What is your favorite Wah Pedal?

[EddieDavis]

Searching for the perfect Wah!  Tell me your favorites and why you like them?

I had a Teese RMC 10 for a few years but sold it, finally deciding I'm looking for something a little different.

I've had troubles getting wah to sound good, and it's almost to the point I could see myself not using the effect anymore, I'm really picky about wah pedals but would love to find one that works for me if it's out there.  The main problem I've had with them is introducing way too much gain into my signal on the sweep at times, and it sounds awful!  I'd like something adjustable so I can attend to that, and I tried the Xotic Wah at the shop, can't stand it! Lol  Maybe wah is not for me, but when it works good I love to have it available for a solo. 

One friend recommends the Custom Audio Electronics 404 Wah.  Would love to hear from you guys on here, thanks.

 

[Cagey]

There is a perceived difference in output level over the range of a wah because of the way the human ear works. A typical plot looks like this...

The way to read that is as the frequency increases, the lower the intensity (loudness) needs to be to hear it as an "equally loud" sound until after 5Khz, where the actual loudness needs to start increasing again to keep the perceived loudness the same.

What you might try is getting a pedal with an adjustable range, so you can narrow it down to where it sounds good to you. Maybe get it to only operate over a range of 500hz to 2Khz. Also, a fairly transparent compressor is always a Good Thing. They're not as easy to get, price-wise - most of them have a tendency to bite off some high end/presence. But, if you spend a couple extra bucks to get into something like an Analogman Comprosser or a Keeley Compressor Pro, you can flatten out the output without affecting the tone and stay in a floor pedal format/package.

As for favorite wah pedals, I loved my old Dunlop Cry Baby from 100 years ago. Very simple, perfect sound. But, keep in mind wah pedals are a bit like guitars - they all do essentially the same thing but they all sound surprisingly different from one another. I've probably owned 5 or 6 different wahs over the years for various reasons, and hated most of them. Now I've got a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe and I think I'm in love again. Lotta control, great sound, built like a tank.

 

[Cagey]

Incidentally, the inference to be gained from the above graph is that you have to crank the low/high end in order to get your guitar to sound "even". If you look at many EQ setups, you'll see the familiar "smile" adjustment to all the little sliders...

That's the player trying to get the response curve to sound "flat" or "normal" in the bedroom/basement/garage, only to find out in live performance, they can't hear themselves. Problem is, the bass (and maybe keyboards) is occupying the low end, and the cymbals (and maybe keyboards)  are occupying the high end, while the guitar has effectively been taken out of the midrange where it belongs.

 

[Sovereign_13]

There's a lot of science behind the way we describe tones, once you know about how the human ear works.  Marshall amps, for example, have a shallower "mid-scoop" than some others, so they sound "louder".  Vox leaves more of the lower mids in play than Fender, which is why Fenders sound "sparkly" and Vox's sound "chimey".  It's all about what frequencies are emphasized.  Pretty much all guitar amps have some form of mid-scoop so they sound approximately even in volume across the whole range.

In addition to "staying out of the way of the bass/keys/kick drum", your bedroom 15-30W amp might not have enough oomph to produce all the bass your "scooped mids" EQ would suggest.  Bass frequencies take more power - that's why bass amps tend to regularly be in the 100+ watt range, and guitar amps don't.  So when you get up on stage and suddenly have thousands of watts available, you get all that bass and now your guitar sounds like mud, whereas in the bedroom/garage/basement you probably can crank the bass all the way up to a diminished effect.

 

[TBurst Std]

Incidentally, the inference to be gained from the above graph is that you have to crank the low/high end in order to get your guitar to sound "even". If you look at many EQ setups, you'll see the familiar "smile" adjustment to all the little sliders...

That's the player trying to get the response curve to sound "flat" or "normal" in the bedroom/basement/garage, only to find out in live performance, they can't hear themselves. Problem is, the bass (and maybe keyboards) is occupying the low end, and the cymbals (and maybe keyboards)  are occupying the high end, while the guitar has effectively been taken out of the midrange where it belongs.

Winning post of the day!
You win the internet.

 

[dmraco]

I like the Cantrell Cry Baby.  It does have an adjustable knob to adjust the range.  Plus it looks so cool too! ccasion14:

 

[aarontunes]

I have one of the old, original Budda Bud-wah pedals...the purple with the Chrome foot pad. It's always been my favorite.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I like the Cantrell Cry Baby.  It does have an adjustable knob to adjust the range.  Plus it looks so cool too! ccasion14:

+1.

The Petrucci is coming in at a close 2nd for me.

These two guys use it expressively, not just "waka-waka" so I've always hoped they'd get a siggy.
Haven't played the Petrucci yet, but I did sit down with the Cantrell, and I think its very underrated, it's so musical!

 

[mayfly]

My faviourite wah is an old Shin-ei 'Companion'.  Blows the various VOX and Crybaby wah pedals out of the water. 

It's an old piece of crap but it sounds better than anything else I've ever tried.

 

[EddieDavis]

What you might try is getting a pedal with an adjustable range, so you can narrow it down to where it sounds good to you. Maybe get it to only operate over a range of 500hz to 2Khz. Also, a fairly transparent compressor is always a Good Thing. They're not as easy to get, price-wise - most of them have a tendency to bite off some high end/presence. But, if you spend a couple extra bucks to get into something like an Analogman Comprosser or a Keeley Compressor Pro, you can flatten out the output without affecting the tone and stay in a floor pedal format/package.

As for favorite wah pedals, I loved my old Dunlop Cry Baby from 100 years ago. Very simple, perfect sound. But, keep in mind wah pedals are a bit like guitars - they all do essentially the same thing but they all sound surprisingly different from one another. I've probably owned 5 or 6 different wahs over the years for various reasons, and hated most of them. Now I've got a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe and I think I'm in love again. Lotta control, great sound, built like a tank.

I did get a Compressor that I like (see pic), I have nothing to compare it to because it's the only one I've ever had but I almost always have it on when my board is plugged into the amp.  I think it sounds good

Found a great deal on the CAE 404 wah, and it sounds like you can easily dial that one in.  We'll give it a shot and keep experimenting.  I was debating between the CAE and the Fulltone Clyde but for now the price was right on a barely used CAE.  Thanks for sharing!  This is all great info and good to hear what wah's people like with so many options out there. 

 

[Cagey]

Both of those devices are highly regarded - I'm sure you'll be quite happy.

 

[dmraco]

Agree.  Very versatile.  I never played with the boost feature and am interested on its performance

 

[EddieDavis]

CAE 404 wah came in today.  This is the one!  It's perfect for me.  The dual inductor feature is awesome.  The boost sounds great.  Lights on the side for everything so you know what's on, unlike my previous pedal which had zero lights.  The ability to dial this thing in makes it just right for my needs and above all, it sounds good!  Nice long sweep

Highly recommended. 

 

[zebra]

Incidentally, the inference to be gained from the above graph is that you have to crank the low/high end in order to get your guitar to sound "even". If you look at many EQ setups, you'll see the familiar "smile" adjustment to all the little sliders...

That's the player trying to get the response curve to sound "flat" or "normal" in the bedroom/basement/garage, only to find out in live performance, they can't hear themselves. Problem is, the bass (and maybe keyboards) is occupying the low end, and the cymbals (and maybe keyboards)  are occupying the high end, while the guitar has effectively been taken out of the midrange where it belongs.

Yes to all of this.  Playing through a 100 was amp with all tone controls dimed, bridge pickup...with nothing else but an Boss EQ pedal is a great way to get a different understanding of "tone." 

My Yamaha G100 has a parametric eq with a 5 dec cut/boost, q-control, and frequency shift from 100 to 5k hz.  When using a "broad spectrum" sort of pickup like an Alumitone or Wilde, I can go all over the place (even staying in a single pickup position) - from faux-acoustic sounds that are worlds better than piezo-garbage to fat, arch top-sounding jazz tones. 

I don't play outside of my living room, but when I go to shows, I always notice the best guitarists hanging out on the floor during other band's sets, trying to understand how the audience hears it, what it sounds like from the floor, instead of the stage.   

Also, was gets a bad rap for being overused, abused, and tacky.  But they people who use it well, make it magical.  Good luck on your journey.  Here's my way-inspriration:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A1QxwyT2Lg

 

[rauchman]

While I think the Dunlops may sound a little better, or rather, have a bigger sweep of tone, the Morley Bad Horsie has been my fav' due to the activation mechanism.  As soon as you step on the pedal, it's on, instead of having to have to push the pedal to depress an activator underneath the pedal, which I've run into problems with.

 

[spe111]

I bought one of those Petrucci wah's and it's got about half a dozen pots inside to adjust everything. I don't like the way it came so I have to fiddle with all the adjustments. That seems like a lot of work so I just keep using the cheap dunlop I had before it.

 

[Rick]

Auto wah aw-3 boss

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I didn't care for the Bad Horsie, as much as I love Steve Vai, just didn't care for the voicing.
To me the classic Dunlops are nice, but the ones that seem the most expressive to me are the Jerry Cantrell and the John Petrucci, but the 535Q is nice too.  I'm not much into the Kirk Hammet method of wah use where you just "waka-waka", but rather like the slow sweep through sustained notes that Cantrell & Petrucci do so well.

The Vox units aren't bad, but wayyy noisy.