Talk:Wah-wah pedal

History

The history told here does not match what is told in the documentary "Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World (2011)." Brad Plunkett tells that after he bread-boarded the circuit, he called John Glennon in to play guitar through it. Then he got an expression pedal from a Vox Jaguar organ, and then everyone heard that sound. This is not the sequence in the article. There are also no citations on where the article's history is from. Also, they were made in California first, and then Thomas Organ and Eko formed Jen (Jen = Joe Benaron+Ennio Uncini) DavidRavenMoon (talk) 08:02, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

article split from Wah-wah

okay, that's done. seeing as this is my first split article, there may be some loose ends and redirects that need cleaned up. any comments etc. would be appreciated.Joeyramoney 19:20, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I think you did a good job

Volume

Great article. I've got one issue, though. It's true the volume isn't effected by the pedal, but - depending on the note - the perceived sound volume can fluctuate rather radically. I've got a CryBaby-pedal. During a solo some parts could fall in volume because the wrong region of frequency is emphasized. Playing high notes with the pedal all the way up, the highest tones are filtered out which makes those notes (seem) drop in volume. Technically you're right, but for the ears there can be a difference.

"modified effects pedal"

i put a for this bit, as i'm not totally sure what is meant by it. Joeyramoney 00:56, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

basically he opened it up, and changed a few things

well... maybe his roadie did :P

It doesn't say anything like this in the "Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World" documentary. The original prototype was used for the first guitar recordings by Del Casher. Joe Benaron wanted to use it for the Vox Electronphonic orchestra. Del Casher suggested to use it for guitar. DavidRavenMoon (talk) 08:13, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

worth meantioning autowah (envelop filters)?

is it worth meantioning autowah pedals? they are still a wah pedal, although the wah is controlled by the attack on the string/pressure on the keyboard etc.

Note that auto-wah and envelope filters are not the same thing, and this is currently unclear on the page Cdawzrd (talk) 04:25, 14 October 2008 (UTC)cdawzrd

Notation?

Does anyone know how wah-wah and other guitar effects are notated on sheet music?

They're not; they effect timbre, not pitch.

Stockhausen notated wah-wah (for brass), see wah-wah article. BTW, added a link to band-pass filter, which is basically what a wah-wah pedal is. MagnusW 19:39, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Known Users

Whats the point of this list of guitar players. I would estimate one half of all guitar players use wah pedals and this list will grow to be longer than the article itself.

Its just a way of showing how many popular guitarists use it. 71.238.25.226 (talk) 22:32, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Why aren't the Stone Roses - and more specifically John Squire - mentioned in this piece? Why? Because, it was the Stone Roses and John in particular who reinvented the wah wah pedal in British music. As John Robb mentions in his Roses book, the wah wah pedal had been dropped from British music since punk, and had virtually died out throughout the 80s in British guitar music. And yet in 1989 during Britains second summer of love, the wah wah pedal was back with certainty - just check out John squelching at the start of Elephant Stone at Blackpool 89. And then, of course, the Roses released their magnus opus "Fools Gold" (debuted at Ally Pally 89 - check it out on You Tube), nine minutes of wah wah heaven. After this record, virtually everybody in British guitar music during the early 90s who was cool/significant/culturally important - Primal Scream, Happy Mondays, the La's, Inspiral Carpets, the Wonderstuff, Blur, and later on, even Oasis occasionally dabbling in wah wah squelches (check out "D'ya Know What I Mean?"). Surely the fact that the wah wah sound would become the dominant sound of British guitar music in the early 90s thanks to the Roses influence deserves a mention? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.106.53.174 (talk) 21:16, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

I notice that you added this information today. I have reverted per policies wp:Unsourced and wp:Original research. The addition would also put wp:undue weight on Stone Roses, and would therefore largely off-topic. - DVdm (talk) 21:23, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

George Harrison

What Harrison uses in 1965 in the recording of "I Need You", "Yes, It Is" (same recording session) and "12 Bar Original (an outtake from the album "Rubber Soul") was not a wah-wah, but a tone pedal, since the wah wah wasn't comercially available until 1967. That mistake may come off the writtings of Mark Lewisohn, the Beatles' biographer, who states that Harrison used a "tone pedal, later called wah-wah pedal".

Having toured the States in 1964's winter and summer it is not unlikely that Harrison got a bunch of new american equipment there as it was difficult to find in Europe. The tone pedal was a device designed by De Armond which affected volume by means of a rocker pedal, just like the wah pedal did with tone. The tone pedal could also be rocked left and right to modulate tone. The De Armond 610 tone pedal is an example, which was later copied by Fender. It was extensively used by pedal steel players and Nashville sessionists.

By january 1969 Harrison used a Vox wah pedal remarkably during the "Let It Be/Get Back" filming at Twickenham studios. The pedal is seen on the roof performance but disconected. He didn't use it for "Abbey Road" album sessions but then again on "All Things Must Pass" sessions the following year.

Sources are the book "Beatles Gear" by Andy Babiuk and photographs and films of that time.

Sign your name: 200.126.135.28 22:24, 8 February 2007 (UTC) agusaravia

Without doing more research in sources I have, the pedal used by Harrison - at least on I Need You - was a simple volume pedal. There was no modifying of the tone of the guitar, only volume. I’ll dig into my resources to verify.THX1136 (talk) 13:45, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

name

I've always heard simply "wah-pedal", should this be added as another name? Frankly, "wah-wah" pedal sounds completely ridiculous to me. Fresheneesz 11:05, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

It was named the Wah-Wah by the Vox. Calling it a wah-pedal is a relatively modern contraction. The old Vox Grey Wahs actually had banners on the side with "WAH WAH" written on it

http://www.wah-wah.co.uk/greyvox.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.120.161.6 (talk) 14:55, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Removing un-notable examples

I have removed the last two uninteresting examples of wah-wah usage. Feel free to remove more. DVdm 13:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Musician sections

The sections listing off guitarists and other musicians who have used wah pedals are the worst kind of lists Wikipedia tends to attract: "here, let me list the musicians I listen to who have used this in some way".

A better and more encyclopedic way to handle this would be to describe how the wah pedal is used with various instruments and with different musical styles. At the moment we just have an aimless litany of irrelevant name-dropping. —ptk✰fgs 22:45, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

I mostly agree. Only the most notable examples should be kept, which leaves the question of what and who is notable? That would of course result in an even shorter article. After all, what can you do with a wah other than plugging it into some instrument and moving your foot, along with or against the rhythm? That would retain of course the entry on Frank Zappa, who notably often used the device by not moving his foot altoghether. I also would keep only one or at most two examples for every usage on instruments other than the guitar. DVdm 10:08, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

This is a good idea. Personally though, I only know about bassists in any sort of detail, notably Cliff Burton. I added the notes about Burton before I became a member of wikipedia.Mgraham1985 (talk) 03:40, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Electric Prunes

"Pebbles, Volume 2" has a track credited to the Electric Prunes, called "Wah Wah Peddle" (sic). It's a radio advertisement for an early Vox Wah-Wah pedal. There's a copy here). I mention it because it must be a fairly early advert for the pedal, and it's an odd curiosity. The excitable narrator claims that you can make your guitar sound like a sitar; he actually says "it's the NOW sound!". He also claims that it is being used by "The Electric Prunes, Animals, Herman's Hermits, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Stones, The Seeds", surely the last time that the Rolling Stones were mentioned in the same breath (and it was the same breath) as Herman's Hermits. -Ashley Pomeroy 12:25, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Wah supposed to sound like muted trumpet?

I've actually heard that the wah pedal was originally designed to imitate the sound of a muted trumpet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muted_trumpet#Brass), not the human voice. If anyone can verify this, the article ought to be changed to reflect it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.32.61.197 (talk) 21:50, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

This is true. The original Vox wah pedals were Clyde McCoy signatures and these are highly prized and collectable today: Clyde McCoy is a noted trumpet player who was known for using trumpet muting and as such was asked to be the face for the effect —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.120.161.6 (talk) 14:57, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

The story makes it sound like it was accidentally designed. What they actually believe they might be able to sell it for is different, though. Gah4 (talk) 21:15, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Photo

I think it would be more appropriate to have a photo of one of the more notable models such as a Vox wah (being widely considered the original) or its sister the Cry Baby. There could also be benefit to other notables such as the Morley Bad Horsie. Either way, the Bud Wah is a boutique clone of the Vox/Cry Baby and probably not the best example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.120.161.6 (talk) 15:33, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

various forms of the wah wah

Just looking for input here--should the article include a brief discussion of the various forms of the wah wah pedal that have evolved over the years. I realize that some of them are alluded to in various places within the article but perhaps they should be gather to one place? There is no specific discussion of the fuzz wah, or the inverse wah (a cool auto wah effect I have only been able to find on Crate amplifiers--it wahs down when your tone goes up and it wahs up when your tone goes down). Anyway, can we get a consensus on this or not so much? MorbidAnatomy (talk) 16:08, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

First recordings

This article could benefit from a short list of early recordings using the pedal. Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" and Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses" come to mind, but there probably more. fds^Talk 06:47, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Grey Vox Wah Version

The article doesn't make any mention of the "Grey Vox" wah version, which actually pre-dates the Clyde McCoy wahs. It is the actual unmodified version of Del Casher's original prototype. (The article incorrectly states that the unmodified version was produced with Clyde McCoy's picture on the bottom). The Grey Vox versions closely follow the prototype circuit, and the original Thomas Organ patent. The Clyde McCoy versions and everything that was based on them after that are the ones that were "modified", which led Del Casher himself to comment that the sweep "has never been quite right since". Larsjm (talk) 23:55, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Please provide reliable sources. Sundayclose (talk) 02:00, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

References