Cory Wong and Hotone Audio have put their heads together for an ingenious space-saving signature stompbox that serves as an all-in-one volume, expression, and wah pedal.
The funk aficionado has long been a lover of an expression pedal. However, with pedalboard space at a premium for many players these days, adding just one expression pedal can prove to be problematic.
Wong and Hotone Audio understand this struggle, and they’ve come to the rescue with the Wong Press.
“All of my favorite ones were huge. They took up so much space on a pedalboard, and all were separate,” decries Wong. “I wanted to have three-in-one in a smaller footprint.”
The guitarist endeavored to ensure this ambitious multi-purpose build nailed the brief, and says he took the beta pedal and “road-tested it like you would not believe”. Hence its exhaustive two-year build process.
The result is a three-in-one pedal with a four-in-one functionality, as an additional wah with a volume mode has also been installed into its clever innards.
Its core template came from Hotone’s Soul Press, which offers the same three-strong trick bag. Here, Wong has influenced the reshaping of its volume curve and drafted in an adjustable Q value range that helps players get far more out of the wah effect.
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A selection of color-coded LED lights serve a dual purpose. They both let players know which mode the pedal is in, and what position the pedal’s treadle is in to assist with cocked-wah sounds.
Two voicings are buried within – Warm (290Hz to 1.4kHz) and Classic (360Hz to 1.8kHz) – and expression pedal and guitar tuner jacks have been added for easier pedalboard configuring. All this, of course, has been kicked into shape courtesy of some rugged Wong touring.
“I have taken this thing all around the world,” says Wong. “[I’ve] thrown it on a plane, thrown it in the back of the van – all in a suitcase, not even a Pelican or a hard case – just to see if this pedal’s durability was up to my standards.”
Its volume and expression-altering traits may be valuable assets in many a guitarist’s toolkit – especially for those wanting a greater dynamic response from their active pickups – but Wong believes it can also assist all players, who he says “have been sleeping on wah for the last two decades”.
As such, he’s quick to talk up the wah’s magic, saying: “I don’t think people realize how many different textural things and rhythmic things you can get into with a pedal. And also to just have a different color palette to draw from in your guitar solos.”
Indeed, perhaps at the slight influence of the rise of floor modelers – many of which come sans expression pedal – the wah pedal doesn’t seem in vogue with today’s current generation of players.
Perhaps that’s about to change then, with the Wong Press playing its part. It looks like it could be an invaluable gig companion for modelers and more traditional pedalboards alike.
The Hotone Audio Wong Press costs $199 and is available now.
Head to Hotone Audio to learn more.
