Wah wahs - comparisons wanted...

Hey guys, I'm just about to start buying some more gear to complete my setup. I've determined what effects I consider "necessities" - delay, eq, compressor and wah.

Now, I've tried about 3 different types of wahs - VOX V847, Dunlop Crybaby and Dunlop 535Q. I actually rented the Crybaby for a gig, and I found that it was satisfactory, but I get the feeling that eventually I would want more sounds than it can give me. That's why I brought a 535Q home to try out (my local guitar shop is really cool about stuff like that). My budget for a wah is about $250 CAD (or about $150 USD), and I paid $265 CAD for the 535Q, so if it's everything I've ever wanted from a wah, I'll bit the bullet and keep it. The 535Q has a lot of adjustable settings, like bandpass filter, volume boost, wah range and it also has a boost switch.

Anyways, the point of all this is to ask you guys if you have any further opinions on either these wahs or others. The guy at the guitar shop said he likes the Dunlop JH-1 (Jimi Hendrix) better than the Crybaby. What do you think? Is the 535Q worth the extra $100 CAD? What is your wah of preference?

Thanks again for your opinions.

i kinda like the Morely Bad Horsie 2. the switchless technology is very nice, and, to me, it sounds all right. the contour wah adds a nice little kick, bery good with distortion.

I personally own a crybaby... i love the damn thing however, if i were to buy another wah, i would definitely look at the new BOSS wah pedal. My friend showed me his and it is very nice with a wide range of effects and styles, very versatile. If you want to give your foot a rest, check out the DOD envelope filter and the BOSS auto wah... both are very nice, im lazy that way.

So I went out a couple of days ago and bought the JH-1 (Dunlop Jimi Hendrix pedal) and compared it (very briefly, come to think of it) to the Dunlop 535Q.

I had used the 535Q for about a week or so, and I really liked it, but I thought that another wah pedal might give me most of the same tones, but for less (the 535Q was $300 CAD, $181 USD, the JH-1 $160 CAD, $97 USD).

But, as soon as I plugged the JH-1 in and started to fool around with it, I found myself feeling like something was missing. I switched to the 535Q, and realized that the 535Q actually improved my overall tone, in any position, whereas the JH-1 would lessen my tone slightly and, obviously, add a wah sound on top of it.

So, the final verdict on the 535Q vs. the JH-1 is that the 535Q is the better pedal, and, at least for me, is worth the extra dough.

I may yet go totally ghetto and get an original Crybaby.

First off Dave Gilmore is awesome!!!!!! I love Pink Floyd.

I just want to tell you I have a Hendrix wah and it sucked, I bought it used and it make a static buzz so I got some tone cleaner and that helped a bit but not much. I eventually replaced the pot and adjusted the pot shaft as to the maz treble end. I thought it was sounding great but I am a ton freak and heard about the vision wah by roger mayer. They are probally the most expensive new wahs or at least one of(the most expensive I've come across). I just got it and let me tell you the thing is amazing, the most beautiful clean musical wah ever. The is no click when you turn it on and off. It doesnt even have a potentiometer. Its unreal, to anyone on a search for a wah it you can afford $349-$379 for a new onyou'll never buy another.

Thomyorke575

Guys Guys Guys.....Try out the new Vox V848, a Budda Bud Wah, a Fulltone Clyde Wah or a Teese RMC series wah then tell me what you think.

mesabooger you as well as everyone else are overlooking the vision wah. Its amazing blows the vox and budda wah out of the water as for the teese wahs and fulltone thats a matter of preference. I love the vision wah, try one and you'll be convinced its hands down the best. They are pricy but you can try to get one used. The vision wah has no switch to turn on and off the effect it has a pad that when the pedal is pushed down towards the treble end it senses the pressure and either turns on or off the effect. It also has a led so you know when its on. It has an output control and a blend control so you can decide how intense you want your wah as well as 16 sweep patterns easily accessable by four nobs. Not to mention it doesnt have a pot so their is no worry about tone cleaner or replacing your pot with a new one after 5 years becasue your once great wah now sounds like garbage. I am just saying give it a try. These wah's also have two internal controls the range and bias which allow for further tweeking so it is possible that at first try you may think its less than great however if you sit down with it you can infact generate any wah sound you want. I also have a roger mayer voodoo-1 and voodoo vibe the three of them together are amazing. Anyone who tries out these products would never look at a company like boss the same way again. Tone is all about botique pedals. My other fav's are z vex and maxon.

You know, you are right.
But I have never gotten my hands on one, so I have no experience to tell about. Maybe when I move back to So Cal. BTW, is there anywhere online that has em.
I too would like to mention that a good ol to look for is the Colorsound. A very tasty and classy wah(Think santana).

I bet you if you did a a/b test with the vision wah and a bad horsie the vision would blow away the horsey. Vision is also true bypass and has 16 pre-programmed sweep ranges. There is no switch or pot. I didnt know the bad horise had no switch or pots either? That surprises me. I'm not a steve vai fan and I associate him with morley and the horsie, doesnt he endorse it? I think its called the Morley "steve vai" bad horsie? Steve vai has the talent but lacks the soul that Jimmy Page, SRV, Hendrix, Gilmore, Clapton, Anastasio all had so much of. I'll take my Vision wah any day of the week over any other I have yet to try the teese picture wah though.

Well thats the reply I expected but didnt stop me from voicing my opinion which is what my statement was "my opinion" dont take offense we just have different taste. I still stand by steve vai not having any soul to his playing. If you think speed is neccessary to sound good you are mistaken my friend. Why do you suppose Hendrix is the renown "best guitar player" its not because of speed its because of the emotional quality of his playing, his virtuosity, unique tone, self expression, and awesome melodies and song writing skills. None of the aforementioned steve vai is too exceptional at. His tone sucks, cant write a melody, songs are just based around a solo, and lacks emotion. As I said before thats my optinion. Any day of the week I'd aspire to be a Hendrix or Page like player than Vai. However I do respect anyone who plays guitar and for whatever reason, so if that what your after good luck to you.

Thomyorke575

O.K buddy,

First of slap me silly whatever? Steve Vai sucks how ya like that. I dont only have half a brain I have two halfs and they work in synergy to create one whole that is much greater than their seperate parts may have been capable of. I know soul, David Gilmore is Soul. Steve Vai lacks soul. You dont get it just becasue someone does a bend doesnt mean they have soul, that proposterous. YOu have to open your mind and ears and delve outside of the pathetic 80's sound filled with way too hot pickups and thrash. If you take the time to explore music of other times and genre's you too will see that steve vai does lack soul. Just becasue someone doesnt have soul doesnt mean they cannot be a "virtuoso" as that term is somewhat frivolously used. Steve vai plays fast and uses an advanced level of theory and technique hence he's considered a virtuso. That doesnt mean that he has soul. Soul is the ability to play the right note at the right time and do so involuntarily. If you ever saw gilmore or BB King or Stevie ray or Hendrix they would just play the most amazing stuff whether fast or slow with impeccable amounts of feeling that vai has yet to show. I appreciate ignorance as the cliche goes "ignorance is bliss" so go ahead with your 80's metal and rock on brother. Have Vai write a melody that doesnt suck and I'll sit down for a justifyable conversation on whether or not he has soul.

Good Day,

THomyorke575

OK... we've gone down this bumpy road before guys. Just a couple of notes from a Hendrix loving, Vai non-album-owning (what's not hating, but simply a case of not really caring that much?) guy with an essay to write in only a few hours, so therefore a helluva lot of time to waste.
Thomyorke, you say that "just bending a note doesn't make it soul" (I guess in response to Aiwass's statement about whammy work), yet you mention players like B.B, Hendrix, and Gilmour, all who are generally known for their "soul" almost exclusively on how beautifully they bend notes to "really make the guitar sing". Second, to say that a musician doesn't play with soul is like saying that a chef doesn't like food: on one hand it's incredibly unlikely, and on the other you can never claim that unless they actually tell you, it's not up to the listener to decide if someone is playing "with soul", for all you know someone could be pouring their heart out, or Hendrix could have been mindlessly playing riffs he had no attachment to. DO you think Vai practices 10 hours a day for however many years he has, simply because of the money? I can tell you, no matter how much money a rockstar makes, that amount of dedication and (in my opinion, considering his grasp of theory) obvious intelligence could be earning a heap more doing something else. I hope I don't come across as rude, but who are you to tell someone who has spent their entire life dedicated to their craft that they lack soul because you don't like the sound of their melodies? I mean, do you get my point? I can hardly stand Vai, but please, your argument is immature to the extreme, and, considering how late it is in Australia, and how much I have to write in the next 12 hours (most likely without sleep considering the procrastinating I do on these posts), I'm really not in the mood to be that sympathetic.

Originally posted by Thomyorke575
O.K buddy,I know soul, David Gilmore is Soul. Steve Vai lacks soul. Have Vai write a melody that doesnt suck and I'll sit down for a justifyable conversation on whether or not he has soul.

Good Day,

THomyorke575

Wow, I think I have just found someone who knows what he is talking about... Dude... Could you teach me your endless knowledge? :D

Ok, here's my part. I still have to find someone that doesn't play with soul... Be it the kids that come to my guitar classes, that play their two notes melodies, their tongues hanging out due to concentration, or the biggest/fastest shrapnel artist, that play too fast, too much to be able to really appreciate only as music, without the technical side. Music was given to us to let our soul flow. So every note, each one, is part of you, and has soul.
That means that you understand David Gilmour's soul (and BB's, and all the others you have talked about) when he's playing those bends. But I, on my part, get all those kinds of souls. YOu are talking about the different genres and times in music. If you give them a real listen, you'll see that anything is worthwhile to be on the planet. I see soul in Paganini's caprice. I see soul in Bach's praeludes. I see soul in Steve VAI, I see soul in the spice girls (even though it's not the same as BB king).

Writing that VAI has only written melodies that sucked (or anyone else actually) is one of the lamest sentence I have read around here.
We can have 2 options:
You know everything VAI has written, then you are deaf, my girlfriend hums VAI's melodies...
You don't know everything... So go check out some more of his things.

Bardsley as I said ITS MY OPINION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didnt say I'm right and your wrong did I. Nooooooooo, so maybe you should get some sleep so your interpreting skills are more on point before you begin to criticize someone for voicing their opinion on a site that is basically founded by just that!! If you want to preach about time spent playing and pouring their hear out why dont you become a philosopher or priest. I have no sympathy for someone that takes a side of another and does all but justify their standpoint. Just becasue one spends time on practice doesnt mean they have soul, thats absurd. If that were the case then you'd find alot more talented musicians. If soul were simply an elation of practice who wouldnt have it. Do we not all strive to be the best? Are we not all trying to be better than the next guy? Your basis for substantiating the aforementioned argument of the baffoon you replied to backup is as poorly made as his original argument. I could never use the analogy of a chef attempting to cook without food to explain a guitar player and soul. What is all comes down to is we all have a different personal preference of what we admire and what we define as "soul" it is quite obvious at this poin that we dont agree on our definitions of soul. In regards to the hendrix comment do you possibly know how ludicrious it sounds to even for a second propose that hendrix was lacking feeling in his music. Just watch a video of the Monterey Pop fest and you can see this man was a master or better yet the master and if anything was lacking from his playing it was certainly not soul. Have you ever heard the cliche it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt? Well if you have not sit back and ponder that for a while my friend becasue all I was attemping to say is that MY OPINION IS THAT STEVE VAI IS AMAZINGLY TALENTED HOWEVR LACKS SOUL. If this guy had soul I think he had the talent to be the best ever!!!!!!!!! I am not saying I cannot appreciate his talent I am saying his playing doesnt speak to me as does the aforemenioned artists!!

Thomyorke575

Well, she doesn't like him, she was there through my guitar apprenticeship, while I learnt Van HALEN, VAI, Etc... I guess she can names as much guitarists as you guys.

aiwass well your wrong. I do like or better yet love!! Zack wylde, Jerry Cantrell, Randy Rhoads, Robben ford, Hammet, Grahm cox(blur dude). I like alot of differnt stuff you just must interpret what I am trying to say. Steve Vai could have been the best but his music lacks what I call soul you may call it something else all together. I think his tone is poor thats another factor why I dont like him. If he played some of his stuff threw Hendrix or Pages setup I may had or have worshipped him? Who knows, not I? I am not at all a proponent to classic only I love ALice n chains, Nirvana, Mad season, some weezer.....Need I go on....The extremly hot pickups in the 80's along with vai using whatever chorus he used (in amazong grace) I just dont like his tone which may be the reason I feel he lacks soul. I certainly do like some modern musicians though dont get me wrong

THomyorke575

In regards to getting a response I guess I could give a lesson on how to do that huh(lol)!!!!

aiwass,

I like your attitude, it shows strength and character! Who cares about the wah anyway I think this is more interesting. Who doesnt know what a good wah is? When I find something I feel strongly about I could just argue forever like I suppose we all can(lol).

its all about preference;

Morley
Dunlop
Budda
Fulltone
ROger Mayer

thats about it. Anyway your wah sound depends on the rest of your setup anyway.

Well I respect your opinion and would be obliged to call you a neanderthal shredder if you'd prefer (lol).

Yeah I like EVH, and dimebag. Dimebag is one guy that is keeping it real. He's a kick ass guitarist and doesnt give a fuc*(lol).

Anybody listen to opeth? I dont know the guitarist name (or two if their are two) but they kick ass!!

I think Opeth is one of the most talented bands around now, any opinions to that comment?

Does anyone have any fav's that arent well know? I'm always looking to hear new sounds. If so include their genre if they have one(most do).

Thomyorke575

I guess we do have some common-ground. How about the new Down CD? I dont have it yet, anyone out there have it? You like it?

THomyorke575