Cocked wah

A wah pedal left parked in one position rather than being rocked, so it acts as a fixed, narrow band-pass filter.

Leaving the treadle part way down turns the wah into a permanent tone shaper, emphasising a narrow band of frequencies and thinning out everything either side of it. Players use it for the nasal, honking lead sound of funk and sixties rock, and sometimes set it just above the bass frequencies to keep a solo from crowding the vocal. Because the pedal is now a fixed filter, its position becomes part of the rig rather than a performance gesture, and many players mark it with tape.

Example: A lead sound that has a permanent nasal, vocal quality because the wah is left pushed forward is a cocked wah.

Cocked wah

See also