Wah’s Going On?
I love fuzz. I love Fender. So when I’m in a hock shop and I see a Fender Fuzz Wah reissue for less than half price in great condition it’d be like Rolf Harris leaving his local animal shelter without a depressed badger and some goldfish that have forgotten how to swim.
Firstly, this thing is a humongous piece of kit considering the size of other wahs. I stood on it earlier today and felt like Marty McFly on a hoverboard, it’s also reassuringly heavy. It looks like Fender lifted the gas pedal from Steve McQueen’s Bullitt Mustang and fitted some wah and fuzz circuitry into it.
Towards the end of the 60’s and the dawn of the 70’s, manufacturers jumped on the new fangled stompbox bandwagon after witnessing the likes of Hendrix, Richards and Trower incorporating these units into their rig and in the process making hit records and spawning countless imitators. Many companies experimented by building fairly rudimentary ‘multi special effects units’ which compounded fuzz, tremolo (or ‘repeat percussion’ as it was often referred to) and wah circuits to create some fairly wild and interesting sounds. Sensing that stompboxes weren’t just a phase, Fender dipped their toe in the water with the Fuzz Wah.
History lesson aside, upon plugging in this skateboard sized wah and resisting the urge to jump on with both feet I was greeted with some slightly less than traditional wah sounds. I associate that ‘chicka-whacka’ wah sound with 70’s cop shows, bad gameshows and everyone who doesn’t know what’s making that sound that I know passes a blue movie comment. I like that throaty, gurgling Hendrixy wah sound, but anyone who tries to imitate it sounds like someone trying to imitate that Summer of Love sound, poorly.
I prefer to use a wah like a slow filter, like a parametric EQ or as something that’ll squash whatever I’m playing. This wah nails that vocal formant sound with a full compliment of ‘ee’ and ‘oo’ sounds. The fuzz is more of a low-gain overdrive but with a little tinkering of the guitar’s volume control and the pedal’s ‘Fuzz Volume’ trimpot I was able to dial in some substantial clipping goodness. While the wah is controlled by rocking the treadle in the usual manner the fuzz can be controlled to a certain degree by twisting the top of the pedal to the right or left, something Fender borrowed no doubt from their lap steel department’s volume/tone pedal. Another nifty feature is the ability to flip the order of the circuit, essentially fuzzing out your wah or inversely adding wah to a fuzz signal.
Overall, this is an odd and great sounding piece of gear that no doubt has a song or two trapped inside it’s Fort Knox like build. Just don’t tell Mark Knopfler.
