Morley 20/20 Power Wah

The Morley 20/20 Power Wah is a wah pedal from Morley: a switchable, optical wah with a wide sweep and what the maker calls a vintage tone, plus a built-in 20 dB clean boost¹. It is a pedalboard-friendly remake of a circuit with real history. As Morley tells it, the Power Wah was introduced in the 1970s as one of the great Morley classics, and the 20/20 version carries it on in a standard pedalboard-friendly size¹.

Unlike several pedals in the 20/20 line, the Power Wah is switchable rather than switchless: you turn the wah on and off with a side switch, the same side switch activation Morley used on its classic pedals². Inside is the same approach Morley uses across the line, an optical circuit that reads the treadle position with light rather than a mechanical potentiometer, so there is no pot to wear out.

What it does to your sound

Morley describes the 20/20 Power Wah as a wah with a wide sweep and vintage tone, and the Power Wah line as traditional wah tone¹⁴. In Sweetwater's demo video of the pedal, the presenter characterized the wah as a little harsher than some other wah pedals, which suits players who want the effect to cut through rather than sit politely behind the band².

The built-in boost is the other half of the pedal. The Boost knob allows up to 20 dB of clean boost in wah mode¹, which you can use to push a solo forward or level out in the mix. Sweetwater's demo put it simply:

The controls

The 20/20 Power Wah keeps its control set minimal, in keeping with the original.

Silent switching is part of the design. Morley says the pedal uses silent switching to prevent pops and noise¹, and the Sweetwater demo adds that silent switching ensures zero pops reach your amp².

The buffer, and why it is not true bypass

The 20/20 Power Wah is not a true bypass pedal. Morley fits it with a 20/20 Buffer circuit that the maker says prevents signal loss and maintains tone¹. In the Sweetwater demo, Morley's representative noted that all 20/20 wah pedals come with a buffer², so this is a line-wide feature rather than something unique to the Power Wah.

For a player, the practical difference is this: a buffered pedal always has a small active circuit in the signal path, even when the effect is off, which keeps your tone from dulling across long cable runs and crowded boards. Players who want the guitar completely disconnected when the pedal is off will want to know this before choosing it.

Power and connections

The pedal runs on one 9-volt battery, or on the optional Morley 9V adapter. Morley says it is compatible with most 9V adapters¹, so a typical pedalboard power supply will run it. Gearnews' coverage of the 20/20 line at launch likewise reported that the pedals are powered by a 9V battery or external DC power supply⁵.

Where it came from

The Power Wah dates back to the 1970s, when Morley introduced it as one of its classics¹. The 20/20 version arrived in 2019 as part of a wider refresh of Morley's wah line. Morley's press release for the launch described the Power Wah as carrying a 20 dB wah boost control, with a street price of $139³. Guitar World's launch coverage listed the same figures, the Power Wah at $139 and the Power Wah Volume at $159, each packing a 20 dB wah boost⁴. Premier Guitar's news story on the updated line noted the Power Wah's traditional wah tone and its Midnight Pearl Blue paint job⁶.

The 20/20 name refers to the size. These are smaller, board-friendly versions of Morley's full-size classics, built in the USA²⁷ in a cold-rolled steel housing¹.

The 20/20 family and its versions

The Power Wah is one pedal in a larger 20/20 range. Here is how the siblings compare.

A few of these are worth a closer look from a Power Wah buyer's point of view.

The Power Wah Volume is the closest sibling: the same Power Wah circuit with its vintage tone, wide sweep and 20 dB clean boost, plus a smooth audio volume taper⁸. Delicious Audio described it as the classic Morley Power Wah with a smooth audio volume function, at a $139 street price¹⁸. In a Morley-hosted review, Cesar Huesca said he had used the previous classic-size version for the past decade and was excited to have the newer, smaller version¹⁹.

The Wah Boost covers similar ground to the Power Wah but in switchless form. Premier Guitar's review described it as re-imagining the Power Wah Boost as a more compact pedal, with switchless operation that makes activating the boost and wah together an easier one-step process¹². It listed the street price at $159¹².

The Power Fuzz Wah is the big tonal departure. Where the Power Wah adds clean volume, the Power Fuzz Wah puts a fuzz circuit before the wah circuit, just like the original¹⁴. In Sweetwater's demo, the fuzz comes with Level and Intensity controls, a Vintage/Modern switch (Vintage recreating the old-school cut-speaker sound of the original, Modern giving more presence and mid-range), a Wah Level control on the left side, and a switch on the right side to engage the fuzz²⁰.

What reviewers said

Published coverage of the 20/20 line at launch was broadly positive about the concept. MusicRadar described the three US-made wah pedals unveiled at the launch as a trio from the new 20/20 lineup⁷. Guitar World's later coverage of the expanded line, which added the Wah Lock, Wah Boost and Lead Wah, called them four tricked-out wah pedals²¹.

Sweetwater's demo videos remain the most detailed published walkthroughs of the Power Wah's sound and operation, covering the side switch activation, the boost, the buffer and the silent switching².

Videos

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Questions