A Definite Upgrade from a HUGE, Old Morley Pro-Series
I got this excellent Hotone Soul Press II to replace an old Morley volume pedal that I'd grown tired of do to it gargantuan size and poor, uneven sweep. This product is much more pedalboard friendly as a volume pedal--AND it is way more than that!
The Hotone Soul Press II is a volume pedal, a wah, and an expression pedal. The volume and wah are active, and the expression is passive, and I believe the pedal is true bypass when volume or wah modes are not on. You can have it in wah mode only, volume mode only, or always on in a switchable volume/wah mode. The expression pedal works passively in all modes; you can’t turn that off. To use the expression feature, you will need a TRS cable. The wah has two settings, classic or warm, and there is an Q knob that controls where the peak sits in each. All modes, in my opinion, are excellent. The start of the volume sweep jumps in just a touch abruptly, but it is way more controllable in this regard than my last pedal, a mammoth Morley Pro Series, and the sweep is full. Slow swells are totally doable. It also has a tuner out jack, which I think is active and shouldn’t suck tone. I have not used that output, though.
The size of the pedal is also great, at least half the size of that old Morely, and the build is quality. The toothed plastic bar that turns the pot is plastic, as I imagine are other inner workings of the pedal, but the casing is a nice, heavy die-cast metal. The tension of the treadle is solid and the pedal stays put in any position, feeling sound and durable in general, save for the cheap mini switches on the side, which feel a bit dinky. It has a nine-volt battery compartment and a standard pedal power jack.
The wah adds gain and a little boost, it seems, in either mode, but so has every crybaby I’ve used—but the adjustability this has helps you find your sound pocket more easily than your basic crybaby. I think it is a great sounding wah, and I adjusted almost immediately to its feel underfoot. The classic mode nails the crybaby sound, and the warm is more bassy with a softer peak.
I currently have this, like I did the Morely, after boost compression and drive, and it works great there as either volume or wah. It is hooked up as expression to my Pitchfork, but I typically have used it in volume/wah mode. Even then, all I have to do it bend down and flip the mode switch to another mode to have full expression control over the Pitchfork without the wah or volume interacting simultaneously. When in vol/wah mode, the stomp button is easily used to switch between the two, and so far I have not had the problem of accidentally throwing it. You really have to press down, just like with a crybaby.
When is volume or wah modes, the pedal has a cool LED indicator telling you how far you are in your sweep, and it works, AND it looks dope—a fancy touch for what I consider a budget pedal.
Anyway, I received mine for like $97 including shipping about a week ago, and I have seen them for I think $87 or so bucks on Amazon since I ordered. Just wanted to let everyone know of a cool, versatile unit that can be had new for very reasonably. I believe they where around $130 a few weeks ago. I am very happy with mine so far.
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