Recommend a bass wah pedal

JezWynd

After using envelope filters for years I recently got a wah pedal - the Cry Baby Bass Mini. It’s a good wah effect and I’d be totally happy with it but for the fact that when you take your foot off the pedal it springs into toe up position. I’d really like to find a bass wah that allows the user to leave the pedal in a cocked wah position, ie. it stays where you put it.

Any recommendations gratefully received as I know very little about wah pedals and even less about the bass versions. Is it necessary to get a bass specific version for example? Thanks.

EricTheWeary

The number of bassists who use a wah pedal ( as opposed to auto wah/ envelope filter) on a regular basis must be tiny. The only two who pop into my head are Geezer Butler and Cliff Burton.

Geezer used a Tychobrahe wah which, IIRC, was originally Tony Iommi’s spare so a regular, if not typical, wah. He has a signature Cry Baby now, reading about it the design blends in some of the clean signal so it doesn’t cut out the bass end,I think the Tychobrahe has a wider sweep than a typical wah so that would also have had more bass end I guess.
Cliff seems to have used a Morley wah and there is a signature wah-fuzz that bears his name now. 

And if you only want it for the cocked position there are pedals that do that without having to actually have a wah. The Magnetic Effects Midphoria V2 is like that plus you can blend in your clean tone which sounds like a big bonus for bass. 

@Magnetic_Effects how is it on bass? 

JezWynd

It would not only be for cocked wah but I’m keen to get a pedal that is capable of it. The cry baby bass mini I’m currently using makes good sounds, it’s just unfortunate it’s spring loaded and defaults to bass max when foot is taken off.

jeroenvanhulsteijn

I really like the Morley Tim Stevens and all those big silver Morley Tel Rey wahs. Really like them on guitar as well. 

You can finetune them by adjusting the amount of light that can reach the photocell.

Funky wahs. 

merlin

I've got a Morley with a switch at the side that is perfect for cock wah. You can have it for £40 delivered. No box/papers etc but just a good honest cock. I mean wah. 

PolarityMan

weeping demon on bass mode is what i use.

Magnetic_Effects

EricTheWeary said:

The number of bassists who use a wah pedal ( as opposed to auto wah/ envelope filter) on a regular basis must be tiny. The only two who pop into my head are Geezer Butler and Cliff Burton.

Geezer used a Tychobrahe wah which, IIRC, was originally Tony Iommi’s spare so a regular, if not typical, wah. He has a signature Cry Baby now, reading about it the design blends in some of the clean signal so it doesn’t cut out the bass end,I think the Tychobrahe has a wider sweep than a typical wah so that would also have had more bass end I guess.
Cliff seems to have used a Morley wah and there is a signature wah-fuzz that bears his name now. 

And if you only want it for the cocked position there are pedals that do that without having to actually have a wah. The Magnetic Effects Midphoria V2 is like that plus you can blend in your clean tone which sounds like a big bonus for bass. 

@Magnetic_Effects how is it on bass? 

The V2 works well on bass. Clean blend works great and the eq range on the filter works nice on both guitar and bass.

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

The number of bassists who use a wah pedal ( as opposed to auto wah/ envelope filter) on a regular basis must be tiny. The only two who pop into my head are Geezer Butler and Cliff Burton.

And Flea...

I was going to suggest the white Dunlop 105Q which he uses, and which I liked as well, but it’s spring-loaded.

There’s a standard Bass Cry Baby too, the GCB-100.

JezWynd

From following links about the wahs suggested, it seems that many bass wah pedals incorporate a spring mechanism for some reason. The Weeping Demon suggested by @PolarityMan looks promising but is very large. Thinking I may go with a Hotone Bass Press, it's small, multi function and demo sounds okay -



Thank you for all your suggestions.

ICBM

JezWynd said:

From following links about the wahs suggested, it seems that many bass wah pedals incorporate a spring mechanism for some reason.

Because almost no bass players use a cocked wah tone, and almost all of us would leave it turned on by accident and then wonder why there is no bass... so a pedal which returns to heel-down and then turns off by itself is perfect for bass players .

fretmeister

Weeping Demon.

By far the best, and I’ve had dozens of them.

skullfunkerry

I'm thinking of selling my Weeping Demon, funnily enough. It doesn't sound as good for my guitar as the Crying Tone I also have...

JezWynd

skullfunkerry said:

I'm thinking of selling my Weeping Demon, funnily enough. It doesn't sound as good for my guitar as the Crying Tone I also have...

Thanks for the heads up but I’ve taken a chance on a BBE Wah. They advertise it for guitar, bass and keys.

Funkfingers

The Rocktron Black Cat Moan has a bass guitar mode.

jeroenvanhulsteijn

Perhaps Ibanez WH10 suits your needs as well. Works very well on bass.