Peterson Sonuus Wahoo User Manual

Owner’s Manual

Analogue Dual-Filter/Wah

Stomp Box for Guitar and Bass

Version 1.00

Owner’s Manual

Safety — read this first!

Important safety information. Read the following information carefully and keep all instructions for future reference.

!!!!

Do not open any p art of th e Wah oo case other than the battery compartment. There are no user-

serviceable parts in the Wahoo .

!!!!

Do not expose the Wa hoo to rain, liquids or moisture of any kind. If this occurs, disconnect the

Wahoo from your computer, power supply, and from your musical instrument and remove any

batteries then allow the unit to dry out completely before using it again. If any liquid has entered the unit, it may need to be serviced by a sonuus engineer or authorised repair centre.

!!!!

When the Wahoo has been stored in a cold environment ( environment ( such cases the Wah oo s hould be al lowed to warm u p to room temp erat ure befo re use to ens ure a ny such condensation has evaporated.

!!!!

Avoid getting anything, damage to the Wahoo footpedal sensor.

!!!!

Only use the correct type of power supply (see “Powering the Wa ho o” on page 8). The Waho o must never be connected directly to mains electricity.

e.g.,

a warm room), condensation can form on the outside and inside of the Wa ho o. In

e.g.,

an instrument cable, trapped under the footpedal—this will cause

e.g.,

a car) then exposed to a warmer

!!!!

Do not drop the Wahoo or expose it to excessive shock or vibration. This may cause damage to the electronics inside the unit.

!!!!

Do not put excessive weight onto the footpedal of the Wahoo . It is designed to be foot-operated, but not to bear excessive loads. Do not allow your foot to press on the control panel area because this may damage it. The Wa ho o has protection bars to prevent your feet from accidentally pressing this area but this cannot provide complete protection—you must still take reasonable care when using the product.

Wah oo

Owner’s Manual

Quick start

This manual is a comprehensive guide to the Wa ho o. To start using it as quickly as possible, follow this short guide. Please refer to the rest of the manual for detailed operating instructions.

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Connect your guitar/bass to the IN jack of the Wah oo .

dddd

Connect your amplifier to the

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Set the

LOCK

switch to the locked position (this lets you select presets without worrying about

editing them by mistake).

ffff

Connect a suitable power supply: 9VDC,

gggg

Select the first factory preset by pressing the TTTT button until F00 is shown on the numeric display.

hhhh

Tap the footswitch to enable the effect. The footswitch

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Rock the footpedal back and forward while you are playing to obtain the classic Wah effect. In the “toe-down” position high frequencies will be enhanced. In the “heel-down” position, low frequencies will be enhanced and high-frequencies will be muffled.

Next, start exploring other presets using the SSSS and TTTT buttons. There are 100 factory presets labelled as F00–F99, then 100 user presets labelled P00–P99. If you press and hold SSSS or TTTT you can increment or decrement in steps of 10 so you can quickly select the preset you want.

To get started, we suggest you select from the following:

Preset (guitar) Description Preset (bass) Description

F00 Classic wah pedal F03 Classic bass wah pedal

F10 Voc al wah pedal F34 Funky bass envelope

F20 Touch wah (not pedal) F81 Bubbly envelope

F42

F50

F61

Phasor-like dual-filter (Pedal controls tempo)

Stepped (Pedal controls tempo)

LFO

beat, with saw-up

(Pedal controls tempo)

OUT

jack of the Wa hoo.

LFO

, arpeggiator-like

USB

or batteries (see “Powering the Wah oo ” on page 8).

LED

will light up.

Voc al dua l-filter (Pedal controls tempo)

Stepped

LFO

(Pedal controls tempo)

LFO

beat, with funk

(Pedal controls tempo)

LFO

F40

F53

F63

LFO

(low-pass)

Wah oo

Owner’s Manual

Welcome

Thank you for purchasing a sonuus Waho o. Like all sonuus products, the Wah oo is the culmination of ground-breaking innovation and considerable technical expertise. We are delighted that you have chosen to purchase a s onuus Wahoo and we anticipate that it will greatly enhance your music making. This manual is a comprehensive guide to the Wa ho o but if you have any questions, we offer attentive customer support via our on-line user forum:

www.sonuus.com/forum

The Waho o is a dual analogue filter stomp box. It is packed with innovations from the sonuus Research Team.

Analogue signal path with digital control

The Wah oo’s fully analogue signal path is based on vintage synthesizer filters, and gives the warm organic tone that is possible with only analogue electronics. We have combined the analogue signal path with digital control for precision and configurability.

Dual analogue filter design

The Waho o has two analogue filters, each of which can be configured as low-pass or band-pass and can operate independently in wah pedal, output can be configured to give evolving textures and tonal depths that cannot be achieved with a single filter.

Ground-breaking pitch-tracking effects

The Wa hoo uses sonuus’ proven, and highly acclaimed, pitch-tracking technology to create unique pitch-bend and pitch-tracking effects—effects that have never been available before.

LFO

, envelope and pitch-tracking modes. The dual filter

Unique patent-pending pedal sensor

Most wah pedals operate using a potentiometer (a pot) which wears out quickly resulting in the effect becoming scratchy. These also have mechanical couplings which limit fine control and let dirt inside the unit, so compromising reliability.

Some other wah pedals use optical methods which are susceptible to dirt and interference from stage lighting, and these also have mechanical couplings.

For the Wah oo , we designed a brand new type of position sensor that allows super-fine precision control with no mechanical couplings. As a result, the pedal control on the Waho o won’t get scratchy and will never wear out!

For guitar and bass

The Wa ho o is designed from the ground up to be perfect for guitar and bass. We know that many musicians play both instruments and don’t want to compromise when an effect is designed for the

Wah oo

Owner’s Manual

higher or lower frequencies of these instrument: the range of the Waho o parameters can perfectly match guitar and bass, and you can save and switch between instrument-specific set-ups.

Of course, the Wah oo can also be used on other instruments such as keyboards. You don’t need to restrict your creativity to guitar and bass!

Transparent-true-bypass

True-bypass means that the effect is completely switched out of your signal chain when bypassed to preserve the integrity of your guitar/bass signal. This is typically done by mechanical switches but these cause clicks or pops when switching.

For the Wah oo, we designed a silent-switching true-bypass circuit so you get the benefits of truebypass without the associated switching noise. What’s more: if the power to the Wah oo is interrupted, the unit will automatically switch back to the bypassed state so you don’t lose your instrument’s signal.

Stage-ready

The Wah oo is designed to be ideal for gigging on stage:

• Heavy-duty cast aluminium case that will stand up to years of heavy use.

• The pedal won’t decide to get scratchy just before a crucial gig!

• Variety of power sources: any polarity 9V for maximum convenience,

batteries.

• Foot-operated preset selection.

LOCK

•

switch to prevent accidental changes to settings or presets.

Presets

The Wah oo comes ready-to-play with 100 factory presets which include traditional wah effects, touch-wah, bass envelope filters, auto-wah, bubbly funk, vocal sounds and extreme synth-like special effects. Without making any adjustments, the Wah oo is ready to play, straight out of the box.

The 100 factory presets is just the starting place! By tweaking these presets you can explore different sounds and create your own effects— there are 100 user presets where you can store your own set-ups.

USB

and high-capacity AA

www.sonuus.com

We recommend that you visit our web site and register your new Waho o. This is required for direct warranty support. Once you have registered, you have access to firmware updates and you can opt to receive updates and news from sonuus:

To get assistance or to share your experiences with other Wa ho o users, register on our user forum:

www.sonuus.com/forum

Wah oo

Owner’s Manual

Using the Wah oo

In the rest of this manual, we cover everything you need to know about the Wahoo from how to connect it to your rig, to how to power it and how to delve in and create your own presets.

Consult the photo of the Wah oo shown below to familiarise yourself with the controls and displays.

save/cancel button

numeric display

up/down buttons

level knob

filter select button

filter knob

mode knob

footswitch

LED

If you move or press a knob or touch the mode and enter Preset Edit mode. (Now the SSSSTTTTbuttons won’t let you select presets.)

The button named save has dual functionality. When held for 2 s, it acts as a cancel button. This lets you undo any preset editing you have done and takes you back into Preset Select mode.

Cancel an edit / selecting preset mode

Cancel an edit / selecting preset modeCancel an edit / selecting preset mode

FILTER

button, the Wah oo will leave Preset Select

footpedal

Wah oo

Owner’s Manual

Connecting the Wahoo

The simplest way of connecting the Wa hoo is between your guitar and amp: connect the output of your guitar to the input ( input.

When using other effects in your signal chain, there is no right or wrong effect order—experiment to see what you can do, and be creative.

Typically, time-based effects such as reverb and delay are placed after the Wahoo so that these effects are applied to the Wa hoo’s sound.

When using distortion, the effect of connecting this before or after the Wa ho o are very different. When distortion is used after the Wahoo, the effect can be quite subtle, and any noise from the Wahoo can be enhanced (particularly with high-gain distortion effects). When distortion is placed before the Wa ho o, the Wa ho o is able to shape the harmonically-rich signal from the distortion to get more sonic variation. This also has the advantage of not boosting any noise produced by the Wahoo.

You can also connect the Wa hoo to the effects loop of your amp: connect the output of your guitar to the input of your amp, then connect the “send” of your amp to the Wahoo Wahoo back to the “return” of your amp. Depending on your amp this can give rise to excessive noise if the signal level in the effects loop is too small. If you try this, it is best to set the effects loop level to +4dBu if you have that option.

Wah oo

) of the Wah oo . Connect the output (

OUT

) of the Waho o to your amp’s

, and the

OUT

of the

Owner’s Manual

Powering the Wah oo

The Wahoo can be powered by batteries, by a 9V DC power supply (neither of these is supplied), or

USB

. Select one of the following:

• insert 4 AA batteries (alkaline can be used, but we recommend rechargeable NiMH batteries)

into the battery compartment in the base of the Wahoo. WARNING: observe correct polarity!

• plug the output of a 9V

The 9V

power supply that you use should be capable of providing 500mA and have a 2·1mm centre pin connector. Note that the Waho o has been designed so that either polarity (tip-positive or tip-negative) can be used.

USB

•plug a

cable connected to your computer or a on the back of the Wah oo . If a can provide enough current to the Wahoo.

Note that there is no problem if you connect all three power sources at once. The

USB

priority, then

, then the batteries. This ensures your batteries are not drained when they are not

needed and allows you to connect via

power supply into the port labelled DC on the back of the Wahoo.

USB

hub is used, it may need to be a powered hub to ensure it

USB

without using

power supply into the port labelled

supply takes

USB

power when a DC supply is present.

USB

Top Tip: If you are using the Wah oo on stage, use a DC power supply and batteries. That

way, if the batteries and you will, in effect, have an un-interruptible power supply.

The Wa ho o is switched on when you connect is switched on when an instrument cable is connected to

cable from

when the Wa ho o is not being used.

power supply is pulled out for any reason, the Wah oo will switch to

USB

or DC. When running from batteries, the Wah oo

. To prolong battery life, disconnect the

Enabling and bypassing the Wahoo

The main footswitch

When this output (

LED

OUT

). This connection is known as a true-bypass connection because in this state none of the Wahoo electronics are connected to the signal which keeps your original guitar/bass signal as pure as possible.

When this

LED

(filtered) signal.

The effect is enabled and disabled by briefly pressing the footswitch. Alternatively, when the footpedal is moved to the toe-down position, the effect will automatically enable. This emulates the behaviour of a classic Wah pedal which has a footswitch placed under the footpedal. Note that this feature can be turned off using the custom settings (page 27).

LED

shows the status of the Wahoo effect.

is off, the effect is completely bypassed and the input (IN) is directly connected to the

is on, the signal is passed through the Wa ho o and the output (

OUT

) is the effected

Wah oo

Owner’s Manual

Note that if this page 11).

Off: On: Flash:

LED

is flashing, it means the Wah oo is in foot-operated preset selection mode (see

Footswitch LED

Footswitch LEDFootswitch LED

Effect is completely bypassed (the Wah oo has no effect on your sound).

Effect is active and the Wah oo will affect your sound.

Foot-operated preset selection mode is active. The bypassed/enabled state of the Wa hoo does not change in this mode but remains in whichever state it was in before this mode was activated.

Selecting a factory preset

There are 100 factory presets in the Wah oo . They configure the Wa ho o into a variety of set-ups, from traditional wah to sonuus’ unique pitch tracking filter effects. A summary of factory presets is at the back of this manual (page 31).

The Waho o has two modes: Preset Select mode and Preset Edit mode. By default, it is in Preset Select mode and the display alternates between the 3-character preset name and the preset number: either F00–F99 for factory presets 0 to 99 or P00–P99 for user presets 0 to 99.

If the display does not periodically show F/P00– 99, then to enter preset mode do the following.

Enter Preset Select mode

Enter Preset Select modeEnter Preset Select mode

If the display is not showing a factory or user preset (F00– F99 or P00 –P99), the Wa hoo is in Preset Edit mode: exit this mode by pressing and holding the save button for 2s.

LOCK

Alternatively, slide the Select mode when locked).

switch to the locked position (the Wah oo is always in Preset

Once the Wa ho o is in Preset Select mode, select a preset using the SSSSTTTT buttons. A single press on either button will increment/decrement the preset number by one. If you press and hold either button, the preset number will increment/decrement in tens.

Top Tip: Envelope effects have been designed for an instrument with a standard output

Wah oo

level. If your instrument has an unusually high or low output the presets may not sound correct— either too responsive or not responsive enough. Use the custom SEn parameter to adjust the sensitivity of your Wah oo (see page 27).

Owner’s Manual

Yo ur Wah oo is now ready to play. Select different presets and experiment with the wide variety of sounds that are possible.

For pedal effects (F00–F19), as you play move the footpedal in time to the music to create the wah sound. For envelope (touch) effects (F20–F39) the wah effect is controlled by how hard to play. For

LFO

(auto) effects (F40–F59) the filters will move on their own, but the footpedal can be used to control their tempo between preset limits. See “Factory presets” on page 31 for a summary of the factory presets.

While you are playing, you may accidentally bump a switch or button which will take you into Preset Edit mode. To prevent this, and stay in Preset Select mode, you can slide the locked position. Alternatively, just re-enter Preset Select mode as described above.

LOCK

switch

LOCK

switch to the

On the back panel of the Wah oo there is a slide switch labelled locked position, the Wahoo is in Preset Select mode and none of the parameters can be edited or saved: the only thing that you can do is change between presets. If you try to make a change when locked, LoC is shown briefly on the numeric display.

LOCK

mode is ideal for gigging, when you want to switch from one preset to another but be sure that you won’t accidentally make changes to your set-up. When the position, you can tweak the Wa ho o settings and save new presets.

LOCK

. When this switch is in the

LOCK

switch is in the unlocked

Wah oo

+ 22 hidden pages

Peterson Sonuus Wahoo User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual