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jarvis_steven « A Great Toy! A Mediocre Tool! »
Published on 09/05/14 at 11:10The Hellbabe Wah pedal has a typical nine volt power supply, one regular output and one bypass output. It's got a "Boost" that adds an extra "umph" to the output. This level is controlled by a knob on the opposite side of the pedal. It also has a "Q" knob and a "Fine Tune" knob. These control the width of the wah and where it sits on the frequency spectrum. There is also the large "Range" knob that pretty much does the same thing but on a more general level for quicker adjustments.
All of these sound like great sculpting tools and an opportunity to really dial in that perfectly sought after tone.
But I don't get it...
It's a wah...
I got it because I wanted a WAH pedal. Not something else.
Unless something crazy or extremely subtle involving a "controlled phase effect" is desired, Just get something else. Wah wah's are simple and should have minimal controls. This seems like it's got a great thing going with the controls(they are pretty minimal) until you realize just how much time you are spending trying to find a "plain wah" sound instead of these wacky "controlled phase effects" that generally end up coming out of it.
It is quite heavy in weight and quite durable. My Hellbabe has taken such a beating over the years that it looks like it really has gone through the fiery pits. I had to glue a knob back into place, once. But for it to still work fine electronically is impressive.
And it's all plastic.
That's heavy duty plastic.
It's spring loaded. I like a wah that I can set with the footswitch, personally.
The sensitivity of the bypass cut off is also weak or strange. As soon as the pedal is compressed enough to turn on, it almost sounds like a break in the signal occurs. No good. You can adjust it with a screwdriver, but I really can't understand why they wouldn't just set that right in the factory.
UTILIZATION
The sound effects editing is super easy to do and understand. The only problem is that it's too time consuming if you've already got something specific in mind. It's fun to use if you want your guitar to sound insane and silly. I do not trust the pedal to provide the same tone or effect at every gig. I never use it live. Unless... again... I just want a silly sound effect. It definitely, "wah wahs". But I guarantee it'll be in the wrong sp
SOUND QUALITY
It definitely, "wah wahs". But I guarantee it'll be in the wrong spot so often that it isn't worth it. I was playing this pedal and the Cry Baby back to back before this review. I was using a Schecter Diamond Series and a Marshall Combo. The Cry Baby sounded like the Wah sound that I desired. It took about 30 minutes, but eventually, I could make the Hell Babe sound almost as good. Almost.
OVERALL OPINION
If you want a Wah pedal because you like Wah pedals, save up 30-40 dollars more and get a cry baby. They are in the same price range and are far superior. If you have some cash and you just wanna blow it on a new toy, I would say that this is a great toy.
Nothing More.
All of these sound like great sculpting tools and an opportunity to really dial in that perfectly sought after tone.
But I don't get it...
It's a wah...
I got it because I wanted a WAH pedal. Not something else.
Unless something crazy or extremely subtle involving a "controlled phase effect" is desired, Just get something else. Wah wah's are simple and should have minimal controls. This seems like it's got a great thing going with the controls(they are pretty minimal) until you realize just how much time you are spending trying to find a "plain wah" sound instead of these wacky "controlled phase effects" that generally end up coming out of it.
It is quite heavy in weight and quite durable. My Hellbabe has taken such a beating over the years that it looks like it really has gone through the fiery pits. I had to glue a knob back into place, once. But for it to still work fine electronically is impressive.
And it's all plastic.
That's heavy duty plastic.
It's spring loaded. I like a wah that I can set with the footswitch, personally.
The sensitivity of the bypass cut off is also weak or strange. As soon as the pedal is compressed enough to turn on, it almost sounds like a break in the signal occurs. No good. You can adjust it with a screwdriver, but I really can't understand why they wouldn't just set that right in the factory.
UTILIZATION
The sound effects editing is super easy to do and understand. The only problem is that it's too time consuming if you've already got something specific in mind. It's fun to use if you want your guitar to sound insane and silly. I do not trust the pedal to provide the same tone or effect at every gig. I never use it live. Unless... again... I just want a silly sound effect. It definitely, "wah wahs". But I guarantee it'll be in the wrong sp
SOUND QUALITY
It definitely, "wah wahs". But I guarantee it'll be in the wrong spot so often that it isn't worth it. I was playing this pedal and the Cry Baby back to back before this review. I was using a Schecter Diamond Series and a Marshall Combo. The Cry Baby sounded like the Wah sound that I desired. It took about 30 minutes, but eventually, I could make the Hell Babe sound almost as good. Almost.
OVERALL OPINION
If you want a Wah pedal because you like Wah pedals, save up 30-40 dollars more and get a cry baby. They are in the same price range and are far superior. If you have some cash and you just wanna blow it on a new toy, I would say that this is a great toy.
Nothing More.