find me MY wah

[metalhead51105]

hey all,
sorry to make another post about wah pedals but i have some questions i couldn't find answered yet on the board. basically i want to add a wah to my rig. i have not had time to check out anything personally but i kinda know what sound im looking for. basically i want a wah sound along the likes of jerry cantrell zakk wylde and mark tremonti. so my original thinking was a crybaby 535q. but from what i understand its a huuuuuge tone suck when not engaged and i didn't spend over $2000 on my dual rectifier rig to have it ruined by a $100-$200 effect pedal i would use only sparingly. apparently its hard to do a true bypass mod on these as well. once again correct me if i'm wrong. anyway, someone recommended the budda budwah and those who own it seem to absolutely love it. it has true bypass so i'm happy about that. but will it give me that jerry cantrell / zakk wylde sound? basically in the wah i want the least amount of tone suckage possible if anything when in bypass, something with a decent sweep without being too harsh, and something very vocal so that when i listen to it i find myself making a "wow wow" motion with my mouth that is uncontrollable like i find myself doing while listening to the man in the box solo. now find me my wah

 

[zenabI]

I just bought the Dunlop Zakk Wylde wha and I think it's good if you want a really screamy wha sound, it's not as fat sounding as many people like it to be it's more a metal wha sound you get, good for downtuning.

I haven't really noticed a big tone suckage yet but I haven't played alot with it yet so...

But if you're worried about your tone you can always add a signal booster like MI-Audio Boost N Buff or the Xotic AC Booster (supposed to be extremely transparent).


I don't know who Jerry Cantrell is but the Zakk Wylde wha would surely help you to get a Zakk Wylde type of sound.

 

[nathan28]

hey man ive used a lot of wahs, and im a wah nut here is some info for you:

Zakk wylde wah - great sounding, thick, has a very good bypass.

Slash wah - sounds to my ears like the wylde wah but with a added distortion boost which is a total waste of money.

Original crybaby - it just plain sucks!! no sweep whatsoever.

Vox 847 - good sweep. But when engaged i noticed a volume drop.

Morley vai - didnt like anything about it.

Dunlop 2sr rack wah - the wah of all wahs. Sure its $600.00, but if you want a professional sounding wah look no further. Everything is adjustable, true bypass and the sweep is something to die for. One word AMAZING!

 

[metalhead51105]

thanks for the info guys! i overlooked the zakk wylde wah being spooked by the fact that people have referred to it being great as a "metal wah". ill check it out but its good to know that the bypass is good because ill put that factor up there as being just as important as the tone of the wah itself. but anyway lets say my options are the 535q and the zakk wylde wah. which one has the better tone for my needs and which one is more transparent in bypass? then how does the winner compare to a budwah which is true pass?

 

[decosteonline]

ernie ball now has a wah pedal that's built similar to their volume pedals... may be worth a look.

 

[gonzo]

AREA 51

 

[cvansickle]

I'll start with the obvious question: Where did you leave it?

Okay, you want a good wah? Fulltone Clyde.

 

[gbsmusic]

Try the Budda, its very smooth not harsh and I don't lose any tone when it's not being used. Fultone is a nice wah but $235 and $269? They're nice sounding but kinda hurts the wallet, and I think you can get a great wah cheaper than that.

 

[mikey383]

Crybabies aren't hard to mod. Whoever told you that was feeding you a line. They are in fact very simple to mod, and with a few resistor changes, you can have one that smokes a stock one. I have an original Crybaby that has been heavily modded, and I love how vocal it sounds. Plus they aren't hard to mod for True Bypass. For the price that you can get them used plus the price of modding parts, they aren't a bad deal at all.

As for the Vox 847, there's also a mod for them to eliminate the volume drop issue. One resistor change will take care of that.

Morley wahs - I do like how they have the switchless action so you can start on the bassier side of the wah. However, I think they suck a lot of tone from a rig. The Tremonti wah has a wide sweep range, but I didn't particularly care much for it.

Budda Budwah - I have one of these coming later this week. I've been reading on TGP where they are basically the same circuit as a QCB-95 Crybaby just a different inductor, and don't have much sweep, so I'm a little apprehensive about it now. I'll post my findings when it arrives.

I'll try to dig up the page for modding a Crybaby.

 

[gbsmusic]

Mikey 383 is right on, the budda does'nt have much sweep to it, that did take some getting use to, you have to use a lot slower than other wah's.

 

[dmt]

i have a dunlop crybaby from hell and i like it enough. Its very similar to the 535q and is a 'metal' wah in some respects, but if you spend enough time with it to tweak the settings you can get a good sound out of it. I basically bought it to get a tone similar to Adam Jones from Tool, and its pretty nice for that. Of course a pushed tube amp helps ANY tone....

 

[mikey383]

BAM!!!

I found it. I don't think it's the same page that I used before, but it has nearly the same information.

 

[mikey383]

Ok, so I got the Budwah a few days ago, but I haven't had the chance to try it out until today.

Before I even fired up my rig, I swapped my Crybaby out with the Budwah. Plugged in, turned on, and let the Budwah have it. It's vocal, very vocal, but I didn't think it was any different than my Crybaby, so I hooked the Crybaby up. Bland. Tasteless. The Budwah is almost perfect, other than the high end gets a little harsh, but that can easily be dialed out by turning the pot back a notch or two.

So, the Budwah gets a thumbs up from me.

 

[insideout]

I guess I should have stood further away from my speaker cabs when I was younger :shock:. I have a Morley Bad Horsie II and I absolutely love it to death. The switchless funtion is something that I refuse to live without ever again. I A/B'd my rig with and without it and can't hear a difference or tone suckage (hence the opeing statement). It's comfortable under foot, wah effect starts and end on the low end (I find it much smoother than ending with uber treble) and on the II model you can set your own sweep range and level. I guess I'm kind of surprised to hear peope saying they don't like it, but hey everyone hears things differently. 8)

 

[Rocky]

find your own wah

 

[jrkooshman]

I love my Teese RMC3- it was a huge upgrade from my Crybaby

 

[mikey383]

find your own wah

Gee, such a useful post. I'm sure that answered a lot of questions. :roll:


I had a little more experimenting with the Budwah last night at practice. It really stands out in the mix. Better than my Crybaby IMO. It has a nice midrange that really cuts through. The 4 other guys in my band liked it much better as well.

It's a pretty good wah. It was worth it to me.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Another thumbs up for the Budda....I've been through all the crybabies, two morleys, and a fulltone, and the Budda is the perfect wah for me!

 

[metalhead51105]

i will give the budwah a shot... i played the 535q, the original crybaby, the zakk wylde, the jimi hendrix, and for shits and giggles, the ibanez weeping demon, and the morley bad horsey II. honestly the bad horsey was the best of the bunch in my opinion both for crying solos and shifty porno guitar. but anyway thanks to all who have added their two cents to help me along with my decision

 

[zappaslaughter]

I recently tried about four or five wah pedals, including the Buddah, Badhorsie, a couple of cry babies, a VOX and the Fultone deluxe. I went with the Fulltone because it was the most versital and sounded / felt the best to me. It was also the most expensive

I talked the dealer down to 230$.

It is a great wah pedal.

my 2 cents