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Wah-wah pedal
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A wah-wah pedal (or just wah pedal) is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, intended to mimic the human voice. The pedal sweeps the peak response of a filter up and down in frequency to create the sound (spectral glide).
Wah-Wah pedal has a very specific and technical circuitry and housing structure. Therefore, all other previous effects circuits and devices, prior to 1966, that share similarities with the wah-wah pedal are not actually affecting the signal in the same manner and cannot be considered early versions of the wah-wah pedal.
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A wah-wah pedal (or just wah pedal) is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, intended to mimic the human voice. The pedal sweeps the peak response of a filter up and down in frequency to create the sound (spectral glide).
History
The Wah-Wah pedal has a very specific and technical circuitry and housing structure. Therefore, all other previous effects circuits and devices, prior to 1966, that share similarities with the wah-wah pedal are not actually affecting the signal in the same manner and cannot be considered early versions of the wah-wah pedal. However, custom experiments from time to time made sounds that approached the formal product, including Chet Atkins' 1961 recording of "Boo Boo Stick Beat".
The first pedal ever created was by Warwick Electronics Inc. / Thomas Organ Company in November 1966; this pedal is the original prototype wah-wah pedal made from a transistorized MRB potentiometer bread-boarded circuit and the housing of a Vox Continental Organ volume pedal.
The creation of the Wah-Wah pedal was actually an accident which stemmed from the re-design of the Vox Super Beatle guitar amplifier in 1966. Warwick Electronics Inc. / Thomas Organ Company had bought the Vox name due to the brand name's popularity and association with the Beatles. Warwick Electronics Inc. also owned Thomas Organ Company and had assigned Thomas Organ Company to create a new product line called the all-electric Vox Amplifonic Orchestra, the project was headed by musician and band-leader Bill Page. While creating the Vox Amplifonic Orchestra, the Thomas Organ Company needed to re-design the Vox amplifier into a transistorized solid state amplifier, rather than tube, which would be less expensive to manufacture. During the re-design of the USA Vox amplifier, Stan Cuttler, head engineer of Thomas Organ Company, assigned Brad J. Plunkett, a junior electronics engineer, to replace the expensive Jennings 3-position MRB (mid-range boost) circuit switch with a transistorized solid state MRB circuit.
Brad Plunkett had lifted and bread-boarded a transistorized tone-circuit from the Thomas Organ (an electric solid state transistorized organ) to duplicate the Jenning 3-position circuit. After adjusting and testing the amplifier with an electronic oscillator and oscilloscope, Plunkett connected the output to the speaker and tested the circuit audibly. At that point, several engineers and technical consultants, including Bill Page and Del Casher, noticed the sound effect caused by the circuit. Bill Page insisted on testing this bread-boarded circuit while he played his saxophone through an amplifier. John Glennon, an assistant junior electronics engineer with the Thomas Organ Company, was summoned to bring a volume control pedal which was used in the Vox Continental Organ so that the ‘transistorized MRB potentiometer bread-boarded circuit' could be installed in the pedal's housing. After the installation, Bill Page began playing his saxophone through the pedal and had asked Joe Banaron, CEO of Warwick Electronics Inc. / Thomas Organ Company to listen to the effect. At this point the first electric guitar was plugged into the prototype wah-wah pedal by guitarist Del Casher who suggested to Joe Banaron that this was a guitar effects pedal rather than a wind instrument effects pedal. Joe Banaron, being a fan of the big band style of music, was interested in marketing the wah-wah pedal for wind-instruments as suggested by Bill Page rather than the electric guitar suggested by Del Casher. After a remark by Del Casher to Joe Banaron regarding the Harmon mute style of trumpet playing in the famous recording of "Sugar Blues" from the 1930s, Joe Banaron decided to market the wah-wah pedal using Clyde McCoy's name for endorsement.
After the initial invention of the wah-wah pedal, the prototype pedal was then modified by Del Casher and Brad Plunkett to better accommodate the harmonic qualities of the electric guitar. However, since Vox had no intention of marketing the wah-wah pedal for electric guitar players, the prototype wah-wah pedal was given to Del Casher for performances at Vox press conferences and film scores for Universal Pictures. The un-modified version of the Vox Wah-Wah pedal was released to the public in February 1967 with an image of Clyde McCoy on the bottom of the pedal.
Warwick Electronics Inc. assigned Lester L. Kushner, an engineer with the Thomas Organ Company, and Bradley J. Plunkett to create and submit the documentation for the Wah-Wah pedal patent. The patent was submitted on February 24, 1967 which included technical diagrams of the pedal being connected to a four-stringed "guitar" (as noted from the "Description of the Preferred Embodiment"). Warwick Electronics Inc. was granted (Foot controlled continuously variable preference circuit for musical instruments) on September 22, 1970.
Early versions of the Clyde McCoy featured an image of McCoy on the bottom panel, which soon gave way to only his signature before the name of the pedal was changed to Cry Baby. Thomas Organ's failure to trademark the Cry Baby name soon led to the market being flooded with Cry Baby imitations from various parts of the world, including Italy, where the McCoys were originally made.
Function
The variation in the peak response frequency of the filter resembles the change in formant frequency in the human vocal tract when saying the word "wah," making the wah-wah pedal a crude form of speech synthesizer. The traditional "wah wah" effect does not affect the guitar's volume, although many modern models offer a volume boost and distortion options.
The essential function of the wah-wah pedal is as a lead guitar booster. Frequently, lead lines do not cut through the mix of the band sufficiently, so some sort of effect is utilized to push the lead part to the front. A wah-wah inflected lead guitar part varies its timbre with the motion of the pedal, thus creating a distinct space within the sound of a band. Moreover, it mimics some of the sounds of human speech, which are typically picked up more readily by the human ear. Many people also find that use of the wah-wah pedal adds emotional expressiveness to single-note guitar lines, such as the solos on Cream's White Room, Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Guns 'n' Roses hit Sweet Child o' Mine, Pearl Jam's Alive, Jethro Tull's We Used to Know, U2's Mofo and others.
An envelope filter or envelope follower is often referred to as an Auto-wah or T-Wah.
Guitarists
Numerous guitar players have included wah-wah pedals in their effects chain, and it is among the most common effects used by modern musicians.
The first recorded use of a wah-wah pedal was by Del Casher in December 1966, who was commissioned by Warwick Electronics Inc. / Thomas Organ Company to create a Vox wah-wah pedal demonstration album which was released publicly in February, 1967. George Harrison was one of the earliest users of the wah-wah.
Jimi Hendrix did much to popularize the wah-wah in the late 1960s. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" employed an original Vox Clyde McCoy Picture Wah. The song "Little Miss Lover" introduced percussive wah-wah effect, made by muting guitar strings. Use of this effect was further developed to a fine art and employed by many funk and soul musicians throughout the 1970s, including the iconic "Theme from Shaft", by Isaac Hayes, featuring Charles Pitts on guitar.
Eric Clapton first played wah-wah with Cream on "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (from the Disraeli Gears album) and used it for both background riffs and an extended solo on "White Room". Clapton used a Vox Clyde McCoy Picture Wah in Cream. He also used the pedal for his guitar solo in Blind Faith's "Presence of the Lord" as well as his solo-era classic "Bad Love" from the album "Journeyman".
In Pink Floyd's Echoes, the 'screaming seagull' guitar effect was created by David Gilmour reversing the input and output leads in his wah-wah pedal (by accident, originally).
Frank Zappa extensively used a wah-wah pedal but did not always use it in the conventional way of rocking it back and forth. Zappa often left it set in different positions to get different tones, using it as a filter or distortion device. He also often used the pedal in combination with the acoustic guitar.
André Olbrich of German Power metal act Blind Guardian is known for his use of the wah-wah pedal to help achieve his distinct, "layered" sound.
Brian Robertson used the wah extensively with Thin Lizzy, using them in most licks, solos and sometimes riffs.
Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin sometimes used a wah-wah pedal in an unorthodox manner. Instead of rocking the pedal to produce the wah tone, Page kept the pedal depressed, producing a wah tone that was much sharper. He does use the wah in a more traditional manner on songs like "Dazed and Confused" from Led Zeppelin's first album, "No Quarter" from the Houses of the Holy album, and "Custard Pie" from the album Physical Graffiti .
Slash of Velvet Revolver (and formerly Guns N' Roses) is famous for his use of the wah-wah pedal and received his own signature Dunlop Crybaby in 2007.
Kirk Hammett of Metallica used a wah-wah pedal extensively on the self-titled "Metallica" album (also known the Black Album) as well as on "The House That Jack Built" from the Load album. He has often been criticized for his excessive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos, but he insists, "The wah-wah is an extension of my personality." He also once said, "They'll have to cut off my leg if they want me to stop using the wah-wah pedal."
Dimebag Darrell of Pantera used his signature a Dunlop Crybaby and eventually his signature Crybaby From Hell wah-pedal for his entire career. He also was developing a prototype wah with octave up fuzz, octave down fuzz and wah at the same time. This can be heard on the Damageplan song "Breathing New Life" intro. Used primarily for noise.
Zakk Wylde with Black Label Society uses his own signature Zakk Wylde Crybaby wah-wah pedal in nearly every one of his songs, either during solos or the song riffs.
Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin played wah-wah on some notable singles by The Temptations in the early-'70s, as well as with Martha Reeves and the Pointer Sisters. Hendrix proclaimed blues guitarist Earl Hooker the "master of the wah-wah". - perhaps unaware that Hooker managed to create the wah-wah effect with the volume knob on his guitar, not a pedal device.
John Frusciante is a modern wah-wah pedal user and is commonly known for using the discontinued Ibanez WH-10. With the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their Stadium Arcadium tour, Frusciante used the WH-10 on almost every solo including Californication and Soul to Squeeze.
Tom Morello of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine used the pedal in many songs, including Bulls on Parade, Bombtrack, and Guerrilla Radio. The entire solo for Be Yourself is played using a Wah Pedal. His Dunlop Crybaby is the very first effect on his guitar loop.
Terry Kath of Chicago used the pedal frequently and it can be heard on most of their 70's songs. His solo in 25 or 6 to 4 uses the wah pedal.
Other instruments
Many bassists have also used the wah-wah effect, for example Michael Henderson on Miles Davis's album On the Corner (1972). Bassist Cliff Burton of Metallica used a Morley Wah pedal (along with a Big Muff Distortion) extensively, including on (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth, which is primarily a bass solo recorded for Kill 'Em All (1983), and The Call of Ktulu and For Whom the Bell Tolls, both recorded for Ride the Lightning. Geezer Butler, bassist for Black Sabbath, used it when playing his solo Bassically, along with the bass line in N.I.B.. Chris Squire of Yes used a wah-wah pedal on his solo piece "The Fish" on the album Fragile.
Keyboardists have also made use of the wah-wah effect both in the studio and during live performances. Garth Hudson famously used a wah-wah pedal on a clavinet in The Band song "Up on Cripple Creek" to emulate a Jaw Harp.
Many jazz fusion records feature wind and brass instruments with the effect - Miles Davis's trumpet being a well-known example. Davis first used this technique in 1970 (at concerts documented on Live-Evil and The Cellar Door Sessions) at a time when he also made his keyboard players (Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea) play electric pianos with a wah-wah pedal. Napoleon Murphy Brock played a saxophone amplified through a wah-wah pedal in the Frank Zappa movie The Dub Room Special, as well as on some of Zappa's albums. David Sanborn can be heard playing an alto saxophone modified by a wah-wah pedal on the David Bowie album Young Americans. Noted saxophonist King Curtis was also known to use a wah-wah pedal. Dick Sims, the keyboard player with Eric Clapton in the late seventies, used a Hammond organ in conjunction with a wah-wah pedal, sat on top of the organ operated by his palm.
The effect is also extensively used with the electric violin. Notable examples are Jean-Luc Ponty, Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Shankar, all of whom recorded with Frank Zappa and usually engaged in long wah-wah violin/guitar duels. Boyd Tinsley of Dave Matthews Band is known to use a wah-wah pedal live.
Turntablist DJ Mix Master Mike has used a wah pedal connected to a turntable, producing an unusual sound he calls the tweak scratch.
See also
External links
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