“Guitar players have been sleeping on wah for the last two decades!”: Cory Wong teams up with Hotone Audio for the Wong Press, a 3-in-1 volume, expression and wah pedal

Cory Wong has partnered with Hotone Audio for a signature stompbox that will surely save many a player some precious pedalboard real estate, with the Wong Press offering volume, expression and wah pedal in one.

Something like this has been in the back of Wong’s mind for some time now. He is a big proponent of the volume pedal. 

Like many of us, his guitar effects choices invite the addition of an expression pedal. And what self-respecting funk guitar player can leave the wah off the ‘board?

“All of my favourite ones were huge,” says Wong. “They took up so much space on a pedalboard, and all were separate. They were different pedals. I wanted to have three-in-one in a smaller footprint.”

Introducing "THE WONG PRESS" (Volume/Wah/Expression Pedal) - YouTube

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The Wong Press might be a three-in-one but it has four-in-one functionality. You can use it as an expression pedal, a volume pedal, wah, or in a mode that combines wah and volume. Very clever.

Colour-coded LEDs light up along the side of the unit that not only let you know which mode you are in, they let you know the pedal position – handy for when you want to leave the wah on for that Mick Ronson/Michael Schenker cocked-wah sound.

The Wong Press was two years in the making and evolved out of Hotone Audio’s Soul Press, with Hotone spec’ing up a custom volume curve and adjustable Q value range to meet Wong’s requirements. 

It has both Warm (290Hz to 1.4kHz) and Classic voicings (360Hz to 1.8kHz). Expression pedal and guitar tuner outputs were added to make it more easily configurable on your ‘board. Then Wong then took it out and played it hard.

“I have taken the beta version of this pedal and I have road-tested it like you would not believe,” he says. “I have taken this thing all around the world, thrown it on a plane, thrown it in the back of van – all in a suitcase, not even a pelican or a hard case – just to see if this pedal’s durability was up to my standards.”

With all this functionality, what shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle is the fact that this is a wah pedal and Cory Wong is a super-fan of wah, and believes it is high time that today’s players started rediscovering it. 

He argues that “guitar players have been sleeping on wah for the last two decades” and he might have a point. We had the ‘60s, Hendrix and Cream. It remained popular through the ‘70s, and even found a lot of use in the ‘90s. The 21st-century has been less kind to it, and as Wong says, it is a ridiculously versatile effect, used by players from all kinds of styles.

“I don’t think people realise how many different textural things and rhythmic things you can get into with a pedal,” says Wong. “And also to just have a different colour palette to draw from in your guitar solos.”

The Wong Press is priced $199 and available now. See Hotone Audio for more.