WAH: the best in your experience?

[prettygeetarist]

Hello everyone!
I have been playing for a few years but I have never used a Wah pedal before.
Usage: only Hendrix and SRV style stuff, also something funky.

I have seen in some threads written by other TGP users and there is often reference to very small builders, which I have never heard of before.
I saw online good things about the JAM Wahcko and the Xotic Wah.
What do you think of these two pedals?

Which pedal has personally given you the most satisfaction and would you like to recommend me?

 

[monty]

Dunlop CAE ended the perfect wah search for me years ago. Sounds great no matter what I plug it into and into it.

 

[PastaPizzaMammamia]

The Xotic Wah is a great pedal: it's versatile, it has a buffer, it's smaller than a standard wah, it sounds good. IMVHO actually the best wah out there.

 

[lostbirds]

Fulltone Clyde deluxe

 

[stargazer747]

Mine has always been a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, hands down! I've had several models, currently the John Petrucci JP95 which is just amazing...

 

[CohenTheBarbarian]

My favourite is the BMF wah.
It has the best range I have ever heard in a wah.

 

[PatrickE_FenderADV]

Dunlop CAE ended the perfect wah search for me years ago. Sounds great no matter what I plug it into and into it.

Same… I own four wahs and the CAE is the best out of them all. It’s a fixture on my big board.

 

[Squatch57]

I have the CAE, I sorta like it despite the narrow Crybaby style sweep
So it's a tradeoff really
I prefer the wider sweep of the Colorsound with it's more vowel-like quality
The Rockman Vol/Wah was also great for a clean wah with Hall effect pot and wide sweep

Others I've owned:
EHX Crying Tone (70's)
Dunlop Chrome wah with the multi-eq switch
Vox 70's wah
Shin-ei Siren/Hurricane wah from the 60's was a bit of fun when I was a kid
Korg VCF (with remote box) Really a filter but it worked great as an extreme wah
Schaller yoy-yoy pedal was a bit naff from memory

 

[lv]

I've tried a bunch, teese, landgraff, fulltone, Wilson, vox, Area 51, kern tube wah, numerous dunlops and a few I forgot. My top 3 in order: jam wahcko, CAE, xotic.

You may save yourself a lot of hassle by buying those 3 and keeping the one you like best.

They all sound great but the Jam is the least frustrating to operate as you have 6 distinct settings on a single rotary knob whereas the other two have internal settings. I had the xotic when I bought the jam and it immediately replaced it - smoother top end and less hum - not saying the xotic was excessively noisy, but the jam was quieter in my rig.

CAE is excellent and I sometimes miss it even having the wahcko. IMO best wah for the $.

Avoid the Dunlop badass - similar features of the CAE but very tame sound, least vocal wah I've played in awhile.

 

[WhichPedalToGet]

Xotic is amazing

 

[MellowSubmarine]

I love wahs, but since it's odd to have several on a pedalboard, I haven't had many.

I had the Ibanez wh10 (old one), and was very good with distortion.
Then I had a TAD chrome wah, that I didn't like too much (not much sweep). Then I had an Ibanez weeping demon, so good but too big and not a vintage style, but it has many options. Now I have a Dunlop crybaby mini that I like.

 

[Mike J.]

According to my experience:
Fulltone Clyde - 12 years on my board - it’s overall a good and reliable unit but it’s very dominant - once you’ve played a real vintage Wah you’ll see the Fulltone doesn’t fulfill the vintage Vox Clyde claim at all!

Jam Whacko - it’s heavy, looks awesome and as all other JAMs it sounds great.

If you are really into that Hendrix/SRV sound you’ll have to go with an unbuffered Wah. For some people this unacceptable as your sweep, when using Wah before Fuzz will be dramatically different and the Wah fulfills another purpose in combination with the Fuzz. In that area I can fully recommend the Joe Gagan Woodstock Plus or the Sabbadius El Italiano.
Both builders deliver outstanding hand built quality and components that will deliver the REAL sound.
Here’s a demo where I play my beloved Joe Gagan Woodstock plus:

 

[les]

Joe Gagan wah pedals are incredible!

 

[Benz2112]

Love my Xotic, great pedal.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Mine has always been a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, hands down! I've had several models, currently the John Petrucci JP95 which is just amazing...

This wah is pretty hard to beat, it’s literally the rack wah in pedal form.

Thanks to Dunlop, I could recreate the stock Petrucci settings in my AxeFX, as well as the Cantrell wah. I’ve had the Cantrell wah for years and love that one as well, but definitely wouldn’t advise of it for this thread.

 

[stargazer747]

This wah is pretty hard to beat, it’s literally the rack wah in pedal form.

Thanks to Dunlop, I could recreate the stock Petrucci settings in my AxeFX, as well as the Cantrell wah. I’ve had the Cantrell wah for years and love that one as well, but definitely wouldn’t advise of it for this thread.

Its exactly that, their rack Wah in a standard pedal with the trimpots internally to tailor to your tone. It comes already dialed with Petrucci's Wah settings.

 

[uncle psychosis]

BBE Ben Wah

Good enough that a conman rebadged it, sold it for $300+, and still had people raving about how good it was.

 

[Mike J.]

BBE Ben Wah

Good enough that a conman rebadged it, sold it for $300+, and still had people raving about how good it was.

Man I had it for a couple of days and had some quality issues. It sounded beautiful if not perfect.

 

[natmiss]

If you're looking for Hendrix, SRV and funk you probably don't need or want a really wide sweep. CAE for the win. I played reggae for a few years. I woulda ended up with a sore ankle from a wide sweep wah!

 

[cowbellfever]

I've owned the Dunlop 535Q Wah for over 18 years and love the fact that you can change the Wah frequency range sweep and how pronounced/ sharp the wah Q effect is.
If I had to buy another Wah if my 535Q were stolen I'd look into the Dunlop Dimebag Wah, that Wah gives you even more control over the toe down sweep frequency control and long with the 6 sweep ranges.
I've owned many other brand Wahs: Vox, Area 51, Ibanez, Boss, other Dunlop always go back to the 535Q.

I've learned that not one wah sounds great with all drive (pedal or amp), amps EQs and speakers.
For my preference I like a higher range wah sweep with my clean and overdriven tones (John Fruciante/ Chili Peppers wah sound) and a lower range wah sweep for my higher gain and drive tones (Jerry Cantrell wah sounds).
The 535Q or Dimebag wah can easily adapt and be fine tuned for both clean and higher gain scenarios.
Most competitor wahs have a fixed sweep that your stuck with.

535Q Wah ranges:
1st Position 440 Hz to 2.2 kHz
2nd Position 400 Hz to 1.9 kHz
3rd Position 375 Hz to 1.8 kHz
4th Position 345 Hz to 1.6 kHz
5th Position 395 Hz to 1.4 kHz
6th Position 250 Hz to 1.2 kHz

SweetWater.com has this Dunlop Wah comparison guide with lots of great details.