How good of quality are Axe-FX III's wah pedals compared to real wahs?

I’ll add my endorsement to the cavalcade of positive votes above. Better in every way.
 
I've never used a real wah pedal before, so I wanted to know how the wah blocks in Axe-FX III compare to the real wah in terms of sound quality.
I guarantee that the wah blocks sound better than any real wah you've tried.
 
Like all the others above, I love the wah blocks. For the cost of a single expression pedal (highly recommend the Fractal offering, full size) you can setup dozens of specific wahs that sound exactly like the physical counterpart, no difference.

The default emulations are fantastic as-is and are all very close if not spot on, but these are so much better and off the top of my head a few additional benefits on top of being nearly indistinguishable from the actual pedals:

- It's very easy to go get the specs and settings for a custom/artist wah (for Dunlops for sure, lots to choose from), takes about 1 minute set your wah block to those exact specs, and instantly have an artist-spec Cry Baby. Fine tune from there, sky's the limit really. I about fell out of my chair the first time I setup a "Cry Babe" wah block to emulate a Dunlop Jerry Cantrell wah, incredible!! @2112 gets all the credit for providing detailed tutorials on that subject.

- The ability to set how the wah is triggered (toe or heel), and set a range of motion as to when to engage/disengage. No more on/off switches!

- The ability to use a single pedal as a wah and a volume and something(s) else is easily achieved by assigning functions, especially useful in a "kitchen sink" setup where you have most of what you need in a single preset and don't want 3 physical expression pedals (@Marco Fanton did a great job pointing that out in a recent tutorial he made, also sells the preset for a few bucks, it's been immensely helpful in looking at what setting up a single preset to do it all looks like).

I wouldn't dream of implementing any of my physical wah's when the Fractal wah blocks are available. For the pedal itself I really like the Fractal offering, built like a high-precision tank and performs flawlessly.
 
Like all the others above, I love the wah blocks. For the cost of a single expression pedal (highly recommend the Fractal offering, full size) you can setup dozens of specific wahs that sound exactly like the physical counterpart, no difference.

The default emulations are fantastic as-is and are all very close if not spot on, but these are so much better and off the top of my head a few additional benefits on top of being nearly indistinguishable from the actual pedals:

- It's very easy to go get the specs and settings for a custom/artist wah (for Dunlops for sure, lots to choose from), takes about 1 minute set your wah block to those exact specs, and instantly have an artist-spec Cry Baby. Fine tune from there, sky's the limit really. I about fell out of my chair the first time I setup a "Cry Babe" wah block to emulate a Dunlop Jerry Cantrell wah, incredible!! @2112 gets all the credit for providing detailed tutorials on that subject.

- The ability to set how the wah is triggered (toe or heel), and set a range of motion as to when to engage/disengage. No more on/off switches!

- The ability to use a single pedal as a wah and a volume and something(s) else is easily achieved by assigning functions, especially useful in a "kitchen sink" setup where you have most of what you need in a single preset and don't want 3 physical expression pedals (@Marco Fanton did a great job pointing that out in a recent tutorial he made, also sells the preset for a few bucks, it's been immensely helpful in looking at what setting up a single preset to do it all looks like).

I wouldn't dream of implementing any of my physical wah's when the Fractal wah blocks are available. For the pedal itself I really like the Fractal offering, built like a high-precision tank and performs flawlessly.
Is there a forum post on this Cantrell topic?
 
The really cool thing about the wahs in the unit is the mix control, so if the wah is too intense, you can blend in a little of the dry signal.

The FM3 wah doesn’t have a mix control, but I use a parallel path around the wah into a mix block. I use that on a Garcia type auto wah.
 
Don't miss the humm or the buzz or the click or the battery or DC converter, or the cables and or the pedal board and it's power supply. The wah Is the most troubled unit on any pedal board. To the OP, I don't think you can compare. One is in a box opened and it can do this and that and that it. The fractal wah can do anything and so much more than any wah available. You have the ability to create instead of conform. Cheers
 
I much prefer Fractal's options to any modern wah I have owned or played through and I've been through a bunch.

Having said that . . . years ago, I had an original, 1968, VOX wah that came into my possession along with a 100 watt HiWatt amp and a Shure SM56 after I replaced a guitarist in a local cover band that later folded. All of those items had serious pixie dust and magic. That Vox had, for want of a better word, a musicality that I have not experienced since. There was a stretch of time where I almost never bypassed that pedal using it like a filter to tune my midrange for different songs.

Of course, like all wah pedals it deteriorated and became increasingly noisy and unreliable. At some point I was creating a backup of my entire rig for some fly dates and I tried to find a clone of that Vox only to be disappointed time and time again. Even other Italian-made Vox from the same era were not the same. Rather than continue, I reluctantly pulled it off my board and it just disappeared the way things do when you live on the road.

During the rack era I did spend some time trying to make a number of pieces of gear work. I got closest with an Ensoniq dp/4.

One of these days I'm going to find the time to recreate that Vox in the Fractal. I imagine it's in there.
 
I liked the preset wahs OK but like my personally tweaked versions better... which is exactly the beauty of the Axe versions. You can customize to your exact specifications.

also I'm not spending 150$ on an expression pedal :tearsofjoy:
Moog EP-3 works great for $50 new. I recently grabbed 3 of them off Craigslist for $80.
 
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Best wah that I’ve used is in the AFX. I started with Petrucci parameters and tweaked it a bit. Its not as shrill as a lot of wahs can be. Deeper, throatier and thicker. The tweaking options you have let you dial it in as you want. The closest thing that I’m aware of would be the Dunlop rack wah but even that doesn’t have the options the Fractal has. I’ve used Cry Babies, Vox and others and I was using a Bad Horsie just before switching to Fractal. I loved the convenience of automatic activation but the tone left a lot to be desired. Now I have the automatic activation and the tone I want.
 
It's very easy to go get the specs and settings for a custom/artist wah (for Dunlops for sure, lots to choose from), takes about 1 minute set your wah block to those exact specs, and instantly have an artist-spec Cry Baby

hey, what is your process to do that?
 
I've never used a real wah pedal before, so I wanted to know how the wah blocks in Axe-FX III compare to the real wah in terms of sound quality.
I have a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe and when put in 'Clyde' mode there is no discernible difference between it and the Clyde in the Axe plus there is way more tweakability in the Axe.
 
The models are great. I still prefer my Mutron vol/wah. Best sounding wah pedal I've ever used. Love love love love it. I would love to have a model of it in the Axe.
 
For me, the Axe-Fx is much better than any analog wah. I was never happy with the range controls on adjustable wahs. Now, with the Axe-Fx, now only can I address this per-song, but I also have proper control over resonance and more.
This.
I’ve had many and never had one that can be used in any scenario. In my experience:
  • RMC 10 was super with edge of break up but not with clean and high gain
  • JP95 great for high gain but useless in any other area
  • CGB95 ok with clean and drive but weak with high gain
Now not only I can emulate each of them, but I can have a different wha for any preset I use. It’s just amazing, imagine a pedalboard with multiple wha…😱🤦🏻‍♂️
 
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