Sola Sound Colorsound Supa Wah-Swell

The Colorsound Supa Wah-Swell is a wah pedal with a swell function built in, produced in England by Sola Sound in 1978 under the Colorsound name. It combines the rocking filter sweep of a wah with a swell control, so a player can shape both the swept frequency and the rise of the volume with the same pedal.¹

What it does

As a wah, the Supa Wah-Swell works like other pedals of the type: rocking the pedal sweeps a filter across the guitar's frequencies, from bass-heavy to treble-heavy, giving the familiar vocal "wah" character. The swell side adds a volume-style function, in the territory of volume pedals, letting the player swell notes in from silence while the wah filter is still underfoot.¹

How it plays and sounds

The pedal has drawn strong words from at least one published account. TONEHOME's write-up describes it in glowing terms:

Three traits stand out in that account, and each says something practical to a player:

• Long rocker travel: the pedal has a long physical rocking range, which gives fine control over where the filter sits¹.
• Wide sweep: the filter covers a broad frequency range, from deep to bright¹.
• Nasty high frequencies: the top end is aggressive rather than smooth, a character some players seek out and others tame at the amp or with an equalization pedal¹.

The same account notes a second thing to expect when you step on it¹:

That boost matters on a pedalboard: engaging the pedal does not only sweep the tone, it pushes the signal noticeably harder, which can drive an amp or a following overdrive pedal differently than a clean signal would¹.

Videos

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