Talk:Wah-wah pedal

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[edit] article split from Wah-wah

okay, that's done. seeing as this is my first split article, there may be some loose ends and redirects that need cleaned up. any comments etc. would be appreciated.Joeyramoney 19:20, 5 March 2006 (UTC)


I think you did a good job

[edit] Volume

Great article. I've got one issue, though. It's true the volume isn't effected by the pedal, but - depending on the note - the perceived sound volume can fluctuate rather radically. I've got a CryBaby-pedal. During a solo some parts could fall in volume because the wrong region of frequency is emphasized. Playing high notes with the pedal all the way up, the highest tones are filtered out which makes those notes (seem) drop in volume. Technically you're right, but for the ears there can be a difference.

[edit] "modified effects pedal"

i put a [citation needed] for this bit, as i'm not totally sure what is meant by it. Joeyramoney 00:56, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

basically he opened it up, and changed a few things

well... maybe his roadie did :P

[edit] worth meantioning autowah (envelop filters)?

is it worth meantioning autowah pedals? they are still a wah pedal, although the wah is controlled by the attack on the string/pressure on the keyboard etc.

[edit] Notation?

Does anyone know how wah-wah and other guitar effects are notated on sheet music?

They're not; they effect timbre, not pitch.

Stockhausen notated wah-wah (for brass), see wah-wah article. BTW, added a link to band-pass filter, which is basically what a wah-wah pedal is. MagnusW 19:39, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Known Users

Whats the point of this list of guitar players. I would estimate one half of all guitar players use wah pedals and this list will grow to be longer than the article itself.

[edit] George Harrison

What Harrison uses in 1965 in the recording of "I Need You", "Yes, It Is" (same recording session) and "12 Bar Original (an outtake from the album "Rubber Soul") was not a wah-wah, but a tone pedal, since the wah wah wasn't comercially available until 1967. That mistake may come off the writtings of Mark Lewisohn, the Beatles' biographer, who states that Harrison used a "tone pedal, later called wah-wah pedal".

Having toured the States in 1964's winter and summer it is not unlikely that Harrison got a bunch of new american equipment there as it was difficult to find in Europe. The tone pedal was a device designed by De Armond which affected volume by means of a rocker pedal, just like the wah pedal did with tone. The tone pedal could also be rocked left and right to modulate tone. The De Armond 610 tone pedal is an example, which was later copied by Fender. It was extensively used by pedal steel players and Nashville sessionists.

By january 1969 Harrison used a Vox wah pedal remarkably during the "Let It Be/Get Back" filming at Twickenham studios. The pedal is seen on the roof performance but disconected. He didn't use it for "Abbey Road" album sessions but then again on "All Things Must Pass" sessions the following year.

Sources are the book "Beatles Gear" by Andy Babiuk and photographs and films of that time.

Sign your name: 200.126.135.28 22:24, 8 February 2007 (UTC) agusaravia

[edit] name

I've always heard simply "wah-pedal", should this be added as another name? Frankly, "wah-wah" pedal sounds completely ridiculous to me. Fresheneesz 11:05, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removing un-notable examples

I have removed the last two uninteresting examples of wah-wah usage. Feel free to remove more. DVdm 13:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Musician sections

The sections listing off guitarists and other musicians who have used wah pedals are the worst kind of lists Wikipedia tends to attract: "here, let me list the musicians I listen to who have used this in some way".

A better and more encyclopedic way to handle this would be to describe how the wah pedal is used with various instruments and with different musical styles. At the moment we just have an aimless litany of irrelevant name-dropping. —ptk✰fgs 22:45, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

I mostly agree. Only the most notable examples should be kept, which leaves the question of what and who is notable? That would of course result in an even shorter article. After all, what can you do with a wah other than plugging it into some instrument and moving your foot, along with or against the rhythm? That would retain of course the entry on Frank Zappa, who notably often used the device by not moving his foot altoghether. I also would keep only one or at most two examples for every usage on instruments other than the guitar. DVdm 10:08, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
This is a good idea. Personally though, I only know about bassists in any sort of detail, notably Cliff Burton. I added the notes about Burton before I became a member of wikipedia.Mgraham1985 (talk) 03:40, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Electric Prunes

"Pebbles, Volume 2" has a track credited to the Electric Prunes, called "Wah Wah Peddle" (sic). It's a radio advertisement for an early Vox Wah-Wah pedal. There's a copy here). I mention it because it must be a fairly early advert for the pedal, and it's an odd curiosity. The excitable narrator claims that you can make your guitar sound like a sitar; he actually says "it's the NOW sound!". He also claims that it is being used by "The Electric Prunes, Animals, Herman's Hermits, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Stones, The Seeds", surely the last time that the Rolling Stones were mentioned in the same breath (and it was the same breath) as Herman's Hermits. -Ashley Pomeroy 12:25, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wah supposed to sound like muted trumpet?

I've actually heard that the wah pedal was originally designed to imitate the sound of a muted trumpet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muted_trumpet#Brass), not the human voice. If anyone can verify this, the article ought to be changed to reflect it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.32.61.197 (talk) 21:50, 16 March 2008 (UTC)