A quick & honest review of the WH10v2

[Frankenstrat86]

I used to own the vintage wh-10 as well as the WF-10 (fuzz) wahs, so I already knew what to expect in terms of sound. What I have to say about the reissue is that the good aspects are wonderful, but the bads can be a serious deal breaker which I'll get into.

The good:

The wah sounds dam sexy, especially if you are/were a John Frusciante or Omar fan. It's nice that the wah depth can be dialed in and Ibanez kicks ass for making it in the metal casing as you all know already. The sweep is good, the wah is synthy, you can get growl if you need to, and the footprint isn't as large as a standard wah.

The Bad:

Just what in the flying moonspeak shitard **** was Ibanez thinking when they put as one of their "modern tweaks" a soft engaging switch. If people return this wah I think this could be the biggest cause. The switch makes it hard to turn off/on on call. You can literally stomp this thing thanks to their metal design(which I did) and not get this thing to turn off. I tried to in socks then I tried shoes and still couldn't get it engage or disengage when I wanted...That's a big no no. Hell you can't tell if you've even engaged it sometimes because there is no satisfying orgasmic click when you try. They gotta fix the switch so that ends my rant on this.

As for the sound it retains it's predecessors mojo and qualities, but isn't as bright (which could be good or bad) some may get a muddyness with their set-up (I don't).

To wrap up The good outweighs the bad but the bad is really ****ed up. The best way to remedy the situation your self is to either replace the switch (If anyone does this pm me) or stick it into a TB loop and click it in when you need it.

I may do a vid on it if you guys want, but only if a good number of people tell me to do it. (like 2 would work haha)

Out of 5 it gets 3.5 because of that dam switch

[vrmd]

Thanks for the review, and count me in on the video demonstration! Being an owner of a couple original WH10's, I was curious about the reissue. Sounds like I'm not gonna be getting a reissue to retire the originals anytime soon. We'll see.... Instead, I just might try G Lab's Wah Pad with the WH10. I've figured out a couple ways to work with an old wha's characteristic of treble loss when bypassed. In my experience, the original WH10 fits into this category... Not terrible but noticeable when you can completely bypass the wha. The Wah Pad may even be a good thing to avoid breaking or stressing the wha's plastic enclosure. Don't mean to hijack the thread. Sorry.

Good to know though that you've experienced some problems with the reissue's switch. Anyone else have that problem with reissue? Maybe someone here knows someone that can mod the reissue to fix the switch AND make it true bypass. I'd definitely be intersted in that too.

[marvelboy_04]

i really wanna try this pedal. have you only tried one? maybe you got a bad switch

[Original_Fire]

I'd definitely be interested in seeing a demo video. That really does suck about the switch being so difficult though.

[dsmc80]

I agree with most of what you said. I want to add that the enclosure is better for sure. The switch wasn't much of an issue when I had the wah. The deal breaker for me was it was darker sounding, which is useless for what I want. It mushed up badly on OD sounds, which I thought was strange. The originals weren't very versatile in my opinion and they weren't great with big time drive sounds, but they were way better than this. I already have a few originals and owned a Wilson Ten Spot II (Which was the cream of the crop. Had the old sound with terrific construction) that I'm comparing this too as well.

I've never heard of an Ibanez fuzz wah. It sounds interesting.

[pdubs410]

I've got to fully agree with the OP on this one. I think the wah sounds awesome and sounds must like the original I played in '89, but the engage switch really does suck. I'll be looking to swap this out as well...

[Frankenstrat86]

yea thanks guys. it just urks me that after years with one of the greatest sounding wah pedals floating about in a crappy enclosure they finally release a new one with the metal casing....and they screw up again with the switch.

Also I'm not the only one either a lot of people are starting to complain how the switch is hard to work with, trust me I know my shit before I write something.

[smogfalls]

I just picked one of these up and must agree whole heartedly with you chaps...

the switch is frickin' retarded!!!!... what the hell were they thinking?!
First thing I did was take the back plate off and attempt to replace the switch with a better one I had lying around, but I couldn't figure out how to remove the pcb to get at the switch. Will have a better look later, but so far, I'm hugely disappointed with the design of this. It does sound great though, but that switch is just mental.

Xan :)

[Plexi Memory]

I got mine hoping to cop some satisfying Frusciante sounds. Your demo helped in convincing me to buy it too, Frankenstrat, haha. It can do that great, but like everyone else has said, the switch is a major pain to turn on and off. There's two small pieces of rubber on the underside of the foot controller part that can be taken off to make it a little, but not a great deal, easier. Maybe it's just me, but mine is a HUGE tonesucker, very noticeable loss of high end when put in my chain.

[Frankenstrat86]

wow what a huge bump lol. I no longer have this wah by the way. It was cool but not worth the hassle

[smogfalls]

If it could be modded for true bypass, and have a new switch installed it'd be great. I'm gonna have to see what I can do. This Wah sounds great, I really like the sweep in "bass" mode too. Sounds awesome with my Tele and JCM800!

So Frankenstrat, tell us, which wah do you now use? I'm really interested in the CAE-404 Wah.

Xan :)

[Frankenstrat86]

If it could be modded for true bypass, and have a new switch installed it'd be great. I'm gonna have to see what I can do. This Wah sounds great, I really like the sweep in "bass" mode too. Sounds awesome with my Tele and JCM800!

So Frankenstrat, tell us, which wah do you now use? I'm really interested in the CAE-404 Wah.

Xan :)

no wah. I only use 5 pedals and only 3 of them are effects

[Last Nerve]

Anybody know if Ibanez got the switch changed on these?

[LowWatt]

Anybody know if Ibanez got the switch changed on these?

Another bump for this question. Any update on the switches?

[FiestaRed869]

Gonna bump this for switch changes and mods for true bypass?

[Frankenstrat86]

I haven't heard much about the wah since I did that review long ago. I will say I'm really loving the amt Japanese girl wah.