“A growly tone that no other pedal has": Robert Trujillo’s son, Tye, dips into the signature stompbox world for the first time with a pedal that combines wah, drive and distortion

Morley Tye Trujillo TruDrive Wah Video - YouTube Morley Tye Trujillo TruDrive Wah Video - YouTube
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Robert Trujillo’s son, Tye Trujillo, is following in his father’s footsteps in cementing the family’s bass legacy with his recent team-up with Morley Pedals on his signature TruDrive wah pedal.

The younger Trujillo – who plays in thrash, funk and metal three-piece OTTTO –wanted a switchless wah that had a built-in “Always On” drive as an inextricable part of the wah. As its makers aptly put it, “The wah was designed to have a slight amount of drive built into the front end, which already gives the wah more presence and bite.”

Furthermore, the TruDrives comes with a “Wah Mix” knob, which allows players to customize the amount of wah in the signal – alongside a separate distortion circuit with independent “Level,” “Drive” and “Tone” controls that adds an extra punch to your wah.

“We are very proud to be working with Tye to develop this cool new Wah for the next generation of players,” comments Morley’s Bill Wenzloff. “Plus, it’s a bonus that this pedal sounds great with guitar as well as bass.”

Trujillo wanted the pedal to look “awesome”, so its aesthetics are as eye-catching as its specs: a race car blue base, chrome treadle with diamond plate treadle grip, and, to round it out, a glow-in-the-dark toe-end logo. And to make it fully road-proof, able to withstand years of use and abuse, it's housed in cold-rolled steel.

Priced at $199, the Tye Trujillo TruDrive Wah is now available for pre-order from Morley partner retailers.

The younger Trujillo has already made his mark in the bass world. At the age of 12, he already had “played with Korn” on his résumé, while in 2022, it was revealed that he added extra guitar parts to Metallica's Master of Puppets when the track was included in the Stranger Things soundtrack.

Janelle Borg

Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.

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