Guyatone WR-3 Wah Rocker

The Guyatone WR-3 Wah Rocker is an analog, envelope-controlled auto-wah and band-pass filter pedal for guitar and bass. Instead of a rocking treadle like a conventional wah pedal, it reads the dynamics of your picking and opens the filter in response, so the wah effect follows how hard you play. RockBoard describes it as a vintage-style unit in that mold, built into a compact, purple "micro" chassis that is easy to fit on any pedalboard¹.

Guyatone stopped making the WR-3 in 2013. Godlyke Distributing, the company behind the pedal's later reissue, says that when production ceased, "demand for the Wah Rocker went through the roof, and so did the" prices on the used market². Pedal of the Day made the same point in 2016, writing that since its discontinuation the pedal "has also become rare and high-priced as well"³. Players looking for the circuit new now have the TWA WR-3 Wah Rocker, a 2016 reissue covered below.

What it does to your sound

As an envelope filter, the WR-3 sweeps a band-pass filter according to the strength of your input signal. Play softly and the filter stays put; dig in and it opens up, producing the quacking, vowel-shaped response players use for funk rhythm parts. RockBoard classifies it simply as an auto-wah with blend¹. Godlyke's product page calls the pedal "this diminutive funk machine," saying it "has been used by such luminaries" as the players listed below².

Vintage Guitar's reviewer, writing about the WR3 alongside other Guyatone units, summed up the range this way⁴:

Guyatone built the WR-3 in a compact, purple "micro" chassis, which the maker says makes it easy to integrate on any pedalboard¹. Its current draw is low at 6mA, so it sits lightly on a pedalboard's power budget alongside typical drive and modulation pedals¹.

The controls: Threshold, Decay and Blend

The original WR-3 keeps its control layout deliberately small. Godlyke describes it as carrying "the standard Threshold and Decay controls found on the original"², and Pedal of the Day confirms that "these two knobs were the main controls on the original Guyatone unit"³. Premier Guitar's news item on the reissue spells out what Threshold does: the "Threshold Control adjusts the sensitivity of the filter," setting how hard you must play before the filter responds⁵.

The Blend arrangement is the main thing to know before buying an original. Godlyke notes that their later version "features a continuously variable Blend control rather than a Blend switch"², and Premier Guitar's reviewer confirms the original "was limited to 50/50 blending only"⁶. On the original, you get an even mix of clean and filtered signal or nothing in between.

Power and practicalities

The WR-3 runs on 9V DC, center negative, and draws 6mA¹. That draw is light enough to share a daisy-chained supply with several other pedals without straining it. The compact purple chassis is designed to slot into a crowded board¹.

Players who used it

Godlyke Distributing lists a long roster of documented WR-3 users², and Pedal of the Day's review repeats the same names³:

• Guthrie Govan²
• Lenny Kravitz²
• Stevie Salas²
• David Torn²
• Bill Laswell²
• TM Stevens²
• Everlast²
• Powerman 5000²

The TWA reissue

In March 2016, Godlyke, Inc. announced the release of the TWA WR-3 Wah Rocker, an envelope filter "based on the original Guyatone WR-3 circuit"⁷. Guitar Interactive Magazine's Jonathan Graham wrote that it "also features several updates that greatly improve on its functionality and performance compared to the original"⁷. The reissue runs on external 9V DC or an on-board 9-volt battery⁵, and it adds a switch for flipping between guitar and bass modes⁶.

Pedal of the Day's review of the reissue presents it as a reworking of the discontinued Guyatone pedal with added Range, Gain, variable Blend and the guitar/bass switch³. Premier Guitar's reviewer went further in the reissue's favor:

For players who want to build the circuit themselves rather than buy either version, Griffin Effects sells the Wah Rocket, a DIY bare circuit board described as "a circuit based on the original Guyatone WR3 Wah Rocker"⁸.

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