EQ compensation for a Wah Pedal

Discussion in 'Guitar Gear Talk Forum' started by shubhamAT, Jun 28, 2012.

  1. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    Hi,

    In one of the songs i have to play i will be using wah for very short duration at few places through out the song and by the time i engage and sweep the pedal, a beat is over. As soon as i engage my wah pedal (Vox V847a) there is a noticeable change in the tone since higher frequencies get accentuated at toe down position. If i were to keep the Wah pedal always on and at toe down, how do i adjust the eq which is after the wah pedal in my case so that i can get the original tone or as close as possible ? Based on my basic understanding of a Wah works i lowered the trebel quite a bit but could not get close enough. Any idea what else i should do with mid and bass ? Or even better with a 6 band virtual-eq or a 2 band parametric one ?
     
  2. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    What song are you playing? EQ it depending on the sound you want. What EQ pedal do you have?
    You can mod you wah pedal to true bypass which might(no guarantee) help you retain you original tone.

    "Almost all wahs use the casing as ground. Run a wire from ground of the input jack to ground on the output jack."
    I found it on net. You can try it out.

    Also rewire your pedalboard once and use good quality patch/instrument cables.
     
  3. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    Sadda Haq. I have a Zoom G3 with a virtual 6 band eq on it. I guess true bypass is needed when the pedal is not stomped on ? in my case i want the wah to be on and at toe down.
     
  4. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    You'll have to mess with the EQ.. Cut the high frequencies if the wah accentuates them..Boost the mids a little... Just tweak a little you'll be good.
     
  5. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    Okay thanks, will let you know the results.
     
  6. henrynh

    henrynh New Member

    Getting the "Qua" out of the "Quack" sound from the wah is going to be difficult with EQ. You'll need Parametric EQ for it, two preferably. Even then it's going to alter the sound the moment you move the wah pedal again from it's toe position. The best & easiest would be to have a switchless wah to do a quick ON/OFF. Besides that there is the option of Auto-Wah or Touch-Wah, the G3 probably has one. Give that a try. Maybe create two patches with same settings & then switch between them whenever the part comes up, one with the Auto in Stomp 1 spot & the other with something else you were using.

    Unrelated to this, did you get the new laney A50(?)amp yet?
     
  7. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    Thanks henryh for ur advice. For now i have raised the sub 800hz frequencies and lowered 1.2 and above to balance the tone. Its still a bit trebley . Some more tweaks at the amp eq and guitar tone knob should take me close.

    About auto-wah; yes it is there in G3 but its very hard to keep it not wahing. Also have a Behringer Hellbabe (practically unusable now because of a broken trim pot) which turns on as soon as you step on it but even when it was working the Wah was not as prominent as Vox's.

    Yes i have the Laney AH50 now, shipped from furtados
     
  8. tirtha2chester

    tirtha2chester New Member

    Which wah pedal do you use?

    Does it have a bypass switch or not?
     
  9. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    I have a Vox V847a, it does not have a true bypass.
     
  10. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    You know you can never anti-EQ a wah pedal using a simple 3 band graphic equalizer.
    What you require is a parametric EQ so that you can adjust the peak and the Q factor of this parametric EQ based on the wah pedal you have.
     
  11. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    I guessed so but i don't have the data for Vox847 so did not try.
     
  12. tirtha2chester

    tirtha2chester New Member

    I thought about it for a moment..

    Come to think of it, Joe Satriani's surfing with the alien and summer song uses wah throuhout the entire song... The notes sound articulate and clear, even when he doesn't modulate the wah..

    There's some way he does that... And those who covered the song the song have also found a way to do so...
    Question is how?
     
  13. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    Actually I still haven't got why Shubham want to EQ OUT the wah sound ...

    Many guitarists play the lead with cocked wah sound for the entire solo.
     
  14. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    Let me get into details. I am playing Sadda Haq, in the intro there is a squealy part which i will be doing with the Wah thats one use. Immediatly after that i have to play the keyboard part. Next before the para1 there is a overdubbed lick where i will use the Wah to emphasize a bend and immediately after to the riff that goes with para 1. After that during the riff before para2 there is a voice-effect like thing (dont know if its human voice or a cool guitar effect) that i am gonna do with wah before continuing the riff. I admit i cannot turn on/off the pedal quick enough and the riffs(power chord ones) sound way better with the Wah off.

    That's why.
     
  15. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    Borrow my Boss PS-5 ..
     
  16. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    I have its clone, but how will it help ?
     
  17. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    You can use flutter mode
     
  18. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    No i am not talking about that part. The one i am referring to is at 0:11
     
  19. henrynh

    henrynh New Member

    I guess the behringer one was based of on an original crybaby available today but maybe used the switchless function if the 95Q wah. I never liked the sound of those stock. Some of the dunlop wahs are very poor sounding :phbbt: The one I have has everything removed from it's guts & replaced with an area 51 kit.

    The good news for you is that there will be a firmware update available for the G3. It's already available in Japan but will take I think a few days or a week or two for a English release. That should allow you to use 6 fx simultaneously instead of 3 & the additional amps from the G5 will be added as well. Make sure you check out Zoom's website daily for it for the next few days, under downloads/software section for the G3 unit. Try to avoid installing the Japanese firmware for now unless you can read Japanese. Depending on how things work out for you, you may like to invest in an expression pedal later ;)
     
  20. shubhamAT

    shubhamAT New Member

    Thanks a lot henryh, I do keep looking at G3 microsite every now and then. We have a Boss FV5 in the office and had ordered a 1/4 TS to TRS cable for connecting it with G3. I am yet to try this.

    Please keep me posted on the firmware update. I have the one that the device came with and haven't even updated to the latest one (the one with backlight control).
     

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