Review: Behringer WahWah Hellbabe HB01

Hello!

After going to a great musicstore in Cologne on Tuesday without buying anything, on wednesday it was time for the vacancy travel to my favorite store in Ibbenbüren (www.musik-produktiv.de). While buing the most via internet at www.thomann.de, the Musik Produktiv store is only a car hour away. So far so god...GAS is coming...:R

This time i looked for a wahwah pedal. I tested a CrayBaby and different other standard pedals, but wasn't very happy with them. Then i hold the package of a Behringer Helbabe in my hands. It has a optical control, and that seems a big pro for me.

So, it was late and i bought it without (!) testing it. At home i tested it with my Vox AD50VT. It has a smooth sound playing clean and gives the wanted emphasis to distorted soloing. Perhaps other wahs are more dramatic. As a further pro, you can switch a Boost function. Also you can set the range and the hights finetuning, also the Q - knob allows to set the filtertype more wider or more narrow.

The pedal is turned on automatically in the moment you begin to move the pedal. After returning to heel down, it switches of after a time. The amount of time for waiting until switching of you can set via a small screw in the bottom plate of the pedal. I choosed a time of roundabout 1 second. The pedal is almost noiseless (i would like to say it is noieseless) and doesn't kill hights when not in action. But you can hear it, when it switches on (not loud, only recognizable in clean playing).

It is a very cheap pedal for 39 Euros.

Have a look at:

Behringer Hellbabe

Sounds like a really cool pedal. I'd like to try one. Got any clips for us to listen to?

I'd really be interested to hear what you think after a bit of time passes. I'd like to get an optical wah and the Hellbabe seemed to be a great deal. How sturdy does the construction seem to be?

I used to have an optical wah too. It was a Morley Bad Horsie. I liked how clean the wah was during the sweep. No static, grind, or weirdness.

Although it had some good points I eventually found the activation/deactivation irritating. I couldn't take my foot off the pedal once I found the spot I wanted. If I did then it would deactivate. I'd have to stand in one spot and play which prevented me from doing back flips off the wall of Marshalls behind me.

I also didn't care for the breadth of the overall sweep. I couldn't get the funk or snap or nasalness that I could off a Crybaby. It was just different enough that it didn't satisfy me. Kind of ho-hum.

I think if you really want to try an optical wah then the Behringer is the way to go. It's a small investment and they do work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spudman

I couldn't take my foot off the pedal once I found the spot I wanted.

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So that will not be the problem with the Behringer HB01. It only turns of after a chooseable time when in heel down position. If you rock it forwards - no matter how far - it will keep switched on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert

Sounds like a really cool pedal. I'd like to try one. Got any clips for us to listen to?

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In the moment i haven't. But i wil try to reord some sample this week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert

Sounds like a really cool pedal. I'd like to try one. Got any clips for us to listen to?

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So now i recorded a short sound sample. No song or so, just fiddeling around. But perhaps you can get a first impression of the pedal. There is absolut no hum or sizzle coming from the pedal. (All sizzles are copyright by my right hand :) )

Attachment 407

Cool stuff, Chris. Methinks I may have to get one of those one of these days (of course, I just went back-to-school shopping so my checkbook is screaming for mercy).

Hey guys
I ordered a Behringer Hellbabe wah wah pedal over trademe (our version of ebay) brand new from a shop, hopefully I will get it soon. Anyway on yotube I found this video of one being used so yeah here it is.



Cheers
GREENMACHINE:D :rockon:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Guitar-Chris

So now i recorded a short sound sample. No song or so, just fiddeling around. But perhaps you can get a first impression of the pedal. There is absolut no hum or sizzle coming from the pedal. (All sizzles are copyright by my right hand :) )

Attachment 407

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Hey Guitar-Chris,
What are your settings on this pedal?

Cheers,
Cav

Quite a nice sound for a cheap pedal, i am just waiting for my Vox Wah pedal to come.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GREENMACHINE

Hey Guitar-Chris,
What are your settings on this pedal?

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Oh sorry, I missed your post:

Settings are: Boost off, Q-Filter at 1 o'clock, Fine nearly turned up full clockwise, range knob turned on full counterclockwise.

If you don't get enough hights, you can cut the rubber underneath the top of the foot-plate a little. So the pedal ist going a litte bit deeper. Take of the rubber first and cut them on the inside end. But: Don't cut them to deep or you will hear a noise when the plastic of the pedal ist touching the base. You can also change the optical control inside, but I don't think this will be necessary.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Guitar-Chris

Oh sorry, I missed your post:

Settings are: Boost off, Q-Filter at 1 o'clock, Fine nearly turned up full clockwise, range knob turned on full counterclockwise.

If you don't get enough hights, you can cut the rubber underneath the top of the foot-plate a little. So the pedal ist going a litte bit deeper. Take of the rubber first and cut them on the inside end. But: Don't cut them to deep or you will hear a noise when the plastic of the pedal ist touching the base. You can also change the optical control inside, but I don't think this will be necessary.

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Thats ok, thankyou very much for that. I didn't get quite enough wah out of mine.

Thans again,
Cav