Experimenting with the Talking Wah Pedal

[Tychobrahe1979]

First and foremost I'd like to thank http://www.geofex.com/ for all the great info on how wah pedals work. This is what has inspired me to experiment with the talking wah concept. I am using the variable resistor design as found on http://generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=112&Itemid=158 . An awesome DIY site.

I will be building two identical boards and using a dual taper pot to control both. I'm still reading up on different ways to hook both boards up to get different "phases" out each. When I get this worked out I will then begin trying different resistors and capacitors to get what I think is the most vocalistic quality. I was thinking of replacing the C2 capacitor with the multiple capacitor mod.

When I get done I would be glad to post what I've done. I'll be starting very soon. So if anyone has tried something like this or has any idea's I'd like to hear them.

[nero1985]

how r u going to get a talking wah sound?, there r many methods, i used some and now my wah sounds great and im even thinking about making other mods for a better sound, now with my wah i can go all the way to the 22 fret on my les paul and i waould still the wah sound

[Tychobrahe1979]

From what Ive read from Geofex the idea is to take two wah circuits and using a dual pot hook one up like normal (the wah freq gets higher as you rock your foot forward) and the other reverse from normal (switching the #1 and #3 wires to make the freq get lower as you rock your foot forward).

After reading the bottom of the wah article at Geofex again and looking at "The secret life of pots" I see there are even more ways to hook up the second wah circuit to the dual pot to change where the second wah peaks and bottoms.

This something Im doing in my Audio Engineering Group so I'm gonna spend a lot of time playing around until I get something really good. I'll be breadboarding it so making changes will be quick and easy.

[nero1985]

u dont really need a dual pot to do that... u can just use one pot to control 2 LDR/LED and raise/lower the resistance, right?

[Tim Escobedo]

Craig Anderton's wah/anti-wah does this pretty simply.
http://www.muzique.com/schem/wah2.gif
Note that as shown, it needs a true bipolar supply.

I did a similar version, tailored for single 9V battery. I also added a relatively low gain slightly clipped stage before it. The added harmonic complexity enhances the "vocal" quality. Here's how it sounds doing it's best AEIOU:
http://home.labridge.com/~tpe123/vowels.mp3

[toneman]

Isn't this the same thing as Craig Anderton's
"wah/anti-wah"  circuit???
circuit used 2 B at AMZ
afn
tone

[Tychobrahe1979]

I'm sure you could use the LED/LDR setup. I'm just not to familiar with using it. I have built the Neovibe , DOD 280 compressor, and a I think it was a Mutron clone. I've had probs with this setup though. I certainly don't claim to know everything. :lol:

That sounds really good Tim. I've never seen or heard of the design Craig Anderton had out. So simple but I've found so far that simple designs sound just as good as more complex ones. So I guess what I'm doing is the same idea just getting there a bit differently.

This concept is what I got from reading the Technology of the Wah Pedal from Geofex. He mentioned that EH had made a pedal using this concept. It just sounds like something cool to mess with.

[zachary vex]

there's a sample of the EH pedal on tonefrenzy.com.

http://tonefrenzy.com/sound_files/eh-talkingpedal.mp3

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I suppose what the world needs now is an "envelope follower talking wah" :roll:

[puretube]

:wink:

[toneman]

The BOSS AW3 advertizes a "human" mode.
afn
tone