ronson wah tone, and it was right there. Use a high frequency with the classic wah setting, with some classic gain, and it made me happy. Not noisy at all - can't live with noisy effects. Also, it didn't cause a drop in volume in my amps, which is very nice. The wireless ring (used to control the amount of effect on your strumming hand) was simple to use, and you absolutely do not have to use exaggerated hand movements to get the most from this unit. In fact, I like the Motion knob set to "flail", so it's quite subtle, and the pulses react to your picks/strums.

Oh yeah - I have played with bands and recorded without a backup - it's really solid.

Haven't dealt with them - no problems at all. I got it after seeing the review on Guitar Player TV website, which led me to the Source Audio MySpace page and website.

Been playing 20 years. Rock, some jazz, acoustic, songwriting, etc. I have 5 guitars (Anderson, Ibanez Artist, Godin, Rickenbacker, Fender bass) and a few great amps (Mojave, Boogie). I really like this unit - why? It's an innovation. Unlike pretty much all the other stuff out there for wah sounds. I really hope this company make some more effects pedals as well - we need new ideas in the world of pedals.

This box has a motion sensor mounted to a ring, wonr on your picking hand, which modulates the filter effects. It comes set so that it's measureing movement parrallel to your fingers (this can be changed to perpendicular though). It actually measures acceleration, and gravity is an acceleration, so if you point at the celing it sounds like the toe down position of a wah, and pointing at the floor gives you the toe up (or vice versa by editing other parameters). You don't have to point up or down though, a gentle wrist bend will adjust the filter. It senses acceleration, not direction.

There are 11 effects to choose from including a classic wah emulation, low pass filter (with high or low Q), bandpass filter (high and low Q), 4 multi-peak filters, auto wah, and volume. The effect is chosen by the middle knob. The left knob dials in the frequency around which the filter centers (very useful), and the right knob controlls the sensitivity of the motion sensor (or the attack of the autowah).

The ring sensor has a little bit of a learning curve, but after just a few minutes, it feels pretty natural. There are several "back page" parameters which really open up the tweakability. You'll need to keep the manual handy for editing these functions though. To truly unlock the potential of this unit, you have to explore these back page parameters. Once you're familliar with all of the options, and have the back page stuff dialed in, it's a no brainer. Three knobs, on/off, and preset select (you can save 4 presets, and backpage parameters are not global, you can set them up individually for each preset). It may only have three knobs, but it is VERY tweakable!

Other units by Source Audio can be daisy chained so that one sensor will control multpile units (like their phaser/flanger). You can plug an expression pedal in to get treadle control over the sweep for wah effects with a decidedly different sound. You can even output expression to take ring control over other effects (like a DL-4 for instance).

I don't think that it's that hard to use, but because there's so much tweakability, and so many ways to hook it into your expression enabled effects, I'm giving it a 7. I do not consider this a bad score though.

I don't use the "classic wah" or "volume" settings, but all of the other effects are great. It uses 56 bit processing, and I wouldn't know it was digital if it didn't say so in the manual. Sounds clean and lush. Any loss in volume (nature of the filter beast) can be made up for via back page parameters (output gain). There's no digital noise, artifacts, etc.

I've never heard anything quite like the multi-peak filters, but they aren't just wierd. They are very usable. Feed it with a fuzz and it has tons of harmonic content to work with...very expressive. Clean, it's chock full of good filter sounds. With delay, ebow, and slide... words escape me. It sounds great on its own, and it plays well with all of my other pedals.

Absolutely rock solid build. I love the enclosure. It's a little big, but VERY sturdy! I'd be a little worried about the ring sensor's wire because it is kind of thin, but I had one sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, and it's still ticking. They also just released a wireless ring sensor. If you're willing to shell out a little more, you can be wire free (I got mine yesterday and it tracks perfectly).

I did have one small issue with mine. I thought one of the ring sensors had gone bad (I hadn't plugged it in so it was making a solid connection, completely my fault). It does come with a spare, but I contacted them, and they sent me a new sensor for free, no questions asked.

When I emailed them about the "failed" sensor, they replied quickly and I had the replacement in my hands in days. When I let them know the sensor had not in fact failed they were very nice about it and never asked for the extra spare back or for $$.

I was interested in this item before it was released. I saw one of their endorsers using a prototype, spoke with him after the show, and contacted Source Audio. They answered all of my questions, and left me feeling like they'd be glad to address any follow up questions I might have.

These guys are real class acts!

I've fallen in love with their products. I got this about a year ago, picked up their Phaser/Flanger about a month ago, and got the wireless adapter yesterday. I love what they're building and would absolutely replace these boxes if I had to.

For me they are a fantastic value. The added showmanship of waving your arm around with the bright blue LED on your finger as you massage the sound is worth every penny. I have yet to play it and not get a slew of people asking "What is that thing you're using?!?"

This box gives you great sounds, works easily, and adds to your showmanship. What more could you ask for?