Author Topic: Wah-pedals! (Read 3806 times)

Steve Kinsen · « **on:** December 21, 2007, 12:01:38 PM »

I've realised that for two or three years I've been specialising in funk rhythm and rock lead, arguably the two genres that benefit most from wah-pedal use, yet I don't own one of the little buggers. Now, I know very little about wah pedals, so where else to ask but the home of tone?

What I'm looking for in a wah:
1) Must avoid colouring the tone too much. I've spent too much bloody money making my guitar sound how it does to have a pedal changing all that!
2) Must be able to deal with both clean funk rhythm and overdriven rock lead. It won't be used for Kirk Hammetesque metal w**kery.
3) Should ideally be true bypass, but it's not strictly necessary.
4) I'm not sure if wah pedals respond much differently to humbuckers than to single coils, but I'll be aiming to use this with both a Mule-equipped Les Paul and a vintage-voiced Strat. If I had to pick one over the other it'd be the Strat, but I'd hope it'd be able to deal equally well with each.

Thanks, guys!

Woogie · « **Reply #1 on:** December 21, 2007, 12:58:52 PM »

Dunlop 535Q

Vox V847

Ibanez Weeping Demon

I`d go with the 535Q as it has adjustable everything, seems to be the swiss army knife of wahs and you could get it modded by vision pedalboards (I think that is the guy who mods em?).

Tom has the Vox and loves that and he has good tone but I`d stick to the Dunlop.

badgermark · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2007, 01:06:27 PM »

I tried out the basic Dunlop Crybaby a few weeks ago, nice tone. Played it clean mostly, and with a Classic 50's strat it nailed the Shaft theme and Voodoo Child.

Really depends on your budget, think you can go to silly money if you want a really good one.

Jonesy76 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2007, 01:38:13 PM »

I've had my Crybaby for about 10 years now, and it's never let me down. Sounds good too without colouring my tone.

Twinfan · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2007, 01:43:42 PM »

The Morley Power Wah seems to be a great modern wah - no tone colouring (like the Dunlop/Voxes etc) and has an optical sweep for low noise.

Neemo · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2007, 02:03:25 PM »

Budda wah

WezV · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2007, 02:46:38 PM »

i prefer a basic crybaby or vox wah with a few little mods like true bypass and some other things

martinw · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2007, 04:13:08 PM »

Another Morley user here, although I am a Bad Horsie fan.

Philly Q · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2007, 04:28:07 PM »

I've got an old Morley Wah/Volume. I like it, but I know zilch about FX. Ignore me.

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2007, 05:27:45 PM »

I've got a 70s Jen Super Crybaby and it's the bollocks. I modded it for true bypass and thats it.

You'll be able to pick one up on ebay for around the same price as you'll pay for a new one. Converting to true bypass is really easy and you should be able to do that yourself (or get a local tech to do it for you - no more than £20)

:twisted:

indysmith · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2007, 06:00:46 PM »

I don't like the morley wahs or the dunlop crybabys. sorry guys. The morley sounds weird - not really like a wah in the classic sense... i think it's something to do with it not using a potentiometer. Crybabys sound weak and nasty aswell as sucking massive tone. I've never tried any wahs apart from these two but I've heard good things about the Vox wahs from _tom_ among others and great things about the Budda wah from about everyone out there who's tried one.

kluson · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:03:20 PM »

70's jen cry baby with the Fasel inductor is the absolute

Lazy_McDoesnothing · « **Reply #12 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:16:43 PM »

I've had the dunlop crybaby(GCB-95) for a while now and it does suck a bit of tone and the sweep could be better imo. I have heard good things about modded ones though but I haven't tried one. Your best bet is to just go to a shop and try a bunch.

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #13 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:24:44 PM »

Quote from: kluson

70's jen cry baby with the Fasel inductor is the absolute

Agreed - I used to have both the standard Jen Crybaby and the Super but the Super has a wider sweep so I sold the other one.

I used a Tesse RMC3 before getting the 70s Jen Crybaby - once I got the Jen there was just no competition.

Course I bought both of mine with 'issues' so I got them cheap. One had a broken footswitch and the other a broken output jack. Both easy fixes for under a fiver.

The Tesse picture wah's can be had on ebay for just over £100 and would be a great purchase if you want to tweak the settings a bit more. Wouldn't buy any new Dunlop Wahs usless you're a self-harmer type. They're very blah.

:twisted:

noodleplugerine · « **Reply #14 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:47:32 PM »

I love my Bad Horsie.

But the tone of it is completely over powering - It's such a powerful wah pedal, that you'd be hard pressed to get all your tone through.

That being said - It's by far the best wah pedal imo - Best sweep, comes out over distortion, and sounds massive.