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Topic: New way to Wah.... |
Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 12 Dec 2019 11:43 am |
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Playing sitting down makes it very awkward to use a conventional wah pedal - the sweep is at the wrong angle, and it is really hard to put enough pressure on the switch to reliable turn it off and on - I can’t tell you how many times I had to bang on it repeatedly to get it to switch. And most wahs don’t offer enough of a way to get different sounds.
Long ago, in 2011, I found a solution to this - the Chi-Wah-Wah, from Pluetonium. It is instant-on/instant-off and is operated with your toe, like a regular stomp box (and that is how big it is). It was built by some IBM manufacturing guys in Singapore and is the most solid stomp box I’ve ever seen.
Then I switched to country music on pedal steel and there was no wah allowed. (Sacred Steelers do a lot of wah, I know). Now I’m back to other kinds of music and have rediscovered the Chi-Wah-Wah, so I figured I should let folks know about it - I can't seem to take my foot off of it....
You can find out more at the reverb store, company now in California, run by Keith, a very good guy:
https://reverb.com/shop/djangos-jazz-shoppe
And there are a bunch of videos on the website:
http://plutoneium.com
I like both the guitar (black) one and the bass/keyboard (red) one, which has a bit more low end growl (I tried both).
Here’s the old thread from Steel guitar Forum with lots of comments - some pretty well known steelers seem to like it!
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=1842707#1842707
And a pic of my amp+pedalboard…
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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 13 Dec 2019 9:00 am
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They look like a good product, but why are they advertising with a young woman in a bikini?
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 13 Dec 2019 4:11 pm
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Yeah, that is a bit odd, in these times...The website is from quite some time ago...and also from Japan, so I don't know the cultural norms there and then.
The guy in California actually bought the business and is running it from there, and his Reverb store has none of that imagery...the only reason I posted it is that there are a lot of additional videos there.
_________________
https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 13 Dec 2019 8:00 pm
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| Brad Bechtel wrote: |
| They look like a good product, but why are they advertising with a young woman in a bikini? |
(Because the fat old guy in the thong got arrested.  ) |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 13 Dec 2019 8:09 pm
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
| Brad Bechtel wrote: |
| They look like a good product, but why are they advertising with a young woman in a bikini? |
(Because the fat old guy in the thong got arrested. ) |
Ha! Har! Now that one should win in the humor section!
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 14 Dec 2019 3:15 pm
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(I'm really trying hard to "unsee" the guy in the thong...)
But FYI, the red bass wah definitely has low-end growl, but it is really hard to control, and the first third of pedal travel can be really mushy and distorted....so I opted for the black guitar wah instead of the red one. The red one definitely had more wah on the lowest notes...but it wasn't worth the mush that crept in if you aren't really careful...
_________________
https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor |
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Jonathan Scherer
From:
Stehekin, Washington
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Posted 15 Dec 2019 1:49 pm chi wah-wah
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I have had mine about three years and like it very much.
Easy to use sitting down and standing.
Something that is way cool about it is that there are three knobs on outside top for adjusting the wah.
Three suggested settings are CRYING WAH, VOCAL WAH and SCREAMING WAH.
I mostly use VOCAL WAH because that works best with my acoustic and works good with the electric.
Once you know what settings you like it is easy to adjust even in the dark because there is a stop at 12:00 that is easy to feel when turning them and then just sense from there. Kind of like safe cracking.
I used to use only the battery power and replacement was always the same timing as battery change for tuner, so that was convenient.
However the battery replacement is a bit awkward as you have to use the provided allen wrench to take off the bottom of the chassis to get at the battery.
A few months ago, I think due to operator error I broke one of the solder spots when changing the battery.
My neighbor resoldered that and now I use a power supply all the time.
I got it for $115 on a Scratch and Dent sale from EB, there were no scratches or dents.
The new owner of the company responded right away when I had the messed up solder joint and was very helpful.
I am one of those people that objects to the weapons grade and plutonium analogies in the advertising so I solved that by getting a Pluto stamp from the post office.
New
Three years later
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1948 National Dynamic, 1953 Oahu Tonemaster,cheap Aiersi Weissenborn, Hambro custom square neck reso, Carvin X-60A, Fender Acoustasonic 30
and 10, Roland Cube Street |
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