Versatile wah/envelope
Stanley Clarke hardly needs any presentation. EBS got the bass god to design a wah and lend his name to the handsome red pedal.
A rotary selector chooses between four different characters Low pass is an envelope filter sound with manual sweep. Sounds very dramatic since even the treble frequencies are included. Hi pass, Band pass and Boosted band pass are basically three different levels of sweep with hi pass being the most subtle. Consequently, Boosted gives very big sweeps that sound very dramatic indeed. The three positions retain presence by using bypassed high frequencies, so the clarity of new strings remain even if the effect itself is dramatic.
The range-knob controls the wah sweep frequency. High settings give a treble sweep for pwuiiu-like sounds while lower settings yield more dramatic, bassier sounds with bwaooww-like sweeping. These lower
settings mean heavy, really funky envelope-style sounds. The width-knob simply control how dramatic the sweep will be. From just a little coloring to heavier bass solo adventures.
The possibility to change the sound this dramatically is great fun. A little knob twiddling is necessary before you can find your favourite
sound, but as soon as you learn the function of each knob you can find your voice in a breeze.
A little switch sits on the side of the pedal. Pressing it bypasses the whole pedal as soon as you exit wah mode using the footswitch.
This is a true bypass function, so everything is disconnected from the signal chain. True bypass is really only needed using pedals with
low performance electronics that degrade the signal. On the other hand it can sometimes be nice to know that nothing alters the sound,
good or bad. The outer position of the little switch is much more interesting. This gives you a volume pedal as soon as your foot hits
the wah bypass position. To me this is the most useful function. I have in fact modified my old EBS Wah One-pedal to work exactly this
way. It is always nice to take control of the volume using your foot. Another little switch on the side adapts the input to passive or active basses.
Verdict
The Stanley-wah is great fun. It is in fact a manual sweep envelope pedal as well as wah and volume. Variation is what really makes the
Stanley Clarke Wah stand out from the crowd. Despite all possibilities this pedal is not hard to use.
Facts
EBS Stanley Clarke Signature Wah Wah
• Wah/volume pedal
• True bypass
• Four selectable sounds, plus knobs for range and width.
• Battery, AC adaptor or EBS phantom power
• 95 x 75 x 270 mm
