Guyatone BR2 Bottom Wah Rocker

The BR-2 is a pedal made by Guyatone that stands for Bottom Wah Rocker. It essentially is an auto wah pedal made for the bass guitar.

This little monster has two knobs. From Left to Right: Threshold and Decay.

I bought this on Ebay for $50 shipped. I believe brand new in the box they go for $90. I went with this pedal because I had not heard of it before and liked the idea of trying out something new.

It is compact, easy to power and can offer some crazy sounds.

Well the size of the pedal comes with a price; the weight of two cable and the power adapter tip the pedal forward. I wish that they would have made it weight a hair more so this would not happen.

Another thing instead of a battery compartment you have to take the pedal completely apart. It doesn't unscrew, you have to flip the rubber sides off. It is do able just sort of a pain.

Besides the design of the battery compartment and the lack of weight, this pedal is a well built quality unit. There is a red LED that lets you know when the pedal is on of off.

An unpredictable, ticking time bomb! The Bottom Wah Rocker can get out of control. If that is what you like, this is for you. If you are looking for a subtle auto wah, I would suggest you should look elsewhere.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

It is an envelope filter pedal format, fully analog, which can adjust the Thresold (entry level at which the effect works) and decay (velocity filter).
The connection is basic: an input jack, output jack and a 9V power jack. It can also be powered by battery, in which case you must remove the species of seal that holds the bottom plate of the pedal: it is not practical because the screwdriver.
That version of the dedicated low WR2 to better manage the bass frequencies, it is no longer manufactured and is available only occasionally.

UTILIZATION

The setup is very simple, you plug it and turn the 2 knobs to get the desired sound.
Editing the sounds is very easy, it is an effect plug & play.
I did not have a manual, but given the complexity of the equipment should not be very thick if it exists.

SOUND QUALITY

The effect is that of a filter envelope rather unique in that it sounds more down than up, this looks by far the MuTron but he has his own personality: No one else sounds like this one!
I use it with a bass.
Used alone, the effect is good but needs a sharp attack for a pronounced wah: Thresold setting is not very sensitive to my attack so it is often only the 3 / 4 or fully. Used in combination with other effects, especially placed in front of a distortion, we get very good sounds in the genre Cliff Burton - Anesthesia, or Justin Chancellor - Jambi, etc.. It also sends the signal quantity sufficient to find a good sensitivity Thresold.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had a few weeks.
Pros: simplicity, sound system for securing the plate to replace the battery quickly without screwdriver, the ridiculous price.
Cons: setting Thresold not sensitive enough to attack, an effect that is not often so he must know the place wisely.
I tried the EBS Bass IQ, more complete than the BR2 it allows a greater variety of sounds (thanks to the many settings), but its price is quite high (new or used) and is no justification for my views in relation to its frequency of use.
The quality / price is good, it's a safe investment given the price.