Cory Wong isn’t the kind of guitarist that sticks his name on every kind of product he uses just so he can tell people he has a signature version.
Earlier this year at NAMM, the American funk hotshot announced the next iteration of his StingRay II signature guitar, this time as a more affordable version through Sterling By Music Man.
And then there’s the Stratocaster he first released with Fender back in 2021. Beyond that, there’s only one other physical product that you’ll find his name on, and that’s his signature Wong Press wah/volume/expression pedal made by Hotone Audio in China.
Article continues below“With funk and rock, there’s so much history behind the wah,” Wong tells MusicRadar. “Oddly enough, the first person who made me fall in love with the sound was Dave Navarro. Then I got into Kirk Hammett, Hendrix and all the other rock players from the past, plus all the funk stuff.”
At the end of the day, you can’t really call yourself a funk guitarist if you don’t own a wah pedal. As Wong was developing his sound, he noticed that his favourite players were “using a wah on their rhythms for that percussive thing” in order to help them expand their palette.
“If I’m just chucking along, it takes my tone from being like a shaker to bongos or congas,” he explains. “That’s because I can change the pitch of the accent rather than have everything sound the same. You can do so many different things with a wah.”
So which pedals inspired the Wong Press and how exactly did the Hotone Audio collaboration come about?
“I have a tool bench full of old wahs from the past,” grins Wong. “The one I always liked was the [Fulltone] Clyde, though it’s a bit big. I wanted something that worked as a volume pedal – taking up less space on my board, because I never use volume and wah at the same time.”
There are mini wahs out there, he admits, but none of them felt right because the fulcrum can be “weird and unnatural”, giving unwanted resistance.
He continues: “Hotone make this adjustable volume/wah called the Tone Press at a very affordable price which I loved. But I also wanted an expression function, plus lights to show me what mode I’m in.”
Given his reliance on a Neural DSP Quad Cortex both live and in the studio, it made perfect sense to have a pedal that could control a whole range of parameters within his digital rig. As he goes on to explain “digital effects are a big thing these days, a lot of people use that stuff” so the expression element would be a incredibly valuable function for all kinds of modern players.
He also designed his version to be a little more road-worthy, which is backed up by the fact he’s been touring the world with a Wong Press for the last two years and hasn’t had one break.
“I didn’t do this just to make a product,” he shrugs. “It’s something I wanted and needed.
"I contacted Hotone asking if we could make something with with controls and ruggedness. They were like, ‘We’re getting pretty deep here – why not just develop something together for the market?’ The answer was yes because if mine got stolen or lost, I could easily find a replacement!”
It’s been a fruitful partnership. Wong also has his signature collabs with Wampler, with whom he has a signature compressor pedal with an independent boost (and a host of EQ'ing capabilities), and Jackson Audio. The Optimist sees Jackson Audio combine Klon and Timmy-style drive flavours into one MIDI-controllable overdrive pedal, complete with a a Baxandall-esque 3-band EQ (we can see a theme here with the multi-functioning guitar effects).
But don’t expect a whole range of Cory Wong-branded products to be hitting the shelves anytime soon. There has to be reason behind everything, he smiles, and if there isn’t, he’s happy using the regular version everyone else has access to.
“Anytime I want to work on a signature product, it has to be something that I’m actively looking for that I can’t get out of something I already have,” he concludes. “I’ve been approached by a lot of pedal companies asking me if I would like to put out stuff that doesn’t need to exist. All the sounds I want are already available through things I already have.”
He adds: “I don’t think I can be authentically stoked about stuff when I don’t need it. Sure, I will have more signature stuff come out at some point. We’re guitar players, we always need something else, chasing this thing.
“But as of now, the only thing I plan to do is another colour of the Wong Press. That’s it.”
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