|
Post by tjstrat on Jun 2, 2006 7:11:53 GMT -7
Well, one of the dumber things I've done recently was to put in a nostalgia bid on eBay for a Jax wah pedal. A sport bid, really. Anyway, I'll hopefully receive it shortly, and maybe it'll really rock, but maybe it won't... Any recommendations on who does good clean up or restoration work on ancient effects like this?
|
|
|
Post by Lefty on Jun 2, 2006 7:28:40 GMT -7
Tough one...drop Analogman (Mike) an email when you get it and see what he thinks. I can't find much on the web about it. But there is a lot on the Fuzz Wah.
|
|
|
Post by tjstrat on Jun 12, 2006 17:50:31 GMT -7
I received the pedal last week and... surprisingly... seems like a keeper. Wish it had the siren/white noise/volume pedal options my old Jax had, and I haven't taken this out yet in a bar type noisy playing situation... But it's very vowelly, very articulate, doesn't seem to suck tone terribly (although I may be able to address something like that with a TB mod if it becomes obvious), and reminds me a lot of my old '70s Thomas Organ Crybaby. Into a real simple board with the Jauernig Dually and Barge Double Boost it sounds clean and has little of that nasty sizzle some wahs have. Great "Shaft"-y whack to it too. I should open it and check the inductor. but ya know... This is not a bad pedal for being $30.00 and 30 years old. I guess you just can never tell.
|
|
|
Post by billyguitar on Jun 12, 2006 18:08:03 GMT -7
Let me axe the wah experts here. What exactly did the guy use on Shaft? There must be some kind of fuzz involved also because just a wah alone is not it. I saw Isaac Hayes on Conan a while back and he did it with a small orchestra. The guitar had the wah going but it didn't have that extra 'scratchy' sound that's on the record. Inquiring OCD ( and i don't mean the Fulltone pedal) guys wanna know!
|
|
|
Post by Lefty on Jun 14, 2006 6:22:22 GMT -7
Let me axe the wah experts here. What exactly did the guy use on Shaft? There must be some kind of fuzz involved also because just a wah alone is not it. I saw Isaac Hayes on Conan a while back and he did it with a small orchestra. The guitar had the wah going but it didn't have that extra 'scratchy' sound that's on the record. Inquiring OCD ( and i don't mean the Fulltone pedal) guys wanna know! That's really hard to say. The song came out approx October of 1971, let's consider what was available (wah-wise). I'm guessing you had the Cry Baby, the Vox Wah, and I'm sure a few others. But let's guess that it was either a Vox or a CB. I'm sure it's not so much as to "what wah" was used as to what the set up was. So many factors... Who was the guitar player? What guitar was used? What Wah? What amp? How it was recorded? I've had my share of Wah's throughout the years, and after doing some research and self study, here are my findings. A wah can and does create it's own resonant freq. and when combined with a certain amplifier it can overdrive the amp and create a scratchy-vowl like tone. Take for instance, I have a Vox wah (RI). Purely on a tone level, it has more mid range, is less dark, and a bit of a cleaner over all wah than my Teese Pic wah, which is based off of the old Vox Picture Wah. The Pic wah is darker and tends to get more of a scratchy sound to it. Sometimes when used alone you would think I'm using another pedal to overdrive my amp, but I'm not. Go here for a in depth look at the wah... www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/wahpedl/wahped.htmI've also had a Crybaby,Teese RMC-1, JH Dunlop, Fulltone Clyde, a previous Vox RI (I'd like to get that one back), a Vox RI from '01 (soon to be gutted), and a Teese Pic Wah.
|
|
|
Post by billyguitar on Jun 14, 2006 7:13:53 GMT -7
That's interesting. When Shaft came out I had a Vox wah and a blackface Bandmaster and I couldn't get that sound. Something like a Princeton Reverb would probably do it, which is exactly what a lot of studio musicians used at that time. The Bandmaster just would not distort. I probably bought it because it was cheaper than a Bassman or for the tremolo. Don't remember now, too long ago!
|
|
|
Post by Lefty on Jun 14, 2006 9:10:28 GMT -7
I've had my share of Bandmaster and Bassman heads, neither one will distort very easily. And depending on which Bassman (AA864, AA165, AB165) the AB165 had an extra gain stage, so it had a little more output and a little raunchier tone. For all we know he could of been using a Tweed (bassman, deluxe).
|
|