Wah-Wah

[Bluemoon]

Needs some recommendations on a wah pedal. Is the original crybaby the way to go? And what is up with all the variations of the crybaby--the price of which goes from about $70 to $170.

[AXE®]

I use a GCB-95.

It was a tone sucker, and some "dude" did a true bypass mod and all is good.

 

Your going to get a ton of suggestions.

Just go play some and report back...

[SRV-Zeppelin]

GET A VOX!!!

 

Try it out and see for yourself, they've got much better range in my opinion.

Make sure you use a battery for recording, though... they seem to have a bad habit of making a "crumpled paper" sound whilst using a power adapter.

[djroge1]

I have a 70's version cry-baby and a 70's version Morley.

 

The cry-baby is sometimes noisy, but if you clean the pot every 5-10 years or so it probably won't be a problem. It needs a 9v battery to operate and it's a pain to do if your in the middle of a gig. My 70's technology has me taking a screw driver and unscrewing all the rubber mounted feet to take the bottom off. Not sure if that is still true with todays versions.

 

I've had to replace the optical sensor in the Morley once about 10 years ago. It's very quiet because it uses a light sensor verses a pot. For mine, it has to be plugged in to work.

 

I've heard great things about the vox, but the best advice is the one about playing some different ones if you have the chance and then decide.

[modoc_333]

vox was good. about a year or 2 ago they started making them in china. you could tell the difference just holding one... much cheaper quality. the sound suffered too.

[L5Larry]

A friend gave me an old Thomas Organ Co. Cry Baby back in the mid seventies (which I still have). It is the wah pedal that revolutionized the industry, and became the standard by which all others were measured. I guess the Jim Dunlop Original Cry Baby is as close to the original as your going to get. I don't think you'll be disappionted in buying the "industry standard".

 

I also had a 70's Morley, and what I didn't like about the Morley was the length of the pedal travel needed to sweep the effect. Where the pedal on the Morley took about 3 inches of travel to sweep the tone spectrum, the Cry Baby took less than half that. The Morley might be better for "frozen wah" Zappa type effects, but the Cry Baby is definitely better for Clapton, SRV, Hendrix type playing.

 

PS: The sweep range on any original type Cry Baby is ADJUSTABLE. Just open it up and move the gear rod from the pedal onto different teeth of the potentiometer gear until you dial in the sound you want. Once I got mine dialed in, the guy that gave it to me wanted it back.

 

PSS: To djroge1 - Jim Dunlop used to make a A/C conversion kit for the old Cry Babys. It was a little circuit board that fastened onto the same bolt that holds the regular circuit board with a couple of wire solder connections and then you need to drill a hole for the standard adapter jack, quiet as a mouse. The other 9V adapter that I have had good luck with is a cheap Radio Shack model that just has the same connectors as a 9V battery itself. Just pull off the battery and hook up the adapter.

[chengin]

I saw the fender fuzz wah in a shop last wekend. A serious looking lump. Didn't get to try it out as I was in a hurry. Has anyone tried one of these, any opinions on it. It was a pretty cool looking item.

[cvansickle]

Fulltone Clyde. All the great sound of a vintag Vox, but better design and build quality.

[RichCI]

Teese offers several different models with different voicings if you're pretty particular about what you want; there are sound clips on the web site. I went with the RMC3 as, I know from experience, that my tastes change over time and that model has several parameters to allow you to customize it to your own liking. Out of the other models, the Wheels of Fire one is the wah I like best and I have my RMC3 set up for a similar sound.

 

http://www.realmccoycustom.com/

 

(Apparently, Geoffrey Teese is also a pretty big supporter of Obama)

[StrungInstruments]

I have the Dunlop 19" Rack mounted crybaby (DCR-1SR)and it's absolutely amazing! Got an eq, true bypass, 6 different settings too.

 

I also have a Morley Wah and an original crybaby (which is probably my third crybaby as the pots keep going scratchy but they do have a great sound!), but from my experiences, I would be happy to recommend the Morley or Dunlop but please bare in mind that you may need to clean or change the pot.

[saturn]

Original Cry Baby works great for me. I don't know how it compares to other Wahs, but I definately think it sounds better than the Expression Pedal on my ME-50. It has more of a pronounced wah wah sound.

 

One thing I did to improve my Cry Baby. It was kind of all in the bassy range. I'm not sure if it comes like this, or it was knocked out of line somehow. As you rock the pedal, there's gear teeth in there for rolling the tone control. They were all shifted toward the bass end, so I got in there and re-aligned the gear teeth to get more into the treble range and now it's a lot better.

[Hall]

Still use an original Cry Baby. "If it aint broke ....... ."

 

 

Steve

[Ian Martin]

I find Wah pedals to be a little too expressive for me. ;-)

 

Had a GCB-95; sold it...wah has left a bad taste in my mouth by being relentlessly abused by lametards who think "omg dis sihtty chromatic lixxxx will sound evn MOAR METAL WIT WAH !!!!!! just liek SLASH NOW !!!!!"

[ninety1vee]

the Dime Crybaby from hell

great features and when all is set neutral, it sounds just like an original crybaby. i love it cuz i can dial in my sweep, eq, and all sorts of other goodies on it (fantastic for jammin on some hard rock or blues based rock). plus one time i dropped it off a 2nd story (down the stairs) and nada a damn thing went wrong.

[myspace.com/jessenoah]

I find Wah pedals to be a little too expressive for me. ;-)

 

Had a GCB-95; sold it...wah has left a bad taste in my mouth by being relentlessly abused by lametards who think "omg dis sihtty chromatic lixxxx will sound evn MOAR METAL WIT WAH !!!!!! just liek SLASH NOW !!!!!"

 

lmfao

i love the nerd-metal voice too

my lefel sheventy worlack wif its majikal elf huntor apprentice will shtorm the catsle

[Thundergod]

GET A VOX!!!

 

 

 

+1

 

VOX is the best wah pedal IMO.

 

You should try morley's pedals too, just because they have an optic circuit that lasts forever instead of the pot that will break sooner or later.

[surfpup]

PS: The sweep range on any original type Cry Baby is ADJUSTABLE. Just open it up and move the gear rod from the pedal onto different teeth of the potentiometer gear until you dial in the sound you want. Once I got mine dialed in' date=' the guy that gave it to me wanted it back. [/quote']

 

+1 - Great tip that a lot of folks don't seem to know about. An easy mod I started doing after reading that Hendrix had done so - but while he set his for more treble, I set it for less. Makes a big difference getting the Wah's pot set as for how much or how little treble boost you want at the max wah point.

[Tim Plains]

the Dime Crybaby from hell

I've got one too and it's great. I barely use a wah, though.

[retrosurfer1959]

Don't know - I also use a Morley Ive had since the 70's big old chrome anchor weighs about 10 pounds and is 110 volts but they still sell the lightbulbs so it's still got the sound I want for the few times I use a Wah

[Rocker_Gamma]

I got a used Dunlop wah of some sort for $40 (I'd tell you what kind it is, but its in the trunk of my car right now). Great deal, just can't really use it to such great extents on driven channels. But through a clean channel is sounds absolutely pure.

[saturn]

PS: The sweep range on any original type Cry Baby is ADJUSTABLE. Just open it up and move the gear rod from the pedal onto different teeth of the potentiometer gear until you dial in the sound you want. Once I got mine dialed in' date=' the guy that gave it to me wanted it back.[/quote']

 

I should have read your post more closely before I posted mine. Your explaination was much more clear than my lame attempt.

[Homz]

Original Cry Baby works great for me. I only wish it had a light.

[Thundergod]

I saw the fender fuzz wah in a shop last wekend. A serious looking lump. Didn't get to try it out as I was in a hurry. Has anyone tried one of these' date=' any opinions on it. It was a pretty cool looking item.[/quote']

 

 

I got word today that the store I buy everything from is getting some of those fender reissues next week... I'll try some of them and post a review. I asked about them in some forums a while ago and no one had tried them. I don't think I'll be buying one however... not at that price.

 

 

As R9 I dont use Wah that much... I am considering selling one of them.

 

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Hey djroge1 nice setup you have there! Me like... Me like a lot! (your signature)

[retrosurfer1959]

My wife bought me the volume/tone pedal that I thought would be wasted because of the controls on the guitar, but I actually really like the freedom and speed it gives me and it seems to be a well made solid pedal.

[hfdoll]

This is going to sound rediculous, and maybe I'm insane. I actually like all my effects in one box (so to speak). Last year, I purchased a DigiTech RP 350; after fiddling around with the effects I wanted to use, I programmed them for easy access. It is has a wah pedal, and while it might not be a Morely, Crybaby, or a Vox, it does the job for me. I do find the wah capabilities impressive.