Best wah pedals

For guitarists seeking to express themselves to the absolute full, there is no more iconic pedal than the wah pedal.

The best wah pedals create that talking sound that you’ve heard on recordings from nearly every electric guitar player, with perhaps the most famous examples being Isaac Hayes’ theme from Shaft and, of course, Jimi Hendrix’s intro to Voodoo Child.

Essentially, the overall tone of your guitar is changed using the wah’s rocker pedal: bassier sounds are found at the heel-down setting, while treble-y tones are at the toe-down, and it’s this transition between the extremes that produces the vocal ‘wow’ that we know and love. Many players also enjoy a spot of ‘cocked’ wah, where the rocker is kept in one position, most commonly around the mid-frequency, to help solos cut through the mix.

Everything you need to know about wah pedals

Given the relatively simple nature of the wah effect, there’s a dazzling array of options on the market. Yet although the mechanics of wahs have remained largely unchanged over the years, recent times have seen the bulky, weighty enclosure trimmed down to produce a number of mini formats.

In the classic wah design — epitomised by the Dunlop Cry Baby — the rocker itself is attached to a mechanical control pot, but these can wear out and require replacing over time, prompting some companies to employ an optical pot, which uses sensors for longer life. You’ll find this amongst Morley’s offerings.

Investing more cash in a wah opens up additional tonal options - so, while basic wahs such as Electro-Harmonix’s Wailer Wah don’t have any settings to adjust, more upmarket offerings from Xotic and CAE often feature adjustable frequency ranges and boosts to help tailor the tone to your liking - although it’s worth noting that these controls are sometimes found inside the pedal.

Wah purists will swear by pedals equipped with an inductor, which were commonly found in vintage models and come in three main variations: Halo, as found in the Hendrix and Clapton-used 1966 Vox Clyde McCoy wah; red fasel, which crops up in a number of Cry Baby variants; and yellow fasel, which you’ll find in other vintage-voiced designs. Dunlop’s CAE Wah even features both red and yellow fasels. You’ll need to fork out more cash for these models, but they produce a sweeter, mellower voice than the more aggressive sweep of many modern designs.

Guitarists keen on saving pedalboard space will also be keen to check out combined wah and volume pedals, which offer both effects in one pedal, Hotone’s Soul Press being a prime example.

Still undecided? Take a look at our round-up of the best wah pedals around.

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The Cry Baby is an industry-standard the world over, but this latest mini incarnation offers enough variation for all players while taking up minimal pedalboard real estate. There’s a red Fasel inductor onboard for vintage-voiced wacka-wacka, as well as a host of extras to tailor the wah to your own personal preferences.

Key among these is the option of four frequency ranges to go from bassier to more trebly sweeps, while a Q knob adjusts how intense the effect gets. Soloists will be pleased to note the boost switch, too, which engages up to a 16dB lift to really make those leads soar.

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There’s no mistaking the chrome trim of the Vox V847 - along with the Cry Baby, it’s a pedalboard staple the world over, and that’s primarily down to two things: its price and its simplicity.

True, there are no bonus features here, and the battery access isn’t ideal, but its satisfying weight keeps it rooted to the spot, while the mechanism is smoother than many of its competitors. Crucially, the tone is there, too, with a redesigned inductor that aims to ape the original, as used by Page and Hendrix, and a buffered input to keep your tone in check.

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Morley is renowned for its range of spring-loaded, switchless wahs - that means you don’t have to engage the pedal with a footswitch; you simply place your foot on the wah and get to work when you want to get funky. That does mean it’s buffered rather than true bypass, however, and cocked wah tones are out of the question for all but the most sure-footed of players.

Still, this Steve Vai signature model is a fine example, with an especially vocal sweep and plenty of midrange, while an added Contour mode gives you the option of adjusting the frequency and tone. Plus, with Morley’s electro-optical design, there’s no chance of you needing to replace the pot down the line.

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There have been many iterations of the Cry Baby over the years - and many versions of the lowest-priced wah in the Dunlop catalogue, the GCB95, to boot - but the latest is perhaps the best. It now comes fitted with the red fasel inductor found in various vintage wahs for a sweeter sweep, while a 100k ohm Hot Potz potentiometer makes for some of the smoothest wah-ing in the biz.

Sure, you’re not getting the adjustable sweep, boosts or anything else, but the GCB95’s aggressive sweep makes it one of the best wahs for cutting through swathes of distortion.

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Slightly larger than the Cry Baby Mini, the Hotone Soul Press is a rarity in the wah world in that it offers wah, volume and expression capabilities. Its tone recalls the Cry Baby, but it has a throatier, fuller-voiced sweep that strikes a sweet spot between high- and low-end resonance.

It should be noted that the sound is far from subtle, which makes it a great shout for distorted leads, but not so much for vintage wah aficionados. It also has a fair short travel, which isn’t ideal for the large of foot, but the perfectly functional volume and expression modes make it more than worth the asking price.