I'm crap with wah - help me out

benmurray85

Ive never got on with wah. I always miss hitting the switch hard enough to engage it, I dont like the way that as it sweeps you can dip in and out of the mix, I dont like chasing it around the floor at gigs and I definately dont like how bloody big and unpedalboard-friendly they are.

Anys I have to have one nowe due to this daft weddings/function/corporate band that Im in so I'm looking at three solutions to my hatred of wah. My main issue is the switching it on and off so thats what im looking to solve initially.

• One of those funky GLabs true bypass pressure pads thingys. I think this would be my preferred option but they seem very expensive for what they are and I'm not sure I want to splash much more cash
• One of those wahs that activate by movement. I had the Steve Vai Bad Horsie when that came out years ago. It was OK and sounded fine but I seem to remember it being HUGE! Also as the treadle was spring loaded you cant play Money for Nothing properly
• Auto Wah! The work of the devil. Hate it, Hate the sound BUT I guess its a potential solution

Right guys, thoughts please!

Sassafras

Plutoneium Chiwahwah switches on as soon as you touch the pedal AFAIK and sounds good.

RocknRollDave

Autowah is, in my opinion, a totally different beast to a rocker pedal wah. Has some great uses, but I personally wouldn't substitute one for the other.

Mis-hitting the wah and not turning it on/ off correctly in the heat of a gig moment is something I also find, and it is a pain in the backside.

Maybe buy a cheap loop switch pedal and have the wah as a single item in the loop. Hit the switch and the wah comes into play, hit it again and it is out of the loop. Wah stays "on" all the time but isn't heard unless you want it to be. For a single loop pedal, you won't be paying a lot, I wouldn't have though. Not that much different to hitting the switch on the wah but much easier in the heat of the moment AND you can see the light when it is engaged so you KNOW it has worked.

Teetonetal

Get the Ernie ball wah.. it's got an led so you know you hit it.. but isn't the size of the Morley stuff.

I had my wah always on in a little loop for a while. Elegant solution.

Wah played well is awesome

guitarfishbay

Eat more pies.  Turning a Dunlop style wah/on off is easiest if you put a fair amount of weight into the toe in one motion.  I reckon you should just work on technique rather than spending more money.

Chasing it round the floor - do you have a pedal board?  You can get replacement mounting plates that are totally flat, then you can apply velcro and stick it to a pedalboard.

stickyfiddle

Some Dunlop-type wahs have the switch set fractionally too low so it's mega stiff to engage.  Worth taking it apart and seeing if you can remove a washer from inside that will raise the switch up. 

As for tone, nothing beats the BYOC circuit with its umpteen trimpots, but a minor mod to your existing wah to give you a bit more mids all the time might be worth investigating.

benmurray85

I had initially thought of using a little bypass loop but I am trying to cut down as much as possible. At the moment Im getting a bit sick of individual pedals (and something I never thought Id say) Im considering a multi fx setup. Just sick of various wiring and power issues, fault finding at gigs etc but for now Im sticking with pedals.

Will check out some of the options above. Keep em coming guys

hubobulous

Is Money for Nothing and the cocked wah tone important in your situation?

Teetonetal

By the way, I have my wah mounted on my PT2 sized board.

Simple take off the bottom plate, but in a 4 washers under the plate, remove the rubber feet screw back on, velcro up. 

Or get 4 shorter screws. No issues at all. I just have a long strip of velcro running under the legth of the wah, it latches on 3 bars I think and is rock solid.

simonk

The Xotic Wah should be on your list of candidates Ben. A softer switch means easier on and off plus it's very tweakable to suit your rig. There's an LED to let you know whether it's engaged or not. It's also a bit smaller than your average Dunlop/Vox affair. I have mine on my board fitted with an EWS wah board which takes the rubber feet out of the equation. Highly recommended. Costly, but worth it IMO.

kjdowd

Dunlop 95Q is movement activated, has a Q control and a boost. My favourite wah by a long way.

benmurray85

I had actually checked out a couple of vids online for the xotic and I wasn't wow'd by the sound. Appreciate online vids can be misleading tho!

Was also eyeing up the mini Dunlop wah in the classifieds

kjdowd

Just seen your multi fx comment. I've gone from a decent sized pedalboard to a helix and sold all the pedals. Kept my wah initially but now have sold that as Helix wah is decent enough (although not movement activated). Fx8 is also excellent, although you'll need an expression pedal for the wah.

benmurray85

If I do go multi fx I wont be spalshing Helix/Fx8 amounts of cash on it. Those days are long gone and even if they werent I could not justify to myself spending all that cash on technology.

Also to note I am not using a pedal train so cant really "mount" pedals to anything  

EricTheWeary

Auto wah is a different beast but I read an interview with Nita Strauss in which she can't get on with wah pedals and gets away with auto wah playing with Alice Cooper. Not the same thing but in context close enough apparently.

benmurray85

yeah the thing that will prbably rule out auto wah is that theres a couple of tunes where I need to physically control the sweep of the wah. It just helps it fit in with the tempo/drums so I dont thiunk with the best will in the world that I'll ever get an auto wah to do that properly. It was just an idea

Teetonetal

Remember too, that to get best wah results, always enunciate the sweep

Branshen

Ibanez weeping demon? It has an auto activate mode when u start moving it and it's so unwieldy that you'd be hard pressed to move it around the stage.

hugbot

crybaby 95q? It switches on when your foots on it

TimmyO

benmurray85 said:

Ive never got on with wah. I always miss hitting the switch hard enough to engage it, I dont like the way that as it sweeps you can dip in and out of the mix, I dont like chasing it around the floor at gigs and I definately dont like how bloody big and unpedalboard-friendly they are.

Anys I have to have one nowe due to this daft weddings/function/corporate band that Im in so I'm looking at three solutions to my hatred of wah. My main issue is the switching it on and off so thats what im looking to solve initially.

• One of those funky GLabs true bypass pressure pads thingys. I think this would be my preferred option but they seem very expensive for what they are and I'm not sure I want to splash much more cash
• One of those wahs that activate by movement. I had the Steve Vai Bad Horsie when that came out years ago. It was OK and sounded fine but I seem to remember it being HUGE! Also as the treadle was spring loaded you cant play Money for Nothing properly
• Auto Wah! The work of the devil. Hate it, Hate the sound BUT I guess its a potential solution

Right guys, thoughts please!

Just spending some time actually getting good at it (I didn't mean that to sound so blunt haha) - firstly, on any crybaby type wah you can tweak (a little) the pressure needed to operate the switch by making it sit a little prouder from the casing by adjusting the washers on the switch either side of the casing.

As far as disappearing in the mix, spend some time noodling with the wah on and teach your ear that less sweep goes a longer way - you want to be nudging in and around that point in the sweep where the magic happens (people who have not twigs to this are the folk who keep wanting a wah with ever broader sweep angle on the plate to make it easier - for this application it's a small part of the range you are using - find it, get used to being able to control things in there)

Remember that recordings with extreme wakka-wakka are clean and compressed and mixed to sound prominent so it's different to expressive live wha-ing. If you need wakka-wakka-style-funk then kick in a compressor with a fair dollop of compression and level.

A wah pedal is an instrument - think that way for live work and it's easier (imho)  

benmurray85

without wanting to come accross as completely butt hurt - Im not some Johnny come lately to the whole wah party ;-) I have played with many in bands for many many years Ive just never got on with them. I am however happy to accept that Im the issue not the pedal! 

Still appreciate the advice though guys