Vox V846-HW
Witness the reboot of the wah
that wocked the world
£203
anyone too stoned
to remember, we can
confirm that the original Vox V846
was the wah used by Jimi Hendrix
for Voodoo Chile at Woodstock in
1969. While that unit is probably
languishing in the Hard Rock Cafe,
Vox says it’s faithfully recreated the
innards of the design – including
the critical vintage-spec Halo
inductor – and to prove it the
design bods have
showcased all that
hand-wired turret
board goodness
through a clear-
bottomed base.
If you’re used to
a cheap multi-fx
autowah, this will
blow your mind (and
your overdraft).
The V846 is a
curious mix of
vintage and modern.
Off the bat, we’re
delighted to note the
canny addition of
true bypass on this pedal, meaning
no more sapping of your tone
when the unit is off. Equally, we’re
frustrated by the old-school lack
of AC adaptor socket: a forehead-
slapping omission that forces you
to bore your audience while you
remove the four base screws every
The clear base of the pedal
lets you spy on its guts
Features
sound quality
Value For money
Build quality
usaBility
oVerall rating
WAHWAH PEDALS
Head to Head
time the nine-volt battery
goes flat. All the other wahs
in the Vox range give you the
choice… and they’re cheaper.
There’s no scope for tweaking
on either pedal, so it’s a case
of plug in either side and get
quacking. We find the action of
the rocker pedal doesn’t give the
same physical satisfaction as the
Cry Baby, but there’s no faulting
the sturdy chassis, and
tonally, we’re off to a
flier. We made it a rule
to test these wahs with
both singlecoils and
humbuckers, and we
reckon the Vox has the
edge with the former.
Clean, there’s a hot-
buttered, clipped sweep
that laps up funky chord
hits when you pump
the rocker in a steady
rhythm, and it’s similarly
ace when you play
single-note leads and jab
to accent certain notes.
And to be fair, despite initially
feeling a little shallow underfoot,
the pedal responds to even subtle
quivers and lets you perform really
expressive ‘foot wobbles’.
Switching channels and
changing axes, there’s certainly a
funky skank to mildly overdriven
tones, but we still feel the V846 is
lacking just a little venom when it
comes to hairy-chested Hammett-
style lead. It’s all relative: this
pedal is a quality piece of gear and
probably the closest you’ll get to
sounding like Hendrix. Still, we
can’t dole out the medals until
we’ve rocked the Cry Baby…
at a glance
type: Wah pedal
controls: N/A
sockets: Input/output
power: 1x 9V battery
(sold separately)
true bypass: Yes
dimensions: [HxWxD]
80 x 102 x 253mm
weight: 1.3kg
contact: Korg UK
01908 304600
www.voxamps.com
V s
“ The V846-
HW pedal
is a curious
mix of
vintage
and modern”
TGR225.gear_hd2hd.indd 154 2/6/12 2:21:31 PM