koula901 Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 Hi Folks I have a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah, and a few dirt pedals after that. If I play clean, funky riffs, the wah works just fine. Once I step on a dirt pedal, it seems to take away from the range of the wah, so much so, that it practically nullifies it - then, it seems the sweep is so short, it's practically like an on-off switch when I rock the wah. Anybody else have these problems? Wondering if I need different dirt pedals. Signal Path: Volume Pedal (buffered) -> Fulltone Clyde Deluxe -> Korg PitchblackTuner -> FB Alpha Drive -> Wampler Super Plextortion -> FB Chubb Up -> MXR Carbon Copy -> Myth FX Modulation Pedal
tulk1 Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 K, you do seem to have the problems with the Wah pedals, finding that perfect blend between clean and dirty. Not sure why you would be experiencing a loss of sweep. Unless you have too much dirt, maybe? Is the problem more noticable with one pedal over another?
koula901 Posted February 15, 2012 Author Posted February 15, 2012 Well, it's definitely horrible with the high gain pedal (wampler). I'll have to go home tonight and try it with the crunch pedal, but I don't think it was so great with that, either. Would it be weird to place the wah after the dirt pedals?
zguitar71 Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 The wah should work better after the dirty pedals. I have the same wah and found it worked better after the pedals. It really works best clean though or with the amp cranked to get the dirt.
DetroitBlues Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 Many higher end wah's have gain and volume boosts to counter the problem you are having. However, I have a very simple wah, Dunlop GCB95F Classic. I do not have that issue, but I also have simplier pedals too. What may be happening is some of the your boutique dirt pedals enhance some frequencies and mute others. Since the wah essentially enhances different frequencies depending on the sweep, the dirt pedal may be eliminating some of those frequencies, thus giving you a lessor effect of the wah. The good news is, there are no rules when it comes to wahs. Try putting the wah in before/after different pedals. You may just find the sweet spot you're looking for. Just my thoughts, I might be wrong but makes sense to me.
koula901 Posted February 15, 2012 Author Posted February 15, 2012 The wah should work better after the dirty pedals. I have the same wah and found it worked better after the pedals. It really works best clean though or with the amp cranked to get the dirt. Thanks! I had the same thought about amp dirt. I will definitely try the wah after the dirt pedals. Many higher end wah's have gain and volume boosts to counter the problem you are having. However, I have a very simple wah, Dunlop GCB95F Classic. I do not have that issue, but I also have simplier pedals too. What may be happening is some of the your boutique dirt pedals enhance some frequencies and mute others. Since the wah essentially enhances different frequencies depending on the sweep, the dirt pedal may be eliminating some of those frequencies, thus giving you a lessor effect of the wah. The good news is, there are no rules when it comes to wahs. Try putting the wah in before/after different pedals. You may just find the sweet spot you're looking for. Just my thoughts, I might be wrong but makes sense to me. Good food for thought. I think it gets complicated when one tries to get multiple pedals to work together, along with different pickup combinations and amps - lots to think about and sort for. My first step will be to put the wah after the dirt, and that should help.
tbonesullivan Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Whether to put the wah before or after dirt pedals has been a raging debate for years. I think with the original dunlop manual I got with my crybaby, it showed the signal chain as: guitar -> dirt pedal -> wah -> amp.
DetroitBlues Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 I think even Hendrix did something like that too.
TalismanRich Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 A high gain OD or fuzz will add so many harmonics (thats what a square wave is) and compress the signal that it will homogenize the sound going through it. I always put the crunch pedals before the wah and vibe pedals.
fretless Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 I've run into this before back when I used a lot of pedals , some pedals have different buffers or input impedance and it will affect other pedals in the chain. A solution is using something like a Voodoo Lab pedal switcher .
JeffB Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 I've run into this before back when I used a lot of pedals , some pedals have different buffers or input impedance and it will affect other pedals in the chain. A solution is using something like a Voodoo Lab pedal switcher . Yes. koula are all you stomps etc true bypass? I had a board made up of only true bypass stomps including a wah I had modded to true bypass. Nothing played nicely together. I stuck a buffered tuner at the end of the chain and things changed for the better. After moving things around and swapping stomps for others the sound and use of everything became more...better.
koula901 Posted February 16, 2012 Author Posted February 16, 2012 Yes, Tully - exactly. Everything on my board is true bypass except for the Hilton Volume pedal I just got which is the only buffered pedal. But this problem existed even before adding that.
brentrocks Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 i love the sound i get from my TIMMY and the wha together....ill do a clip later....it pretty awesome!!!
JeffB Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Yes, Tully - exactly. Everything on my board is true bypass except for the Hilton Volume pedal I just got which is the only buffered pedal. But this problem existed even before adding that. oh. Thanks! I had the same thought about amp dirt. I will definitely try the wah after the dirt pedals. Have you tried this yet?
koula901 Posted February 16, 2012 Author Posted February 16, 2012 Haven't had a chance too. Will report back here when I do.
DetroitBlues Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Haven't had a chance too. Will report back here when I do. Are you procrastinating again???
fretless Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 also IME a cable can sometimes add loading when it's old or damaged , here's what I would do , Start one at a time with the wah , make sure that is functioning perfectly then add the other pedals be it before or after the wah , one a t a time . and try to narrow down when it occurs .
koula901 Posted February 16, 2012 Author Posted February 16, 2012 yes, that's a good thouht. everything's velcro'd down, solid, to the board, but since I now need to get a larger board, this will be my chance to flip the order of things and put the wah after dirt pedals.
fretless Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 I've had pedals nearly stop working because if left plugged in on the pedal board with either custom cables or mini jummper cables that over time the jacks and sockets will corrode & oxidize just being left pugged in . I've found it's better to always unplug the connections when not in use . I also like to test the cables now and then with a multimeter to make sure there is no loading . It happens now and then and can cause all kinds of wackiness .
Trouble Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 Haven't had a chance too. Will report back here when I do. My Wilson wah is true bypass, but it has a buffer for use with fuzz/OD pedals, therefore, when you turn on the wah it turns on the buffer as well. I can put it any where and no problems at all, although the charachter of the OD's changes depending on placement. If nothing else works, Area 51 sells an add on buffer like the one in my wah, Wilson may too but he doesn't advertise it. Area 51 is supposed to have good tech support too. One more thing, you might try calling Fulltone's customer service and see if they can offer advice, I'm sure you are not the only person that has had this problem.
koula901 Posted February 17, 2012 Author Posted February 17, 2012 Okay, everyone., Problem solved. As it turns out, the wah pedal wants to go *after* the Wampler SuperPlex high gain pedal. The wah didn't care whether Alpha Drive (low gain) pedal was before or after it. Neither did it care where the fuzz wuz ; ) With this arrangement, the wah now has a nice, wide sweep. Thanks to all, for your contributions!
212Mavguy Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 Niiice! Katy, how do you like your Hilton volume pedal?
koula901 Posted February 17, 2012 Author Posted February 17, 2012 Really, really nice!! I believe you might have been the one to recommend it in the first place. Bravo! Btw, it's not heavy at all, actually. I got the high rise, because I wanted to feel that wide sweep. It's buffered, and I thought it would be good to have at least one buffered pedal in the mix. Where do you place yours, in your chain?
tbonesullivan Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 Hmmm. Now I'm wondering where I should have my Bad Horsie II in my signal chain. It is buffered, whether on or off, which makes it good to have ahead of a lot of pedals as it prevents signal loading and helps drive the rest of the effects chain. But, I think I'd rather have the dirt before the wah, or maybe just one dirt pedal before the way. Of course, most of my pedals are dirt pedals. I have a rack mounted unit for phaser, flanger, reverb, chorus, rotary speaker, etc.
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