Just bought the Wahoo hoping it would solve some problems of using separate pedals. Used the Wahoo for the first time in the studio...instant failure!!
Using the Wahoo, DI'd into the mixing desk and there was a substantial loss of the low end resulting in the bass signal being weak and barely usable. I checked by bypassing the Wahoo and no problem, huge bottom end and a strong bass signal. Relink the Wahoo and weak signal and loss of bottom end.
I'm really disappointed with the Wahoo as it is in the studio where I want to use the pedal.
Any suggestions on how to improve the signal strength and not lose the bass sound when using the pedal - or should I simply return the pedal to the shop?
Wahoo - loss of bottom end!
Re: Wahoo - loss of bottom end!
It sounds like you just need to tweak something. There is more bottom end in the Wahoo filters than any other filter pedal -- it will resonate down to 10Hz and shake the room if you let it.
Most probably, you are using a band-bass filter. By its nature a band-pass filter removes both top and bottom. Using a low-pass filter will retain all the bottom end.
What presets are you using? What are you trying to do: wah pedal, env filter, etc?
The other thing is the calibration of the filters could be off -- check the manual page 28. Because the filters are fully analogue and sensitive to temperature, they are calibrated in the factory so we have better control of them. If this has gone wrong for any reason, it would throw off the control. It's simple to adjust this if you have a tuner.
Most probably, you are using a band-bass filter. By its nature a band-pass filter removes both top and bottom. Using a low-pass filter will retain all the bottom end.
What presets are you using? What are you trying to do: wah pedal, env filter, etc?
The other thing is the calibration of the filters could be off -- check the manual page 28. Because the filters are fully analogue and sensitive to temperature, they are calibrated in the factory so we have better control of them. If this has gone wrong for any reason, it would throw off the control. It's simple to adjust this if you have a tuner.
Re: Wahoo - loss of bottom end!
Thanks for the info, James. Just to clarify, I was attempting to use the envelope filters (30-39 on factory settings) and, in particular patches 38/39. Both myself and the engineer spent almost an hour trying to 'tweak' the patches, gradually going through the level, filter and mode settings. Unfortunately we could not find a workable solution other than to record the tweaked patch and then spend an age EQ-ing the track. My concern is that if there is a temperature sensitivity, which requires a re-calibration every time, then the pedal will not be suitable for live performances particularly festivals outdoors. If, as it appears, that even transporting the pedal on a cold day to a relatively warm studio affects the calibration settings then it would seem that this pedal is not suitable for my requirements.
Re: Wahoo - loss of bottom end!
Patches 38 and 39 are low-pass, so there should be lots of bottom-end retained. Depending on the resonance (Q) setting, this will (of course) cause peaking at the cut-off frequency which will have the effect of suppressing the frequencies away from this, including the lower frequencies.
If you use only one filter, there is a trick you can use to mix in low-end, while letting the filter shape the sound how you like -- much like EQing it, but on the pedal...
Look at patch F03. This is a bass wah. Filter 1 does the main filtering, but filter 2 is set to be a fixed low-pass filter with a cutoff of 100Hz. Filter mix is set to adjust how much of that low-end (from filter 2) you want to include.
Regarding calibration, I wasn't clear. The filters are very temperature sensitive, but the Wahoo has two levels of compensation in there: one analogue, and one digital to keep things as stable as possible even if the temperature changes. So, assuming it has been calibrated, normal temperature variations won't have much effect on it. It doesn't need to be recalibrated in normal use. What I was saying was if that calibration had gone very wrong (the stored calibration values were corrupt, for example)the frequency you set might not match the actual frequency set on the filter. This is easy to check following the calibration procedure in the manual.
If you don't make any progress and you want to send me a recording to investigate, please PM me and we'll continue the discussion in more detail by email and by exchanging files.
If you use only one filter, there is a trick you can use to mix in low-end, while letting the filter shape the sound how you like -- much like EQing it, but on the pedal...
Look at patch F03. This is a bass wah. Filter 1 does the main filtering, but filter 2 is set to be a fixed low-pass filter with a cutoff of 100Hz. Filter mix is set to adjust how much of that low-end (from filter 2) you want to include.
Regarding calibration, I wasn't clear. The filters are very temperature sensitive, but the Wahoo has two levels of compensation in there: one analogue, and one digital to keep things as stable as possible even if the temperature changes. So, assuming it has been calibrated, normal temperature variations won't have much effect on it. It doesn't need to be recalibrated in normal use. What I was saying was if that calibration had gone very wrong (the stored calibration values were corrupt, for example)the frequency you set might not match the actual frequency set on the filter. This is easy to check following the calibration procedure in the manual.
If you don't make any progress and you want to send me a recording to investigate, please PM me and we'll continue the discussion in more detail by email and by exchanging files.