CLIP - Wizard Wah: Opinions Wanted!!

[EchoGecko]

Okay, you may have seen the other thread about my new Teese WW. Basically what I am trying to figure out if something's wrong with it, or if it's just me hating the tone of it. IF YOU HAVE ONE OR HAVE PLAYED ONE, please let me know if yours sounded similar to this. My cheif complaints are the lack of treble and its SUDDEN onset (it doesn't add much treble at all to the original signal, and the actual range of the treble portion of the sweep is MININAL [pedal is BARELY rocked back before loosing all treb], but when you hit the treble, it's a sudden change and not smooth at all. The other major complaint is the tone of it is almost very synth-like with distortion, and the guitar almost gets completely lost at the lower end of the sweep.

Here's the clip. http://home.comcast.net/~curt_pollock/Wizzard_-_wizard_opinions.mp3 Sorry it's so long...I was just messing around not thinking of the time...obviously you can hit "stop" at any point. Tone sucks because it's just the amp into the 1x12 combo speaker (combo cab sucks) and the SM57 is three feet away, jammed in between my matress and box spring (my mike stand is elsewhere), into crappy Behringer mixer into the soundcard of my PC. It's funny because the things I hate are actually MUCH more noticeable live than on this clip, but it could be because the mike is three feet away. Oh, I almost forgot the typical disclaimer..."Don't judge my playing by this clip because I'm really a MONSTER guitar player."

00:20 - notice the sudden onset of the treble portion of the wah

00:58 - added OD (FD2 in CompCut mode), sudden onset of treble is more apparent...notice an almost clicking or popping sound occurring at the top of the sweep

2:15 - OD off, Hot Brit dist on. In lower part of sweep, guitar seems to get lost (also especially noticable at starting at 2:15, also at 2:50, 4:25, etc) . Wah effect seems to be more of an ADDED effect on top of the guitar signal (almost synth-sounding at times, especially in lower part of sweep) as opposed becoming one with the signal and sounding like an actual wah pedal. This is noticeable through the remainder of this awfully long, boring and sloppy clip. Sounds especially awful at 5:45 during the "Man in the Box" riff. It sounds very harsh to my ears and not very wah-like or musical.

 

[Madsman]

I can't tell if some of the nasal sound is the pedal or the amp settings or the recording. It would be nice to have the pedal stomped on and off a few times during the course of things. It sounds "wah" like to me...

Hearing that, I can see why some people would want it, and why some people would not.

 

[Madsman]

Also, some of the stuff, like the Home riff, you are supposed to stomp the pedal off, too... it's not supposed to be on the whole time.

You sound like an Automagic SilverMachine candidate, if you don't mind me saying so.

 

[jaymeister]

I listened to about 1 minute of it, and there are some elements to it that are not very vocal. You can hear the sweep, but it doesn't open up like you'd expect. Yet there are other parts that sound just right.

 

[Craise]

dude, I don't know? sounds fine to me... Hey, maybe I'm crazy, but sounds like this isn't the wah for you. Just sell it and try another one. I'm not sure why you're surprised that you don't like this pedal. People try out lots of different gear to find out what works best with their setup. Yes it sucks that you had to buy the wah to find out that you don't like it with your gear. But I would sell it and move on.

 

[EchoGecko]

Also, some of the stuff, like the Home riff, you are supposed to stomp the pedal off, too... it's not supposed to be on the whole time.

You sound like an Automagic SilverMachine candidate, if you don't mind me saying so.

Mads...(Chris P, is that you?)

During "Home", I don't hear JP turn off the wah until the "lead-esque" riff is over and he's doing the palm-muted riff on the open D (i.e. it's on the whole time during the opening riff, for sure). The wah is off for that part on my clip...that's the dry signal there and you'll hear it when I turn the wah back on. The wah is turned on and off a couple of times during this retardedly long clip.

 

[Guy from Idaho]

I listened to about 1 minute of it, and there are some elements to it that are not very vocal. You can hear the sweep, but it doesn't open up like you'd expect. Yet there are other parts that sound just right.

pretty much what I heard too. I owned one of these for a while and though it was less vocal than I wanted, so I kept my Clyde and sold the Wiz. Nothing wrong with it, just not my thing. Time to move on...

 

[Craise]

Also, You might want to check out the Teese RMC3 wah...it's fully tuneable, so you can tune in your own sweep, vocal Q, Mids and treble. It sounds great and allows you to tune the wah to your rig. Good luck!

 

[EchoGecko]

To my ears, if anything is "abnormal" about this wah, it's at 1:08 - 1:20 when I'm sticking to just one or two notes. Does anyone else hear what I would describe as a clicking or popping sound when hitting the treble portion of the sweep...and is that normal to you? This is most you'll hear it on the recording, but I hear it all the time.

Guy from Ohio, I'm not beating anything to death here. I'm gathering opinions from people who have used the wah before to see if theirs sounded the same as mine in order to DETERMINE whether or not something's wrong with it or if I just don't like it.

 

[musickbox]

That sounds like a bad version of my wizard wah.

 

[EchoGecko]

That sounds like a bad version of my wizard wah.

Awesome!!!! See, there is hope for me yet. What exactly sounds bad as compared to your WW?

 

[slipperyfingers]

Hey EchoGecko,

For the two or three seconds (from like 0:11 - 0:13) its sounds like a perfect wah to me. I don't know what's goin on in the the rest of the clip though...but by listening to those two or three seconds, I say definitively, there is nothing wrong with the wah. Do you have your distortion before or after the wah?

-Sf

 

[EchoGecko]

Hey EchoGecko,

For the two or three seconds (from like 0:11 - 0:13) its sounds like a perfect wah to me. I don't know what's goin on in the the rest of the clip though...but by listening to those two or three seconds, I say definitively, there is nothing wrong with the wah. Do you have your distortion before or after the wah?

-Sf

After...as it should be to my ears. 0:11 - 0:13 is when I am barely hitting the strings at all. When I'm not playing anything at all and can just hear the wah through the "hiss" of my amp, it sounds like it will be awesome. When I start playing...

 

[musickbox]

It's hard to put into words what we hear. Im not good with the lingo. Also I listen to it through labtop speakers so I cant be specific with my analysis. I got the general Idea. It does sound fine the first 15 seconds or so, just distorts alot (dont know if thats the clip or my speakers). But there are a lot of variables in the recording that I cant say this is the problem. Its the same reason you shouldnt buy a product based on soundclips. Honestly just take it to some you trust and tell them to play it. That has saved me a ton of money in pedals.

 

[jaymeister]

Maybe you need a buffer between the wah and the distortion pedal, or get the wah retrofit?

 

[20forSeven]

I have a Wizard Wah and mine makes a mechanical clicking noise when you rock it back and forth. This is not noticable at a gig because I play at loud volumes but the few times I have played my wah at home the noise can be a little annoying. I believe the sound comes from the switch being touched by the rocking motion. This sound will not be picked up by your amp however. I have also found that this wah sounds better recorded than to my ears live. I got it right before my band recorded our album and I wasn't sure about it but when I would listen to the recorded tracks I thought it sounded great. I've had it for about six months now and I like it but I don't know if it is the wah for me lately i have been considering getting a fulltone clyde because I feel that it would be more sturdy and have a more traditional sound. The wizard is not very good for getting that hendrix and SRV quack sound. When I bought this wah I thought I would like the boost it has but I find it reaaly only works when playing clean and it causes my clean sounds to clip and sound like overdrive. Also it seems to be to much of a boost on the clean sounds and basically no boost for my overdrive sounds. Overall it is a very smooth wah and sounds great as a tone shaper for high gain leads which is my main purpose for wah., but I think i'm going to get a clyde and see which one I like better.