Xotic Wah

A wah pedal is a foot-rocked filter. As Coda Effects explains it, the characteristic sound comes from the fact that it only lets some frequencies through, with the middle position of the treadle passing only midrange¹. Rocking the pedal sweeps that emphasized band up and down, which is why players describe a good wah as vocal. Xotic's pitch for the XW-1 is adjustability: the maker says that with it you don't get one or three sounds in one pedal, you get unlimited sounds with unique controls that shape and contour your sound².

What a wah does to your sound

On JHS Pedals' history of the effect, Josh describes the circuit plainly: a wah is a mid frequency equalizer that's kind of variable, and it has a boost to it³. The effect was originally made to replicate the sound of a trumpet, and it found its way to guitar almost immediately; one of the first recordings with the wah on electric guitar was "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in 1967. Since the early '70s, wah has also been a popular effect with funk and rock bassists.

Most wah incarnations since the late '60s share the same construction: a rocking footbed attached to a potentiometer, running the signal through a capacitor to attenuate high end. Because the treadle engages the pot at a particular point in its rotation, the tone of an individual wah can be adjusted by changing where the shaft engages, which shifts the range the sweep emphasizes. Xotic's approach with the XW-1 was to bring that kind of voicing under player control with knobs and switches instead of mechanical tweaking.

Controls: how the XW-1 is shaped

The XW-1's front and side panels carry the controls that make it, in Xotic's words, one of the most versatile wah pedals available today². The maker's product page and manual list these:

The bias control is worth a note for players comparing vintage and modern wahs. Xotic describes the cold bias setting as the vintage-style voice, so a player who wants a smoother, more transparent sweep can dial that in, while a player who wants the wah to cut through a band can bias warmer⁴.

XW-1 vs XW-2: what changed

The XW-2, announced in September 2024, is not a clean-sheet redesign. MusicRadar reported that the XW-2 is not a million miles away from its predecessor, the XW-1, in terms of tone or design⁸. The differences are in the panel and the parts:

• The XW-2 drops the XW-1's array of knobs and switches in favor of what Xotic calls "Maximum Tone with Minimal Fiddling"⁹.
• It uses a proprietary wah potentiometer and a custom-wound inductor¹⁰.
• Its custom-wound inductor, pot and circuit are voiced to capture the pure essence of the vintage Clyde McCoy wah⁹.
• Both pedals share the 20% smaller footprint compared with conventional wah pedals⁹.
• The XW-2 is offered in finishes including Metallic Blue, listed under mode number XW-2 MB¹¹, and a limited red version¹⁰.

RockBoard's listing describes the XW-2 as a limited-edition wah pedal producing a warm, expressive and versatile wah-wah tone¹². Premier Guitar's roundup of compact wahs characterized its voice as a '70s-style "throaty" wah sound¹³.

Where a wah goes in your chain

The standard routing is simple: put your wah pedal first, then all your other pedals after it³. BOSS's signal-chain guidance agrees, placing a filter effect like a wah directly after the tuner and before the drive section, so it optimizes signal frequency before gain stages¹⁴. Guitar World's buying guide adds one exception: a standard wah generally sounds best at the very front of the chain, but a pitch shifter or harmonizer should be placed in front of it if you use both¹⁵.

Where the wah came from

The wah was invented in November 1966 by Lester Kushner and Brad Plunkett, working at Warwick Electronics, a division of Whirlpool that owned Thomas Organ Company and Vox¹⁷. Vox's own history says the creation was an accident, discovered during the design of the VOX Super Beatle amplifier in 1966¹⁸, when a bread-boarded circuit was installed in a volume pedal's casing. Plunkett's invention was originally intended for trumpet players and controls the center point of a bandpass filter. Vox produced the first wah pedal as a product in 1967¹⁹, and the Clyde McCoy wah that Xotic's pedals are modeled on followed in the 1967-1968 Italian-built form¹⁹²⁰.

What reviewers said

Guitar.com's Simon Bradley reviewed the Xotic XW-1 during September 2016, Xotic's first wah, and found that with a clean, lightly overdriven or high-gain tone, the wah keeps its character across gain settings²¹. Guitar World's Paul Riario reviewed the XW-2 Red Limited and called it:

MusicRadar's best-wah buying guide highlighted the XW-1's EQ knobs offering up to 15dB of boost or cut as its standout feature⁵.

Questions