Members Terje Posted November 29, 2002 Members Share Posted November 29, 2002 Considering how seldom you use those two effects anyway I'd say you're better off learning how to use your guitar's volume and tone knobs to achieve them. Saves you money too. And actually it often sounds much more musical, more natural. But it's not so easy. I've gotta go and practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terje Posted November 29, 2002 Author Members Share Posted November 29, 2002 Ouch! That's quite a stretch. especailly if you keep doing it for some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratKat Posted November 30, 2002 Members Share Posted November 30, 2002 i dunno bout that.... I tried to get the WAH sound using the tone controls on a guitar. But it isnt the same thing. They say a wah is just a tone circuit like the treble control on your axe but there is definitely more to a wah then just a pot and the pedal..... Its a different kind of tone circuit i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terje Posted November 30, 2002 Author Members Share Posted November 30, 2002 It's not the same exact sound cause a wah is a little more sophisticated. It also boosts the signal. But if you work on it you can get a near wah sound. I've seen and heard people do that. Some pretty fast wah work too, live at a blues jam. And he was using a borrowed guitar, all stock, so there was no extra curcuitry involved. The thing is that you need to find the point where the note opens up, that's where you have that vowel sound. And that point is very slightly different for every note. Practice my friend Working the tone knob you get something much less exaggerated than what you getwith a wah but at the same time I think it's more musical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daddysguitar Posted November 30, 2002 Members Share Posted November 30, 2002 Originally posted by Terje It's not the same exact sound cause a wah is a little more sophisticated. It also boosts the signal. But if you work on it you can get a near wah sound. I've seen and heard people do that. Some pretty fast wah work too, live at a blues jam. And he was using a borrowed guitar, all stock, so there was no extra curcuitry involved. The thing is that you need to find the point where the note opens up, that's where you have that vowel sound. And that point is very slightly different for every note. Practice my friend Working the tone knob you get something much less exaggerated than what you getwith a wah but at the same time I think it's more musical. Well, let's see. A wah is a sweepable bandpass circuit. A tone control just shorts out some highs. I guess if you threw in some large gobs of volume, approaching feedback, and played with the tone control, you could get a teeny widdle bit of something approaching a wah! Try that, Terje! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mattburnside Posted November 30, 2002 Members Share Posted November 30, 2002 Danny Gatton got his wah effects from the tone knob. He changed the tone capacitors, and perhaps the pot, specifically to enhance the effect. If you listen, though, it doesn't really sound like a wah, which is an active bandpass booster as opposed to a passive lowpass filter. It still sounds cool though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ninjaaron Posted November 30, 2002 Members Share Posted November 30, 2002 Originally posted by Terje Considering how seldom you use those two effects anywayI use wah a lot. volume swells are cool, but the volume pedal is easier to use, as for trem, I don't think that stedily wiggleing your finger like that could have a positive effect on you playing. It would be a skill worth learning, for some cool effects, but I don't think I would use it as regularly as a wah, or a volume pedal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terje Posted November 30, 2002 Author Members Share Posted November 30, 2002 Originally posted by mattburnside Danny Gatton got his wah effects from the tone knob. Roy Buchanan got his wah from the tone knob too. Also on a tele, that's quite a stretch. I don't know what should be donewith the capacitors to enhance the effect. I can get the effect that Roy got, that slow wah, the crying effect. And this guy I saw some time ago, who did a really good fast wha thing on a stat, he was using a stock strat that he had borrowed. So I guess it's just practice. Some of it is timing, cause if you're too fast in turning the knob after the attack it won't be heard, if you're too slow the note starts to die to much. And that I think is the real trick with the fast wah thing, to make it into one smooth movement. Will take some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terje Posted November 30, 2002 Author Members Share Posted November 30, 2002 Originally posted by daddysguitar Well, let's see. A wah is a sweepable bandpass circuit. A tone control just shorts out some highs. I guess if you threw in some large gobs of volume, approaching feedback, and played with the tone control, you could get a teeny widdle bit of something approaching a wah! Try that, Terje! An overdriven amp does seem to help it somewhat. Especially for the fast wah thing. Just as you open the note up you get alittle more distortion too, almost like with a regular wah, and thus the effect is heard more. It doesn't have to be very loud though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted December 1, 2002 Members Share Posted December 1, 2002 How can your volume knob act as a tremelo? Volume doesn't alter the pitch?! I also just tried to get a "wah" sound on my strat for the last 15 minutes and while I got a bit of an open/close effect and can hear a bit of that type effect...nothing like a true wah-wah pedal. Hey just my opinion.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratKat Posted December 1, 2002 Members Share Posted December 1, 2002 its a mis named effect to many since the tremelo should be a pitch bender and not known as a volume swell thing. But todays tremelo units all do the pulsating that made CCR so unique. SO many consider the effect to include volume pulses these days. You can get a pulsating effect thats sort of similar to the tremelo that CCR got just by increasing the mids and rolling on and off (FAST and repeatedly) the volume pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terje Posted December 2, 2002 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2002 I don't know what's right but I call a pulsating volume thing a tremelo and a varying pitch vibrato. Thusly, your volume knob can act as a tremelo on long chords. I think it would be very hard to do it while strumming but one the other hand, if you learn to do it well on long chords you can do it just enough to have the effect every now and then. You'll save money by not having to buy the pedal and you'll save yoursignal from having to go through that stupid box beforeit reaches the amp The same goesfor the tone-knob-wah-thing. It's not exactly like a wah but it's close enough if you work at it. Plusses? You don't have to buy or carry or plug in your wah-wah pedal. And I actually think that it sounds more musical, more natural. Any wah can get really harsh, cause it also boosts. The tone knob is passive and much more subtle. Actually gets closer to a horn with a mute than a regular wah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members R0ry Posted December 2, 2002 Members Share Posted December 2, 2002 The pulsating-volume effect is correctly called tremolo. Think of it like tremolo picking, it's a similar principle. Tremolo, as an effect, deals in volume modulation, whereas vibrato, in any situation, is pitch modulation. Fender screwed it all up when they started calling their pitch-bend bridges 'tremolos'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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