OMG I knew CAE MC404 Wah was good, I didn't realise it is THAT good !!

Telejester

Received a new one from Hotrox , man that pedal is built to last. When you hold it in your hands it really feels like a premium pedal. Between the red and yellow fasels there is every sound you will ever need. I spent some time doing vintage thin Lizzy and the cae nails it.Vintage zeppelin with the amp set to mild gain and it's all there. Gonna do some stuff a la Jeff Healey ( my hero )  and Philip Sayce and I just know the cae will deliver precisely what I want. Anyone looking out for a wah, the cae kicks some really serious arse.

Alnico

I'm pretty sure Philip Sayce used to work with Melissa Etheridge.
I wonder is he uses an MC404 ?

I must go listen to that again and thanks for bringing Jeff Healey back. That's definitely been too long !

I use a Weeping Demon. How different is that to a CAE ?

monquixote

I've had both 

The weeping demon is a much more aggressive rock wah and it feels totally different because it's instant on.

joeyowen

The biggest suprise here is that yuo actually received your order from hotrox. 

I've only ever heard good things about the Cae, I've always wanted one 

Alnico

monquixote said:

I've had both 

The weeping demon is a much more aggressive rock wah and it feels totally different because it's instant on.

Is that what I've heard people talk about as 'Synth-y' with the WD7 ?

monquixote

Alnico said:

monquixote said:

I've had both 

The weeping demon is a much more aggressive rock wah and it feels totally different because it's instant on.

Is that what I've heard people talk about as 'Synth-y' with the WD7 ?

Yeah the WD is quite synthy. I quite liked sweeping it over a repeated riff as you get a nice filter effect like you might find in a Daft Punk record.

Telejester

joeyowen said:

The biggest suprise here is that yuo actually received your order from hotrox. 

I've only ever heard good things about the Cae, I've always wanted one 

Never had a single issue with hotrox, ive found them to be very reliable indeed.

Alnico

monquixote said:

Alnico said:

monquixote said:

I've had both 

The weeping demon is a much more aggressive rock wah and it feels totally different because it's instant on.

Is that what I've heard people talk about as 'Synth-y' with the WD7 ?

Yeah the WD is quite synthy. I quite liked sweeping it over a repeated riff as you get a nice filter effect like you might find in a Daft Punk record.

.......Which really does justify having both on my board then doesn't it !
(Ahem).

Lebarque

Yep, excellent wah. Second only to Xotic in my mind.

Kebabkid

Nice one. Actually, you've just described one of the wah tones I like to get/look for (the Thin Lizzy, Live and Dangerous, vocal one). Alas, switching from using it with overdrive, I also need to get a very good, funky and quacky wah with cleans and I've have had difficulty finding a wah that does both these things well. I've found wahs that do one of "those sides" to my liking but never both under the same hood. Probably the closest thing that came to that was the Xotic and for reference, I've had a Budwah, Reece RMC, Fulltone and borrowed an Xotic and I'm currently using a Boss PW-3 (it's not bad) but I've never tried one of these.

So..what's the CAE like on cleans?

dindude

I think the CAE remains my fav Wah, it's all relative because I always end I up selling wahs on due to non-use, but if I were to buy one to sell on again, I think it would be the CAE.

John_P

I really like the clips I've heard of these - a shame it isn't switchless or I'd probably get one. 

Telejester

John_P said:

I really like the clips I've heard of these - a shame it isn't switchless or I'd probably get one. 

Merest touch switches it on and off

Gassage

Ridiculously good; built like tanks and a great boost on them which is the MXR MC401 pedal built in.

I marginally prefer the Clyde Deluxe at the moment but CAE is quality.

samzadgan

i've had a bunch of wah's and the CAE was by far the best one...

the only other wah thatI havent had that i would think would be as good would be the Clyde and RMC ones...

but im currently looking for a Dunlop bass wah...because...its white....

moogie72

Must have tired wah after wah after wah.....there is only one the Cae...a real keeper . 2 different sweeps trimmable and a free boost. It has the best on/off of any wah I've tried. An I wanted an auto on wah till I got one of these. I only gas over an exotic now as never tried one.

lento

Never tried the CAE but have the Demon and while it's great for that 'instant on' I don't get on with the tone very much.
Favourite so far has been the Castledine

Cortex85

Got this wah recently, and after a lot of tweaking with the internal trimpots I got it where I like it. The red mode is super fat but it screams just enough on the bridge pickup of your guitar and can deliver solos like Zakk Wylde quite easily. Actually his sound comes to mind first when I play through this wah, it's super modern sounding and very very polished kind of sound. What I like especially is that there are two point in it sweep where it'll >>wah<< in a pronounced way, like you can get a discernible wah wah thing going on in the bassier register but then you can do the same in the higher register all within one giant sweep. Incredible.

The yellow mode is very reminiscent to my old Colorsound wah, it's super super funky and treble-ish (I purposely set it like that) and it's just a screaming wah but never get quite out of hand. In the heel down position, it doesn't get too woofy and bassy so if you're playing with fuzz or distortion you can get a great old cocked wah clapton-ish kind of tone for those as-vintage-as-possible blues toanz. Also an incredible sounding mode.

Two negatives about this pedal:

1. I haven't found one instance where somebody managed to separate the boost from the circuit so it could be used independently. The wah is done in SMD technology so instantly less prone to modding for most people, but it's a shame as the boost on it really is very good.

2. It sounds clean with a strat, but if you have humbuckers, there will be points in it's sweep where the resonant frequency and the gain will produce slight distortion and sometimes not so slight distortion that frankly does bug me. The wah has so much gain internally, it's a hot circuit, little headroom I guess?, so it distorts. I wish I could reduce it's gain even more, I keep the Gain trimmer inside at a minimum and it's still very very hot.

So for overdriven sounds I'd give this wah a 11/10 marking, it really is THAT good but for clean sounds I'd give it something like 7/10. 

All in all, for the money, the quality of build, and the features, it is by far the best wah out there. 

Lebarque

Interesting you mention fuzz. I could never get my CAE to work with a Fuzzface, since it doesn't have the fuzz-friendly buffer thing. Partly why I sold it. The other thing that bugged me was that there was a point in the sweep where it went from off to on, rather than a smooth transition. Putting all of that to one side, it did sound spectacular though! Great wah.

Cortex85

Fuzz faces are much different than any othet fuzz variant, I am not surprised you got bad results.
It's never easy with that circuit, it's almost not worth it.

Almost.

John_A

Telejester said:

joeyowen said:

The biggest suprise here is that yuo actually received your order from hotrox. 

I've only ever heard good things about the Cae, I've always wanted one 

Never had a single issue with hotrox, ive found them to be very reliable indeed.

Me neither, they have always been fantastic