What's the "best" wah pedal?

C

crazytooguy

New member
OK, I know this has probably been done to death, but I'm asking anyway.

What would be perfect as far as I'm concerned is a wah pedal that had just the right voicing, a real smooth pedal action, and was DEAD quiet. Oh, and with a hard-wired bypass. I'm thinking a wah with the voicing like SRV's "Voodoo Chile". Any ideas? How are the "new" Cry-Babys? Thanks!!
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

Fulltone Clyde Deluxe, IMO.

Teese, in Curly's opinion.

The Dunlaps are just OK.

I'd look for a used Vox 847 with the chrome top on Ebay...and then have it sent directly to John Spina (STRATDELUXER97 here on the forum) nd have it modded to Clyde Specs.

That's what I did.

Lew
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

Crazytooguy,

I have a VOX v847 I'm not using... I might sell it. Make me an offer. It has a DPDT switch installed, clean as hell, and I tweaked the circuit for a better voicing, used Orange Drop caps too.
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

crazytooguy said:
OK, I know this has probably been done to death, but I'm asking anyway.

What would be perfect as far as I'm concerned is a wah pedal that had just the right voicing, a real smooth pedal action, and was DEAD quiet. Oh, and with a hard-wired bypass. I'm thinking a wah with the voicing like SRV's "Voodoo Chile". Any ideas? How are the "new" Cry-Babys? Thanks!!
Click to expand...

The best sounding "vintage" style wah I've tryed is Lew's Clyde Deluxe from Fulltone....Save some cash and buy the Standard model...You don't need the 2 extra settings...

The best sounding non-vintage sounding wah voiced for strat/tele guys,is Curly's Teese RMC1 wah...Caution though...Don't buy this wah unless you only plan on using it with single coil pickups...You will overdrive this wah and hear muddy tone..

My Vox 847 mods are right about near the Fulltone Wah,and my own version of the Teese RMC1 board I've been tweaking is pretty close to the Teese wah...Ask Curly and Lew on this...

You first need a great pot and inductor in order to even have half a chance at great wah tone that is vocal and vowel sounding...After these two,then it's board tweaking time..I've spent several weeks learning pretty much what each and every component in several vintage style wahs does to effect the wah..Everything from the inductor,pot,caps,cap material,transistors,and resistor values...It's not a hard circuit to work on,but there is some things you'd need to know to really get your wah voiced right...I returned a $245 Teese Picture Wah because I truly liked the way my modded Vox 847 sounded and reacted compared to the Teese...If the Teese was better,I'd still own it... :dance:

Couple of board pictures of a wah I finished today....

John
 
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Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

Regarding John's Vox 847 mods: it took a few days for me to get used to the HUGE improvement in the vowel like quality of the pedal. The wah effect is now much more pronounced and the sound really jumps right out of speakers. It's a much more pronounced WAH than my Fulltone or vintage Crybaby.

But now that I'm used to it, the Vox is the wah I've been having the most fun with lately.

I can really squeeze a note out like toothpaste from a tube...it's a blast!

Lew
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

Thames said:
Crazytooguy,

I have a VOX v847 I'm not using... I might sell it. Make me an offer. It has a DPDT switch installed, clean as hell, and I tweaked the circuit for a better voicing, used Orange Drop caps too.
Click to expand...

$50.....Plus shipping and I'll take it off your hands....I get first dibs on it if Crazytooguy doesn't want it...My buddy Ron needs a wah..I have everything else here at home to turn it into another "SuperWah"

John
 
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Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

Lewguitar said:
Regarding John's Vox 847 mods: it took a few days for me to get used to the HUGE improvement in the vowel like quality of the pedal. The wah effect is now much more pronounced and the sound really jumps right out of speakers. It's a much more pronounced WAH then my Fulltone or vintage Crybaby.

But now that I'm used to it, it's the wah I've been having the most fun with lately.

Lew
Click to expand...

That's cool Lew....Hey I Just put together what used to be a crappy standard Dunlop Crybaby....I turned it into a tweaked Vox 847 in disguise...I then put my power supply in it, Red Fasel inductor,Hot Potz,and added that cool volume control...Not sure whether I should keep it or sell it? Darn thing sounds too good? All these wahs! I own like 4 of them now! :smack:
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

One of the coolist sounding vintage Wah's i ever heard was the DeArmond weeper. It had a real nice sweep range. Sweet sounding to. Maybe not
as good as the Vox's, But it had a unique sound to it. Bright but not shrill.
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

I had a dunlop original GCB-95 wah once.

It was ok I guess, too trebly.

I'm looking for the vintage wah tone... 50's and 60's style...

So Is a Vox 847 for me?
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

i use an early 80s Dunlop wah (which is different than current ones) that has the best sound of any wah I have tried, boutique or not.
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

Grandor said:
I had a dunlop original GCB-95 wah once.

It was ok I guess, too trebly.

I'm looking for the vintage wah tone... 50's and 60's style...

So Is a Vox 847 for me?
Click to expand...

There is no 50's wah wah...I don't think the wah was invented until after the mid 60's. I bought one of the first Vox Clyde McCoy wahs to make it to the USA and that would have been about 1967 or 68. The Clyde is the model Hendrix used.

When that wore out I bought a Vox Crybaby about 1971 or so. Still have it.

I think the newer Vox 847 I have is a better sounding pedal than the old Crybaby and it's even better now that John has modded it for me.

But the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe I picked up a year or so is the best vintage sounding wah of all.
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

I picked up an Ibanez Weeping Demon about a month ago and have been very pelased with it. The construction is solid, the tone is VERY customizable and it's very feature rich.

I was ready to plunk down the cake on a Teese when I decided to take a look at one on a whim. Glad I did. Saved me a ton of cash and got me an amazing Wah.
 
Re: What's the "best" wah pedal?

Mincer said:
i use an early 80s Dunlop wah (which is different than current ones) that has the best sound of any wah I have tried, boutique or not.
Click to expand...

:wink:

Dave....If you only knew what you were missing! Absolutely no comparison..The late 60's Crybabys are better sounding than the 80's models due to better pots and inductors,and I Just sold 2 late 60's models..The CBs don't have the total sweep nor the vocal range by comparison,but maybe your's is really special.??? :dance:

John
 
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