Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Wah pedals?
(1) who makes the best independant wah wah?
(as in not included in a board with other effects)

(2) Which Wah do you use.

Picks?
Do different materials, types and thickness of pick make that much difference?

What type of pick or picks do you use?

I never have to buy picks myself, seems there is always one or two in the bottom of the clothes washer.

My guitarist has a custom Slash CryBaby pedal. It sounds sweet, but sometimes he kills it lol.

Picks. Well, if you shred/play fast riffs, you don't want a heavy, thick pick. You want one that will be swift and won't give your hand cramps. Experiment with different picks and find out which suits you better.

I don't use a wah (Doesn't really fit into my style that much), but I have tried them out in stores. Best I heard was the CryBaby. I've used others, but those stand out most to me.

Picks? I use Heavy California Clear Fenders, or Dunlop Tortex 1.0 mm, depending on which store I go to.

I use a Dunlop classic crybaby it has a Fasil inducter it just really has the sound you can rip some lead solo's with the Fasil inducters are made in Italy. I think I have tried just about all of them over the years except for the Bad Horse I think that is a Steve Vi design. Vox makes a really good wah pedal that I like to play rythms with, it is a real retro sounding wah that is very durable it gets a real good sound I am able to get that same sound SRV gets at the begining of Voodoo Child with it and it has that old Motown funky sound to it, the one I like the best tho is the Dunlop Classic Crybaby.

I lent my Morley to a guy who never returned it. I bought a Crybaby, & prefer it, sound-wise. I think the Morley was cooler looking & seemed sturdier, though.

For most guitar work, as a rhythm player, I use a medium Dunlop - the yellow or sometimes even the orange (which are pretty light for me). When I play leads on the rare occasion, I prefer a heavier Dunlop - the green or blue, with the pointed tip.

On bass, I use the pointed tip green, blue or purple Dunlops, if I'm not playing with my fingers.

Ive used Morleys for years.

Currently I have 2 the Bad Horsie one of the original ones and one that lets me set the frequency and curve. I actually like the old crybaby wahs. Thats the sound you hear on most of the old 70s rock that I like, but the morleys let you just step on the wah and they are active, whereas the old crybabys require you to punch in the switch to activate them.

I think that wahs are a great tone device to just change the sound in the middle of a solo, not necessarily to be used as a typical wah-wah. You can use them to give your solos some bite or more mids. Most of my amps I have to cut mids for rythym sounds but I feel I need to punch in mids to come thru the mix. Im not fond of using eq pedals for this, alsthough lately Ive gone back live to using my smallest tube amp, a Mesa Subway Rocket, 20 watts tube with a clean channel and a boost channel with a contour function. I added an old Black Jack distortion/boost pedal to my floor board. I use it in boost mode with the mids kicked in to make my solos cut.

George Ive parked all the big amps and the last few gigs have a very steamlined setup that sounds great, cause I can open up this little amp and let it work its magic. It also takes my pedals way better than the bigger amps Ive been using.

In short I like a Morley Bad Horsie Pedal. I would recomend going to a store and trying a bunch of them, some people play on my rig and dont like the sweep or throw of the wah action. I guess Ive gotten used to it and others feel weird to me.

Thanks John, and you others as well!
I get great info here. It helps me in making decisions.
Thanks again.

George,
I can remember when the ONLY waw waw was a vox! (Not ever playin' guitar professionally, I never had one, although I did consider getting one for my old Clavinet.)

When I do noodle around with the ol' Mustang, I just pluck with my fingers. (Like Mark Knopfler, but not quite as good)

Howlin'

My 1st wah - I don't recall the make - had four effects. There were sea sounds, wind sounds, the wah & there was a siren, too. Funny thing about it, though - it was reversed from every wah I've played since. Toe went up for the higher tone, & down for the basser tone. I had a helluva time getting used to the way the rest of them are. It seemed to make more sense to rock back to get the wah tone, like a mouth opening.

I never liked the separate switch on the Morley, & the way that the Crybaby switches on at the high tone position annoys me, & I wanna switch it to the way my 1st wah worked, so it comes in at the low end of the wah tone. I think it's a less jarring sound when it comes in as you switch it on the fly.

I'm using a Crybaby right now.

I didn't like the sounds of any wahs for years. There was always something sterile and high strung about 'em that I just hated when it was left on. So I bought a Bad Horsie. I loved the fact that it didn't use a typical switch, and I used one sparingly anyway... Then someone stole it.

Later I bought a Crybaby at a Pawn shop.. Hated it. Ended up in a box for years.

For some odd reason, I decided to try it again.. Hated it. Sounds like crap. Then I got on ebay and ran across a mod-kit for it. OK, I'll try this out.

What a world of difference!! After installing a true bypass switch and removing the buffer I have a Crybaby that kills. I F**king love it! I get compliments on it after gigs all the time. It has a REALLY wide scoop, and it's clear and clean as hell.

I use it as a wah, and as a boost as well like JW said. Some songs, it's just left on in the upper position throughout the whole song. It cuts through like crazy, and the pedal itself actually adds sparkle rather than the typical restricting or murdering the tone.

To answer your second question, I use Snarling Dogs 1.14.

You should just try out different kinds until you find the ones that seem to fit well in your fingers, and you don't drop all the time. When I used the regular Fender mediums, I freakin dropped 'em constantly. I don't know why, but they always slipped out of my fingers. Then I started using Planet Waves HVY.. They were better, but they freakin' broke all the time. And I mean literally broke in half.

Pick are just as important to your playing style as anything else. I strum really hard like Bruce Springsteen. It's just the way I am, and always have been. So why fight it. I need heavy guage strings, and heavy durable picks that I can keep a grip on.

dunlop... cry baby..

Never had another I thought was any good.

I played a Morley Power Wah for years until the circuit board self destructed, I'll have to completely rebuild it to get it to work again. The old one in a silver metal case. I liked it really well, and the volume pedal function was great too, it works on a light bulb and photocell instead of a pot, so no noisy pot to deal with from time to time.

Usually the Cry Baby is the most common favorite, I like those too but never owned one. I have another Morley, newer black case but doesn't work and so far haven't been able to afford to put it in the shop. One of these days....

I've used the Jim Dunlop Tortex picks since they originally appeared in the 80's, still have a few of them that I used back then. I got sick of breaking Fender picks in no time and tried the Tortex, loved them. Unbreakable, I've tried and they last forever. Some of mine are over 20 years old. I use the red and orange .50 and .60mm for acoustic, the yellow, green and blue heavier ones for electric, can't remember the thickness.

I also use a stainless steel pick now and then that I grabbed quite a few years ago, and occasionally a six or eight sided Mexican coin ala Billy Gibbons. I picked up a couple on a trip to Monterrey in the early 90's. I use those for the metallic attack effect, but not very often.

Sometimes I opt to go pickless too. Almost always when playing slide it's finger picking.