# Is The Xotic Wah Real Or A Digital Modeler Or What?



## Guest (May 22, 2016)

It doesn't have a round inductor and it has a few chips on it's board.

Is is fake?


----------



## weaksauce (Mar 20, 2006)

Xotic Wah - Effects

From the website:

"The Xotic Inductor gives the same sound and response as Halo inductors that were used in 1967 Clyde McCoy wah pedals. The ferrite core material and coil wire are carefully selected to match the sweetest, musical voice of vintage tone."

Seems like the chip is a micro controller for relay bypass, which seems to be a popular feature in a lot of pedals these days.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

1) There are a lot of ways to implement a swept bandpass filter in the analog domain that aren't inductor-based. Heck, Morley has been doing it for years.
2) Nailing the "best" pot taper is a tall order and a big part of the cost of producing some wahs. I could see clever use of a micro-controller as a means of "interpreting" movement of a foot-operated pot in a way that is a) aimed at providing an optimal taper, and b) able to digitally sidestep pot-noise by essentially ignoring/filtering brief momentary changes in pot value (which is what the noise is) and "seeing" the intentional pot movement through the chatter. I'm not saying this is what it does. Rather, it is a techinical possibility and would not diminish the essential analog audio path. Lotsa great pedals these days use an entirely analog path but opt for digital control.
3) The adjustable mini-pots along the side skirt are of the sort that would correspond to the normally adjustable parameters of your basic Clyde McCoy wah circuit.
4) The properties of the Halo/Fasel inductor are a function of the materials, not the size. Xotic has enough cloutand purchasing power these days that they could easily arrange for a functional equivalent in small size to be made for them.
5) There are SO many digital multi-fx with an onboard foot-controller and digital wahs that it makes no commercial sense for anyone to make a me-too digital wah for the same price as what a Zoom pedal costs, with a bazillion other effects bundled.


----------



## Guest (May 22, 2016)

I have noticed it seems to get "lost" or doesn't respond the same when going to the high end toe position... Sometimes when I toe down the treble is not as high as other times...


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Well that's wahs for ya. I made one for myself with a nice ferro-resonant inductor that sounds good 'n throaty - very Jeff Beck-ey - but won't do "Shaft" to save its life.


----------



## Guest (May 23, 2016)

I thought I was going to get a smaller, better version of my Fulltone Clyde Standard with the Xotic, but I still like my Fulltone better. The Xotic has some cool features and does sound pretty good, and is more flexible than the Fulltone, but I guess after 12 years I am used to the Fulltone.

I would love to try out your wah sometime Mark. Sounds like a winner.


----------

