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  • Distortion & Wah: What order?

    Title says it all. What order do you put these in?

  • #2
    Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

    For me, always wah first. It needs to be a wah with a good sweep and cut (I prefer the Crybabies, Teese or Morley to the reissue Vox) so it doesn’t disappear completely, but after is just too dramatic for me. Also, if I’m using fuzz pedals it needs to be both true bypass and have a fuzz friendly buffer. That way it’ll drive the fuzz (not get lost), won’t squeal and still allows volume cleanup on the fuzz when the wah is engaged.

    I use the Teese with fuzz, but an old early 90’s crybaby does just fine without for me.

    Of course, some players love it after distortion.... gotta try it both ways!
    Oh no.....


    Oh Yeah!

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    • #3
      Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

      Same for me, wah first.

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      • #4
        Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

        Cool. You are reinforcing what I'm playing with. Wah before distortion. But I'll take it one step further. I really don't think they play well together. You do "wah", or you do distortion. And never the twain shall meet.

        Wah's like clean.

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        • #5
          Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

          It depends. Usually I like wah before distortion . . . but sometimes that means that your wah sounds will be obliterated (espeically when using fuzz) - in which case distortion before wah can sound better.
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          • #6
            Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

            Wah before distortion for me...

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            • #7
              Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

              Someone should ask the king of dancing on toys - Adrian Belew.
              aka Chris Pile, formerly of Six String Fever

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              • #8
                Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                Originally posted by ICTGoober View Post
                Someone should ask the king of dancing on toys - Adrian Belew.
                I'll have to "google" this . . . since I don't know what you're talking about.

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                • #9
                  Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                  Wah into front of the amp
                  Originally posted by Bad City
                  He's got the crowd on his side and the blue jean lights in his eyes...

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                  • #10
                    Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                    I like my wah after any added dirt, and then into the amp distortion. So if I'm using a drive pedal, it goes guitar - OD - wah - amp

                    The wah is juicier and can really sing by slamming its input. And to my ears it still plays well with amp overdrive.

                    Although that's what I normally do, I did try it the other way with good results: I've recorded a solo with wah going into a Route66 and then into amp distortion (Mesa Mark IV lead channel).

                    I noticed putting the drive after the wah smooths out any harshness from the sweep, but to quote James Hetfield, it put a sh***y coating over the sound. Ok maybe it wasn't that bad! But not my favourite order. The drive pedal can enhance some of the weird harmonics that pop out in the wah sweep.

                    Let's not even talk about wah in the loop of the amp. That's crazy!

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                    • #11
                      Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                      Normally the wah goes first.

                      But why???

                      Because of the crappy input impedance on your typical wah... although this is needed for the interaction w/ the guitar.

                      However...

                      If you get a wah like the Fulltone WahFul (with its super high impedance input), you ain't gotta worry.

                      It's all about impedance... impedance... impedance...

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                      • #12
                        Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                        Originally posted by ArtieToo View Post
                        I'll have to "google" this . . . since I don't know what you're talking about.
                        As a huge Adrian Belew fan, he doesn't use a wah at all, and never has.

                        BTW, I think before the distortion sounds and 'feels' better to me.
                        Administrator of the SDUGF

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                        • #13
                          Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                          As a huge Adrian Belew fan, he doesn't use a wah at all, and never has.

                          BTW, I think before the distortion sounds and 'feels' better to me.
                          My point is that Adrian has done tons of experimentation with the order of toys and their resultant sounds. He would know it's important to try all the combinations. Having the distortion first adds more harmonics for any other effect to work with.... Might be "too much", but it pays to dance on those pedals. He treats guitar synths as just another pedal in the chain... His solo work in the 80's and with King Crimson was groundbreaking stuff. Adrian is a god in my book.
                          aka Chris Pile, formerly of Six String Fever

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                          • #14
                            Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                            Wah first. I use the Jerry Cantrell model in to an EHX Soul Food or Boss OD-3 then to the amp.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Distortion & Wah: What order?

                              Originally posted by ArtieToo View Post
                              Cool. You are reinforcing what I'm playing with. Wah before distortion. But I'll take it one step further. I really don't think they play well together. You do "wah", or you do distortion. And never the twain shall meet.

                              Wah's like clean.
                              Wah into clean is nice and funky, but wah and distortion, that's peanut butter and chocolate right there.

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