Ibanez Weeping Demon

Ibanez WD7 Weeping Demon Wah pedal is suitable for any playing style or situation. It is a remarkable improvement over the Wah pedals of the past, with its sound ranging from vintage Wah to very fat Wah.

The Ibanez WD7 Weeping Demon Wah pedal is part of the Tone Lok range from the manufacturer, consisting of 17 effect pedals. The series is known for having Tone Lok style control knobs, very solid cast metal housing and great sonic capabilities at a very affordable price.

WD7 weeping demon has all the features to unleash the inner demons with its tone shaping controls, choice of spring and normal footboard action, separate footswitch for engaging / disengaging, selectable Wah range and range fine tuning. These controls allow the guitarist to have a custom filter sweep. Continue reading till the end to know all relevant information about the Ibanez Wah effect, in a concise manner, at one place.

Things to Consider before purchasing a Wah Pedal

Before deciding to purchase a Wah pedal, you have to be clear in your mind how and where you are going to use this effect. Check below for some of the points to think about.

Simple or flexible: If you are just beginning, you may like to have a simple no-frills wah unit with minimal controls to understand the working of the effect. The Flexible Wah effect comes with a plethora of controls to allow the musician to tweak your tones and add expression to it. Flexible controls are of course an expensive option.
Optical or Mechanical sensing: Mechanical devices have gears and potentiometers to track movement of the treadle while optical pedals use lasers to do the same function making them more reliable and quiet.

Guitar	Guitar	Model	Price
Main	Ibanez	WD7 Weeping Demon	Amazon

PRO's & CON's of Ibanez Weeping Demon

Before we dive into our review, let's look at some of the pros and cons of the Ibanez Weeping Demon:

Pros

Very durable construction with a wide range of features like Tone-Lok Knobs, spring and normal footboard action, selectable Wah Range with fine tuning controls
Highly versatile and tweakable sounds without flavouring. Works with various genres.
Suitable for Electric, Bass or Seven string guitars.

Cons

Takes up a lot of space on your pedal board. You may have to reduce one of two pedals from your board.
High battery power consumption
Does not have true bypass

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Features and Benefits

Use of Electro-Optical technology

Ibanez Weeping Demon WD7 works on electro-optical principles. This basically means that the movement of the treadle is tracked by an optical sensor, instead of the usual potentiometers. This results in improved responsiveness, reduced noise and maintenance.

Controls Available on Weeping Demon Wah Pedal

For any effect to deliver a versatile range of sounds, a rich array of controls with minimal complexity is a must. WD7 Weeping Demon Wah pedal has

a main pedal,
2 switches (Mode & Foot),
3 Tone Lok Knobs (Level, Q & LO), and
5 other adjustments (Pedal Friction Adjuster, Spring Tension Adjuster, Range Fine Tuning, Auto OFF Delay & Range control).

Tone Lok knobs are set, pushed down and locked in a position that flushes them with the surface of the pedal. This prevents inadvertent change in parameters or damage to these knobs by accidentally bumping into the Demon Wah pedal, particularly when you are just beginning to use it.

1
Mode Switch: It is a lever located on the left side of the pedal. The position of the lever determines how the effect will be switched between ON / OFF conditions.
2
Footswitch & Foot SW mode: In the first position called as the Foot SW mode, the footswitch located on the right side of the pedal, is used to toggle the effect between On and Off (Bypass) state. In this mode, friction will keep the main pedal at the angle, at which you lifted your foot.
3
Auto SW mode & Auto OFF Delay: In the second position, known as the Autoswitch (Auto SW) mode, the effect is activated when you press the main pedal slightly and gets deactivated, after certain delay, when you return it to the base position or you lift your foot.The return to base position on lifting your foot is achieved through the spring action. Clockwise rotation of the Auto OFF Delay control increases the delay, while anticlockwise movement reduces it, making the effect turn OFF immediately.
4
Pedal Friction Adjuster: In footswitch mode of Ibanez WD7, the amount of pedal friction can be varied by rotating this adjuster with the help of a coin.
5
Spring Tension Adjuster: In Auto SW mode, the main pedal returns to the original position by spring action. The speed of return can be varied by rotating the spring tension adjuster with a coin.
6
Level Knob: Level Knob controls the overall volume in the ON position of Weeping demon. Volume increases with clockwise rotation.
7
Q Knob: Clockwise rotation of the knob will increase the peak level of the sound, making it more intense. The control basically shapes the character of the effect by adjusting the width of the pedal sweep and its peak frequency.
8
LO Knob: Wah pedals have band pass filters that will remove the high and low frequency ranges. Rotating the LO knob clockwise turns it to be a low pass filter producing much fatter sound.
9
Range Knob: Wah effect works by rhythmically sweeping up and down the frequency range through movement of the main pedal to produce a distinct Wah sound. Range knob allows you to select the frequency range that the effect will sweep. This range is known as the Wah range and it changes the tonal character of the effect. The switch has two settings - Normal and Low. In the normal setting it is ideal for guitars whereas in Low setting it is more effective for bass or 7-string guitars.
10
Range Fine Tuning: Tweaks the range to fine tune it even further within the normal or low range.
11
LED Indicator: It indicates the ON position of the weeping demon wah pedal, with the brightness, indicative of the charge on the battery.

Sound

Ibanez WD7 Weeping Demon, with the available range on its Level, Q and LO control settings, can produce any type of sound you want, ranging from very subtle & almost ethereal to extreme.

1
Wah effects are used in a variety of music styles and genres. You will hear them very commonly in funk music.
2
In the clean channel, WD7 Wah effect has enough range, richness, depth and clarity for a wide range of guitar tones.You will really love the funky sounds it produces in these settings.
3
It really comes into its own when you plug it into a distorted channel with all its growls, screams, shrieks, squeaks and cries. The sound is really aggressive and expressive - particularly suited for rock, metal and other heavy genres.
4
WD7 Weeping Demon Wah pedal works equally well with other instruments like bass, 7 string guitars in the Low setting of the range knob.
5
The quality of power and your battery condition has a lot of impact on the sound it produces. Ensure proper power supply quality and battery condition if you intend to use it in a live scenario.

General recommended settings in terms of clock hours for various types of Wah sounds are

Sound	Level	Q	Lo	Range	Fine
Vintage Wah	11.00	12.00	7.00	Normal	12.00
Funky Rhythm	12.00	12.00	9.00	Normal	2.00
Fat Lead	1.00	11.00	12.00	Normal	11.00
Bass Wah	12.00	2.00	5.00	Low	12.00

You can see the demonstration of Ibanez Weeping Demon in the below video.

Quality of Components

Weeping Demon WD7 is made with high quality components - housing, internal components, cables, treadles, foot switches etc. Treadles are very smooth in movement and do not cause any discomfort, even during longer practice sessions.

Enclosure, Design and Dimensions

Ibanez Weeping Demon has a very robust construction with a road tough metal casing. If you stomp heavily, there are chances of movable components getting damaged. So robust construction with Tone Lok Switches is really important for pedals with treadles.

The dimension of WD7 weeping demon is 259(D) x 154(W) x 117(H) mm with a weight of around 1600 g with battery. Its wider base gives it more stability but its huge size, to accommodate a separate footswitch, may force you to remove a pedal or two from your pedalboard.

Power Supply

The Weeping Demon wah pedal works with a 9V battery or 9V Ac adapter compatible with Ibanez AC109, AC309, AC509. It has a maximum current consumption of 35 mA. Grey footswitch on the right hand side is also the battery compartment, where the 9V battery is placed.

Social Proof of the Pedal

Presenting some of the select customer reviews we have collected from the net in the section below. These reviews reflect the opinion of Ibanez WD7 Weeping Demon Wah users based on their experience with the pedal.

In this very detailed review, the user has covered all major features of the unit like the mode selection, auto-wah, tone-lok, auto-off delay, tone control etc. He finds the pedal to be very versatile and suitable for all types of genres including groove metal / heavy metal. He has also used it with bass guitars and recommends it to other guitar / bass players.

This reviewer is an experienced user of Wah effects like the previous one and is impressed by the range, tone and level that can be achieved by varying the respective controls. He appreciates the array of controls on Ibanez WD7 in comparison to other similar pedals in the market.

This reviewer is happy with the range of this pedal. He appreciates the spring back feature and the pedal as whole, given its price range.

In Conclusion

Ibanez WD7 is a very versatile Wah effect pedal at a very affordable price, thereby providing real value for money. Wide array of customizable tone options, not found in most contemporary wah pedals, allows you to dial in the exact range, tone or level of wah effect you are looking for - from vintage to funky to metal. It handles lows as well as it does highs and sounds great with distortion. Click below to check it out !!

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Things to Consider before purchasing a Wah Pedal