"Parked Wah" Sound

[Gearhead]

How do you get the wah type sound when you park a wah pedal halfway? (M. Schenker). Is it a band pass filter?

[godotzilla]

If you mean that sound when you engage the wah and then set the treadle at the midway point--well, that's how you get that sound (which is also a part of the original Boston album's guitar sounds).

If you want something that's a little more stable, Dunlop makes a Crybaby pedal that is essentially a small effects box with a bypass switch and a knob to control the sweep of the potentiometer. You can set it for the exact point in the wah sweep that you like and turn it on and off via the switch. Pretty cool.

[erksin]

Keeley Nova Wah has two presets, right? That would be cool...

[ck3]

You can also get that sound with a parametric EQ.

[decay-o-caster]

Or get a Turner Model 1 (the Lindsay Buckingham guitar) - it has active pickups and a mid knob that lets you get that from the guitar itself. My favorite part when I borrowed one once.

[drbob1]

I'm not sure that you can get exactly the same sound with a parametric EQ, you'd need at least two overlapping bands so you could do a lowpass filter with one, and gain with the other. Be interesting to try. You can do exactly this with the Mooger-Fooger Low Pass Filter. If you want the whole thing cheap and easy, pull the guts out of a $50 used Crybaby and mount it in a Bud box...

[erksin]

A good tone control on your guitar works too...

[MrSage]

Originally posted by erksin
A good tone control on your guitar works too... Hmm...

It wouldn't sound like a parked wah, though. It would just roll off trebles...a wah does a bit more than that to your tone.

I just made this for someone:

http://tinypic.com/9k18gw.jpg

It's literally a Crybaby circuit board housed in a pedal enclosure. Sounds just like a fixed wah.

:D

[MrSage]

Originally posted by drbob1
If you want the whole thing cheap and easy, pull the guts out of a $50 used Crybaby and mount it in a Bud box... Exactly.

:)

(and then sell me your empty Crybaby shell)

[bbrunskill]

Try a metal zone!

[DonneR]

Heres a box for it :cool:

Schenker box (http://www.tonesafari.com/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=300&linkpath=http://www.tonesafari.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/ms.jpg&target=tlx_new)

[TBoneDeluxe]

Sounds like the old Boss Spectrum pedal! But those are pretty rare...and demand a lot on the used market.

The Dunlop pedal is supposed to be similar, but I haven't heard one yet.

TBD

[cuz/karl]

I had the Keeley Yellow YeeHAa ,the early version of the Nova Wah.It was realy cool but had to sell it.

I'll be making my own to replace it until the cheaper Nova's come out.

[Randy]

FWIW - Schenker used 2 wahs. One like a normal wah pedal, and on the other he removed the rack, then adjusted the pot by hand until he found the sweet spot he liked. Then when he kicked on the wah it was always in that spot with no sweep.

I always wondered how he got his pedal in the perfect position every time and you never heard the sweep up or down as he was hunting around for it - now I know.

[jonny guitar]

The Foxrox Zim allows you to get a parked wah sound (as well as tons of other great tones). Zim uses phases cancellation on its adjustable channel and when it is set to extreme settings it sounds just like the wah.

[jokerjkny]

Originally posted by jonny guitar
The Foxrox Zim allows you to get a parked wah sound (as well as tons of other great tones). Zim uses phases cancellation on its adjustable channel and when it is set to extreme settings it sounds just like thewah.

:dude

and schenker's parked wah sound?

:dude

[jonny guitar]

Originally posted by jokerjkny
:dude

and schenker's parked wah sound?

:dude

I haven't tried to cop it but I can't see why not. I am listening to MSG's Let Sleeping Dogs Lie and the solo around 2:20 sounds like a cocked wah and I would say that I can pretty close to it with only the Zim. Shoot Dave Fox an email and ask him what he thinks.

[Moe45673]

the simplest thing to do would be to just put your wah in your line selector, and use that to "turn on and off" your wah

[Denyle_Guitars]

Isn't this what the Chandler Tone-X does.

[DonneR]

Originally posted by Randy
FWIW - Schenker used 2 wahs. One like a normal wah pedal, and on the other he removed the rack, then adjusted the pot by hand until he found the sweet spot he liked. Then when he kicked on the wah it was always in that spot with no sweep.

I always wondered how he got his pedal in the perfect position every time and you never heard the sweep up or down as he was hunting around for it - now I know.

Ah, thanks I learned something!,,, and that makes sense.....lo tech solution, and still fools the onlookers.....


and Yes the Nova Wah will do this all night long until the lights go out in London ;)

[Gearhead]

I just got a Tonejam-modded Boss EQ yesterday and it can get pretty darn close to a parked wah. Boost at 800 hz and cut all else, and voila. Really cool thing is I can then boost the very highs and lows, which fill out the sound, but the parked wah-vowly sound is still there!

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by Gearhead
How do you get the wah type sound when you park a wah pedal halfway? (M. Schenker). Is it a band pass filter?

Yes, wah pedals are variable bandpass filters.

[mrbluetone]

I got a Nova Wah and I solo with it a lot...it can do the single or double inductor sound and 3 choices for bass ...my teese in a fixed position does not sound near as good as the Nova....I noticed keeley stopped selling them for now.....

[The Everlove]

The Foxrox Zim allows you to get a parked wah sound (as well as tons of other great tones). Zim uses phases cancellation on its adjustable channel and when it is set to extreme settings it sounds just like the wah.

woah woah woah. hold the phone. give me more details, please!

[Mordechai]

Hi,

I like the parked wah sound, but it is a little bit too "intense" for me in terms of the frequencies it boosts and those it limits or cuts. How can I modify the circuit so the band-pass filter manages to "bump" frequencies without quite so dramatically isolating them? I like the idea of a more mellow parked wah tone where the isolated frequency isn't SO much more pronounced and the others SO significantly diminished. Is there a capacitor or series of capacitors that can be use to lower the precentage of what is being isolated and what is being cut?

[cuz/karl]

I just got a Tonejam-modded Boss EQ yesterday and it can get pretty darn close to a parked wah. Boost at 800 hz and cut all else, and voila. Really cool thing is I can then boost the very highs and lows, which fill out the sound, but the parked wah-vowly sound is still there!
tHIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[todd richman]

Nova Wah, Dunlop Q Zone, Gekekko, internal cap array on the guitar tone knob and toggle. Probably many other ways to including the classic parking the wah treadle. I like the sound for the occasional solo tone that is different.

[rob2001]

FWIW - Schenker used 2 wahs. One like a normal wah pedal, and on the other he removed the rack, then adjusted the pot by hand until he found the sweet spot he liked. Then when he kicked on the wah it was always in that spot with no sweep.

I always wondered how he got his pedal in the perfect position every time and you never heard the sweep up or down as he was hunting around for it - now I know.


Thats great info! I use a half wah often and the initial toe down position is irritating sometimes.


I'd agree with most that say use a wah but I have seen a pedal by Pearl called the Thriller that is said to emulate a half cocked wah. It's adjustable and I believe is essentially a notch filter, which could be done with radical settings on an EQ pedal.

[stratovarius]

It's not exactly the same sound, but you can get a nice snarly tone by connecting single coil neck and bridge pickups in series and out-of-phase.

[Bloodbath]

How about a switch on the side of a wah to bypass the stock pot to a small trimmer set for the "sweet spot" so you can switch back and forth instead of adding another pedal?

[teletroy]

the byoc auto wah has a switch for fixed wah sound - pretty cool