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Wah pedal recommendations

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Eric

Eric

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I've come to the point where I'm finally ready to give wah a try. I would demo a bunch of stuff, but I find I don't really form much of an opinion until I've lived with a pedal for a long time, so I'm trying to gather opinions up front. Here's what I've been considering:

Budda Budwah
Vox wah
Dunlop Crybaby
Behringer Hellbabe

The Budda pedal seems to get pretty universal accolades, but it's definitely pricey and hard to come by used. I'd say they're probably listed in rough ranked order right now.

Any thoughts?
 
Any of the above except the Behringer. I've got one of those and just can't recommend it. I think Gearmandude on has some wah shootouts on youtube.
 
BTW, what's the difference between the Vox V847 and V845 wahs?
 
markb said:
I think Gearmandude on has some wah shootouts on youtube.
Click to expand...
Indeed. It seems like the Vox is a bit brighter and cleaner than the Dunlop, but I'm not honestly sure if that's good or bad. Now reaching the end of his video, that seems to be his conclusion as well.
 
Robert said:
I have some wah demos on dolphinstreet too. After testing a bunch, I went with the Dunlop Classic Crybaby. I love it. The best sounding wah pedal I've ever used.
Click to expand...
Yes, I remember you going through a bunch of wah pedals and deciding on the Dunlop. That's good to know, since it's ubiquitous and pretty easy to find on the cheap used. Too bad I didn't grab SVL's for $25 when he was selling it!
 
+1 on the Crybaby. I had one in the early 70s and sold it and I purchased a new one in the mid 90s, it is just has the right sound for a wah pedal. The new ones probably have more bells and whistles, but I was happy to get one that would run without batteries. What I like is they are built like a tank and I have never had a problem with either of them.
 
I have to vote for the Crybaby as well. I've used a good ol' GCB-95 for close to 20 years and love it.

I would entertain the Budwah, but only because I'm fairly Buddhist and I think Buddha would get a huge kick out of something like that.
 
After a year of use, I'm still enjoying the Budda Budwah (the older ugly purple one). It was the most vocal wah I tried. The only thing I'd change would be to give it a bit more sweep range. You can open it up and adjust the range's pitch up or down if needed.
Bypass is dead quiet. They now have a new case and pedal outers, but the internals are suppossed to be the same.

I'd demo some of the Vox's, and perhaps the Crybaby Classic Robert loves. Let your ears tell you what's best.
 
How about a Roger Mayer Red Lion Wah upgrade kit. It fit all common Wah pedals and the upgrade ist done in 5 minutes.

I used to play mine for several years until it accidentally broke.
Here's a clip of the Roger Mayer Red Lion Kit:
Wah sound starts at 1:44
http://www.box.net/shared/krams2yl9s
 
Jimi75 said:
How about a Roger Mayer Red Lion Wah upgrade kit. It fit all common Wah pedals and the upgrade ist done in 5 minutes.
Click to expand...

Very nice sounding, but the best price I can find is $119 US, which means it will have to wait a while.
 
Crybaby Classic with the red fasel thingy. Best sounding wah IMO. Had one...sold it to someone here and regretted it...found a practically brand new one on Craigslist for cheap and bought it.
 
Get the Crybaby Classic and forget the mods imo. True bypass is useful but that's just a matter of swapping out the switch for a DPDT unit.
Look at mods if you get a bog standard Crybaby for a good price.
 
You could try to find a Digitech EX-7 on sale so you could be cool like Robert, Spud, and, um, Me.
 
Eric said:
Yes, I remember you going through a bunch of wah pedals and deciding on the Dunlop. That's good to know, since it's ubiquitous and pretty easy to find on the cheap used. Too bad I didn't grab SVL's for $25 when he was selling it!
Click to expand...


Yeah...I grabbed it up pretty quickly :-)
 
I have the Vox and I like it for the range & sweep, but I reckon I might like a Crybay better, I understand it would be a bit more ragged and dirty.

My friend has this old Crybaby that has some issues...but those issues make it a formidable pedal. The thing squeals and screeches like no other; you need to use it very carefully but it truly makes the guitar wail like a wraith...that's what I'd like in a wah. Very ragged, lively and even unexpected wails.
 
markb said:
Get the Crybaby Classic and forget the mods imo.
Click to expand...
That's kind of how I was going to approach it. I want to go somewhere to test the Vox vs. Dunlop, but I think it might end up coming down to which one I can find at a better price used, since they're pretty comparable.
 
Do what Duane Allman did - he used an almost-dead 9v in his fuzz & wah pedals. You can definately hear the difference in tone.
 
I used to have a crybaby then one day it just died (well I got it for 20 bucks of ebay so what can you expect?) but I loved the tone when it worked.
 
Zip said:
Do what Duane Allman did - he used an almost-dead 9v in his fuzz & wah pedals. You can definately hear the difference in tone.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah? That's interesting. Might have to try this. I wonder if the same effect could be achieved with an underpowered power supply as well...hmm...
 
deeaa said:
Oh yeah? That's interesting. Might have to try this. I wonder if the same effect could be achieved with an underpowered power supply as well...hmm...
Click to expand...
That beats an almost dead battery dieing on you, which had to have happened to Greg more than once.
 
rylanmartin said:
As lame as it sounds, I just ordered a Zack Wylde signature Crybaby. It has a bit more sweep that the Crybaby. Plus it looks really cool.
Click to expand...
I don't know what could possibly be lame about that! Zakk Wylde is the man! :rockya
 
Update: went to a Guitar Center to test out the main two (Dunlop and Vox) and see the practical differences. The Crybaby came out just a hair on top for me, though I'd be pretty happy with either of them. I also tested some Ibanez (not the weeping demon, but some reissue I think) at the suggestion of an employee that seemed nice, but a bit specialized. Worth considering, but I decided to go in another direction.

Anyway, turns out they had a used on there that looked pretty much new to my eyes for $50. Considering that a good number of ebay ones have about $10 shipping built in and CL owners highly overvalue their pedals and want $75+ for them, I went ahead and pulled the trigger.

Spent a bit of time with it when I got home, and it's pretty nice. Having never owned a real wah before (only the built-in one on the ME-50), I'm suprised by the shoulder somewhere in the middle of the travel that really changes the tone a lot. Maybe that was just an initial impression, but I'm looking forward to exploring it more.

Thanks to everyone for all of the help on this one!
 
Congrats Eric. That will turn out to be a good investment for you. Wah's are a lot of fun, especially into a flanger, phaser, delay tremolo, etc. ;) (it never seems to end):messedup:

I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it. I don't think I've ever gigged without one in over 30 years. I like wahs too.

For all the wah lovers everywhere:dance

 
It's pretty easy to slightly adjust the travel of the tone pot in one of those if you care to play around. If you take a peek inside you'll see what I mean. A small screw holds a guide in place that keeps the toothed bar connected to the pedal meshed with the gear on the tone pot. By loosening the screw you can jump the gears a cog or two. Just be sure you don't go too far so that the pot reaches the end of it's travel
 
Too abrupt a change IMO in most any wahs...I'm always wishing for some more travel and little less drastic change with small movements.

BTW that's why I always keep the wah first in the chain...if you have the wah after the drives, the wah screams a bit more but then the change is WAY pronounced, because the drive also changes drastically with wah movement...you can get a very pronounced wah quak that way but I like it a little less pronounced.

Best wah I have owned in terms of nice non-abrupt sound changes and nice travel was a Morley, but then it didn't much scream and wail either even when used with a heavy foot.
 

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