Plutoneium

Chi Wah Wah Pedal

The Chi-Wah-Wah Standard pedal, two years in research and development, is finally here. Measuring just 5.24" (Length) by 2.83" (Width) by 3.32" (Height), the Chi-Wah-Wah is by far the smallest wah pedal available. While designed as a space-saving wah for pedalboard systems in order to give maximum sonic freedom to guitarists, the Chi-Wah-Wah also works great as a standalone unit and is always ready to wah when you step on it in case you want to funk up a couple of chords or a riff, or step into the spotlight with a soulful wah-inflected solo.The Standard unit comes in an armored 1.5mm thick rolled steel housing that has a handsome and tough black powder coated surface that will survive years of heavy duty abuse by even the most hardened of stompers - it's indestructible. Further, the treadle surface has a tough embossed rubber pad for maximum friction between the sole of your foot and the pedal

Inside, the Chi-Wah-Wah features Plutoneium's own 100% original analog inductor-based resonant wah circuit, designed and built around a custom made inductor to Plutoneium's exacting specifications. Fine-grained control of this badass electronic arsenal is attained through three controls - Level, Contour and Gain with durable steel knobs that round out the killer weapons grade look of the unit. The Chi-Wah-Wah can be powered by either a standard 9V adaptor (negative centre Boss PSA type plug) or by a 9V battery.

CHI-WAH-WAH F.A.Q.

Q: I heard the Chi-Wah-Wah has a delay built in - what's that about?

It's not a delay like you might get from a Boss DD-3 but something very different; the Chi-Wah-Wah features a short timed delay that turns off the wah effect after a short period of time. This is to prevent the signal from switching from dry to effected to dry and so forth every time the user is in the full up (maximum bass position) which the player may not want to happen. For example - say you were playing a screaming lead and you wanted to start very high in the treble range with the pedal pushed fully down - you gradually descend your lick and as you reach the end of it the pedal reaches the lowest bass range where you want it to be for a squalid thundering tone from hell before playing another ascending lick and pushing back on the pedal to go treble. Well - you wouldn't have wanted the effect to suddenly switch off - the sound would get choppy so we give you a few microseconds of breathing space before the pedal switches back to dry. The pedal actually features an onboard mixer that aligns the dry and effected signals and smoothly transitions between them so you don't get a nasty jump in amplitude or sound.

Q: Is the Chi-Wah-Wah true bypass?

The Chi-Wah-Wah uses a fully buffered bypass circuit. Better minds than ours have faltered in the 'true bypass vs. buffered bypass' discussions and we choose not to get involved. Simply put, Chi-Wah-Wah's bypass is the best of its kind and using a hard bypass looper to compare, the dry uneffected signal is indistinguishable from true bypass to a listener or to the most sensitive oscilloscope available to man (which Todd owns). There is no tone suck whatsoever.

Q: The Chi-Wah-Wah looks different to a usual wah - how will I know how to play it?

It's highly intuitive - in fact it's far more natural to play a Chi-Wah-Wah than it is to play a standard wah (however standard wah users will need about thirty seconds to get accustomed to it). Think about it - *all* of your other pedals you press down at the front at the part closest to you. The Chi-Wah-Wah does that. Period.

Q: Does size really matter?

Yes and no. If you have limited space on your pedalboard, yes it matters very much. If you want your gear to be lighter it also matters a great deal. As a comparison, the Chi-Wah-Wah takes up less than half the footprint of the most common wah pedal designs and only a quarter of the footprint of the one that Steve Vai is known to use. Think how many other pedals you could have on your pedalboard instead of having a wah take up all the space.

Q: Who the hell are you guys anyway and what the hell do you know?

What we do know is that the first and most important thing is the sound of the pedal. Sure we could make a cute little wah and dress it up all fancy and market the crap out of it but if at the end of the day the sound doesn't cut the mustard then it ain't gonna live for very long. The Chi-Wah-Wah has been two years in R&D and we checked out and dissected most of the available wah pedals out there today (and even some that aren't!). We consulted forums, usergroups, focus groups and as many players as we could to understand not only the quintessential wah sound, but what more are users looking for in the sound of their wah. Through nearly a dozen revisions of the circuit, we think we've nailed it. Try it out and let us know what you think.

Q: Who thought of that cheesy name? I mean seriously...

It was Todd. He's a marketing genius. And a Cheesemeister.

Q: Okay already - just tell me where I can buy one...

Technically that isn't a question - but you can find everything you need to know about buying one here.

Links

http://www.plutoneium.com/