“One of the most unique wah pedals ever designed”: Alex Lifeson’s Lerxst partners with Morley for the Blah Blah – a wah pedal that ushers in “a bold new world of classic and avante-garde sounds”
The Rush guitarist has joined forces with the esteemed wah maker for his latest pedal, which is filled with features for modern- and vintage-minded uses alike
Alex Lifeson's Lerxst Blah Blah Wah | Tone Report Demo - YouTube
It's been nearly 10 years since the last Rush gig, but Alex Lifeson refuses to hang up his creative boots, with his Lerxst gear band continuing to evolve.
It has been built in collaboration with Morley, one of the most respected wah pedal crafters in the game, to offer players “a bold new world of classic and avante-garde sounds”. Its name comes from Lifeson's bizarre and meme-worthy speech during Rush's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
Drawing on Lifeson’s decades of wah stomping experience, its new- and old-school features use Morley’s switchless optical wah circuit as a springboard for inspiration.
Its “expressive vocal response” has been engineered by Lerxt and Morley to Lifeson’s exciting specifications, while a second Blah Blah circuit allows for filtering effects.
The two circuits are interchangeable via a soft-click footswitch, with the pedal activated as soon as its treadle is moved forward. It being spring-loaded means it will spring back into the upright position when player's remove their foot.
The Blah Blah circuit's responsive dynamics are aided by an adjustable Pitch knob, which helps guitarists to fine tune the effect to their specific pickups. A Tone control is also on hand for pinpoint EQing so they harmonize with the other stompboxes of each player's pedalboard.
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(Image credit: Lerxst)
Also featured inside its sturdy steel enclosure is a premium Morley buffer circuit, while an LED indicator light assists its ease of operation on darkened stages and practice rooms.
“Wah pedals have been an essential tool of sonic expression for me since the Fly by Night album,” Lifeson details. “With the ‘wah’ side of the Blah Blah, we really wanted to capture that classic sound while also giving it a wide enough frequency response to suit modern players.
“The guys at Morley have designed some of the greatest wah pedals ever, so it was a natural collaboration to work on this project with them, and see where we could take it next,” he continues.
“Alex wanted us to create something unique and inspiring,” adds Morley Owner Scott Fietsam. “We certainly achieved the 'Blah-talkie' sound, but what surprised us was how versatile this pedal turned out to be. It opened up numerous sonic possibilities in both clean and distorted modes, making it enjoyable for a wide range of players.”
An official statement from the collaboration heralds the Blah Blah for its “cornucopia of expressive, touch-sensitive filtering effects that evoke both vocal and synth-like sounds out of whatever instrument that is run through the pedal.”
“I strongly believe that if you give a guitar to five different players – same guitar, same amp – each one of them is going to sound different, just because of the way they play,” he says. “The attack, how their fingers move, all of that. A lot of it is your own personal mojo that goes into your playing.”
The Lerxst collection pedal started with the By-Tor, condensing a $2.5K Marhsall-like tube tone into a $300 pedal.
The Blah Blah wah pedal is limited to a 500-unit run. It is priced at $299 and is available exclusively at the Lerxst Reverb Store.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
