Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

[Nate]

My scenario:

I'm finishing up my rack setup and am now at the point where I need to decide what to do about my wah situation. Generally I don't like wah but use it occasionally, but whatever. My favorite sounding wah pedal I've found is actually the Dunlop Bass Wah. However, my ultimate goal I want to achieve with my rig is to use as little cable in my signal chain as possible. That's where the MIDI idea came from. If I can have my Bass Wah sitting inside my rack and just have it controlled remotely with an extra expression pedal (thus not having the signal chain go from my pedal board and back to my amp for just one pedal), that would just be beyond awesome.

I'm aware of the Rack Wah that is available and that would be ideal in theory; however it is just not the same sound as the Bass Wah (as confirmed by the Dunlop people).

Is such a feat possible? If so, what would it take?

 

[trevorus]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

http://www.prostage.eu/en/products/adaptors/wah.html

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

Your best option would be to buy a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe, and use it in the Whacked setting, which is shifted lower like a bass wah. It's not a tonesucker, and will sound better than almost any rackmounted idea.

 

[J Moose]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

Well the rack wah would be the first thing to come to mind... and I'm sure they can mod/tweak it to the specs of the bass wah if you can't get there with all those knobs & switches on the front panel.

Maybe another solution would be to see if there's a patch in a rack box, like a TC g Force that you like and can run under continuous control.

Though, how is the signal getting to the rack? Wireless? Most cats I know that have a rack and use cables keep at least a wah and a tuner up front...

 

[ozzynotwood]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

My scenario:

I'm finishing up my rack setup and am now at the point where I need to decide what to do about my wah situation. Generally I don't like wah but use it occasionally, but whatever. My favorite sounding wah pedal I've found is actually the Dunlop Bass Wah. However, my ultimate goal I want to achieve with my rig is to use as little cable in my signal chain as possible. That's where the MIDI idea came from. If I can have my Bass Wah sitting inside my rack and just have it controlled remotely with an extra expression pedal (thus not having the signal chain go from my pedal board and back to my amp for just one pedal), that would just be beyond awesome.

I'm aware of the Rack Wah that is available and that would be ideal in theory; however it is just not the same sound as the Bass Wah (as confirmed by the Dunlop people).

Is such a feat possible? If so, what would it take?

I dont think this will work as a MIDI setup, the wah itself is not a MIDI/Digital device and wont accept an MIDI CC controller.

I guess some sort of system could be built with a seperate motor that turns the wah's internal pot, and have the motor controllable by a MIDI CC expression pedal, but I have no idea how to do something like this, and would probably be a very messy setup for some that says "Generally I don't like wah"

If money isnt a problem, ask Dunlop if they're still doing a custom shop stuff, maybe you can get one ofn their rackmount wahs modded to you specs.

I know what your staying, I have a large rig and I like to keep things neat and tidy too.

 

[Nate]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

Random (possibly slightly inebriated) thought, but I need to get this out before I forget it:

What if I were to take potentiometer (and possibly even the spring that the expression pedal is tied to) and put those in another expression pedal, then take the original Bass Wah and wire an output jack to the connections that the potentiometer would normally be soldered to? Then use another cable to go from the new output jack to the expression pedal, controlling the potentiometer that way? Am I crazy and have had too much to drink or is this actually plausable?

 

[Nate]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

http://www.prostage.eu/en/products/adaptors/wah.html

Oh man, this is *ALMOST* what I had in mind! At first glance I thought I had found my holy grail! Then I realized that I have to dial in my own wah sounds all over again just like I would with the rack wah.

Still though, I shall investigate this option. Thank you!

 

[Nate]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

Well the rack wah would be the first thing to come to mind... and I'm sure they can mod/tweak it to the specs of the bass wah if you can't get there with all those knobs & switches on the front panel.

Maybe another solution would be to see if there's a patch in a rack box, like a TC g Force that you like and can run under continuous control.

Though, how is the signal getting to the rack? Wireless? Most cats I know that have a rack and use cables keep at least a wah and a tuner up front...

There's kind of an auto-wah function in my G Force, but I don't use it. I would much rather have control over my wah sounds.

At the moment my signal is going from guitar to rack tuner/Hush Super C/Trilogy/G Force/back to Trilogy, then finally my speakers. The end result will have an EV RE-2 Pro Wireless before the rack tuner.

 

[Warheart]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

http://www.andyszeugs.de/projekte/rack-wah/constrManual_HTML/constrMan.html

you can basically put your wah PCB in this, and it is then controlled with an expression pedal, no signal loss from large cable runs.

You can also buy them completed.

Also:
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/wahpedl/wahped.htm

He gets into it under Wah Pedal Retrofit by Anderton, I don't know how to do that, but its an option. Its pretty much how all remote wah's work.

 

[eschoendorff]

Re: Operate wah pedal remotely: Is it possible?

http://www.prostage.eu/en/products/adaptors/wah.html

That's freakin cool!