Morley Lead Wah

The Morley 20/20 Lead Wah is a switchless wah from Morley, announced ahead of NAMM 2020 as part of the company's 20/20 line. Morley's Scott Fietsam described it as "a switchless Wah with a wider frequency sweep, low-end boost", with "an internal Wah Level trimpot to customize your Wah Loudness"¹²³. Switchless means the wah engages when you rock the treadle and needs no footswitch, so it sits in the same family as Morley's Bad Horsie 2 designs.

What it does

The Lead Wah is aimed at players who run high-gain distortion tones and want the effect to cut through a band mix. Guitar.com described it as "being voiced more for high-gain guitar solos than other wahs, preserving your mix-cutting tone when engaged", and noted it is "tailored for players who favour hi-gain distortion tones"³. The wider frequency sweep and low-end boost Morley built in are there to keep the effect audible under heavy distortion².

Controls and construction

The pedal's only user-facing control is the internal Wah Level trimpot, which sets how loud the wah effect sits in your signal². Morley lists the following build features on its product page⁵:

• MQ2 custom inductor
• LED indication
• Cold-rolled steel housing
• Quick clip battery door
• Glow-in-the-dark treadle grip and toe-end logo

Where it sits in Morley's range

The Lead Wah was one of four wah pedals Morley previewed for the 20/20 line at NAMM 2020, alongside the Power Fuzz Wah and Distortion Wah³. Guitar World's report of the announcement likewise described "a switchless wah with a wider frequency sweep, low-end boost and an internal wah level trim"⁴. Morley also offers a Lead Wah Boost version with the same feature set, including the MQ2 inductor, LED indication, steel housing, battery door and glow-in-the-dark treadle grip⁵. Related 20/20 models include the 20/20 Wah Boost, 20/20 Wah Lock and 20/20 Classic Switchless Wah.

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