Heel and toe and heel and toe and heel and....

[Mark Hammer]

Could a wah-type treadle be satisfactorily and effectively used to actuate a switch in both heel and toe positions?

That is, push hard enough forward, and you hit one switch.  Pull your heel back far enough, and you hit another switch.  I started thinking about it this morning, and was mulling over the little tap-switch ("stomp" is too harsh a term for what's required) using one of the little PC-mount DPDT microswitches, like what Small Bear describes as "bypass-on-board".  Those switches don't need a lot of pressure or travel to work - certainly not as much as a conventional stompswitch - so the total amount of travel available in rack-and-pinion systems for actual parameter control, whether it be wah frequency, volume, or Uni-vibe speed, would not be severely restricted by having one switch under the heel and one under the toe.

Imagine a wah that would let you have resonance/Q presets, such that you could wah away and tap your toe down to get that little extra intensity...or maybe a range shift...or a reverse wah...or a volume boost; essentially transforming your foot movement into dual-parameter control, rather than single parameter, without ever having to lift your foot off.

Hmmmmm......

[sgmezei]

I think you definetly could do some amazing/different things with that setup. I just finished my first wah and am having to get used to the light touch the footswitch takes.

It really is just up to the performer to get used to it. As long as you can adjust the height of the switch with washers/spacers/locking washers you will have a really cool rig. You can also change how much felt is above the switch.

Cool Idea!

[Earthscum]

I'm doing something similar with 2 wahs. I'm modding my DOD FX-17 by installing a second momentary to kick it on with the toe down and heel down, and the wood wah I'm working on is set up the same way, except I use one switch and some mechanical magic to make it close  at either end of the sweep. On bass, I decided I really like the idea of being able to kick on in a "dub" and sweep up, or kick on with a wide open throttle and take it down.

[seedlings]

I have a digiech expression factory.  Please, oh please do a better job with your heel toe switches than digitech engineers.

CHAD

[digi2t]

Hey Mark,

Didn't the second version of the Schaller Bow Yoy pedal have a switch in the heel? Here's a pic I found.



I have version 1, switch in toe position.

Or... get one of these;



and put a switch on each toe. 

[Earthscum]

Or... get one of these;



and put a switch on each toe. 

+1   

[.Mike]

When I was in high school, I knew a guy whose dad and step mom did a two-person band thing, with him playing piano, running midi, and singing, and her playing guitar and singing. I hadn't thought of them until this topic.

Anyway, he had this little device that he made that sat at his feet while he played. It looked like a regular volume pedal, but he had attached a piece of metal bar that extended slightly above each side of the treadle, to the left and right of his toes. Attached to each piece of metal bar was a switch.

He could still use the volume pedal like normal, but he could pivot his foot to the left or to the right and hit a button that would do stuff-- change patches, change songs... I really don't remember what it did at this point-- it's been almost 20 years. He might have even had a couple more buttons at his heel.

This might be another option to add even more flexibility and control.

Mike