10MM120 Wah-wah

Loved by generations of guitarists, the wah-wah pedal has a voice all of its own. Mark Cousins is speechless...

Getting an instrument to ‘sing’ – that is, playing it in such a way as to mimic at least some of the qualities of the human voice – is an ability that all instrumentalists aspire to achieve. And technology has also been developed specifically to apply vocal-like transformations to sounds – vocoders, talk boxes and formant filters are good examples. Arguably, though, it’s the wah-wah pedal that’s enjoyed the most popularity. So, how does the wah-wah pedal produce its unique tonal effect, which so closely resembles the sound of speech?

This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 58
Filed under Home, General Features, Ten Minute Masters, Features

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