Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

El Supremo

El Supremo

New member
Incredibly, in some 20 years of playing, I've never stepped on of these things (not sober anyways). Always kinda feared it may be too distracting and of myself overdoing it, but hey, why deprive myself of having some fun? Some details to kinda narrow the choice down:

Favourite wah wahers: Dave Murray (bigtime), Slash, Michael Schenker and of course Jimi and Jimmy.

Budget: €200 (so roughly around $ 200).

Setup: Mostly a Marshall 2204 boosted with an OD, clean boost or Distortion. So your basic gnarly old school rock metal tone.

Currently looking at: Dunlop Clyde Mccoy crybaby and Crybaby Classic.


So what's your favourites (for what I'm looking for) if I may inquire?
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

With that budget I'd look at Teese wahs, the entire range is impressive, but the Picture Wah is a great version of the "classic" wah tone.

I've not had a chance to checkout the new Clyde McCoy though.
 
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Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

Wilson Effects. If you can't find a Wilson Wah you like, they probably don't make it. I have the Rippah Q Vintage 12 which covers all my needs(Hendrix, Funk, Metallica, AIC) and more.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

I just bought the Crybaby Classic last week. I am lovin' it. It is an amazing wah. At fist I felt as though the sweep could have had more physical travel distance on the pedal but the full tonal range is there so it only took me a few days to get used to it.

I would have considered the McCoy myself if any stores around me had it but now I am extremely happy they didn't stock the McCoy.

The Crybaby Classic is true bypass which was one of my main concerns. The fact it had the red fasel inductor inside is a huge bonus though. This wah is smooth man.
 
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Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

Morley Power Wah or Bad Horsie 2 get my vote. Rocktron Black Cat Moan is interesting but unconventional.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

Wasn't aware of Wilson Effects. Cool stuff. Sucks they don't have a European dealer though.
The RMC stuff is a fair amount over what I'd like to spend. Have to check out some samples though.

Thanks for the suggestions so far! Have some homework to do I guess.

Btw. I've read the manual of the Crybaby Classic and it currently states "hardwire" as means of bypass. I know it used to be True Bypass. Did I miss something there, or did they misprint something?
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

El Supremo said:
Btw. I've read the manual of the Crybaby Classic and it currently states "hardwire" as means of bypass. I know it used to be True Bypass. Did I miss something there, or did they misprint something?
Click to expand...

I researched wah pedals for a few months and was confused for a long time whether or not the GCB-95F Crybaby Classic was true bypass or not. I eventually found out it is true bypass and not hardwire bypass. My research led me to this document which is an official dunlop products document stating what is and is not true bypass. A standard GCB-95 is hardwire bypass but ALL GCB-95F Crybaby Classics are true bypass (as shown by the T).

http://issuu.com/jimdunlopusa/docs/bypass_spreadsheet_sheet1/3?e=0

I opened mine after buying it and sure enough, it has a DPDT and is true bypass.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

The Ibanez Weeping Demon is nearly infinitely tweakable and sounds great. It also falls well within your price point.

Big plus: It can be switched between the on/off switch or auto-on when you step on the rocker pedal.

I really like this pedal.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

+1 on the Teese wahs. I've owned Vox, Dunlop, Fulltone and a couple other wahs, the Teese Wizard Wah (RMC5) is my favorite of all of them.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

If you like the classics, like Jimi and Jimmy, then you gotta go with Vox. Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Beck, Townshend, Krieger, etc all used Vox wahs.

I really like the Vox V846HW Wah. The only downside that this Wah has is that there's no 9V inlet. This can easily be solved by drilling a small hole and fitting in a one spot 9V Battery Clip Converter. It's got a vintage-spec Halo type inductor in it, so think Hendrix mostly for the tone
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

535Q is the one wah to get if you are only getting one. That would be where I'd start if I had my life to live over
 
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Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

Well, narrowed it down to the Crybaby Classic, 535Q, Vox 846HW and Dunlop Clyde McCoy. The latter 2 seem the be pretty much the same thing (even read somewhere that Dunlop built stuff for Vox). The Jerry Cantrell Sig looks interesting too though.
The 535Q also seems to have the red Fasel conductor as well as true bypass switching (according to the manual).

The Wilson Effects stuff will run royally over budget with the current exchange rate, import duties and shipping costs. The Dirty Beaver got me totally side tracked for a moment btw. (they tend to do that more often than not).
The Teese stuff is available over here, but is €100 over what I would like to spend.

Still looking for samples around the net. Probably the first one that reminds me of Murray's solo tone '80 to '84 will be the one for me :). I know he probably used one with the "stack-of-dimes" inductor, but I'm trying to not get too geeky about stuff. Thanks for the input!
 
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Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

So the Vox only has batteries as a powering option and the 535Q is probably a Classic with tweaks.
So now, it's between the Dunlop McCoy and 535Q. Think I'll check out a bit more about the Teese lineup, just in case.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

If you can spring for the Teese, it's definitely the superior pedal, but it also depends on what you're looking for. I used to own a 535Q, and it had hundreds of available sounds. The problem is that I didn't particularly care for any of them, so I sold it. Since then I've tried a Fulltone Clyde, and it was really good though it didn't have the tweak-ability I wanted. The only Teese I've had the chance to play is their RMC-4 Picture Wah which is supposed to be a clone of the original Vox Clyde McCoy. I haven't played the real deal, but the Teese is amazing. In fact I had been planning to get an RMC-3 which is essentially a fully tweak-able Picture Wah when I heard a Wilson for the first time. These days a Wilson Signature wah is one of the few things on my GAS list.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

I've had both an older 535Q (not so old that it took two batteries, but still old), and one of the newer ones with the red Fasel inductor. I think the Fasel version sounds a lot better -- more tactile, more vocal, more organic. I felt like all the settings translated into more different sounds that were actually useful. It's also true bypass now.

I also love the hell out of the Morley Bad Horsie 2, but it's pretty different from a Crybaby type of wah and may not be at all what you're looking for.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

When you check out Teese, dystrust is on the money. RMC-4 for great, classic tone out of the box, RMC-3 for tweaker's paradise. If they are out of your price range the two I'd consider are the 535Q and the CAE (switchable inductors) but I'm not sure how much the CAE is with currency exchange.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

Demanic said:
Ibanez Weeping Demon.
Click to expand...

Just spent the last hour fooling around with mine. It sounds wicked in front of a compressor, I'll say that. There are a bunch of them on e-bay but I don't know if they ship to Europe.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

535Q. The Swiss Army Knife of wah pedals. Can get any sound you want out of it. I wish they made one that had an auto-on switch, but I'll let that be. If you want the auto-on then Morley for sure. But I think the 535Q is the best wah you can buy all things considered.
 
Re: Looking at wah pedals. Any suggestions?

Found a place that sells the RMC4 within (actually acceptibly over) my budget. Since the RMC4 is True bypass and the Dunlop McCoy isn't, it's now between the 535Q and RMC4. So I guess I'll be hooked on youtube this evening :).

Furthermore:
The CAE's yellow Fasel option sounds a bit too "in your face" for me.
The Morley line sounds very different indeed from the Cry Baby line to me. Not really what I'm looking for.
The Weeping Demon didn't really do it for me, though I'll be honest and have to say the cosmetics and size really turn me off, so I can't really give it a fair chance.
 
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