Review: Electro-Harmonix Cock Fight Plus Wah & Talking Pedal with Fuzz

In my day, I’ve seen many a Cock Fight. Come again? Relax, dude—it’s an Electro-Harmonix pedal. Yes, despite the tongue-in-cheek name, the Cock Fight is a super-rad three-pedals-in-one stompbox (a cocked wah, a talking filter and a fuzz circuit), and for all its novelty, most of us who play it wish we had more controlled range over the wah and talking portions without adding an expression pedal. Well, check it out: Electro-Harmonix has now injected that circuit into a familiar rack-and-pinion foot controller called the Cock Fight Plus, so you now have absolute expression with the Cock Fight Plus because you can sweep its treadle back and forth for a multitude of classic wah and garbled talk-box sounds, along with ballsy fuzz on tap.

The Cock Fight Plus features two switchable filters: a traditional wah pedal circuit based on EHX’s Crying Tone wah, and a formant filter for vowel-like talking sounds. The pedal also contains a fuzz circuit that can be inserted before or after the filter or removed from the circuit entirely. The fuzz includes a Bias control that regulates the voltage of the pedal for crackling gated fuzz or full-on EHX Big Muff distortion and Holy Stain fuzz tones. The Cock Fight Plus comes equipped with a 9V battery or can be powered by an optional 9-volt AC adapter.

As a wah, the Cock Fight Plus is smooth and even, with a sweet wah-quack that most classic rock players will enjoy. Adding in the fuzz only exaggerates the wah effect, adding in more bottom end and saturated gain that sounds intense. I love that you can put the fuzz anywhere in the circuit (post or pre) for a huge range of fuzzed-out gooiness or choked-chicken cackle. The most fun is switching to the Talk mode, where you can really sputter out some cool Peter Frampton-esque talk box chatter or Kanye West vocoder-stylings. Because, why not?

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Paul Riario has been the tech/gear editor and online video presence for Guitar World for over 25 years. Paul is one of the few gear editors who has actually played and owned nearly all the original gear that most guitarists wax poetically about, and has survived this long by knowing every useless musical tidbit of classic rock, new wave, hair metal, grunge, and alternative genres. When Paul is not riding his road bike at any given moment, he remains a working musician, playing in two bands called SuperTrans Am and Radio Nashville.

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