Best Wah Pedals
A wah pedal is a band-pass filter swept by a rocker under your foot. Moving it from heel-down to toe-down sweeps the filter frequency from low to high, creating the characteristic "wah" vowel sound. It's one of the most expressive effects in guitar — used on everything from Hendrix's Voodoo Child to Clapton's White Room, Slash's Appetite solos, and Kirk Hammett's intro to Enter Sandman.
Quick Recommendations
| Budget | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Under £80 | Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Standard |
| £80–£120 | Vox V847A or Dunlop Cry Baby Classic |
| £120–£200 | Dunlop 535Q Multi-Wah or Morley Power Wah |
| £200–£350 | Xotic XW-1 or Fulltone Clyde Deluxe |
| £350+ | Teese RMC3 or Cry Baby with inductor swap |
How a Wah Pedal Works
The rocker mechanism controls a potentiometer connected to an inductor (a coil of wire wound around a magnetic core). The inductor creates the resonant peak frequency that gives a wah its distinctive voice. This is why different wahs sound so different — the inductor specification is the primary tonal variable.
Halo inductors (original Cry Baby design, Fasel brand) — Warmer, with more vocal character. The "vintage" sound.
Yellow Fasel inductors — Brighter version of the Halo. Used in Cry Baby Classic models.
Red Fasel inductors — Midrange-heavy, more modern voicing.
No-name/cheap inductors — Found in entry models. Functional but less vocal character.
Changing the inductor is the single most effective modification for a wah pedal. A £20 Fasel inductor swap on a £80 Cry Baby can transform it.
The 7 Best Wah Pedals
1. Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Standard — Best Overall
Price: ~£80 / $90
The wah pedal. Not the best-sounding wah, but the most iconic, most supported, and most reliable. The GCB95 uses a grey Fasel inductor with a swept frequency range of approximately 400Hz–2kHz. The feel under the foot is medium tension — not too stiff, not too light.
What makes it the best "first wah": thousands of tutorials, modding guides, and accessories exist for it. If something breaks, spare parts are available everywhere. If you outgrow the tone, a Fasel Yellow or Red inductor swap (£20) moves it closer to vintage or boutique territory.
The stock GCB95 has a true-bypass mod available (stock is buffered) and a series of voice-adjusting mods documented exhaustively online.
Best for: Classic rock, blues, 1970s–90s styles, beginners.
2. Vox V847A — Best Bright Alternative
Price: ~£90 / $100
The other classic. The V847A is brighter and more open-sounding than the Cry Baby. Where the GCB95 can sound honky and nasal, the V847A is more transparent — the wah character is slightly less pronounced, which suits players who want the effect to blend into the tone rather than dominate it.
The V847 was the original British wah — used by Clapton, Eric Stewart (10cc), and many studio sessions. The A suffix adds a few improvements (AC adapter socket, slightly revised circuit) but preserves the classic V847 character.
Best for: Classic British rock, blues-rock, clean and clean-to-crunch applications where you want the wah prominent but not overwhelming.
3. Dunlop Cry Baby Classic — Best Vintage Voice
Price: ~£100 / $110
The Cry Baby Classic contains the Fasel Yellow inductor, which is the inductor used in the original 1960s Thomas Organ Cry Baby. This is what Hendrix, Clapton, and Slash were using. The sound is warmer and more vocal than the standard GCB95, with a slower sweep character that feels more musically expressive.
If you've tried a GCB95 and found it too harsh or nasal, the Classic addresses that specific complaint without requiring a separate mod. It's not dramatically different from a GCB95 with a Fasel swap — but it comes ready to use.
Best for: Players who know they want vintage Hendrix/Cream/Appetite wah character from the start.
4. Dunlop 535Q Multi-Wah — Best Adjustable
Price: ~£140 / $150
The 535Q adds a range control that adjusts how wide the sweep is, a boost circuit, a variable Q control (how resonant/vocal the peak is), and a selection of six different sweep ranges via a rotary switch. It's the Swiss Army Knife of wah pedals — useful for players who cover many styles with one board.
The downside: too many controls can make setup slow on a gig. If you know your tone, a dedicated non-adjustable wah is faster. But for players who need to switch between a funky wide sweep for rhythm and a tight peak for lead, the 535Q earns its place.
Best for: Versatile players, home studio use, players who experiment with wah placement in the signal chain.
5. Morley Power Wah — Best Optical (No Mechanical Pot)
Price: ~£120 / $130
Morley uses an optical switching system rather than a mechanical potentiometer. This eliminates the main failure point of traditional wahs: the carbon pot wears out after years of use and creates the "scratchy wah" problem. An optical wah never develops scratchy pot issues.
The Power Wah also has no tension spring — the pedal stays wherever you leave it. Players who find spring-loaded wahs tiring appreciate this. The tone is slightly different from inductor-based designs — more modern and less honky than a Cry Baby.
Morley was Steve Vai's wah of choice for years. The optical design suits aggressive players who move the pedal rapidly and need reliability.
Best for: Aggressive playing styles, players who need maximum reliability, Van Halen / Vai fans.
6. Xotic XW-1 — Best Mid-Price Boutique
Price: ~£200 / $220
The XW-1 is a three-position wah with switchable frequency ranges (vintage, vintage+, modern) and a variable Q pot. At this price point, the build quality is significantly better than Dunlop — silent true bypass, premium potentiometer, quality inductor. The vintage setting approximates a PAI inductor Cry Baby; the modern setting gives a tighter, more focused mid-honk suited to high-gain playing.
True bypass (no buffer, clean signal in bypass) is a genuine advantage for players with effects-heavy boards where buffered bypass can cause tone loss or interaction.
Best for: Tone-conscious players, home studio, smaller boards where one wah needs to cover multiple applications.
7. Teese RMC3 Flash — Best Boutique
Price: ~£350 / $380
Rick Teese's RMC wahs are hand-built to reproduce the exact inductor and component values of the most valuable vintage Cry Babies. The RMC3 Flash includes a lamp and LED-based optical sensing system alongside the inductor for a highly adjustable, studio-grade wah. Used by Kirk Hammett, Joe Perry, and many studio professionals.
The feel is exceptionally smooth and the vocal character of the wah peak is more complex than any mass-production model. At this price, it's for players who consider the wah a primary instrument rather than an add-on effect.
Best for: Studio guitarists, tone obsessives, players for whom wah is central to their sound.
Buy: Amazon UK
Where to Put a Wah in Your Signal Chain
Before everything (standard position): Wah → drives → amp. The wah sculpts the full guitar signal; drive pedals then add gain to the wah-filtered tone. This is what Hendrix and most classic rock guitarists used.
After drive pedals: Drive → wah → amp. The wah sweeps the already-driven signal. Creates a more aggressive, nasal character. Steve Vai and some shred players prefer this.
In the effects loop: Drive → (amp input) → (effects loop send) → wah → (effects loop return). Mostly for rack-based systems. Less common on pedalboards.
Standard position (before drives) is the correct starting point. Move it after drives only if you specifically want that more nasal, aggressive character.
How to Actually Use a Wah
The sweep: Moving the pedal from heel to toe and back is the basic sweep. But the most musical wah technique is often partial sweeps — moving from heel to 30% toe and back, rather than the full range. Listen to how much of the pedal Hendrix actually uses on Voodoo Child: it's rarely the full sweep.
Parked (cocked) wah: Leave the pedal stationary at the mid-position. This creates a fixed filter peak — the "cocked wah" that gives White Room (Clapton), The Immigrant Song intro (Page), and countless funk recordings their distinctive nasal character. The position of the park determines the frequency emphasis: more toward toe = brighter, more toward heel = warmer.
Wah as rhythm: On funky material, use the wah in sync with the rhythmic attack — down on the beat, up on the off-beat. Nile Rodgers uses this technique even when he doesn't have a wah; it's mimicked in how he attacks the strings.
Slow dramatic sweeps: For solos, a full slow sweep from heel to toe over 4 beats creates a building tension. Fast, short sweeps create rhythm. Know which effect you want before you start moving the pedal.
Common Wah Problems and Fixes
Scratchy sound when sweeping — The carbon potentiometer has worn down. Can be cleaned with contact cleaner in early stages; needs replacement if advanced. A £12 replacement pot (Dunlop part) fixes this.
Low volume in bypass — Common in non-true-bypass wahs (GCB95 is buffered). A true bypass mod corrects this. Alternatively, a Lehle Mono volume tool before the wah maintains signal level.
Wah "off" but sound still filtered — The switching mechanism hasn't fully bypassed. Clean the contacts inside the toe switch. If cleaning doesn't help, replace the switch (£5 part).
Won't auto-engage (for rocker-activated models) — Mechanical auto-engage triggers fail after heavy use. Byron or Dunlop replacement mechanisms are available.
Wah Pedal FAQ
Cry Baby or Vox? The GCB95 is honkier and more nasal. The V847A is brighter and more open. Hendrix used a Vox; Slash used a Cry Baby. Both are correct choices — it comes down to tone preference.
Does wah order matter? Yes. Before drives is standard. After drives is more aggressive. Try both with your setup.
Can I use a wah with fuzz? Yes, but most fuzzes interact oddly with a wah that has a buffer (GCB95). For fuzz + wah, use a true-bypass wah (Cry Baby Classic, V847A, or XW-1) placed BEFORE the fuzz, or use a dedicated Hendrix-style wah designed for fuzz interaction (Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Cry Baby).
Is a wah worth it for a beginner? Yes, if blues, rock, or funk is in your target style. But get your basic clean and overdriven tone working first — a wah amplifies whatever you already have. If the base tone isn't right, the wah won't fix it.