If you could only choose one, would it be Wah or Delay?

[Kelsey]

Odd question I suppose, but what if you could only afford to buy one or the other, or only had room on your pedal board for one of them? I'm interested in the new PluToneium Chi-Wah-Wah or a delay pedal, so either would fit on a board -- no "put it on the floor" answers allowed here...

 

[Whiskey N Beans]

Delay. This was easy though. I don't play with a wah pedal.

 

[jimtaka]

Delay for sure, though I use both.

 

[hans zahn]

Delay for sure, though I use both.

 

[smyslov]

Wahwah, no doubt!
By the way, it is interesting that both effects would be emulate just by hands and tone pot on a guitar.

 

[Analog Delay]

Delay.

 

[JeffOlson]

Delay.

I'll take atmosphere/ambiance over waka-waka any day.

That was easy!

 

[amarr1]

Honestly, what kind of question is this?

 

[groovetube]

weird question 4sure

 

[barryg_nyc]

I'm playing mostly rockabilly these days, so easy question. Need the Delay, preferably analog with that slap back sound.

 

[andy888]

delay for me. a better question would have been phaser vs. chorus (I would take Phaser)

 

[Staticbuster]

Like most, I gotta have a good (analog) delay.

I love my wah, but I do with out it all the time. I only break it out when I'm doing something that needs it...it doesn't stay on my board.

I have two delays on my board now, and am looking to get a third...

 

[Godspeed64]

Delay dude.. You can make it subtle to sit just below the sound for ambience, or make it loud and timed perfectly to the U2 kinda stuff. Delays can inspire you to write riffs with the delay as the main subject.

Wahs I feel are 90% of the time for lead usage. Delays are for both.

 

[Kelsey]

To those who find this question odd, I acknowledged that upfront. But I also offered a couple of scenarios where this question could come up. If you have limited space on your board (and don't want to screw around with any extras on the floor for whatever reason) or a limited budget, then you have to prioritize. The pedals in between the wah and delay are easy: tuner and one or more of the boost/OD/distortion class. I guess an additional slot in the poll could have covered modulation devices, but I decided to pin down either end of the chain.

From all of the threads here on "minimalist" pedal boards, both wah and delay come up often, so I thought I'd run 'em against each other. I have another poll open on choice of delay, reverb, or modulation for adding depth and/or space. I guess it was "start-a-poll Friday" ...

 

[nrandall85]

Wah to me is kind of a dated sound.... I haven't used one since I was in a Hendrix cover band in high school. Delay all the way (I have two on my board!)

 

[jimtaka]

By the way, it is interesting that both effects would be emulate just by hands and tone pot on a guitar.

I don't quite understand this. I'm not a great electric guitarist by any means, but I definitely can't emulate either wah or delay with my hands and tone pot. Can somebody enlighten me here?

 

[Kelsey]

I guess if you've really got it together (which I do not), then you can technically use the volume pot to emulate tremolo and the tone pot to emulate a wah. I suppose you can emulate certain kinds of delay sounds with playing style, but I suspect that applies more to longer delays than to slapback or reverb sounds. Other than that, I don't have a clue either...

 

[Orbis_Ignis]

Definitely the Delay. I use both but the delay gets used a ton more than my wah.

 

[jimtaka]

I guess if you've really got it together (which I do not), then you can technically use the volume pot to emulate tremolo and the tone pot to emulate a wah. I suppose you can emulate certain kinds of delay sounds with playing style, but I suspect that applies more to longer delays than to slapback or reverb sounds. Other than that, I don't have a clue either...

I can do some tremolo action with the volume pot, but I definitely can't get anywhere near a delay or wah pedal with anything other than a delay and a wah pedal. I mean I can play a note and make it sound like there's delay on it, but not when I'm playing passages or riffs. And for the wah, I wouldn't have a clue how to get anywhere near that sound with my tone pot.

 

[Rumors of War]

I think delay is way more usable. if you're using your wah on more than one song per set it gets a bit hokey. FTR I use both quite sparingly.