Guyatone WR-2 Wah Rocker

The Guyatone WR-2 Wah Rocker is an analog envelope filter, the pedal type players usually call an auto-wah. Instead of a treadle you rock with your foot, it listens to your playing dynamics and sweeps a band-pass filter across your signal automatically: play harder and the filter opens further. Guyatone's own description calls it "the most uniquely voiced envelope filter since the classic Mutron III," a reference to the Musitronics pedal that defined the category¹. The band-pass filtering, RockBoard's PedalPedia notes, makes it ideal for use with electric guitar and keyboards¹.

Controls and what they do

The WR-2 keeps things simple with two knobs, and the maker's descriptions of what each does are worth reading closely because they shape the whole character of the pedal¹:

Threshold is the sensitivity control: it sets how strongly your picking drives the filter. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the range this way: "High Threshold settings yield synth-like filter sweeps while lower ones produce throaty tones reminiscent of a half-cocked wah pedal"¹. In practice that means the same pedal can cover everything from pronounced, synthesizer-style quacks to a fixed, aggressive midrange bite that behaves like a wah left just past its break point. Decay sets how quickly the filter closes after a note, which is what gives the effect its vowel-like movement.

Power

The WR-2 runs on 9V DC with a center negative plug and draws 6mA¹. That is a light load by pedal standards, so any standard regulated supply output can run it alongside other pedals.

The Mutron III connection

The WR-2 is an auto-wah, also called an envelope filter: a pedal that sweeps a filter in response to how hard you play. RockBoard's PedalPedia gives it Variable Threshold (determines strength of effect) and Decay (determines the speed of the effect) controls, and describes its range this way: high Threshold settings yield synth-like filter sweeps while lower ones produce throaty tones reminiscent of a half-cocked wah pedal¹. Players curious about the wider family can browse other filter pedals.

The WR-2 and the WR-3

Guyatone also made a later Wah Rocker, the WR-3, which carried the same Wah Rocker name into a later model. The WR-2 itself runs on 9V DC, center negative, and draws 6mA¹, and its Threshold and Decay controls are what shape the effect from synth-like sweeps to the throaty, half-cocked wah character RockBoard's PedalPedia describes¹.

Guyatone's wider range included other filter-adjacent designs such as the FB-X Funky Box and the Ultron envelope-controlled units.

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