Published on this page in the GuitarFella archive — what our editors chose at the time, not a lab test.
Last Updated Nov-11-2018.
Have you gotten tired of your amp’s limited options in what it can offer to enhance your tones? If you are looking to expand upon your sound with stylish and dynamic enrichment, then a wah pedal might be the solution for you. Wah is one of the oldest and easily distinguishable
must have pedal effects on the market, it has found a common use in every style of play ranging from classic rock to metal. We’ve put together a well-versed list aimed to suit your needs if you’re on the hunt for your first pedal, or you’d just like a worthy addition to your already formed setup.
The Top 10 Best Wah-Wah Effects:
The Wah Effect
The origin of the wah effect dates back from the early 1920’s, when music players experimented with muted trumpets which resulted in the creation of an expressive “crying baby” tone. The earliest guitar effect pedals came much later on, in 1966 – The Clyde McCoy, the Cry Baby and the Vox. Among the first adopters of the earliest wah pedals were Eric Clapton (who was a part of Cream at the time) and Jimi Hendrix, both released official recordings in 1967 while using their wah pedals, which aided in their rise to fame.
How Does A Wah Work?
Wah pedals are extremely simple devices when you really look into it. In simple terms, this pedal allows you to push your guitar into mad screams, deep dives and anything in between by simply manipulating the expression switch on the pedal. If that explanation isn't really satisfying, we can go deeper. In a more technical sense, wah pedals are manual bandpass filters. Under the expression pedal is a switch whose purpose is to eliminate specific frequencies depending on its position. The whole thing started when someone wanted to add more versatility to mid range boost features that were frequently build into amps. The idea is that instead of just being able to turn that boost on or off, you could actually explore values in between by using a potentiometer instead of a standard switch.
Needless to say, the new effect became incredibly popular in a fairly short amount of time. Almost as popular as early standalone
overdrive pedals. Despite being so simple in nature, wah pedals expand the creative freedoms of a guitar player in a very significant way. This partially explains why some of the most legendary guitarists in history always used and still use a wah pedal. Hendrix did crazy things with nothing more than a
fuzz box and a wah pedal. If you are interested in spicing up your tone, wahs are a very solid place to start. Lets find out just how practical they are these days.
The Practical Value Of Wah Pedals
With some effects pedals, there will always be an argument regarding whether or not that specific pedal is still relevant or practical. Wahs are among those that don't suffer from such issues. Despite it being one of the oldest guitar effects we know of, wah pedals are going strong as ever. Truth be told, you will notice a wah in specific genres of music, but that doesn't mean it is exclusive. On the contrary, wahs are used in just about any genre that includes a guitar. We are talking anything from really heavy metal to blues. It all comes down to your personal preferences, imagination and understanding of how wahs can help your tone. Even if that tone is saturated with a
heavy distortion.
It also helps that wahs are generally not that expensive, nor are they complicated for use. As a result, we see more and more beginners opting to get a wah on their pedalboard as one of the first choices. So, to answer the question from the title, wahs are very much practical even to this day. Chances are that a wah will be one pedal you can always fall back to when you need to spice things up.
Are There Different Wah Pedal Types?
When you look at just about any other effect, chances are you will see a variety of subcategories all of which add a flavor of their own. With wah that isn't really the case. Since simplicity is kind of the whole point of a wah, there aren't wild differences between various models. That however doesn't mean that there are no differences at all. The first classification of wah we'd like to talk about are standalone and combo pedals.
The principle of operation behind a wah has proven to be practical for more than just this single effect. Therefore a number of different brands have started designing and producing pedals which are multifunctional in nature. Some combine wahs with volume pedals while others can serve as expression pedals. As a matter of fact, there are pedals with a triple functionality built into them.
The real question is whether you should stay away from these and go for a standard wah? That will depend on what you need or want. Usually a pedal that is jack of all trades is master of none just like that old saying states. However, there are examples where versatile and multifunctional nature of a wah was actually its strong suit. Again, which one you'll want to go for will depend on your needs and your budget.
Where Does Wah Go In The Signal Chain?
In terms of pedal placement, wahs are pretty straight forward. The current standard is to place the pedal at the very beginning of the signal chain with only tuners possibly being placed between a wah and your guitar. Reasoning behind is simple. Filtering the raw signal will yield much cleaner and crisper results than it would to push a signal saturated with all kinds of effects through a filter. Makes perfect sense when you think about it. There is also a small group of people who insist on doing exactly that. In other words, they are placing the wah at the very end of the chain.
If you are interested in learning more on the subject of guitar pedal placement,
check out our dedicated guide for more detailed answers. One thing to keep in mind is that guitar pedal positioning requires experimentation because there are simply too many variables to
account for.
How To Use A Wah Pedal?
Using a wah is generally all about the sweeps. After all, that is what wahs are best known for. The speed and intensity of the sweep is fully up to you. With that said, there are some unwritten rules that can help you get the effect you need with the least amount of effort. In order to execute a great sweep you will want to sync it with the tempo of your song. This can't be stressed enough. If you miss the temp of the song, your sweeps will sound fairly out of line. Delayed sweeps are also a thing. This technique dictates that you should initiate a sweep only after you have already picked a note. That way you are not driving the sweep along with the note, but instead pushing an already played note. The main benefit of pushing a sweep is the fact that it adds weight to the note it is driving. You can use this as a tool to accentuate certain parts of your song.
Conclusion
If you’ve set your mind on grabbing a wah pedal, you’ll definitely find one or more matching your taste covered on our list, as we’ve carefully formed the best selection in terms of price and quality.