Anybody still using a real WAH?

Keg8605

Keg8605

Power User
I left my axe fx rig home last night and used a spare amp and a few pedals that I keep at practice. I used my crybaby 95Q into my orange head last night and wow was that wah just awesome. Made me realize that something is just missing from my Wah's in the axe. I'd be happy to mess with it some more of course. I'm just curious though how many people are still using actual real wahs in front of the axe? I know it was reworked a few FW's ago right?

What can I say it just sounded good!
 
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I love the Axe wahs, you can change any parameter, pick from a variety of classic wahs, up the gain or volume when the wah is engaged, make the wah turn on with either your movement or speed of movement of the pedal. Change the sweep length. Change the curve, the center frequency. Anything. To match any amp tone or pickups used. No, I don't use my Cry Baby anymore. The Cry Baby does one thing, and does it great. Just doesn't work for every amp I have in my AxeFx setup. And too harsh for clean wah, IMO.
 
I love my Axe Wah. I have played around with it and got it set so fucking perfect. I will go home at lunch and write settings down and post them when I get back. I use a pretty wide range on the sweep compared to most people I know. I do this because I like for the wah to be vocal, thick, and agressive for the entire neck of the guitar. So I rock my pedal back and and forth in increments depending on the position I'm playing on the guitars neck. One of my most favorite things about my XL!
 
Cool, yea give me some settings to check out. I also realize going through an amp may have changed what I'm used to hearing as well. I'm going to bring it home so I can compare and tweak it a bit.

Don't get me wrong, I have no intentions of using a real one. Its just not necessary. I just noticed how much I really like using the 95Q yesterday. I also really like the spring feel compared to my mission with spring.
 
Ok, here are my wah settings. Keep in mind, guitar/woods/pickups/strings/amp&cab settings will all sound differently with my wah settings. It might not be for everyone either or you may have to make some final tweaks to suit you. Like I mentioned before, I have a fairly wide sweep as opposed to standard wah pedals (not the widest by far though). I rock slightly back and forth a different positions on the actual sweep of the pedal depending on where I am on the guitar's neck. Lower end of the guitar gets a lower portion of the wah, higher end gets higher portion of the wah's sweep. I don't use subtle wahs either. I also do not rock from heel to toe. I kinda use mine as an envelope-filter with a sweep and to accent my notes. I use a good amount of resonance and it helps the notes sing for days.. a friend told me when I was playing they were just waiting for the strings to break lol. I prefer mine to stand out, be thick, vocal, and aggressive. I took pics of my settings because it was faster than writing it all down. Hope you guys enjoy.

Page 1
View attachment 21588
TYPE: Cry Babe
RES: 9.02
TAPER: LOG 30A
DRIVE: 0.17
LEVEL: 0.0 db
CONTROL: 0.00

I guess this will have to be several posts because it won't let me upload much at once :|
 
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Well it won't let me upload the 2nd page pic :(

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MIN FREQ: 220 Hz
MAX FREQ: 2218 HZ
FAT: 0.81
TRACK: 9.00
BAL: 0.0
BYP MODE: THRU
 
The tracking is a super important control too, it has a strong effect on the higher portion of the wah sweep.
 
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I have ditched the real wah for a couple years now. The axe tones are great and I've found auto engage to be an incredibly convenient way to activate the wah.
 
Thanks Chrismetal86! I'll give these settings a go tonight and see.

spv said:
I have ditched the real wah for a couple years now. The axe tones are great and I've found auto engage to be an incredibly convenient way to activate the wah.
Click to expand...

Exactly why I won't go back either. I just would like to improve my wah tone.
 
Keg8605 said:
Thanks Chrismetal86! I'll give these settings a go tonight and see.



Exactly why I won't go back either. I just would like to improve my wah tone.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind, as I stated before about how I use my wah. A lil rock of the sweep goes a long way. That was the whole purpose of setting up the wah how I did. Most of your basic wah pedals only sound good in certain areas of the fretboard.. however mine was set up to be aggressive the whole length of the board. I set my lows to where I liked the effect and sound, then worked the high end of the board and settings next. Hope you like it dude!
 
ChrisMetal86 said:
Ok, here are my wah settings.

I guess this will have to be several posts because it won't let me upload much at once :|
Click to expand...

It is much more easy for you (and also more convenient for other users) to post the preset (sysx file) instead typing all your settings. Thanks for doing it anyway!

I use the Axe fx wah but I still feel it doesn't cut through as much in a live situation than a real wah. Sometimes it sounds great at home but your frequencies get lost in the mix when playing live. It can vary from gig to gig. This is more easy to control and adjust on the fly with a real wah.
 
Bodde said:
It is much more easy for you (and also more convenient for other users) to post the preset (sysx file) instead typing all your settings. Thanks for doing it anyway!

I use the Axe fx wah but I still feel it doesn't cut through as much in a live situation than a real wah. Sometimes it sounds great at home but your frequencies get lost in the mix when playing live. It can vary from gig to gig. This is more easy to control and adjust on the fly with a real wah.
Click to expand...

I didn't know you could just post a single effect preset. I'm new to the FAS stuff. I've actually never exported a preset since the XL files are bigger then the Axe II and the Axechange won't allow that big of a file to be uploaded.. unless Cliff has fixed that problem with the site.
 
You can also export just the effect block and not the whole preset. It will export both X and Y.

In AE right click the block you want to export and choose library/save and give it a name. In a file browser go to your Axe Edit folder and follow the path. Ex: C:\My Documents\Fractal Audio\Axe-Edit\blocks\Wah. It'll be a *.blk file.

To import it you'd create the effect type folder if it's not already there and drop the .blk file there.
 
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Narzugon said:
You can also export just the effect block and not the whole preset. It will export both X and Y.
Click to expand...

I will have to look into how to do this over the weekend. Might help me copy everything like my delays, reverbs, and wah over to multiple new presets without adjusting them individually everytime I make a new preset.
 
I have a vintage Crybaby Wah that is now collecting dust because I love the versatility of the Axe-Fx Wahs! A spring loaded Mission EP-1 gives it a real, solid Wah feel.
Here's a good primer for getting good Wah sounds: Yeks How Tos - Fractal Audio Systems Wiki
Please note that while Yek's "How to" page was written for the original Axe-Fx & Ultra, the same basic principles apply.
 
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