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Wilson Effects Wah: Be my instruction manual.

Meyatch

Meyatch

Nov 25, 2007
1,031
1,353
44
Pennsylvania
#1
Well, I decided I needed a wah pedal. After reading the seemingly endless supply of praise for the Wilson Effects Q-Wah, I decided that would be the one I get.

Now I have it set up, and while it does make wah sounds, I have some questions.

I went with the 6 position Q-wah, because I don't like to mess with things, and I assumed the 12 position wah would have the same range of tones, but with extra settings between the ones on the 6 position wah. I'm not sure if that's actually true, as the descriptions on the webpage are practically non-existent.

I also got the vintage spec wiring, because while I don't really subscribe to the belief that the NOS caps actually sound better, the price difference seemed marginal, and I wanted the LED.

Ok, first question.

When used in conjunction with my Big Muff Fuzz, I get horrible ungodly screeching feedback when I'm not playing anything. Read a little, and apparently the reason modern wah pedals have an output buffer is to prevent this. Ok, do I turn it down or do I turn it up?

Second question.

What do the knobs do? I mean, I have a general gist of what they do, but not really in working knowledge. I kind of figure the Q knob controls the center frequency of the sweep, and while the bass/gain knob seems self explanatory, I don't really have a working knowledge of how this works, other than apparently one way is brighter, and the other deeper.

Now the sweep knob I really don't understand. The help page says "When facing straight up and down it is in the original set position of the pedal. If you turn this knob you will notice the sweep of the pedal get less and less."

However the stock setting is in the center position. Is the center position maximum sweep, and either way will be less sweep, and how exactly does that work?

By the way I assume sweep to mean the difference in frequency between the heel and toe positions.

Sorry this is kind of long, but I've never actually had a decent wah pedal, and I'm not familiar with these terms.

And while I'm totally willing to work with this pedal, and take the advice of so many other people that it really is great, it seems like it would be really nice if there was some more information about these on the manufacturers website.

-mitch
 
#2
While I didn't have the same issues you did, I was equally stumped by my wilson wah when I first got (12 position, stock wiring, with LED).

The knob closest to the front/your toes is the Q sweep - the knob which rotates smoothly. Cranking it all the way clockwise makes your sweep bigger, or smaller, if you crank it counterclockwise. Therefore, cranking it almost all the way counterclockwise gives you very little sweep. Crank it AAAAALLLL the way foprward and you have a huge dramatic sweep.

The middle knob is the position knob - the one that clicks to the different positions, and by adjusting that, you adjust where the centre of where the sweep lies. Fiddle with it. Cranking it forward makes it sweep higher frequencies, and cranking it backward makes it sweep lower frequencies (i think, i may be backward on this, as im at work, not at my pedalboard).

Be careful with the bass/gain knob(the one at your heel) - that my be the reason you have noise issues, though it may be something else.... either way, too much of that and all you will get is terror noise, especially with a dirt pedal in there.

Dont forget about the internal trimpots as well. You should have one for volume (i leave mine at max), and one for mids (which I leave as it came to me).


Lots of edits made :D
 
#4
yeah, I have left the bass/gain knob in the center detent position, except for some initial experimentation.

If I set the wah in either the toe position, or the heel position, play a note, and fiddle with the sweep knob. I cannot detect any change whatsoever. This doesn't make any sense to me. Does this knob not work while its on or something? Like, you have to set it before playing?
 
#5
Meyatch said:
yeah, I have left the bass/gain knob in the center detent position, except for some initial experimentation.

If I set the wah in either the toe position, or the heel position, play a note, and fiddle with the sweep knob. I cannot detect any change whatsoever. This doesn't make any sense to me. Does this knob not work while its on or something? Like, you have to set it before playing?
Click to expand...

The Q sweep kob -smooth turning one that adjusts the depth of the sweep - no, you wont notice a difference if you set the pedal and then turn the knob. but set it at one extreme, then sweep the pedal back and forth, and that's your current depth setting. adjust the knob to the other extreme, then sweep the pedal - you will notice that the depth of your sweep is suddenly much more shallow than before, less dramatic, you could say.
 
#7
The sweep knob at the front of the pedal actually controls the width of the sweep. If you turn it to the toe of the pedal you'll notice an longer or wider sweep. When you turn it to the heel of the pedal you'll notice the sweep is gone. Now turn it slightly towards the toe and you'll notice a narrow sweep that lets more of the high frequencies through.

The Q selector lets you select between higher q sweeps or lower Q sweeps. Turning it towards the heel of the pedal you will find the higher frequencies and turning it towards the toe of the pedal you will find the lower frequencies. The Bass and gain will take away bass and gain or add bass and gain. Turning it towards the heel will add and turning it towards the toe will take it away.

I suspect the reason you're getting the noise is probably a gain issue and it's simply when you kick the wah on it's adding more gain to the circuit, since wahs are technically a gain based circuit. It could possibly have to do with how close your pedals are to the amp. Hope this helps!

Kevin
 

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