Morley Lerxst Blah Blah

The Morley Lerxst Blah Blah is a wah pedal built by Morley in collaboration with Alex Lifeson of Rush and his Lerxst brand, as part of the Lerxst line of guitar effects pedals¹². It starts from Morley's switchless optical wah circuit and adds a footswitchable Blah Blah Circuit, derived from the vintage Morley Pik-A-Wah, that Morley describes as providing "a cornucopia of expressive, touch-sensitive filtering effects"¹.

The name comes from Lifeson's Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, which Morley cites as the pedal's inspiration². When it launched in August 2024, it was offered as a limited edition of 500 units, available exclusively through Reverb²³.

What it does to your sound

The pedal has two footswitchable circuits. One is a classic wah circuit; the other is the Blah circuit, which MusicRadar reports applies "a secret blend of filters to your [electric guitar] signals for the 'Blah talkie' effect"³. Morley says the result is an expressively vocal response that is equally usable in both classic and modern wah-wah applications¹.

An onboard tone control gives precise EQ control over the filtering effects¹. A premium buffer circuit is built in, which Morley says ensures pure guitar tone and output; MusicRadar describes it as a buffer to protect against tone suck when the pedal is bypassed¹³.

How it works: switchless and optical

The Blah Blah uses Morley's Electro-Optical design, which the company sums up as "No pots to wear out!"¹. Instead of a mechanical potentiometer reading the treadle position, an optical circuit senses it, so there is no pot to wear out after years of use³. There is also no switch to stomp to turn the wah on: Morley's Switchless activation, which the company introduced as the first of its kind, engages the effect when you put your foot on the treadle⁴.

For a player comparing wahs, this is the practical difference from a conventional treadle wah: nothing mechanical in the signal path to age, and no click of a footswitch between clean and wah. Morley's signature wah history runs through players like Steve Vai, Mark Tremonti, DJ Ashba and Dokken's George Lynch, all built on the same switchless optical approach⁵.

Where the Blah Blah Circuit came from: the Pik-A-Wah

Morley states plainly that the Blah Blah Circuit is derived from the vintage Morley Pik-A-Wah¹. The Pik-A-Wah is an older Morley design, and its filtering is the seed of the pedal's extra mode: the Blah Blah takes Morley's switchless optical wah circuit as a springboard and layers the Pik-A-Wah-derived filtering on top of it¹. That lineage is what separates the pedal from Morley's standard wah line: it is a wah plus a second, touch-sensitive filter voice, tuned by Lifeson and the engineers at Lerxst and Morley¹.

Who designed it

The pedal is a collaboration between Alex Lifeson, Lerxst and Morley¹². Morley's R&D team developed it at Lifeson's request; as the team put it when the pedal launched, "Alex wanted us to create something unique and inspiring"³. The filtering was carefully tuned by Lifeson together with the engineers at Lerxst and Morley¹.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar's launch coverage, drawing on a demo video with Andy Martin of Reverb's Tone Report, reported that the pedal "certainly has all the core wah sounds you would need, and a bit more"³. The same coverage quotes the developers on its range: "what surprised us was how versatile this pedal turned out to be. It opened up numerous sonic possibilities in both clean" and distorted modes³. MusicRadar also noted that with the pedal set just right, maybe with a fuzz pedal in the mix, players can tease quasi-synth sounds out of it³.

Build, power and warranty

The pedal sits in a road-worthy steel enclosure, sized at 6.85" x 4.5" x 2.5", which Morley calls pedalboard friendly¹³. It runs on one 9-volt battery or an optional Morley 9V adapter, and it is compatible with most 9V adapters¹. Morley lists LED indication and a one-year warranty¹.

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