Inductorless wah before distortion

[bagudan]

Hi. I built the inductorless wah from this layout
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/Cab42s-layouts/cil_wah.gif.html

I used an mpsa18 for the trannie

It´s a very nice sounding wah. A bit more subtle than my vox, and it does an excellent job when it comes to whacka-whackaing clean sound.
But before distortion (rat or tubescreamer) it will not wah at all? Almost as if I had put it before a fuzz? This cant be normal? Maybe its because it´s so subtle, and the wah-sound gets lost in there, but has anyone had succes with this wah before distortion?
Thanks
Kasper

[Krefu]

I had that problem with pretty much every wah i've owned (a lot) so i'd say that's normal...
I like to use the wah after the distortion/fuzz, works a lot better.

[birt]

distortion adds lots of harmonics. it works a lot better if you also filter these. so use your wah after the dirt

[Mich P]

Use a buffer between wha and distortion
to solve that problem.
Mich P.

[oldrocker]

Yeah with some distortions this wah acts wierd.  I had good results putting in front if a Voodoo lab or Hwy89.  This wah does sound best using clean buy if you find the right distortion pedal it will work.

[bagudan]

Thanks for the replies. I usually prefer my wah in front of the dirt, but hey! If this one sounds better later in the chain I´ll give it a try.

[earthtonesaudio]

I've never done the single-transistor inductorless wah, but I've used op-amp based ones and never had a problem running before distortions or fuzzes.  To me that seems to indicate that a buffer would help.

[bagudan]

a buffer it is then:)

[tcobretti]

I have an original Colorsound inductorless and it sounds great in front of all my fuzzes (better than my Vox, really).

I wonder if the wah responds differently to the ICs in your Rat/TS than the transistors in my fuzzes?  I've got a Rat somewhere, I guess I should find it and test it out.

[Paul Marossy]

I have an original Colorsound inductorless and it sounds great in front of all my fuzzes (better than my Vox, really).

I wonder if the wah responds differently to the ICs in your Rat/TS than the transistors in my fuzzes?  I've got a Rat somewhere, I guess I should find it and test it out.

I am interested to see what your findings are on that.

[tcobretti]

I just put it in front of my Turbo Rat, and it was pretty interesting.  With the tone knob set to it's most dull setting, the wah sounded great.  But with the Rat's tone even halfway up the pedal was creating so much high end grit that the wah was almost ineffectual.  I compared it to my Boomerang, and it was pretty interesting.  The Boomer had a much darker low-end, while the CS's low end was pretty bright, which made the wah effect work less well.

So anyway, yes, CS inductorless into Rat won't work real well unless you prefer the tone knob down all the way on your distortion.  However, I seem to remember that I modded my CS for more output, and I suspect it is overdriving the Rat just a bit to make it grittier.  So my test may not be the definitive answer on CS/Rat compatibility.  But I do think that there is a distinct and somewhat likely possibility that the CS inductorless and Rat don't play well together. 

I don't have a TS so I can't test that one. 

[Paul Marossy]

Huh, interesting. I feel that the Maestro Boomerang pairs up with distortion pedals very well. But there's other things to consider as well, like your pickups, etc.