Wah Wah pedal question

Mark Krutke · Post by **Mark Krutke** » 21 Nov 2002 9:09 pm

Does anybody know if there exists a wah-wah pedal that does not alter the tone of your instrument just before you apply it (press the pedal down)? I don't mean in the "off" position, but when the pedal is on. I noticed that the Jim Dunlop Cry Baby pedals do change the tone a tad. Does anybody work with these and give a word of advice? Wah-wah pedals come in useful at times on the old Hank Williams stuff.

Bob Craven · Post by **Bob Craven** » 21 Nov 2002 10:41 pm

I use a Cry Baby occasional, but any tone change really doesn't bother me. On my GP-100 I'll select one of my standard patches and just play.
But regarding your question, maybe the answer is a digital processor instead of another pedal. Though I don't use the feature, there is a Wah function on the Roland unit I use. And I'm sure there is an accommodation for an expression pedal of some sort. I guess if I were searching for an answer, I'd start here. I've been using Roland stuff for years, but I'm sure that other processors have similar features.
But the Cry Baby gives me what I want when I'm looking for that raw wah sound. It also gets folks attention when the Cry Baby starts talking. That's fun.

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Zum, Mullen, and older Emmons
Webb, Twin w/15, 40 watt Ducan tube
2 Roland GP-100's

Scott Swartz · Post by **Scott Swartz** » 22 Nov 2002 7:50 am

The inductor based wahs like the crybaby are essentially a lowpass filter with frequency response peak just before the rolloff. For reference, the treble control on amps is also a lowpass filter.

So the frequency response is flat up to a little below the rolloff frequency, then there is a peak, and then a rolloff of the highs. The pedal action moves the rolloff frequency (and the peak) around.

The tone change you are referring to is probably the loss of highs due to the lowpass filtering. With the inductor based circuit, this can't be eliminated.

It is certainly possible to build a circuit that only has the peak and eliminates the higher frequency rolloff, essentially a "movable midrange boost" or bandpass filter, but it sounds different.

Matt Steindl · Post by **Matt Steindl** » 22 Nov 2002 8:48 am

I thought I saw a website w/ instructions on making a Cry Baby true bypass. Would this solve the problem? Dont know about you guys, but the P/U on my Dekley is so high output, that I dont really worry about signal degradation. But take that w/ a grain of salt, as I am pretty careless and sloppy w/ my signal chain!

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Mattman in "The Big Sleazy"-:
S-10 Dekley, Suitcase Fender Rhodes, B-bender Les Paul