Do You Use a Wah for Metal?

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

Hell to the yes!
more than Iommi, but less than Hammett

 

[LLL]

I don't, but Kirk does

 

[some_dude]

I use a Cantrell wah.

Wah is like vibrato… takes a bit of sounding bad before you learn to make it sound good.

And, like vibrato, if you use it on every note it gets really f’kn irritating.

 

[alex1fly]

You can get a cool piercing rhythm tone with the Wah in the right spot. Kind of between halfway and all the way up. Gets those upper mids to cut right through, saturates the highs, and reduces the low end boom.

 

[dave74]

I know Kerry King uses the Zack Wylde wah pedal for his rig. He says it sounds "nastier" than the Dunlop.

I thought ZW has always been with Dunlop. (?)

 

[Guest]

I thought ZW has always been with Dunlop. (?)

Meaning standard Dunlop. They also make a Jerry Cantrell, etc. Maybe I should have phrased it more clearly.

 

[Guest]

This will explain what I meant a little better. I never realized they made so many artist series way pedals. Mine is built into my long board along with a separate volume pedal. So I've not had to look at wah pedals for a while.

 

[Securb]

I never realized they made so many artist series way pedals. .

 

[dave74]

Meaning standard Dunlop. They also make a Jerry Cantrell, etc. Maybe I should have phrased it more clearly.

OK I gotcha. Yeah the Crybaby line has really expanded over the years. Sweetwater has this great graph of the whole line. It shows where all the frequency-centers and ranges are set, plus it describes the main differences in features.

 

[dave74]

Here's the comparison chart for reference.
https://www.sweetwater.com/feature/dunlop/wah-pedals/index.php

 

[Ascension]

Here is a live clip from the 90's metal days where I used a wah. My old Carvin DC 200 a JCM 900 50 and a George Dennis Wah with a Rockman compressor sustainer in the front.
https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=5539540

 

[NegativeEase]

Wah with Metal is like mixing Rap with Metal. It usually sucks very very hard.

Stoner Desert Metal is the only place I think it fits in Metal

 

[some_dude]

Wah with Metal is like mixing Rap with Metal. It usually sucks very very hard.

Stoner Desert Metal is the only place I think it fits in Metal

Nah. As a bandpass filter it’s all over the place in metal as it helps leads slice through the rest of the band. The trick is to not get carried away actually wahwahwahwahwah-ing* with it.

* also known as Hammetting the wah.

 

[NegativeEase]

Nah. As a bandpass filter it’s all over the place in metal as it helps leads slice through the rest of the band. The trick is to not get carried away actually wahwahwahwahwah-ing* with it.

* also known as Hammetting the wah.

Oh, good point -I have no issue with using it like Mick Ronson did (Cocked wah) as a filter to poke holes in the mix or light application.

Indeed, it's the Kirk Hammet thing I get totally annoyed with.

 

[dave74]

The Q-Zone has been much fun these last few weeks. I assumed a dark-thick setting would be my cup, but it's actually the opposite, higher and fairly narrow with a healthy boost.

Liking it so much I decided wth and got me a Petrucci Wah for $140 from Alto Music. It was an open-box/demo but was inventoried as brand-new on July 13th, so it's only 1 month old.

Can't wait to spend some time on it this weekend! I will open it up first just to ensure the stock settings match the manual JP settings, then just play it stock for awhile before tinkering.
This thing is basically the rack wah in pedal form. Adjustable boost, Q, and 6-band EQ.

I've never been into the really vocalized wah wah wah thing.
It probably just takes some practice to learn the slow sweeping effect and precise parking while trying to play well at the same time.

Do these need to be first in line or can I still run into a utility Boss pedal first then to the wah?
(tuner or gate, or even line-selector)

 

[some_dude]

I've never been into the really vocalized wah wah wah thing.
It probably just takes some practice to learn the slow sweeping effect and precise parking while trying to play well at the same time.

IMO, learning to use wah is like learning to use vibrato… it’s going to sound bad before you figure out how to make it sound good. Just keep playing with it and eventually things will start to come together.

Do these need to be first in line or can I still run into a utility Boss pedal first then to the wah?
(tuner or gate, or even line-selector)

I run wah first because that’s how Jimi did it.

 

[Demanic]

Wah with Metal is like mixing Rap with Metal. It usually sucks very very hard.

Stoner Desert Metal is the only place I think it fits in Metal

Blind Guardian makes good use of it.

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[NegativeEase]

Blind Guardian makes good use of it.

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Didn't know them, but I think your right though, I watched a few vids....it's all over the place on their songs -but it's musical.

 

[Demanic]

Didn't know them, but I think your right though, I watched a few vids....it's all over the place on their songs -but it's musical.

Of course it's all over the place. Two guitars and melodic power metal.

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