Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

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raindog13
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Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by raindog13 » Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:09 pm

As the title says. I've got a basic run of the mill Crybaby that I have been fighting with for probably 15 years and have just never been able to get to sound right. I never really used a wah all that much, so it wasn't that huge of a deal, but that thing sucks. I used to have an old pre-pcb Vox that was just wonderful, but me and a buddy were drunk at a bar and I sold it to him for $20 because I was playing bass at the time and didn't need it. I've tried other Crybaby's and they seem okay at best, and even the handwired Vox's that were out a few years ago seemed lackluster. Nothing seems to have a good sweep. What do yinz use?

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by marqueemoon » Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:56 pm

I had a Morley Bad Horsie for a while. Tried a bunch of others and thought it sounded the best, and I liked the optical switching.

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by raindog13 » Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:59 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:56 pm
I had a Morley Bad Horsie for a while. Tried a bunch of others and thought it sounded the best, and I liked the optical switching.
I've heard tales of a signal cut with those, because of the way that optical switching is designed. Also a bit of a delay in the response for the same reason. You experience any of those issues?

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by marqueemoon » Thu Mar 11, 2021 6:13 pm

raindog13 wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:59 pm
marqueemoon wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:56 pm
I had a Morley Bad Horsie for a while. Tried a bunch of others and thought it sounded the best, and I liked the optical switching.
I've heard tales of a signal cut with those, because of the way that optical switching is designed. Also a bit of a delay in the response for the same reason. You experience any of those issues?

Definitely a delayed response, but it’s consistent and you can plan around it.

Don’t remember any signal dropout.

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by ElephantDNA » Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:23 pm

Generally I've preferred playing either: the "Hendrix" dunlop wah or actually I like bass wah a lot for guitar as well. Like that lower whooshiness if that's a word? Not sure. But those have been my wah go-tos for as long as I've been playing. I think that hendrix wah is supposed to be based on an old vox wah but not 100% sure.

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by HarlowTheFish » Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:43 pm

I like the Bad Horsie, as mentioned above, the Dimebag wah, and the old Ibanez Weeping Demon wah. They're all a bit thicker and throatier than the standard Dunlop or Vox ones, and IMO you get a bit more usable range -- not too dark at the heel and not too shrill at the heel. Pretty much anything with adjustable sweep and Q is a pretty good pick though, because it gives you a bit more room to adjust it for your setup.

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by s_mcsleazy » Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:09 pm

the coloursound was always my favorite.
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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by zhivago » Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:36 pm

I'd just get a used RMC4 or something...I bought a used one a while back and it's great.

It is the version with the buffer so you can use it before fuzz too.
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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by JVG » Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:07 am

Depends how much you want to spend.

I love the Xotic Effects Wah. Sounds great out of the box, but is highly adjustable if you want to tinker with bias, Q, range etc

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by Trout » Fri Mar 12, 2021 2:00 am

I'd recommend the Plutonium Chi Wha wha. It's Boss-sized, well built, and it turn on as you touch the wha with your footing off when remove your foot. No click just instant wha on or off.

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by ElephantDNA » Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:10 am

HarlowTheFish wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:43 pm
I like the Bad Horsie, as mentioned above, the Dimebag wah, and the old Ibanez Weeping Demon wah. They're all a bit thicker and throatier than the standard Dunlop or Vox ones, and IMO you get a bit more usable range -- not too dark at the heel and not too shrill at the heel. Pretty much anything with adjustable sweep and Q is a pretty good pick though, because it gives you a bit more room to adjust it for your setup.
Weeping demon was a nice one. Really, that whole product range was good and dirt cheap as well. The ibanez tone locs and digitech hardwires probably the two most underrated short-lived pedal lines. Both are really good and can be found pretty affordably second-hand.
s_mcsleazy wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:09 pm
the coloursound was always my favorite.
That's a nice one too.

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by MechaBulletBill » Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:52 am

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:09 pm
the coloursound was always my favorite.
not all coloursounds are the same, some have no inductor and are a really mellow effect, but ones with an inductor can get really synthy and fat.

for stooges sounds, i'd just get one of the 80s/90s v847/crybabys and play loud & dirty, maybe try one of these mods

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by ElephantDNA » Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:08 am

MechaBulletBill wrote:
Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:52 am
s_mcsleazy wrote:
Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:09 pm
the coloursound was always my favorite.
not all coloursounds are the same, some have no inductor and are a really mellow effect, but ones with an inductor can get really synthy and fat.

for stooges sounds, i'd just get one of the 80s/90s v847/crybabys and play loud & dirty, maybe try one of these mods
I am not the most knowledgable of the exact details, but that's why I like that hendrix wah so much. I think it's effectively "modded" for more midrange/low end. So you get that stooges type whoom whoom thing and not the piddly wheep wheep wheep. I think those adjectives make sense if you've played a wah?

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by Zork » Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:50 pm

If you still have the Vry Baby and know how to solder, this is a very good starting point: https://www.wah-wah.co.uk/diy.html
I modded the hell out of my Zakk Wylde Signature wah and it sounds great now. I even changed the transistors at one point. It's worth it.
The Ibanez Weeping Demon is huge and butt ugly, but very tweakable and sounds just very, very good. Can be used for bass and guitar and does modern and vintage tones and a lot in between.

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Re: Welp, gonna be playing some Stooges. Need a wah.

Post by raindog13 » Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:16 pm

Some pretty good ideas in here, thanks guys! I think I might look into one of those "Hendrix" wahs, or just modding my crybaby. I don't really use one enough to justify spending a small fortune on it, so I think I'll do some more digging on the modding idea first

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