Wah Q

[Pekker_Head]

Does a Wah pedal go in the effects loop or in front of your amp?

[Jstickley]

Eaither or, each will yeild a different sound. As it will result in a different sound depending on where in the chain you put it.

Jesse

[disobedience]

If you check most Wah pedals, they generally need to be plugged in to the chain from the guitar to amp...most (if any) don't work properly if plugged into the effects loop.

[msh]

it normally goes like this


Guitar - Guitar-Cable into guitar port in the Wah Pedal, Guitar cable from the amp port in the wah pedal to the your amp.

hope it makes sense :confused:

[Tbone76]

I have an additional question regarding this. What if you have mulitple pedals, stomp boxes, etc. Will the sequence go like this:

guitar to pedal/stompbox 1 to pedal/stompbox 2 to pedal/stompbox3, to Wah Pedal, to amp ?

And how will the changing of the sequence affect the sound each one produces?

[Blewbyou]

Just to confuse things more, I have another question. I have on my amp an effects loop send and return jacks does the wah go in the loop with the effects or does it go between the guitar and amp input jack? Maybe Jstickley can shed some light on the subject for us.
Blew

[disobedience]

If you read up on most wah pedals and understand the way they work...you'll find that they either don't work at all or work poorly in the "effects loop".

Your sound will change based on where you put the wah in the chain when running muliple effects...try a bunch of different options and see what sounds best to you...I generally run mine this way:
Guitar -> Wah -> Amp.

[Pekker_Head]

I have an additional question regarding this. What if you have mulitple pedals, stomp boxes, etc. Will the sequence go like this:

guitar to pedal/stompbox 1 to pedal/stompbox 2 to pedal/stompbox3, to Wah Pedal, to amp ?

And how will the changing of the sequence affect the sound each one produces?
I read off of the metallica board , if you want the wah to be distorted add before the distortion pedal. If you want the distortion to be wah'ed add it after. Depends on the pedal if it goes in the effects loop or before the amp.

[disobedience]

I'm curious if by "effects loop" you all are talking about the chain of effects plugged between the guitar and amp or if you're talking about the actual Effects Loop that is on most amps?

[Tbone76]

I read off of the metallica board , if you want the wah to be distorted add before the distortion pedal. If you want the distortion to be wah'ed add it after. Depends on the pedal if it goes in the effects loop or before the amp.

Does that not end in the same result??? The end result sounds like either a distorted wah, or a wah distorted. Am I missing something here?

[disobedience]

If you put the Wah in front of the distortion then your signal is modulated before being distorted. If you put it after the distortion..then the distorted signal is modulated resulting in a different sound.
;)

[Tbone76]

I am not doubting what you say, I guess I just don't get it.(still a beginner in a lot of ways) And i will have to plug in both ways and hear the difference.

In case anyone wonders how some "pros" set up their rigs here is a neat little site. It is a little dated, but shows some setups of pretty well known artists

http://www.guitargeek.com/

[Jstickley]

Cha Cha Cha

Effects and how they are set in the chain, will affect your overall sound.. Why? Lets take a Wah, Distortion, Delay, and ooo umm.. a Phaser. Now if you run the chain, just as i listed these, youll get a nifty sound. Now if you take the distortion and move that to the front, in place of the wah, and put the wah were the distortion was, the sound WILL be different. Sometimes the differences are slight, sometimes they are MAJOR. I am a tone junkie, so a tiny bit to some people, is alot to me.

As far is using Effect Send/Returns, that is really pedal specific, SOME manufactures require that use, others its optional, some simply wont work. When I play live with the GT 8, I use what is refered too as the 4 cable method. This is how that works.

Guitar to the GT input
GT Loop Send to the Amp Input
Amp Loop send to the GT Loop Return
Output of the GT to the Amp loop Return

What this does is send the amp's preamp directly to the GT unit. This allows me to control the preamp more precisely, and get a better sound, and a way better tone.

Basically in a nut shell, it doesnt matter where you put it, find the spot that works for you, no one setup is right ;)

Jesse