Need some advice on Wah Wah's....

[Telegib]

Hey gang, Thank in advance. Have a question, and hoping you guys can help me....

I have a Cry baby Wah - love it. I have a Vox Wah....it's nice. Have a Morley Wah/Volume...it's ok. Over the years I have migrated from a Morley to a Cry-baby because I like the size of the "sweep" you get with the CB. I'm having problems my CB when I stomp it....sometimes it cuts out completely, sometimes it's won't go back to the "Non Wah" tone and stays hung up on the Wah tone, othertimes it works fine....It's an unpredictable lady I guess!.........so I tried out a Vox Wah, which is a really nice pedal but it doesn't have the full "sweep" of the CB.


Can the sweeps of wahs be adjusted ? if so, how?

and is intermintant cutting out common?


If not, I'm kinda pressed to go out and buy another CB Wah.

Thank you.

S.

[DaBirch]

Here's a site that might be of interest

http://www.stinkfoot.se/andreas/diy/diyhome.htm

Check under "DIY and modifications"

/Dan

[Paragon]

Under the pedal of the crybaby, there is a rubber bumper. You can shave that down or remove it to allow easier stomping. Jimi would remove his so he could could switch it on and off fast for Voodoo Child.

BTW, mine also occasionally goes into "off" mode if I don't press down hard enough (still have bumper on) It is just the switch mechanism not getting contact because it is hanging in the center of its movement.

You can replace the pots.. not sure if that is the main component for sweep management or if it is other components.

[Telegib]

Thanks guys....apppreciate the insight and suggestions. The "sweep" question was more aimed towards the Vox Wah, but my overall preference is still my CB, which the sweep is fine on the CB.
I think I'll try stomping a little harder and see!...lol. Thanks again.

S.

[Paragon]

Usually when I have issues is when I am sitting trying to turn the wah on and off.. just not quite enough gusto

[cosmicrepairdude]

The Morley wah sweep is adjustable. It uses an LED rather than a pot to control the wah sound and it can be moved. You can get the instructions for your particular wah from Morley. I used to have a Morley and greatly increased its range by doing this.

Having said that, I now have a Boss wah which is totally adjustable and models all the popular wahs.
http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/PW-10/
It has other effects, too, but I mainly use it as a wah. It has a setting called Bass Mix, which is obviously designed for a bass, but I love it with my guitar as it has a really wide range.
You can also adjust which part of the frequency range is emphasized.

[Voxman]

I haven't tried one myself, but based on what I've seen & heard, the Ibanez WD7 Weeping Demon Wah seems a very impressive piece of kit at a competitive price that gives sweep range adjustment, adjustable footboard feel and return, and has an auto (for fast wah access) & foot mode.

Not the greatest player, but there's a gearwire demo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EnKSkaymdA

And another demo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bT_DyC3 ... re=related

[cosmicrepairdude]

Based on Rich's mention of the Weeping Demon and some reviews I read, I just went to a store today and tried it out for about half an hour, into a VT15. It took me quite a while to get a decent clean sound out of it because it overloads the preamp and distorts, even when its level control is set for equal volume, wah on or off. (It's possible I may have been using the level control incorrectly, I assumed it controlled wah-on output and not wah-off output, as you would expect. If it actually controls any signal going through the pedal, then I could have turned it down some more, didn't think of that possibility til just now, though.)

I had to turn down the gain on the VT15 to around 8 o' clock or below to keep it clean, much lower than I would normally have it. Then it sounded pretty good. On overdriven and high gain models, it didn't have a great wah sound IMO, the "w" end of the range really emphasized the harmonics over the fundamental notes. Its "Q" control changes depth of the wah curve from shallow and subtle to deep and extreme. Its LO control is really a bass tone knob. It also has a switch that moves the whole wah range down to deeper frequencies to use with a bass or maybe 7 string or baritone guitar. Didn't sound good to me with a normal guitar so I left it in the high range position. The pedal action feels nice and I like that you can choose between turning it on with a separate footswitch, which allows you to have the wah pedal waiting for use in any position you want to start from, or you can set it to spring action so that it turns on as soon as your foot lands on the pedal.

As soon as I got home I plugged in my Boss PW-10 to compare. First off, it doesn't overload, I can use my normal clean amp settings and when I engage the wah, it's all still clean. It has emulations of Cry Baby, Vox, and Morley wahs and a bass wah range that's broader than the one on the Ibanez and which sounds great to me with a normal guitar. There is a control that changes the frequency range that the wah sound emphasizes, so within any of the models, you can make the sweep bassier, middier or treblier. There are some other settings which sound synthy and weird which some may like, but I haven't gotten into. There is a Univibe emulation which is quite usable. It also has some overdrive and distortion settings and presets, all of which I have ignored so far. Like many wahs, it switches on and off by pushing down on the toe of the pedal, not my preferred method, but not a deal killer.

Between the 2, I think I prefer the sound of the Boss, but I did enjoy some of the sounds from the Ibanez. The sound adjustments to me are more useful and varied on the Boss (just used as a normal wah) although the Ibanez allowed adjustments on different parameters. I preferred the physical setup, pedal feel, on/off switching options on the Ibanez, but I don't like that I have to adjust the gain on the amp just to use the pedal.

Given all that, I'll keep the Boss, but if I see an Ibanez for sale second hand and cheap, I'll probably buy it to experiment with some more, maybe with my Peavey amp.

[Voxman]

Thanks for the interesting feedback on the Demon - I'd forgotten about the Boss which I tried a few years back & it seemed a pretty good pedal. Might check one of those out again.