The Zachary Vex Seek Wah
By Gary NelsonDecember 16, 1998
In the modern days of effect pedals, most companies are cashing in on old ideas. I've been buying, selling, and collecting pedals for almost ten years. It's very seldom that a new pedal comes out and really impresses me. The Z.Vex Effects' Seek Wah, however, is one of those rare exceptions. Famous for its boutique pedal hit, the Fuzz Factory, the Z.Vex company pride themselves on quality workmanship. Such workmanship and sophisticated sounds have been used by high-profile musicians like Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Billy Corgan, Robert Fripp, Joe Satriani, Adrian Belew, and countless others. After having the #008 NAMM show Seek Wah pedal for several weeks, it was easy to discover its wonder. In fact, I had a hard time convincing myself to shut it off!
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| Seek Wah #008 |
The Seek Wah is a small pedal, about 2 inches by 4 inches, that contains a 60's wah-wah inductor with an analog sequencer. It allows up to eight different wah settings that can be stepped through at any tempo. There is a speed (tempo) control on the far left, eight tiny adjustment knobs to set each wah position, a three way switch to select four, six, or eight wahs, and an effect on/off switch. The pedal itself turns on when you insert the input cable, and is powered by a 9 volt battery (no connector for an external power supply is built-in.)
Each time a note strikes a beat in the sequence, a tiny LED goes on and off at each of the eight active control knobs. The brightness of each LED also reflects the position of each control knob. With all eight wahs activated, it's quite beautiful just to look at all the lights flickering. However, this wasn't done just for the beauty of it. If you time your picking with the lighting sequence, you're able to obtain the maximum fluctuation in the sound of the effect. The LEDs remain flashing whether or not the wah effect is enabled, so you can't visually tell whether it's active or not. The Seek Wah is also very quiet. You don't hear a faint ticking, or hum. It's very quiet while in operation, and when off.
It looks like there was a lot of time involved in creating this pedal. From the hand painted ladybug making tracks on the front, to the nine micro control adjustment pots, each pedal spends several hours on the work bench. Each pedal is hand painted, hand wired and soldered. Like their other pedals, the Seek Wah comes wrapped in a red gas station rag which is bound together with a beaded pony tail holder just like one of the Brady girls wore in the 70s. The entire Z. Vex company is a three man operation.
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So, what does this mean you ask? Well, it means that quantities are very limited on this time consuming, difficult to produce, gotta have it once you've heard it, small miracle of a box. The last time I spoke to Zachary Vex, the owner/inventor, he only had six of them in stock, and wasn't going to be able to make any more several weeks. Although the list price seems rather steep at $350, one must consider the amount of time that goes into making each one of these. Besides that, the sound is very unique. It really is like having eight wah-wahs in a row. The tremolo effect that you can get is by far one of the best I've heard. Plus, having all this sound in a rugged, compact, easy to use 2 by 4 inch stompbox, is amazing. Just try lugging eight wah-wahs to your next gig, having them on all at once, and each set at a different position in the sweep. It would take four hours to set up, four hours to explain to your band members why your pedals were taking up the whole front of the stage, and four more hours to convince
I know this may sound extreme, but the Seek Wah is an extreme sounding pedal. The key here is that it's a useful pedal. The Seek Wah offers shimmering vibrato effects at faster speeds, echo type pulses at slower speeds, and lush tremolo effects that time themselves to the music. The controls are very simple, yet the possibilities are almost endless. In combination with other effects, the Seek Wah can be very interesting. With a fuzz or an analog delay, the pedal acquires a new dimension of sound. If you're interested in hearing one, try some of the sound samples. Also, you could visit their web site at www.zvex.com, call Z. Vex at 612-374-5047, or email them at zvex@zvex.com. Due to the limited quantities, you may have to wait for a while to get one. However, if you like filtering, or pulsating tremolo madness; the Seek Wah cannot be surpassed. In this world of pedal crazed junkies, the Z. Vex Seek Wah is like a desperately needed fix.
Gary Nelson has been actively buying and collecting pedals for over eight years and has owned almost every vintage pedal at one time or another. He invites you to ask him any questions about vintage pedals or how they compare to the reissues.