Bass & wah-wah

[Pekka]

I recently bought a wah-wah -pedal and started the use it with the bass. A basic Dunlop Cry-Baby (w/a "vocal mod" or whatever it is was called...), shouldn't work but it does. Eats a bit of the low end but I don't care.  With a fuzz it's instant Canterbury prog or John Wetton '73 "Talking Drum" climax.

I also started to think about favourite wah-wah -bass moments. Lots of prog of course, like Gentle Giant's "Mobile", Richard Sinclair with Hatfield and The North, Pekka Pohjola w/Wigwam but also "Night Woman" by Nazareth.  What are yours?

Here's a small intro I played to our jazz-rock combo's version of "Icarus" (Ralph Towner). Meandering and searching for the spark but the sound is good. '76 Thunderbird (w/ EY pickups) through a Lab Series L4 and EBS CL210 (mic'ed).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fghvw7v15hriwae/wahsolo.mp3?dl=0

[gearHed289]

I'm more of an envelope filter guy. I never really got the hang of the rocker pedal, but I never spent much time with one either. Squire used a wah on the Fish and parts of CTTE good effect. He later got a Mutron envelope filter (GFTO era?) and got some great dynamics with it on several songs - Wondrous Stories, Future Times/Rejoice, Don't Kill the Whale, On the Silent Wings of Freedom...

[Pekka]

I'm more of an envelope filter guy. I never really got the hang of the rocker pedal, but I never spent much time with one either. Squire used a wah on the Fish and parts of CTTE good effect. He later got a Mutron envelope filter (GFTO era?) and got some great dynamics with it on several songs - Wondrous Stories, Future Times/Rejoice, Don't Kill the Whale, On the Silent Wings of Freedom...

Squire's first Mu-Tron experiment was on "Topographic Oceans" on "The Ancient" where he also used his Jazz Bass for the first time.

I also like the auto-wah 'though it's a different beast altogether. I have EHX Q-Tron.

[Granny Gremlin]

I've been GASing for one of these:

http://www.hotoneaudio.com/products/press/Vol_Exp_Wah_Pedal/2016/1114/194.html

It's a wah/expression/volume mini pedal (the size of a standard Hammond 1490 enclosure like a small size EHX or ZVex pedal).  Also specifically voiced (as regards the sweep range) for bass (vs their regular version Soul Press)

I just sold my 70s MXR Env Filter (loved it on guitar, needed to be more tweakable for bass to satify completely but worked OK; also worth too much to keep) and replaced it with a Coloursound Dipthronizer copy I built (it's working out well; it's like the MXR but has 4 selectable vowel voices and a basic fuzz that actually works nicely for bass).  I was also working on a modded Mutron copy (actually a copy of the Lovetone Meatball) but it's a crazy complicated build and I need to troubleshoot it and it's not going well, so shelving it to come back to it fresh later.

[uwe]

I think wah is one of the few more sensible effects on bass.

[Pekka]

I think wah is one of the few more sensible effects on bass.

That is the first time I ever heard wah on a bass. Being such a funk fan it's strange Hughes didn't use a Mutron back then, not even on his first solo album.  A great solo and a best part of the Mark III version of "Space Trucking".

Black Sabbath's "N.I.B." must be the second.

This is one of my favs from Pohjola. The hiss is very audible and low end is cut off but I prefer the sound to modern bass wahs which leave the low end uneffected and sound sterile and clean.

[hieronymous]

I think wah is one of the few more sensible effects on bass.

This has one of my favorite bass sounds of all time! Especially this part:

https://youtu.be/d11MN-oUgkY?t=1m4s

This is another one of my favorite wah bass performances - Dave Holland, I love his electric bass playing from this period with Miles Davis:

https://youtu.be/WbvkgR5K-YE?t=35m7s

There's a version of Bitches Brew from the next year that is also amazing - fusion jazz metal at its finest!

I was kind of interested in the Cliff Burton Tribute Series Power Fuzz Wah but restrained myself - would want to try it first.

[FrankieTbird]

[Alanko]

I'm really enjoying this! The opening piano solo sounds like a warped variation of Debussy's Gollywog's Cake Walk.

It reminded me of the tasteful use of wah by some of the Canterbury bassists:



The solo in Fol De Rol  is very mellow, yet there is a wah being gently rocked throughout it. Some of those Canterbury bands also featured organ with wah, so for them it really was just a texture or filter effect rather than a raucous rhythmic device.

Kevin Ayers used one on the Soft Machine track Joy of a Toy:



Maybe the wah was the titular toy here? Presumably Kevin is using his Rivoli bass.

And speaking of Rivoli bass with wah:

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I was kind of interested in the Cliff Burton Tribute Series Power Fuzz Wah but restrained myself - would want to try it first.

Me too, but I'm too busy and poor chasing women and I have my self-modded EH Bassballs that does OK enough for me. An old monitor engineer trick I used to do with bass players I liked who wanted to hear their sound "wah-ed" on any console with a sweepable midrange frequency and a separate bass mix (or an understanding drummer) was find the nasal sweet spot in their bass tone and work the eq gain knob like a wah expression pedal (they're literally doing the same thing anyway). With a cool player, it's a fun way to make a soundcheck weird, confuse the guitarists/singer egomaniacs and let the rhythm section have a little fun.

[Pekka]

I'm really enjoying this! The opening piano solo sounds like a warped variation of Debussy's Gollywog's Cake Walk.

It reminded me of the tasteful use of wah by some of the Canterbury bassists:

Indeed. When I first heard Hatfield's debut Sinclair's playing on that track reminded me of Pekka Pohjola.

Here's another Pohjola-with-wah track, this time more rhythmic:

[lowend1]

I use one of these: https://www.boss.info/us/products/aw-3/
It's a cool toy, and pretty flexible.

[Granny Gremlin]

I have one of those ( ^ ) sitting around at the studio.  Don't even now who it belongs to (mine at this point, I suppose).  Been meaning to try it out for at least a year now.

[lowend1]

I have one of those ( ^ ) sitting around at the studio.  Don't even now who it belongs to (mine at this point, I suppose).  Been meaning to try it out for at least a year now.

I'd say you're overdue, then.
It's not bad - they all seem to suck some bottom out. I try to always use it with my 2x Ampeg B100R setup and run it to only one of them, so I can keep a clean signal going underneath. There's no shortage of modes and tweaks to keep you busy, and the Humanizer vowel thingie is fun.

[D.M.N.]

I really like wah on a bass, I think it's a reallt evil sounding effect. I will say I think it works best when you're running two signals, such as wah and clear, or wah and fuzz, and wah and a different wah. I use the Chicago Iron Parachute Wah, which is an absolute brick, but has a phenomenal sweep and range.

Here's what mine sounds like:
https://soundcloud.com/d-m-n/chicago-iron-parachute-wah-test-1
https://soundcloud.com/d-m-n/parachute-test-2
https://soundcloud.com/d-m-n/parachuting-in-progress