yes, but hopefully not the normal "Which wah should i buy" type thread
just some general thoughts on wahs and what have you actually owned, tried and what did you like, not like?
Am just coming out the other side of a little wah obsession, much like my fuzz and OD buying period a few years back, but this time tempered with a little healthy cynicism.
Couple years back i'd just been playing guitar again for 2 or so years after a lengthy break. Had never been a pedal person and suddenly i became one, as a means of sound enhancemnt. I bought many great fuzzes and OD's, but for the wrong reasons. I bought them because, such and such used them or it was designed to give such and such a mojo sound, and i bought into the transparency thing too, so picked a couple of supposed transparent OD's up.
Looking back, if i knew then what i know now i probably would have a few less pedals. So, in looking for something different in a wah, i applied what i had learned.
Why was i unhappy with my wah? i wasn't, i had a fulltone clyde standard which had been recommended to me as one of the best production wahs around. cool, and it was white too. so it became a christmas present.
One of my other forums are vintage effects junkies and they talked about how there was basically so little choice these days. as my knowledge grew i found out what they meant, and by and large i agree. So whats the issue with a lot of wah's??
Basically, choice of wahs are so limited. you can quote 50 different manufacturers to me, mass produced and otherwise and it all comes back to the same thing. most of the wah's out there are vox/crybaby based. and those 2 wah's are basically the same anyway. so we have a multitude of wahs that sound alike (differing in terms of quality, and very few of them sounding as good as the originals IMO) and of that multitude, the ones that don't (am looking at you dunlop signature wahs) are basically wahs for which a premium is charged for a few component value changes and a fancy enclosure. the components cost pennies and the enclosures do not affect the sound quality, so when i see a xxx signature wah priced nearly £100 more than the bog standard wah, i can't help thinking a bit of a rip off. not everyones competent with a soldering iron, i'm not, but most of us know someone who is, or will charge not too much to do a few mods. hell, some places sell them premodded for not much more than the original price.
that's what i don't like. that and people have forgotton that wahs, like fuzzes, come in many more flavours and voicings than the Q pot on a vox/crybaby type will provide.
i posed the question a while back to my other forumites on my other forum "what will whacka me more?" i got a multitude of replies, foremost of which were colorsound and Maestro boomerangs. they were right, very whacka-y. The colorsounds have a deeper voicing than the V/CB's with a more "whumpka chuck" sound and a narrower transition spot. also has a great synthy sounding sweetspot that can be ridden and sounds like something from a daft punk album. the boomerang, well that's just special.. yes the pots are shite and were of such an unusual type that they can't easily be replaced, and a lot of trouble has to be gone to to replicate how the original pot sounded but, even with the normal (and wrong) method of replacing them they still sound awesome. They add a real grit and grain to the sound, the mids sizzle, and if you can get one with an unf**ked pot, or get the mods done to bring them to 98% of original, they have the most insane extended sweet spot that the first time i heard an example of it, i thought it was a dude playing slide.
I now have 2 colorsounds, one wah, and one fuzz wah, which as a bonus has the old jumbo tonebender circuit built in as opposed to the diet fuzzface/tonebender circuit they also used. and i got it for cheaper than most of either of the 2 originals go for on their own.
I also have a boomerang, which is getting modded up to spec and will sound more awesome than it already did.
what else is there out there? tychobrae parapedal, Iommi used that, it combines a subtle almost envelope filter with a regular wah (i say regular, call it conventional) on a dual pot. sounds evil.
mutronics c200 (i think thats the right model number), which was carlos's wah in the 70's
schaller bow wow, look it up on youtube. sounds great.
Many others..
and none of them sound like a V/CB. I think we've only had Vox/Crybaby for so long that we forget that, while they're wahs, not all wah's are them. just like nobody would try to say an OD1, tubescreamer, MXR etc etc all sound the same. but they're all overdrives/distortions right?
i know i mentioned a couple of "artists who used" but don't worry, i'm not forgetting my cynicism, i mention them because they're the best known examples of people who used them, and you can get an idea of how they sound, not because those people created a signature sound with them.
So back around to the beginning. If the majority of wahs are the same, why didn't I just buy a bog standard crybaby?? why buy some corksniffing piece of yank gear? well.. because i didn't know then what i know now, but in retrospect, i am happy that i've got one of the better sounding vintage voiced wahs out there, with components specced on the best sounding examples of the originals, and where suitable modern replacements could not be found, then high tolerence repros were produced (inductor and icar taper pot in mosts cases) that are harder wearing than the originals. The fulltone also had a few bonuses over a bog standard dunlop that i didn't appreciate till later. the enclosure is a fancy one yes, but it's a fancy one designed to have a longer throw for more range, and it's also about the sturdiest i've come across. it also has a handy little pot inside which increases the gain and base. not quite a q control, but i like it a lot. and all i have to do is take the bottom off. Also YMMV. the fulltone happened to be the one that was recommended and bought. I don't think it's significantly better or worse than the CAE wah, or the arteffect wah, or the Jam Wacka, or any of the other higher end "mojo" V/CB based wahs. but what it does like most of the others, is one thing well, and has some necessary proprietry components, and is made in smaller runs with more care and tighter tolerences. what it is not, is £100 more expensive than a base model for the sake of a few component values and a flash enclosure.
some people like knobs. I don't, not on wahs. yes the pot inside is a knob, but it's a very simple one and it's easy enough to get back where i started. 99.9% of the time, too many knobs means (to me) i'll fiddle with it and never be happy with a sound. I'd rather just have one that was well voiced in the first place.
Thank you for allowing me to get the preceding off my chest. Please seek out and try wahs that aren't of V/CB origin. you may be suprised.
