Bonamassa Wah?

[spidey]

Sick of my Vox 847. It's so noisy I can't use it. It's the 2nd one I've had and both have suffered with this. Spraying it with switch cleaner no longer works.
So I've decided, time to move on. I love the tone of vintage wahs. Tone wise the sound I shoot for is in the Gary Moore / Bonamassa mode. Vintage blues rock but with a fair bit of gain and volume. My fave wah tones? think Cream and Hendrix etc. I don't want tons of switches, trim pots etc, I just want to plug In and play.
Joe B is probably my favourite contemporary player. Do you think the bonamassa wah is the right one for me ?

 

[Cream Fan]

In my humble opinion the Bonamassa wah is the best mass-produced wah you can get. Really outstanding quack and they will work in front of a germanium device, such as a Fuzz Face or a Treble Booster. For under $200 it's really worth it. And they're built the old fashioned way with "Through-Hole" PCB construction with real components, not these micro-sized surface mounted components. I love mine and I've owned every permutation of the Vox style of wah, even real Clydes. And this one hangs with the best of them. The other good thing is based upon my experiences with trying a few other JB Wahs, they're pretty consistent, too.

 

[TxMack]

Now, I haven't tried the bonamassa wah...from cream fans description it sounds really great!

However, I have had a ton of wahs...including expensive boutiques, and my modded 847 was the champ UNTIL I got my teese wheels of fire. Then search over for me. Big thick white room
Wah tone. I can't say enough good about this exceptional instrument.

 

[TxMack]

Ps:and judging by the fire and water cover and the fool picture, we all three have similar tastes!

 

[TxMack]

Ah, now having read all the white room, notched board stuff you have been working on all these years, let me say that I threw that out not meaning I had a/b'd it with the record or analized it like you have. But rather that last Monday night we were playing white room and I was using an r9 into the wof into a 50 watt jubilee and loved the "creamy" tones that were spitting out.

 

[spidey]

Hey cream fan - so is the Bonamassa a clone then of the original vox's from the 60s or is it something different?

 

[TM1]

I've modded wahs for years. I use the original Fulltone inductor, not the cheap Chinese one Mike uses now and I also use the original Fulltone pots that are good for 250,000 turns, not the 10,000 turns that's the norm. If you replaced the pot and inductor, you'd have a decent sounding wah.
Joe's new Dunlop wah is about the best sounding production wah made by Dunlop. Of course you can get a Teese Picture Wah as almost all of his sound great. You'd never need another wah.

 

[zombiwoof]

Another lower cost option for the old Vox wah sound is the BBE wah. I got mine for about half the going price for a new one in mint condition on Ebay with all papers and box. The only extra control is a "Q" control on the side that is subtle, but it gets really close to the Clyde McCoy sound at a realistic price.

Al

 

[59Vampire]

I happen to really like my tech21 killer wail. It has a three way switch for different flavors and sound great but it doesn't get much action as I prefer it fixed.

 

[spidey]

So what do you guys think to the fulltone wah? I have the déjà vibe which I love.

 

[gibsonguitar1988]

I love my Bonamassa wah. Very throaty/smoky.

 

[roadrunner]

Heard a Joe B. wah, at my house, tonight. I gotta say, for a new wah, it's the one. Been looking everywhere, tried everything, for a replacement for the old Italian Vox models and my hat's off to the folks at Dunlop, they got a winner.

We did a little mod and took a .96mm pick and taped it to the end of it, so the treadle has the same amount of movement as an old one... perfect, it sounds just perfect now.

I give it 5 stars!:dude:

 

[Bonaburst31]

I've got one and I like it a lot. JB endorses a lot of good stuff!

 

[SlyStrat]

Listen to Youtube comparisons.
I had a JB wah and sold it. Not enough treble for me.
I've tryed a bunch of wah's. Settled on Jerry Cantrell Cry Baby.
The built in tone knob gives me what I want.
I'd like to try a Teese WOF. Had most of the others.

 

[roadrunner]

At the end of the day, it's sort of hard to beat the old Italian wah's, at least for the kind of sound I like.
I tried every Teese that they make, not even close.

It's not really how much treble a wah has, for me, it's where the frequency is notched... to give it that vocal quality. Granted, that happens at the upper mid part of the sweep, where the treble lives, I'm not a fan of spiky sounding wahs.
Kind of a tone vs. treble thing.

I do know that we A/B'd the Joe B. with a excellent sounding old Vox and Joe's hung right in there.
It's nice to have the true bypass too, it's easy to forget how "rounded off" everything gets with the old wah in between the guitar and the amp.

 

[spidey]

Thanks Roadrunner, very helpful feedback. Nice to know that the JB wah compared favourably to the vintage vox. Just what I wanted to know!

 

[Rick Doeschler]

How does the JB wah compare to the Dunlop 535Q wah, with is adjustable features?

 

[dansamp]

just picked up one of these
have a couple of questions :
it has this strange noise like a hollow jet sound when pedal is rocked back (bassy mode)

I also noticed a small capacitor across the pot (471) not sure if anyone else has
noticed this but wondering what that is doing in the circuit, not sure if it is taming some
highs or maybe bleeding some treble ???

anyway I am not sold on it yet so far I still prefer my modded Vox 847 wah
with a close second being a BYOC drop in kit that is in a Crybaby gcb95

 

[Dale]

I like my JB as well.

 

[Mars Hall]

Have you thought of replacing the pot? That is if you like you current way or is it just time for a change?