Originally Posted by: kick the babyI got a Zakk Wylde Signature Wah! The sound was incredible... until I backed my foot off of it... I guess it was built so that when you push back on it, it filters the sound to a certain extent. This is a useful feature, so I am not considering getting a new wah, but it almost totally mutes my harmonics... Would a distortion pedal or and overdrive solve the problem? I'm running it through a Line 6 Spider III 15v amp.

Always been a fan of the Dunlop Crybaby and the Zakk Wah is the stuff, I think when it comes to a good wah.

Just to give an idea of a wah; all it really is, is a very muscular tone knob. rocking it back and forth is letting only certain frequencies through.

That said, in addition to the rocking wah dynamic that you get when you are actively pressing it back and forth (ie - the wah wah sound), there is no one spot on the wah sweep that the wah is 'meant to stay at'. Remember, it is essentially a tone knob.

So, the best bet is to find that 'spot' that works the best with how you set up your sound. Every combination of guitar, amp and effect is going to net you a different sound and how the wah slots in to that mix is not going to be the same from me to you to Zakk.

For me in a metal tone, I tend to set my amp tone very bass heavy at 7-8ish, mid at about 3 and treble at about 5. By itself, it's very muddy. However, I keep my Dunlop on full time and fully open in the treble mode (pedal is flat against the body of the wah). It opens up the treble enough and compresses that muddy amp tone in to a very dynamic crunchy sound.

In my metal playing, I use harmonics quite a bit and love a fat, chunky (farty) sound not unlike the early Zakk/Ozzy stuff like Miracle Man/No More Tears. My set up gets me in that range. I've never tried to have a sound exactly like one player and I don't (or can't, really...) but Zakk was in the type of sound I looked.

Other players who play always on were like Michael Schenker but Michael would have a very british sound and would have the wah on full time and would kick the wah back a couple of degrees from being flat to the body because he found a sweet spot that worked with his set up.

Don't look at the pedal for rules of how to use. Mess with it until you get what you like. I think a wah is one of the coolest and most expressive tools in many guitar players arsenals and really give massive punch to some dynamic playing.

Play around and have fun with it. Some of the best stuff is stuff you stumble in to.