Boss
MOVALL ROCK
H IG HWAY
£94
All features great and small
Three really is the magic number…
BOSS PW-3
WAH PEDAL
£105
THE
PW-3 is smaller and
lighter than a classic
Cry Baby, while still offering two
distinct wah sounds. The Vintage
position on the pedal’s small
faceplate-mounted slider switch
covers your iconic Jimi Hendrix,
Theme From Shaft and 70s porn
soundtrack stuff. Wide open, it
sucks the bottom end out of your
tone for that satisfying old-school
squawk that Jimi put to such
creative use on the likes of Voodoo
Chile, and Eric Clapton used to
paint Cream’s White Room.
Afi cionados like to ‘cock’ their wah
pedals, fi nding a tone they like
then parking the treadle (the bit
you rock with your foot) in that
position. For instance, with the
PW-3 wide open, we got pretty
THE
Chinese-made Movall
Rock Highway has
more than one engine beating
away under its hood. What we
have here is three pedals in one,
with independent overdrive,
distortion and delay circuits, each
wired to a trio of dedicated
controls and an on/off switch.
The whole thing is powered from
a single nine-volt adaptor – not
supplied – and there’s the bonus of
an onboard effects loop that allows
you to place other pedals between
the overdrive/distortion and delay
circuits. At just below 100 sheets it
seems like a lot of spec for the
money. Maybe this muscle car is
cutting a few corners…
Actually, all three effects sound
fantastic. The overdrive comes
damn close to Mark Knopfl er’s
Money For Nothing sound. Yep, a
wah pedal is more versatile than
you might realise.
Flicking the slider switch to
Rich acts like an aural stock cube,
beefi ng up the tone of the wah
effect over its entire sweep. That’s
a real bonus if you use high-gain
sounds in a line-up where you’re
the only guitarist and want to
maintain the integrity of the band’s
bottom-end when you solo.
Okay, the PW-3 doesn’t have the
vintage appeal of a Cry Baby, but
it’s packed with just as much tone,
built like a tank and is just the right
side of affordable. Its footprint
may be small but this little guy is
punching way above its weight.
Ed Mitchell
over like a classic Tube Screamer,
transparent yet with a bit more
grunt. The distortion is thick and
warm, and not a million miles
from EVH’s ‘Brown Sound’, while
the delay goes from slapback to
canyon with vintage delivery.
You can use the effects solo or
together. What’s more, you can
choose to run the overdrive into
the distortion circuit or vice versa
with the small OD/DIST switch.
We prefer the former setup where
the overdrive adds gain to the
distorted tone without
compromising clarity and note
separation. It’s just another tonal
option in a high-spec/low-cost
pedal that’s sure to get your
creative motor running.
Ed Mitchell
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
the distortion circuit or vice versa
We prefer the former setup where
FEATURES
90 MARCH 2016
BOSS/MOVALL
REVIEW
TYPE: Overdrive,
distortion and delay pedal
CONTROLS: Overdrive: effect on/off,
level, tone, drive; Distortion: effect
on/off, level, tone, gain; Delay: effect
on/off, level, repeat, time; overdrive/
distortion order switch
SOCKETS: Mono input & output,
send & return
BYPASS: True bypass
POWER: 9V DC power adaptor
(not supplied)
CONTACT: Spartan Music
07773 952008 www.spartanmusic.co.uk
TYPE: Wah pedal
CONTROLS: Vintage/rich slider switch
SOCKETS: Input, output
BYPASS: Buffered
POWER: 9V battery or Boss PSA230
adaptor (£22.95)
CONTACT: Roland UK
01792 702701 www.roland.co.uk
TGR277.gear_halves.indd 90 1/29/16 10:16 AM