PedalBoard 101

#3 Wah Wah

A Wah pedal is a guitar effect that swipes the tone frequencies of your signal in order to create a ''wave'' that mimics the human voice.

Fun fact: Predominant characteristic of the average wah pedal user, is the movement of the mouth that will uncontrollably follow the ''wah wah'' sound of your guitar.

How it works

The wah wah effect is given by sweeping the frequency range of the guitar signal from open to closed. Frequency range being “bass, mids and trebles”.

Some history

The concept of the wah wah sound was actually introduced for the first time by trumpet players around 1920, who used to move a mute in and out of the instrument bell, creating a very vocal effect.

Was only in 1966 that in WARWICK electronics, Bradley J. Plunkett created a breadboard circuit, with a potentiometer connected to a Vox Continental Organ volume pedal creating for the first time the wah.

Where to go in the signal chain?

I’ll most probably put the wah pedal before all the gain stages, so the signal going from the wah will be distorted afterwards giving the most clear and precise sound.

My 2 cents

The wah wah effect is an amazing creative tool, being an inspiration for numerous artists, from Jimi Hendrix all the way to Kirk Hammet . Nothing is a “must” of course, but if your soloing is a bit blanc, this tool will definitely guide your playing into new horizons.