Expression Pedal Help and Suggestions - Foot Injury

R

rrogers

Inspired
So I have just learned I am probably never going to be able to flex my right foot in a manner that will let me control a wah.

I love a wah - I make Kirk H. of Metallica look like the Ebenezer Scrooge of wah usage. I can't switch to using my left foot because I am probably 18 months away from even being able to consider putting my full body weight on my right leg.

What I need is a spring-loaded expression pedal - one that works like a Morley Bad Horsie - and I need it to use it turned around (the high end of treadle facing to me).

Does anyone have an idea on where to procure something like this? Is there some small custom expression pedal maker out there I haven't found?
 
Mission Engineering EP-1 with the spring loaded option. They're great!

Combine that with auto-engage and you're set.

Also, if you're going you use it upside down, you can reverse the modifier to go from max to min.
 
A morley bad horsie upside down was my first idea before i read this

ULTIMATELY my best solution for you...
AUTO WAH

There is a preset in the axe fx that is like a really high gain distortion amp with a nice fat auto wah

it can get you closer to a KH wah sound than the actual KH wah pedal (i'd know- i have one)
I also think the Bad Horsie is the closest wah you could get to the real Kirk wah sound- not the rack dunlop sound the real sound

Kirk, Vai and Slash all used EMB's

Bad horsie to me sounds more like an EMB that anything else you can actually buy- and Kirk's EMB sound is so much better than the dunlop sound- but i understand why he has to use something more reliable and serviceable

If you start tweaking and getting the right sound i know in an axe fx an auto wah can be every bit as good in sound and tone and function as a real expression wah- and 100x easier

I "wah" with my right foot too- but very very very few guitar players do- i've always seen people use their left- but I can only do it w/ the right

good luck
and best wishes
 
Thanks for the suggestions - I did not know about the flexibility with the Mission Engineering pedals.

I am going to have to play with the auto-wag as well. I am about a week away from using my left hand again, but I may play with it by re-amping some stuff I have recorded. I am
 
Jeries said:
A morley bad horsie upside down was my first idea before i read this

ULTIMATELY my best solution for you...
AUTO WAH

There is a preset in the axe fx that is like a really high gain distortion amp with a nice fat auto wah

it can get you closer to a KH wah sound than the actual KH wah pedal (i'd know- i have one)
I also think the Bad Horsie is the closest wah you could get to the real Kirk wah sound- not the rack dunlop sound the real sound

Kirk, Vai and Slash all used EMB's

Bad horsie to me sounds more like an EMB that anything else you can actually buy- and Kirk's EMB sound is so much better than the dunlop sound- but i understand why he has to use something more reliable and serviceable

If you start tweaking and getting the right sound i know in an axe fx an auto wah can be every bit as good in sound and tone and function as a real expression wah- and 100x easier

I "wah" with my right foot too- but very very very few guitar players do- i've always seen people use their left- but I can only do it w/ the right

good luck
and best wishes
Click to expand...
Vai uses a Dunlop CryBaby 95Q, actually.

I saw it in person on his pedal board at Vai Academy in January, and Thomas Nordegg (his tech) confirmed that he stopped using the Bad Horsie because of noise issues.
 
I know he uses a 95q
But he designed it in the mid or late 90s and to me it sounds really close to the EMB

I've seen Thomas and Vai in sound check deal with noise issues with various wahs

(To me- it wasn't the bad horsie's fault- it was the little led plastic/glass VAI logo he put in front of the pedal board plugged into a walwart messing it all up)
 
I've seen a few other ideas for expression controllers that use proximity sensors for control instead of turning a pot. Z-Vex Probe pedals use them for control. https://www.zvex.com/products/wah-probe

Another option might be a pedal that rotates side to side (like you're putting out a cigarette butt with your foot) instead of up and down. I've seen a couple of two way expression pedals that have side to side action in addition to up and down (http://dbinstrumentamp.com/drupal/content/4e-dual-axis-expression-pedal), but I can't think of any I've seen that are just side to side.
 
rrogers said:
I had to look up the EMB - never knew that was the way sound I was chasing all these years.
Click to expand...

oh yeah- that's the sound i die for

a friend of mine owned Vai's Passion and Warfare EMB Wah
two times i came SOOOOOOOO close to buying it but he held off- then he got an offer a while later for DOUBLE what i offered and i offered a very fair amount- so i couldn't imagine someone offering double that--- i think i lost it

but someday it will be mine

they're also impossible to find in general
 
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