Trying to set up wah the way I have always been used to...

    I am very simple in that I only use a handful of presets live (very good ones, hehehe). I also only use a couple tools and one of them is wah pedal.


    I have been using my kemper power rack live for a while now with my GCX midi switching floor pedal (just a simple midi switcher that I have used forever and know my way around very well)


    My go to pedal has been the Bad Horsie 2 for years, several reasons I like this.
    1) optical on! When I want it, it's there. No standing on it in toe position like cry baby
    2) frequency pot setting, I can kind of set the sweep (we used to stack picks or quarters back in the day)
    3) Spring return


    I have been using this with the Kemper, but would like to get away from it. (sometimes the boost gets bumped on accident and distorts my signal, the bad horsie is a power hog as well, I really want to get away from it if I can, I mean I have the Kemper, lets use it, right?)


    What's my question right?


    I have a Ernie ball Jr. volume pedal (own and paid for! I'm cheap, sorry)


    If I modify the pedal to have a spring return, can I effectively get a Bad Horsie 2 wah? Meaning the things I like... turns off auto at heel position, turns on auto if I am using it. I will of course handle the mechanical spring portion to make it return, and I can set the sweep/range in the Kemper? Can it always be available on all my presets, (global) or do I have to set that up in every preset I use?


    Is this doable, or do I need to buy the mission pedal. To what I have read, I don't think I need a mission pedal. Additionally, the mission looks like it would functions and feel like a crybaby from what I have read, which I personally am not a fan of. I hate the toe stomp, always have!


    Any help would be great. Looking for basic confirmation that what I want to do is "doeable" before I start drilling on my volume pedal and modding it.


    Thanks!

    Sounds like some work (more than I want to get into). Sometimes you have to pay to play I guess.


    Anyone know of a pedal out there I can buy that already has "spring return/snap back" that meet this "linear response controller" specification? That you don't have to "toe push" to turn on/off.


    I can't be alone on this desire for "auto-on when foot is in use, auto-off when foot not in use/spring return zero. It was a brilliant concept when Morley started putting these units out there.


    Thanks for the response paults. My volume pedal is now for sale on eBay.

    I use a Dunlop DVP3 Volume/Expression pedal for wah, in exactly the way you describe, apart from the spring return. I wouldn't want that anyway, myself, because I like to leave the wah in the classic "half-cocked wah" position occasionally. Also, on some patches, I use it as a volume pedal instead.
    I absolutely love the Kemper's wah feature. I've been searching for the perfect wah for years and I've found it here. It's the best sounding wah I've ever had, it doesn't suck tone and it doesn't eat batteries. And no awkward toe switch either!

    This is why I like hearing the guitar player's wah pedal diarys, it get's down right personal, doesn't it? as it should be! Yes, very familiar with half cracked, and I do like that a lot. I later moved to an MXR pedal EQ and did the same type of thing and bumped it in and out of the my GCX true bypass for solos. I am now doing similar things with the Kemper EQ. Over time, I have grown to like the spring/off. I can just be very spontaneous with it, but I understand it's not for everyone and that decision is personal. For me, I like the guarantee! When I walk away, I want to know the damn thing is OFF! Nothing worse than playing rhythm for a measure of two after soloing and realizing your F'n wah is on as you superman across the stage to smash it through the stage floor until it's heart stops beating. That happened to me a number of times when owning a cry baby with an overly loud bass player that would have like to name the band Van-BassPlayer.


    Today, I still boost the mids on many of solo presets and I'm doing that with the Kemper now. I like that subtle tunnel sound even without movement and it cuts through the mix live.


    I will check out this Morley M2 which according to spec it has these things Paults mentioned that are needed. I will report back for anyone else who likes switchless wah. I bought it today. We will see how she works. Looks promising...


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    You can get a spring loaded mission pedal. I have one. It does exactly what you're after. Step on it, wah engages. Step off it, the pedal goes back to heel position thanks to the spring and the wah turns off.


    http://missionengineering.com/?product=sp-1
    http://missionengineering.com/?product=spring-load-option

    I have a Dunlop 95Q and I love it for all the same reasons. Auto-on/off with a spring is the greatest. Personally, I went with the Mission pedal for my KPA (running it into an FCB1010 in place of the stock pedal) and it works perfectly.


    You could definitely modify your volume pedal with a spring to accomplish the same thing, with two caveats:


    - The pedal needs to be using a TS cable, i.e. mono, not stereo. It probably does already, but some don't.


    - The "curve" of the wah effect may not feel right, depending on the curve that the pedal is built with. Some optical pedals are really easy to modify - for instance, the pedals on an FCB1010 just have a light shining through a thin piece of curved plastic that has a gradual fade-to-black printed on it. By getting a new piece printed with a different gradient, you can change the response of the pedal. Whether that's the case for yours, I have no idea.

    Hooked up Morley M2 (just arrived today). I plugged in strereo tip,ring, sleeve cable to pedal 1, found a setting in system to calibrate and name it a wah wah.


    Picked out a default wah in the efx section and the thing started working right away. It was too easy. I found the heel off setting quickly, that worked great!


    So, 5 minutes, unboxed morley M2, works great. Now I have to figure out how to get a wah sound I like out of the Kemper, not too crazy about these standard wahs that come with the Kemper. I also need to check and see if it's in the right place in the signal chain. I mean before Kempers, we always plug the guitar straight into the wah or right after tuner, then hit other effects after wah (most people anyway, I know there are know rules = ). I need to check out where this thing is getting placed. I want it in front of the signal chain.

    everything is going great now, except one thing. the "heel off setting" appears to lose calibration often, like way too often. Can't tell if it's the pedal or maybe I'm not understanding how to calibrate it correctly. It sweeps like a wah just fine, getting it to take the zero position and turn off is another thing. It's intermittent. I wish we had a zero point "window" we could increase.


    could be:
    1 the pedal?
    2 operator error calibrating
    3 it's just too sensitive in the kemper


    The wah sounds and what I'm getting out of this thing are incredible after using the list of settings.

    Quote from grtrzndrums

    I wish we had a zero point "window" we could increase.

    Incredible.


    I actually requested this feature a few months ago, grtrzndrums!


    My thinking was that pedals with old or worn pots might benefit from this "leeway" zone's being available in order to reduce the risk of false triggering.


    No reply to the request, unfortunately.




    I do see the need for it, I am going to work with trying to faking it out today, by trying to "teach it" less of the sweep on purpose. I don't know if the calibration is a "continuous learner/aka on learning all the time" or if it only learns when you want it to. It's kind of weird how it doesn't "process" your calibration, like tell you it's "done and learned" so to speak. That little bar just sits there and goes back and forth and there is no "wrap up or okay you did it dude" notification. Anyway, I am going to keep working through this today after work and see if I can get it together. I will post my results. I have a show tomorrow night, and want to bring this wah out to the show. Thanks everyone for the help. And Monkey-man I did the Zip download and SO AWESOME! Loved it. You saved me "days" maybe even "weeks" thank you!