4 Degrees of Compact Enclosure Wah Pedals!

This has essentially all the core features of the previous CBM535Q, but with a couple of very significant new innovations :

• Boost = Button to activate Boost Level / Volume (up to +16dB)
• Range = Select Frequency Cluster : 270Hz - 1300Hz / 320Hz - 1650Hz / 360Hz - 1840Hz / 420Hz - 2100Hz
• Volume = Control level of Boost - up to +16dB and if activated by Boost button above!
• Q-Adjust = Control the Frequency Cluster Bandpass Width

The unique innovations are that instead of having a separate switch which you have to press the treadle down the whole way to activate and then lever back - this time around the treadle is spring-loaded as such for auto-return to base - and moreover activates as soon as you nudge it just the slightest bit - so working very much in a dynamic momentary fashion - rather than the clicky/clunky on-switch latch-on/latch-off modus operandi of the previous models!

This is a fantastic usability innovation which takes the often slightly clunky Wah pedal format a considerable number of steps forward. I will be rotating this in as a manual alternative to the Dr Scientist Dusk on probably quite a frequent basis.

NOTE that there are no demo videos out yet - which means the pedal is likely at least a month from arriving in shops - I've featured the previous largely same feature set CBM535Q for now - which I will switch out once there is an official new demo.

As briefly touched on in the intro, this is a visual prototype of my own devising - a GPX Deviation as I tend to call these exercises - based on the confluence of the CryBaby Q-Zone CSP030 and the Fulltone WahFull amongst a variety of other devices. This dates back to the time when I used to get somewhat frustrated with traditional rocker / treadle wah pedals - in particular the need to press down on the rocker fully to activate the pedal, then return the rocker to base, and press down again in the other direction to unlatch and bypass the pedal. I just found the way of operating those pedals rather clunky and frustrating. Of course the recent arrival of the CryBaby CBM535AR somewhat resolves and mitigates this.

I determined back before then, that rather than having any sort of rocker - it may be better to have a sort of over-sized rotator knob - a little more refined yet larger than on the WahFull - where you could easily manipulate that with your foot - and where a couple of additional features would give you a little more dynamic quack and extra sizzle.

To those ends the Bump-Was has two knobs different to the other pedals of this kind - where 'Sweep' governs the rate of change and directionality of the Wah curve as manipulated by the 'bumper' - and so you can for instance reverse the profile to achieve those Gilmour-esque Seagull sounds. The Warp knob introduces a second modulation - I thought a spacey Phaser or Flanger would be great here to throw in an extra dimension of sizzle. I even conceived that the pedal's Engage footswitch might be a Jackson-Audio-style multi-mode variety which allows you to step through different 'Warp' modulation modes. This would be an entirely different kind of wah pedal therefore to near enough anything that has come before.

• Range = Undecided whether this should be a more fluid sweeping control or more of a rotary-selector with 4 or 5 specific frequency range clusters - not unlike the other examples
• Sweep = This is essentially a movement sensitivity and direction vector control - to allow you to reverse the sweep of the wah in either direction and to impact on how fine or coarse the gearing is on the 'bumper' so you can easily achieve Gilmour's 'Seagull Effect' for instance and other unique and unusual textures
• Volume = Labelled as Boost on many of these other pedals - essentially the output level of the effect
• Q-Width = Control the Frequency Cluster Bandpass Width, of referred to as simply Q-Adjust
• Warp = This is a secondary modulation applied to the quack of the wah - probably a flanger or phaser type modulation for extra squelch and sizzle - although we could apply a variety of different Warp effects here courtesy of that Jackson-Audio-style footswitch mode switching
• Pup-Twkr = Pickup Tweaker - an Input Sensitivity control as such to tune the pedal to your pickup output
• Engage Footswitch = Bypass switch at a basic level, but also most likely a Jackson-Audio-style multi-mode switcher to step through different modes of 'Warp' modulation
• Freeq! = The Bump / Bumper Wheel - an enlarged rubberised knob for controlling the wah instead of the traditional treadle. Here I have not quite decided whether to add additional functions on this - e.g. tilt or push/press - generally though you manipulate it with your foot along several different control vectors - and control the speed, direction and extent of its impact courtesy of the Sweep and Pup-Twkr controls

NOTE that as currently a fictional prototype visualisation there is no video demo - I've included a video of the nearest-match Fulltone WahFull instead!

This pedal has been featured extensively on this site already - and I don't really have any more to say than has already been said several times over. Just a fantastic all-rounder dynamic filter pedal with 3 great higher-level modes and no less than 11 sub-modes. Delivers beautifully richly detailed and textured quacks, blips and squelches via analog OTA chip. This will remain my principal choice for slot #4 - with these others on the page being subbed in occasionally on rotation as the mood fits.

3 Modes :

• Cutoff
• Envelope
• Low Frequency Oscillation / LFO

And 11-Mode push-button Sub-Mode / Function selector per each of the 3 Modes

For Cutoff we have :

• Slow Sweep
• Medium Sweep
• Fast Sweep

For Envelope there is :

• Sweep Up
• Sweep Down

And for LFO you have 6 Waveforms :

• Sinewave
• Ramp Up
• SAW Wave / Ramp Down
• Square Wave
• Sample & Hold
• Random

The dual footswitch are enabled with smart functionality too

The Multi Footswitch has different functions per Mode :

• Cutoff = Automated Filter Sweep
• Envelope = Envelope Freeze
• LFO = Tap-Tempo / LFO Speed Ramp Up; hold gives you Speed Ramp Down

The Bypass Footswitch has a secondary Hold Preset Function :

• Press for True Bypass, Hold to load and cycle through 5 onboard Presets