Wah-Wah

I’ve wanted one of those twin peaks wahs. Pretty rad concept on paper but I’m too chicken shit to buy it and then play it once and then leave it in a box for a future thing that I’ll never get around to actually writing with it.
I’ve got a mate who is a massive John Frusciante fan .
I like the Red Hots and played Chads kit years ago.👍
He’s on another level fan.😳
He’s got a nice collection of Ibanez Wah pedals and I was round his place just after the Twin Peaks was released and it was so much fun I ordered one while I was there .
Believe me if you have one you will use it lots 👍
I call mine the Log Lady .🍺

 
My GAS for wahs kinda subsided when I got a Voodoo Lab Wahzoo. It just covers all the right territory and is super flexible having a step wah (with 4 diff. sequences), auto wah (forward and reverse) and of course manual mode. It didn't stop me from buying another Vox wah and Bad Horsie 20/20 years later... but the Wahzoo is still king for my needs.
 
Currently the only wah I have is the CAE MC404, sounds good and it's versatile.
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I wanted something more traditional so I ordered a Vox V846-HW yesterday, I expect the vox to sound different with different guitars due to not having input/output buffers and having low input impedance it loads passive guitar pickups differently, all the 'problems' pre-90s wahs had plus the psychedelic seagull sounds that buffered wahs can't do.

It's part of my journey towards a 60s-70s gear before opamps chips were used in guitar effects, so a Rangemaster, Fuzz, Wah and some Delay/Echo.
edit: Univibe and Phaser of course, all discrete transistor based.
I’m interested in getting the CAE to add to my 535Q. How do you like it?
 
Conclusion: Everyone loves to hate wah but have like 9 in their collection and 1 on the pedalboard.

Episode 2 The Studio GIF by BLoafX


I think some hate on Wah because they are Steve Martin from The Jerk and ain't
got no rhythm in their feet.

steve martin film GIF
 
Thanks to this thread, I dusted off my Area 51 wah and annoyed the family for about 45 minutes. No Metallica or 70's porn yet, saving the best stuff for later! The Area 51 does sound good and is fun to play. I might bust out the old Vox next and see what radio stations I can pick up.
 
Currently the only wah I have is the CAE MC404, sounds good and it's versatile.
View attachment 47179

I wanted something more traditional so I ordered a Vox V846-HW yesterday, I expect the vox to sound different with different guitars due to not having input/output buffers and having low input impedance it loads passive guitar pickups differently, all the 'problems' pre-90s wahs had plus the psychedelic seagull sounds that buffered wahs can't do.

It's part of my journey towards a 60s-70s gear before opamps chips were used in guitar effects, so a Rangemaster, Fuzz, Wah and some Delay/Echo.
edit: Univibe and Phaser of course, all discrete transistor based.
The CAE was probably my favorite wah I’ve ever bought.

I’ve had an Area 51, Dunlops, Morleys, and I still have a Mooer Wahter, which is pretty good, but that CAE was awesome, (I use a Helix or Stomp XL these days).
 
I got a couple. Sometimes I use it for quick swells to emphasize notes or small chords. Other times rhythmically to emphasize the groove. My two favorites are a Dunlop CBJ95 Cry Baby Jr. and a Morley 20/20 Wah/Volume

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When I was playing bar gigs all the time in a band with 2 guitars I gave up on all other modulation and just used wah and delay for anything that was recorded with a flanger or phaser. In that mess all nuance of the other modulations was lost. I could also keep my oscillating synched with the ever changing tempos.
 
Dodged a bullet, I bought and canceled a Friedman Gold 72.
Apparently this things has so much quality issues that no real person kept it long enough to even post a video on youtube, all the videos on youtube are by advertisers from exactly 6 years ago.
 
Wahs are a must!
I used a cry baby for years then moved to a small swtichless morley (maverick maybe?) to save space.

In the helix always use the chrome custom, a model of a vox v847 with a mission eng expression pedal.

At the moment I don't have a wah in my board because I want to keep things simple, but I really miss it.
I might change my mind sooner or later and add a small one.

Speaking about tasteful use of wah, steve vai's for the love of god is a great example
 
I love the wah wah....getting real into music and guitar in the mid 90s - mainly listening to the current rock bands of the day and classic rock like Hendrix, Zep etc, back then I kind of just figured all guitar players used them. A Morley was one of my first and only pedals for a long time, til it got cooked somehow, but not having many pedals made me get creative with that, I'd use it for almost a phaser sound sometimes. I put the wah on the shelf for a long time (got admonished for using one in one particular band and just wasn't really playing anything where it needed it) but I went and got one around 5 years ago and love bringing it out for gigs and sessions.

Some of the players off the top of my head I love that influenced me are absolutely Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton (the true Metallica wah master if you ask me), Randy Rhoads (big G chord on I Don't Know!), Vai (Call It Sleep!), Jerry Cantrell, Woody and Pepper from COC, Billy Corgan, Leo Nocentelli, Schenker, Dimebag, Satch, Kim Thayil, Zakk, Hendrix, Jimmy Page, the Thin Lizzy guys, EVH on Van Halen III. Kirk gets so much hate but I think a lot of the early stuff he did with the wah was really cool (that fast run at the end of Damage Inc solo for instance). Outside of the standard stuff I love doing the parked-wah thing or using it like a slow filter with a bunch of fuzz, almost like a synth. As far as using it tastefully I think it really depends on what you're playing!

The Morley was fun to start out on because it had the on/off switch off to the side and I could leave it in one spot for solos and just turn it on and off, but I really find that I like the sound of Crybaby variants better. I went and bought a Jimi Hendrix wah after seeing Jerry Cantrell in a pretty small club around Degradation Trip era, and that wah to me is definitely the sound he had on Dirt and after, plus it sounds like Zakk on Pride & Glory and most of the BLS stuff to me too. Sold that one when I was broke, now I've got a 535Q that is a nice variety for recording. I've got a Morley bass wah and the white Dunlop Bass Crybaby too, but don't really love either of them. The Vox is definitely great sounding, I tried a vintage Colorsound I really liked the sound of once, the Fulltone one is great too.
 
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