WAH - bass or guitar?

[BTS_Spacebass]

As my addiction to effects pedals grows my attention turns to a wah. I like the look of the Jim Dunlop Bass model (its white and shiny) but does the fact its made for bass make that much differnce or would a starndard old guitar one work just as well?

Thanks

[Ian Savage]

You want a dedicated bass one really, otherwise the frequency of the sweep's too far out of the range of your fundamental notes. A guitar wah on distorted bass can sound pretty cool, but for general bass use you want a 'proper' one.

[rmshaw37]

[quote name='Ian Savage' post='913121' date='Aug 2 2010, 07:46 PM']You want a dedicated bass one really, otherwise the frequency of the sweep's too far out of the range of your fundamental notes. A guitar wah on distorted bass can sound pretty cool, but for general bass use you want a 'proper' one.[/quote]


agreed! however if you do decide you want a guitar wah, you can do worse than the morley wah/volume/distortion, in fact i have one for sale if you wanna PM me! lol

just took receipt of the crybaby bass wah and FWIW its spot on - the morley does a mean cliff burton alike though

just to add, on a jazz the difference is less noticeable, precision is VERY noticeable

[dannybuoy]

I've found the best wah sound from using my [sfx] X&M crossover/mixer with a gnarly old guitar wah in the high channel, keeping the lows clean. Even most bass wahs lose low end when pushed towards the toe end, but not with a setup like this. Certainly not the cheapest method though!

[cheddatom]

Yeh I have a guitar wah in a loop, blended with other stuff for my low end.

[tayste_2000]

I have a Wilson Freaker Wah, this thing goes so low it does LPF

Most guitar wahs do indeed suck on bass, I would look at Wilson for a wah as everything else is a bit meh

[cheddatom]

tayste just out of interest have you tried a Zvex wah probe?

[waltsdog]

Isn't the 105Q bass crybaby pretty much the same pedal as the regular guitar one but with a different capacitor for bass freq range, a white paint job and £50 added on the price?

[tayste_2000]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='913677' date='Aug 3 2010, 11:18 AM']tayste just out of interest have you tried a Zvex wah probe?[/quote]

Nope was told it was awful

[tayste_2000]

[quote name='waltsdog' post='913793' date='Aug 3 2010, 12:57 PM']Isn't the 105Q bass crybaby pretty much the same pedal as the regular guitar one but with a different capacitor for bass freq range, a white paint job and £50 added on the price?[/quote]

Doubtful they sound completely different

Which is also the issue with Bass Wah's they are more filter like than guitar wahs, my Freaker can dial between filter sounds and what a bass wah should sound like but the Wilson Vintage Spec 12 Position Wah is where it's at for Bass Wahs

[cheddatom]

[quote name='tayste_2000' post='913801' date='Aug 3 2010, 01:00 PM']Nope was told it was awful[/quote]

Interesting. It's been a while since I tried it outside of a clean blend but I love it.

[waltsdog]

[quote name='tayste_2000' post='913805' date='Aug 3 2010, 01:02 PM']Doubtful they sound completely different[/quote]

I aquired a guitar one for free, so I'm going to change the capacitor and see what happens. I just think the bass wah is really expensive for what it is, if it's a lot different from the guitar version then I guess the price difference is a bit more justifiable. Sorry for the hijack.

Edited August 3, 2010 by waltsdog

[JimBobTTD]

[quote name='waltsdog' post='913793' date='Aug 3 2010, 01:57 PM']Isn't the 105Q bass crybaby pretty much the same pedal as the regular guitar one but with a different capacitor for bass freq range, a white paint job and £50 added on the price?[/quote]

It is only slightly more complicated than that, but by and large, yes. Changing the guitar wah's range cap from 0.01uF to 0.068uF will give you a pretty fine approximation of the Dunlop Bass Wah.


I am yet to find a good wah pedal. I have a Morley Bass Wah, but most of the range (or the effective range, at least) is in the last fraction of an inch of the pedal's travel. I have a hard time getting a good "wah" out of it. I also have an Ibanez Weeping Demon - it looks utterly fantastic and quite evil, but I haven't yet been able to get the sound out of it which I want...a sort of woooooaaaaaaaaah which also really cuts through.

Edit to add: I haven't yet had both time and inclination to crack open the two pedals to see if I could modify anything. I think I would really like to find something which does what I want first time around!

Edited August 3, 2010 by JimBobTTD

[danny-79]

Another positive vote here for the Dunlop 105Q

[xgsjx]

Not quite a dedicated wah pedal, but the moog LPF with an expression pedal does the job very nicely & seems to add low frequencies to the sound. You can use either the inbuilt envelope follower to control the amount of wah & use the pedal to adjust either cutoff frequency or resonance, thus working in a traditional wah style & still have control over wahing or use the pedal to take control of the wah amount giving control of the amount that the envelope follower affects the sound. You can take a TRS cable from the env out jack & back into any of the inputs that control the 4 parameter knobs letting your playing dynamics have control of more than just the wah amount.

Downside is it ain't cheap (mines was £150) or small & the expression pedal is an extra £30 (tho you can use just about any brand). But it is built like a tank with nice wooden sides.

[BTS_Spacebass]

Man that wilson freaker is a decent price as well. that may be on the cards. Cheers for the advice guys

[0175westwood29]

I'd go for the bass wah!

if i remember i think it only wahs the mids and highs, so you keep alot more bass in the sound.

also it can act as a volume boost aswell! as unlike the cheaper guitar wah it has a volume and another pot that controls the amount of wah, and also has the spring action so you dnt have to go from the toe postion. all those features are why it costs more.

andy

[dannybuoy]

[quote name='BTS_Spacebass' post='914470' date='Aug 3 2010, 11:59 PM']Man that wilson freaker is a decent price as well. that may be on the cards. Cheers for the advice guys [/quote]

The Wilson Freaker is a Parapedal clone with adjustable Q and sweep knobs - if you want a 100% faithful replica of the real thing, I'm selling a Chicago Iron Parachute!

Edited August 6, 2010 by dannybuoy

[thisnameistaken]

I've never used a band-pass filter on bass for anything other than shaping the occasional nerdy nasal fuzz sound. I think wah effects on bass sound better with a low-pass filter.

[tayste_2000]

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='917584' date='Aug 7 2010, 12:09 AM']The Wilson Freaker is a Parapedal clone with adjustable Q and sweep knobs - if you want a 100% faithful replica of the real thing, I'm selling a Chicago Iron Parachute! [/quote]

This is a better pedal purely for the fact it is blue

[billphreets]

[quote name='xgsjx' post='914281' date='Aug 3 2010, 09:04 PM']Not quite a dedicated wah pedal, but the moog LPF with an expression pedal does the job very nicely & seems to add low frequencies to the sound. You can use either the inbuilt envelope follower to control the amount of wah & use the pedal to adjust either cutoff frequency or resonance, thus working in a traditional wah style & still have control over wahing or use the pedal to take control of the wah amount giving control of the amount that the envelope follower affects the sound. You can take a TRS cable from the env out jack & back into any of the inputs that control the 4 parameter knobs letting your playing dynamics have control of more than just the wah amount.

Downside is it ain't cheap (mines was £150) or small & the expression pedal is an extra £30 (tho you can use just about any brand). But it is built like a tank with nice wooden sides.[/quote]
i use this same setup.. awesome