The Morley Distortion Wah Volume is a combo pedal from Morley that puts a distortion circuit, a wah and a volume pedal in a single foot-controlled unit. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes it as a "Combo wah volume and distortion all in one handy pedal", covering three jobs that players often spread across two or three separate boxes on a board1. It belongs to the same family of Morley wah volume pedals as the Morley PDW-II, and it sits in the distortion lane alongside Morley's dedicated distortion pedals such as the Morley Just Distortion and the Morley MOD-D1B Distortion One.
What it does
The pedal combines three effects: distortion, wah and volume, all operated from one treadle and its switches1. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the wah side as "Vintage wah tone with modern features"1. The bypass is a true tone bypass, which RockBoard's PedalPedia says "ensures pure tone and maintains signal in bypass and effect modes", so the pedal keeps the signal path intact whether it is switched in or out1.
Power and practicalities
The pedal runs on 9V DC, center negative, and draws 7 mA1. That low draw means it sits comfortably on a pedalboard power supply alongside other pedals.
The pedal is analog and uses a true tone bypass rather than buffered bypass, which matters if you are planning where it goes in a long signal chain1.
Morley's wah volume family
Morley has built wah and volume combinations into single pedals for a long time, and the Distortion Wah Volume adds a drive circuit to that formula. The related models give a sense of the range1:
| Pedal | What it combines | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Distortion Wah Volume | Distortion, wah, volume | Analog, true tone bypass, 9V DC at 7 mA1 |
RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the Distortion Wah Volume as a "Combo wah volume and distortion all in one handy pedal"1. Its true tone bypass, RockBoard's PedalPedia says, "ensures pure tone and maintains signal in bypass and effect modes"1.
One finding from MusicRadar's review of the Mini Wah Volume is worth knowing if you run a wah with distortion: the reviewer found "a definite step in the sound towards the middle of the sweep when you apply distortion", but noted that "playing with the Level control smooths this out"2. That interaction between a wah sweep and a distortion circuit is exactly the territory a combo pedal like the Distortion Wah Volume works in.
Videos
Look at guitar stuff
Sources (2)
- Distortion Wah Volume by Morley, RockBoard (PedalPedia), 2026
- Morley Mini Wah Volume review, MusicRadar, 2011-03-31
