Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah Review

Overview

Guitar effect pedals can truly create unique tones and help artists make a mark in the music industry by introducing a distinct sound during a riff or a solo. In fact, some of these effect pedals have become iconic among guitar players because of the unique and legendary tones they provide - like the Tubescreamer, Fuzzface, Q-Tron, and many more. While most of these iconic pedals are specific models, there is one iconic pedal that transcends a specific brand or manufacturer - and that is the wah guitar effect pedal.

The wah pedal is basically a freely-rocking pedal connected to a potentiometer in its internal circuit that acts as an external tone knob for your guitar. They are usually activated with a traditional footswitch at the top end of the pedal, but modern pedals such as those from Morley offer wah that automatically activate when they are stepped on. With the pedal rocked back towards you, the tone becomes darker, similar to setting your guitar's tone pot to 0; and rocking it forward will open up the tone control towards a brighter output. A wah pedal can be seen in almost every pedalboard because of the unique "wah" sound it produces. Furthermore, these pedals were popularized by Jimi Hendrix, paired with his Fuzzface to create legendary tones. Because of the unique tones that you can get from a wah pedal, it makes sense to want to get one for your rig.

A great choice for this expression-type pedal is the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah which offers a load of features for a reasonable price. Fulltone has made its name known among guitar players due to high-quality stompboxes that are well-loved by musicians, such as their Fulldrive 2 pedal. The Fulltone Clyde Wah Deluxe edition is an upgrade to the Standard edition. The Clyde Deluxe Wah features true bypass, ten-step variable input level adjustment, LED, and other parameter setting capabilities compared to its predecessor. If you're on the lookout for a good pedal to elevate your playing, feel free to get the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah pedal.

Should You Get It?

There are many good options in the market for a wah pedal, but if you want all the possible great features that could come with a wah pedal, then the Fulltone Clyde Wah Pedal is for you. This pedal is perfect for guitar players who want to experiment with a new effect to create unique sounds in their performances, or if they simply want to recreate some classic and legendary Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan tones by pairing this wah pedal with an overdrive pedal and jamming to Voodoo Chile.

Furthermore, upgrading to the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe is a good idea if you own the Fulltone Clyde Standard Wah. This iteration has brand new features that allow for more tonal possibilities and opportunities to create your own legendary wah sound using the integrated control knobs. This is perfect for those who want to get more out of their pedal rather than sticking to older versions of the effect. If you're after great features for a good price, feel free to give this Fulltone wah full trust to amaze your audience.

Features

When it comes to features on a pedal, the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe is one of the few models that offer a variety of practical implementations. However, Fulltone did not compromise on build quality and reliability for these added features. The Clyde Deluxe is built like a tank with a heavy-duty metal chassis that will last you countless performances and gigs, or even an entire night of practicing your chops while rocking this pedal the entire time. 

Fulltone also did not skimp on other features that guitar players love such as true-bypass switching - which is very important considering that a wah pedal is placed before any other pedal in the chain, so making sure your tone is not sucked out before it hits any of your other effects is an important thing. Furthermore, the Clyde Deluxe has excellent electronics, which is expected from a boutique and high-end brand such as Fulltone.

However, what makes the Clyde Deluxe shine are the new features added; setting it apart from its previous iteration, the Clyde Standard, and other wah effects. The Clyde Deluxe features knobs to select between three modes for different tones - Wacked, Jimi, and Shaft. It also has an input control. The input control is a great implementation to be able to amplify or attenuate the input signal going into the pedal.

Furthermore, the Clyde Deluxe has an LED indicator, which is a missing feature on many wah effects. I would have loved this feature on my wah effects as I sometimes would get lost and forget that my pedal was activated. Whether you're recreating Voodoo Chile or on the search for a new and stunning tone to incorporate in your songs, the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe is an amazing pedal.

Controls

The Fulltone Clyde Deluxe has a simple control layout and interface. On the left side, right beside its output jack, is the buffer switch to activate the JFET powered circuit in the pedal, and buffer level knob that allows users to boost the output. To its right, next to the LED indicator, is the ten-step variable input control knob. This input level control lets you boost the signal before being processed by the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah. 

The Clyde also has a 3-way selector knob to switch between Wacked, Jimi, and Shaft modes - giving unique tones to your instrument if you want to go from classic to a more experimental and modern sound. Of course, the footswitch is found on the top end of the pedal, beneath the foot rocker. This Deluxe Wah pedal has simple yet very practical controls that will surely be useful for your performances.

Sound

The Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah sounds astonishing on any setting it offers. The selectable modes allow this pedal to be one of the most versatile versions you can get for the effect. The Wacked mode sounds great with boosted low end, while the Shaft mode boosts treble. The Jimi gives you the classic Hendrix tone that is instantly recognizable when paired with a Fuzzface or an overdrive. Of course, it's worth noting that this pedal sounds amazing stacked with distortion or overdrives for those vintage rock songs. 

The boost functions and ten-step variable input level adjustment is also very useful for finding the sweet spot of your signal through the circuit of the Clyde Deluxe Wah; and the buffer mode is a good implementation for a boost considering the pedal's true bypass switching. Being able to provide a classic wah sound while allowing you to adjust the parameters for a more modern tone, the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah is an amazing sounding pedal that will stun your audience during your next performance.

For a demonstration of the pedal, refer to this video:

While we have presented the features and benefits of the pedal along with its pro's & con's and given our opinion about them, we strongly recommend you to go through the reviews, opinions of users available online and see some demo videos before taking the final plunge or deciding otherwise.

The user wanted a pedal that can recreate the classic Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile tone. After researching thoroughly nd listening to the tone of the pedal through youtube videos, he decided to purchase it. He is very happy with the finish, sound, feel and movement of the pedal 

This user, like the previous one decided to purchase it after a lot of online research. He discusses the issue of noise in the pedal at length and concludes that the noise is not more than wah pedals from other manufacturers. The pedal also works great with other musical instruments like keyboards.

The Fulltone clyde has three different wah sounds, either of which can be selected by a three way selector switch. This reviewer is fully satisfied with the tone and nice wah sounds produced by the pedal.