BOSS
PW-3 WAH
REVIEW BY FLETCHER STEWART
STREET PRICE $119.00
THE SHAPE OF WAH
TO COME
Unlike virtually every other
category of effect, the
big boys at Boss are not
generally known for their
contributions to the world
of wah. Although, the PW10 was a totally usable,
versatile modeling wah and
somewhat of a success,
most guitarists prefer their
treadle tilting to be done
in the analog realm. In fact,
the cult of wah might be the
most conservative, staunch
and backward-looking
bunch of pedal hounds out
there. However, there are
so many drawbacks to the
classic enclosure: There is
typically no LED. They can
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GEAR REVIEW
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be huge, weighty real-estate
usurping headaches to
integrate into a pedalboard
and those damn screws are
always too long for flush
Velcro treatments. This
new PW-3 knocks out all
those gripes and dishes out
vintage honk and skronk
galore from its small,
futuristic enclosure. Most
importantly, it does
all of this in the analog
realm—finally.
I unboxed the PW-3,
slapped it on my trusty old
SKB powered board (don’t
judge me) and decided that
the first impression would
be made in the context of
a full-on band rehearsal to
see how the PW-3 could
Boss PW-3 Wah
cut. I had read up on the
spec beforehand and the
lower resonant peak of
the Rich mode piqued my
interest greatly, having
been a longtime devotee
to the massive Chicago Iron
Parachute Wah—an exact
Tycobrahe Parapedal Wah
reissue. I won’t lie, the clickless switching was a little
bit hard to engage first
go-round, but after a few
passes it became second
nature. We like to practice
in low light and there is
often a smoky haze in our
band room, so the sidelit LEDs were a welcome
addition and a brilliantly
obvious solution to the
age-old “is the wah on?”