Wah pedals are back to front

[Marky L]

OK, so I just received an AMT Japanese Girl bass wah from Merton (who is brilliant to buy from by the way) and I love it! Had a quick play last night and it’s huge fun.

 

Now the thing that gets me with wah pedals (I have a Jim Dunlop for guitar too) is that in my head, they’re the wrong way round. Simply, when you have the pedal active and in its normal orientation the rocker is down and closed at the front, you get the brighter tone and then when it’s down at the back and open at the front you have the thicker “mmmwwwuh” tone. For me though that’s counter intuitive and the wrong way round. I see the pedal like a mouth and the brighter tone should be when the front of the pedal is up and open.. like an open mouth and singing “aaaah” and vice versa for the thicker tone, pedal down at the front = mouth closed and humming “mmmmmm”.

 

Does anyone else see it this way or is it just me? BTW I’m not left handed or anything weird like that  

[BigRedX]

I think they are arranged like that so when you switch them on in the down position the sound is more like the unaffected one, so the change in tone is minimised?

[fretmeister]

I think it's the right way round.

 

If a foot has a top and bottom in the flat plane then the toes are at the top. So moving "upwards" to the toes has more treble.

 

Seems right to me.

[Marky L]

38 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

I think they are arranged like that so when you switch them on in the down position the sound is more like the unaffected one, so the change in tone is minimised?

Ahh yes good point.

Maybe the switch needs to be at the back. In which case, I'm just going to try with it turned around the wrong way.

[uk_lefty]

I'd never thought of it like that but now you've said I can't un-think it.

[AJ567]

Ought to be pretty easy to mod your pedal to work that way if you want! Just need to flip the connections to the pot 

[rmorris]

15 hours ago, AJ567 said:

Ought to be pretty easy to mod your pedal to work that way if you want! Just need to flip the connections to the pot 

Result will depend on whether it's a linear pot or has a taper ?

[AJ567]

4 hours ago, rmorris said:

Result will depend on whether it's a linear pot or has a taper ?

Fair point! OP may well prefer the "upside down" taper along with the flipped heel-toe though  

[Marky L]

I've basically had to flip my head and actually use the pedal in the correct fashion. I need to use it more for it to settle in with me.

[GremlinAndy]

Apply Velcro to the top, flip it over and booya, you’re done!   No need to thank me.

 

🤘🤘