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Harley Benton Custom Wah Review – Can this cheap wah be worth it?
Introduction
Harley Benton is a brand that everyone knows and loves! They are producing high-quality gear while keeping the price down. An effect I love is Wah Wah. However, Wah pedals can be pricey, even the cheaper line of some other brands are still fairly expensive. Luckily, I think I have a solution. The Harley Benton Custom Wah! How does this pedal hold up? Does cheap mean rubbish? And do I think it is better than the king? The Dunlop Wah Wah. Well, why don’t we find out!
Now, this isn’t a sponsored post or even a purchase of mine, a friend of mine gave me this pedal as he was upgrading his Wah to another pedal and said I could have to do an article about it. So I thought why not, as I was after a Wah anyway it would be good!
The Harley Benton Custom Wah Pedal
So looking at this pedal there is no surprise on what it has been based on. However, they have taken the classic design and added a few extra things that make the pedal easier to work with and use.
A Wah pedal is fairly simple and easy to use, press the rocker pedal down to switch it on (this pedal uses a traditional switch) and then rock the pedal to go through the sweep. The Harley Benton custom line Wah is true bypass unlike the older Dunlops (however I believe now their models do come with true bypass). The Harley Benton Custom Line Wah also has an LED to let you know when it’s on! That is all the controls to this pedal! A simple pedal but such a classic sound!
More on the WP060 Wah Pedal
The pedal contains an adjustable rocker which allows you to adjust the resistance (which can be accessed inside the pedal). The pedal can also be run on a battery or a power supply. With the battery housing being easy to access and add and swap out the batteries. Of course, this pedal has the price going for it. Without delivery, this pedal is £50. Which compared to any other Wah pedals is a steal! However, just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s good value for money! Is it any good? Why don’t we run through a few sounds and see how it holds up!
The Sounds
Being a Wah, there isn’t a lot I can do sound-wise. So we have just run through a few sounds using a few different guitars and different pedal setups. We use my LT Custom Strat and a Gibson Les Paul into my Revv D20 using the direct Out. We also add the Landscraper and the Tapescape into the mix to get a more “Solo” sound. Now, As this is a Wah, there isn’t a lot so below is a quick video running through a few sounds, Cleans, Crunch, Gain and also with some Delay and reverb so you get a full effect. I will be running the Gibson Les Paul into my Revv D20 (Review Here) and then throwing a few effects in front. Mainly the Klon Clone.
I am surprised at not only the sounds (except for a few things which I will cover shortly) but also the build quality! My new pedalboard build is happening and I need a Wah, I think I will be using this one in the meantime! As it does almost everything I want it to do.
What are my thoughts?
Before I even plugged this pedal in, it has a feature that my old Dunlop Wah never had and a feature a lot of people hate is missing from the original wah. A LED! It is such a simple thing but anyone that has used the original Dunlop Wah will be please to know this Harley Benton Wah has a LED to let you know if it is on or off!
I must say that the pedal has a lovely resistance to it! I think this will be a very personal thing but I like expression pedals, volume pedals and wah pedals to “fight back” a bit. Not so much that it makes it hard to use but I don’t like pedals that are loose and hard to control! This pedal is just right! Lovely touch! This is mainly because it has an adjustable resistance internally. However, for me, out of the box, it was perfect.
Saying that, this does lead us on to a negative, this pedal has still got the traditional open work mechanisms. The same design that the Dunlops use! This means the pedal and gears are prone to get dust and other rubbish in there that could potentially cause an issue and make it lock up. So if you are thinking about this Wah, you won’t be getting away from the maintenance and upkeep. Not that it is a lot at all! Just have to keep an eye on it.
Anything Else?
I will also say that the pedal doesn’t have the biggest sweep! I found myself wanting just a bit extra from the sweep. Wishing I could lean the foot control forwards ever so slightly! It might just be that I am used to the Headrush Gigboard Wah emulator (Review Here), and I am sure I will adjust and get used to the sound and feel of this pedal! Saying this I think the sweep is good at stopping you from using the effect.
Another negative that I will say is that due to the nature of the Wah effect, it does increase volume when used, so if you are recording with it you will have to adjust your levels when recording. it isn’t as bad on a high gain sound, but if you are planning to use it clean, it can be a nightmare. I found my levels peaking and clipping a lot while recording the sound samples, but decided to leave them in so people could see what I was talking about. I would strongly recommend using a compressor after this pedal if you are using it with clean sounds.
So overall do I think this pedal is worth the £50 you can get it for? Well, yes! I think if you are just after a basic Wah pedal, and plan to use it sparingly (which you should always do with Wah), then I think this is the best one you can get. However, if you want something with more options and more bells and whistles then you might want to look at some other models that have a sweep or Q control and are easy to control over the volume and levels.
Conclusion
What do you think of this pedal? Do you think it is worth the money or should people splash out for the Dunlop or other branded Wah? Do you own a Harley Benton Custom Wah? If so let us know your thoughts on it over on our Instagram!
If you have an idea on what pedal we should review next, let us know over on our Instagram. We are also happy to hear everyone’s suggestions. Should we cover more of the Harley Benton range? Or maybe go for some higher-end and rarer pedals? Let us know! We would love to hear from you all!
If you want to purchase the Harley Benton Custom Wah pedal for yourself you can do so at the link below. The link is an affiliate link meaning we get a small kickback from the sale, at no extra expense for you. A great way to help the site! I also have a page of gear that I use or have used which you can check out at the links below.
Harley Benton Custom Wah Links:
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