MusicRadar

The Fuzz Wah unboxed and ready for funk

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We reported from Winter NAMM in January 2008 that Fender would be expanding its Classics range of vintage reissue pedals. We even posted a video of the Phaser’s trippy lightshow in action.

Well it just so happens that in an attempt to prove that Thursdays are second only to Fridays in the best day of the week stakes, a box containing every pedal in the range has just arrived at MusicRadar HQ.

Suckers for the funk, we went straight for the Fuzz-Wah (£112 UK RRP) and bashed out a few sound clips that will give you a feel for what the pedal is capable of.

As usual, we ran the stompbox straight into Line 6’s excellent GearBox plug-in, and used an amp model based on a Vox AC30 with a little simulated spring reverb.

First, here’s a short clip that illustrates the sweep of the wah:

fender-fuzz-wah-sweep1.mp3

Now here’s a clip that demonstrates the range of control that the treadle’s top plate gives you over the fuzz sound when you move it from left to right and back again:

fender-fuzz-wah-fuzz.mp3

Here’s the wah-wah in context, with the fuzz disengaged for now:

fender-fuzz-wah-wah-solo.mp3

Here’s the wah again, this time with the lead sound boosted with the onboard fuzz circuit:

fender-fuzz-wah-fuzz-solo.mp3

For more information on the range, check out the official Fender Pedals MySpace page, or the MusicRadar review of the Blender octave fuzz.

Guitarist magazine will be running an in-depth review of all of the new models in its June issue, on sale 8 May.

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