koula901 Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I'm on mission to find a wah pedal I really like. Tried a few at GC last night. What I come away with is I *really* like the wide sweep and very vocal quality of the Crybaby Slash Wah pedal. But upon reading reviews, it seems that the quality control is poor, I don't want/need a pedal that has built-in distortion. Plus, when I plugged this pedal in, as well as the Bad Horsie - they both had a prnounced low-pitched hum - this continued even though I swapped out the cords and amps. Do any of you have a Fulltone Clyde Wah or a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah? Can you speak to whether it has a wide sweep and vocal quality? Naturally I like a wah that doesn't have a harsh top end. The original Cry Baby sounded good, but has a short sweep. I'm also curious if Ernie Ball has a wide sweep and good vocal quality. I have an inkling that true bypass pedals have a better shot at playing nice with other pedals than do buffered wahs - any opinions on this are welcome.
JackBaruth Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I have a Vox 847A with the full suite of Keeley mods... including the "on light" which is super-useful at a gig. Total price is about $249, I think. http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=38
KSquared Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I have a BBE Sound Wah. It's not that expensive ($150), and has true bypass, so when off it's not introducing noise into the signal. It had a rave review in Guitar Player a while back. I've been happy with it, but I've never had another wah to compare it with . . .
DetroitBlues Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I rather enjoyed the Dunlop GCB-95F Classic. I prefer the 95F Classic because it has all the traditional wah tones including a real fasel inductor and is true by-pass right out the box. The Wah is the only pedal I have to buy new. The problem I have with wah's is they are the only pedal that seems to wear out. There is one thing to keep in mind with a mechnical wah's- you can adjust the position of the POT with the pedal so it changes the sweep. Its very simple to change, take the back cover off and unscrew the little plastic piece that holds the teeth of the footpedal to the control pot. Pull the teeth back a little and slighty adjust the pot while the pedal is plugged in. You can hear the varience in the sweep and then once you find your sweet spot, put the white holder back in place and tighten it down. Many people don't realize this simple modification can take a so-so wah and turn it into something incredible.... Now if I was going to spend some serious dough on a wah pedal, I might prefer this wah.. McWah
rjsanders Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 i had a Teese RMC 3, which was the best IMHO, but pricey, very adjustable via internal controls. recently got a standard crybaby (dunlop gcb95) & it's fine. would consider the Keeley mods for it, but i don't use wah often enough to justify it. a dunlop 535Q might do the trick for ya (the Teese was stolen after a gig, but it really was exceptional)
GuitArtMan Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 The Teese Picture Wah ended my wah search 10+ years ago. Still going strong.
koula901 Posted June 16, 2011 Author Posted June 16, 2011 I just got off the phone with a tech at Dunlop. He suggested the cry baby 535Q - thinks the sweep would be similar. but some good info - he suggested going to dunlop's website, and looking up the sweep of the slash cry baby in a PDF manual, and that numerical range would be a way for me to judge the sweep if I was just buying something off the internet, that I don't have the luxury of trying out first. detroit - good tip, I wouldn't trust myself to do that, though.
DrWiddly Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I've owned a few wah pedals over the years and I still use an original Crybaby with a full set of mods. Great sound but a fairly short sweep. One of my favourites (at a reasonable price) is the Ibanez Weeping Demon. It's a big pedal but can be set up to turn on when you put your foot on it (and off when you take it off!) and it has a great vocal quality to the sound. Lots of tonal adjustment too. Another good pedal is the G-Lab Wowee Wah. It's made in Poland and not that widely available but it's built like a tank, has loads of tone settings and can be touch activated like the Ibanez.
DetroitBlues Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I just got off the phone with a tech at Dunlop. He suggested the cry baby 535Q - thinks the sweep would be similar. but some good info - he suggested going to dunlop's website, and looking up the sweep of the slash cry baby in a PDF manual, and that numerical range would be a way for me to judge the sweep if I was just buying something off the internet, that I don't have the luxury of trying out first. detroit - good tip, I wouldn't trust myself to do that, though. Its much easier than you think.... There are a couple vid's on Youtube if I remember right...
Gitfiddler Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 Koula~There are some great Wah's out there these days. Even Dunlop has a bunch on their website. There was a thread about Wah's several months ago. One boutique model was raved about. I can't recall the name or price or what made it so much better then the others. Just last week a buddy of mine asked if I was interested in buying some old junky pedals n stuff he had in a box. I picked a very early vintage Thomas Organ/Dunlop Wah Wah that'll set me back about $100. It looks a bit crusty but sounds great from his phone demo. I'll let ya'll know if it's a winner or loser after I pick it up later this week.
fxdx99 Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 Watch the movie. Buy a cry baby. Be vintage wah. Cover the tune by the quiet Beatle. http://www.wahwahpedals.org/crybaby-the-movie/
koula901 Posted June 16, 2011 Author Posted June 16, 2011 fxdx99 - taking your comment seriously. am leaning very heavily towards the crybaby Slash; and hope to check out a Fulltone Clyde and Fulltn Clyde Deluxe this weekend - but I don't see paying all that money for something like that. Only drawback of the Slash pedal is it needs 18 v power. I am told the hum I was hearing was probably a ground loop problem. Gitfiddler: the boutique pedal that was raved about might have been my Chi Wah Wah. It's cute as can be, but I want a wider sweep. I was originally attracted to that b/c it is spring loaded.
111518 Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I owned one of the old Thomas Organ Crybabys for years, and it sounded great, even after the original pot got so scratchy I had to replace it. (Fulltone markets a replacement pot). Then, I bought a Fulltone Clyde wah, which has a similar (and therefore familiar to me) sweep but also has true bypass, and is built like a tank (although the pot is, of course, still subject to dust and wear.) I haven't played many of the "new" generation of wah pedals, but I don't find an advantage in those pedals with a super wide sweep --I need my rhythm waahka wha's tight and in the pocket.
bobmeyrick Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 As I think I mentioned in a previous thread, I used a Cry Baby for many years, but found that there was a noticeable hum when it was close to the pedal board (Pedaltrain Jr. - no room for it on the board!). I settled on the Ernie Ball for a number of reasons, particularly its smooth action, positive switch and it sounds fine to me. There are various demos on YouTube - However, as with all things, it's a matter of personal taste, so try it yourself if possible.
smurph1 Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I've used a Dunlop Crybaby for several years..Sounds great to my ears.. I use it sparingly, just as a "spice" for a solo or whatever..I even sometimes just turn it on to give me a little bit of a nasal tone for a solo..Not sure if it's true bypass or not but it works for me..
212Mavguy Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 My wah is a custom boutique unit, made by Dan Albrecht at Area 51 Tube Audio... True bypass, battery or wall wart power, growl control, sweep control, 5 position range control, "on" LED light. Spendy, but adjustment features allow you to really tweak how it behaves for what you like best for what ever kind of guitar you are using or change its sound for what you want for a particular song. Also available built for left handed guitar players...really! Input jack and control knobs reversed one side for the other. Spendy, but it's all mine and so is the tone I pick to use from it. Me likey.
plexirocker 68 Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 I rather enjoyed the Dunlop GCB-95F Classic. I prefer the 95F Classic because it has all the traditional wah tones including a real fasel inductor and is true by-pass right out the box. The Wah is the only pedal I have to buy new. The problem I have with wah's is they are the only pedal that seems to wear out. There is one thing to keep in mind with a mechnical wah's- you can adjust the position of the POT with the pedal so it changes the sweep. Its very simple to change, take the back cover off and unscrew the little plastic piece that holds the teeth of the footpedal to the control pot. Pull the teeth back a little and slighty adjust the pot while the pedal is plugged in. You can hear the varience in the sweep and then once you find your sweet spot, put the white holder back in place and tighten it down. Many people don't realize this simple modification can take a so-so wah and turn it into something incredible.... Now if I was going to spend some serious dough on a wah pedal, I might prefer this wah.. McWah +100000 on the cry baby classic,Best wah on the market for the money!! I've owned boat loads, vintage and boutique,this is the one for me. It just has all the classic tone with NO VOLUME DROP and true bypass plexi plexi
TalismanRich Posted June 17, 2011 Posted June 17, 2011 Sorry Koula, no "boo-teek" pedals here. Just a plain old Vox 847. Had one back in the 70s, but it got stolen. Best I recall, this works about the same. This one even came with a bag, just like the original.
big bob Posted June 17, 2011 Posted June 17, 2011 I have a cry baby cgb-95, and I love it no hum at all...
DetroitBlues Posted June 17, 2011 Posted June 17, 2011 I wouldn't buy used wah's or even accept the demo ones GC has. They are daisy chained together and taken too many stomps by inexperienced players already. I've bought three different used wahs, GCB-95, GCB 535q, and a Thomas Organ Wah. All of them were junk wahs. I'd suggest get a new one out of the box with a fresh battery plugged into similiar gear to what you have. Best way to tell if its really a good wah or not.
Bonefish Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 I took my Vox 847 (which was starting to scratch) and put the BYO Clone Wah kit inside. I love the tone. It was my first BYO project and I'm glad it turned out well. The pedal has great range and an awesome burn to it. The tone varies greatly pending on pick-up and tone controls so I love the flexibility.
koula901 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Posted June 20, 2011 Watch the movie. Buy a cry baby. Be vintage wah. Cover the tune by the quiet Beatle. http://www.wahwahpedals.org/crybaby-the-movie/ Saw this movie in its entirety on vimeo, in HD! It was really neat! Didn't know that the Dunlop wah and the cry baby were both made by the same company.
tbonesullivan Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 I've been looking at the Morley Bad Horsie II Contour wah for a while. It is buffered, AND it has an optical sensor, as opposed to a pot. also has controls. I used to have a Crybaby, and I always had problems with it. Heck even getting it to turn ON was a PITA.
JeffB Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 I've been looking at the Morley Bad Horsie II Contour wah for a while. It is buffered, AND it has an optical sensor, as opposed to a pot. also has controls. I used to have a Crybaby, and I always had problems with it. Heck even getting it to turn ON was a PITA. I have the Bad Horsie II. Im still undecided about it after 5yrs of using it. The action between open and closed is a bit further than I like. Im not sure if its the funkiest wah as in wah chika wah wah. It is and it isnt. I like an old vox I have better for those moments, its kinda sweeter sounding, but Bad Horsie is just so easy to use so it stays on the board. Its great for high gain though. Where the Vox gets a bit thin and messy the BH is full sounding.
zguitar71 Posted June 21, 2011 Posted June 21, 2011 I have a Fulltone McCoy. I love mine. I wish I had gotten the delux just for the extra options but I am still happy with the regular one. I played through Cry Babyies for year and the last one I had was the Q535 model. It cannot compare witht he Fulltone. The FT has a very long sweep and lots of "voice" compared to the CB. It works great with single and double coils and p-90's (my favorite). You can hear a little of it here: http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13183-my-band-on-sat-may-7/page__p__161345__fromsearch__1&do=findComment&comment=161345 The recording is not that good and I have it cranked on 18 watts so I am getting some distortion too but you can get the idea, the song with the Wah starts 5 minutes into the video.
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