If you’re a tone chaser obsessed with vintage blues rock legends, specifically Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, you may have already come across Pedal Pawn. The company was founded in 2019 by British guitarist Chris King Robinson, who started out working from his mother’s garage.
Since then, they’ve delivered a range of guitar products for those enthralled by two of the most influential Strat-wielders of all time – even going as far as tracking down SRV’s TS9 to reverse-engineer their BluesPrint dual overdrive in 2023.
Today, they announce the arrival of the Say Wah – their first-ever foray into the world of wah pedals, named after the opening track of SRV’s third studio album, released in 1985.
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“I’m stupidly excited about this one,” says Robinson, admitting that it’s the longest he’s ever spent developing a product to the point where he felt happy putting his company’s name on it.
“The first Say Wah concept actually dates back to 2020, so it’s taken about six years to finally get here. A wah has probably been the most requested Pedal Pawn product over the years, but I never wanted to make one just because people kept asking for it.”
Having owned and played hundreds of wahs over the years, Robinson is the first to admit he’s “ridiculously picky” when it comes to the legendary spectral glide sound.
Some of them, for example, might have “amazing midrange quack,” but not quite have that magic touch “at the top end.” Others might boast “a great sweep while lacking that all-important vocal quality”.
When it comes to the greatest wah recordings of all time, he cites Hendrix’s Voodoo Child (Slight Return) as “almost impossible to beat, because that’s the sound most people hear in their head when you say ‘wah pedal.’” He also cites SRV’s Say What! for its “aggressive, throaty, almost vowel-like midrange.”
The true bypass Say Wah comes with a hand-wound inductor, custom-designed PCB and circuitry plus a CTS 100K custom-taper McCon-O-Pot II. Every unit is hand-assembled in the UK.
“The big inspiration was those late 60s/early 70s Italian-style wah sounds, particularly one of my favourite vintage V846s with the old TDK-style inductor,” adds Robinson. “But we didn’t want to just photocopy one old wah.
“Over the years we’d heard characteristics we loved in different examples, so it became about understanding why certain ones had that really vocal midrange and then building our own version around that.”
The Say Wah circuit was developed from scratch in order to get the right response, especially when engaged alongside fuzz and overdrive effects.
“For the pot, we teamed up with Mike McConachie, the man behind the McCon-O-Wah,” Robinson says. “He’d already absolutely nailed the feel with his CTS 100K custom-taper McCon-O-Pot II. Rather than pretend we could improve on it, we put his pot in ours.
“It’s rated for two million cycles, which is also a massive bonus because scratchy old pots are one of those things every vintage wah owner knows all too well. And because vintage wahs can vary so massively, I’m personally setting up and testing every single Say Wah at the end of production.
“I want every customer to get one that has the magic rather than having to hunt through 10 of them hoping to find a good one.”
- The Say Wah will retail for £327/$435. Head to pedalpawn.com for more information.
