How were you introduced to the wah, and who influenced your use of it?

John Petrucci: My introduction to the wah was gradual. I kept hearing it on all these songs, and I couldn’t help wanting to find out what it was when I was learning to play as a teenager. At that time, I was a big fan of Iron Maiden, and I’d listen to how Dave Murray used the wah.

But it was Joe Satriani’s Surfing with the Alien that really changed everything for me, though. The way that he uses it as an extension of the expression of his playing, and the way he shapes the notes to make them envelope or be more mellow or more open or sustain or get feedback—that’s probably the biggest influence on the way that I use the wah today.

How do you incorporate the wah into your own playing?

JP: Using the Cry Baby Wah is like bending, or sliding, or using vibrato on your guitar. It’s a way to add more expression and dynamics to what you’re playing. If you get the hang of it, you can really control where the note blossoms. Generally, I use that expressive character to shape my leads, but there are certain situation where it does become an integral component of the songwriting.

The combination of playing hard, playing fast, and stepping on the wah really sets the whole thing on fire.

I remember when the 535Q first came out, with the adjustable Q and frequency range, when we were writing the Scenes from Memory album. I dialed in the perfect sound with that pedal, one I’d never really heard before. We wrote this song “Home,” which has this big wah riff to it. The wah simply accentuates the riff, but it created a unique sound that’s crucial to the impact of the song. If you play that riff without the wah, it just doesn’t sound the same.

Another way I like to use my Cry Baby Wah is to take an aggressive lick to the next level, opening up the notes and getting them to scream and feedback. The combination of playing hard, playing fast, and stepping on the wah really sets the whole thing on fire.

But first, we want to introduce you to the MXR Double-Double Overdrive. It combines a classic Japanese overdrive circuit, famous for its rich, fiery midrange, and a modern American overdrive circuit known for its abundant supply of gain and greater emphasis on high and low frequencies. The result is a versatile array of overdrive tones that are designed to enhance the sound of your guitar and amp setup. Rather than a simple tone control, the this pedal features separate Treble and Bass controls for greater control over the tone of your overdriven sound.

We’ll be using the Double-Double Overdrive to help explain some of our points below.

What do you want your overdrive pedal to do for you?

Boost. Sometimes, all you need is a touch of boost with a little bit of color. In other words, you want to bump up the output of your guitar signal so that it’s mostly clean, but it has just a slight bit of tonal coloration. Like getting the sound of a blackface type amp on “10” but at a lower volume.

Getting this colorful boosted sound would go something like this: Set your amp to your preferred clean setting. Using the Double-Double Overdrive, choose the Hi or Lo setting for your preferred tonal profile and keep the Drive knob nearly fully counterclockwise. Then use the Treble and Bass controls to shape the sound of your signal and the Level control to set how much you want to boost it. Obviously your taste will vary, but that’s a place to start.

Complement. Players often use overdrive pedals to enhance or complement an already overdriven amplifier. One reason might be to boost the signal with a little bit of color. Another reason might be to fill in or focus specific frequencies for a sound that better cuts through the mix. Or maybe you just want a bigger and more intense sound by adding a whole new gain stage to your signal chain.

Set your amp to your preferred level of overdrive. From there, it’s all up to your experimentation with the pedal’s controls. The Double-Double Overdrive provides plenty of options with its two different OD circuits and separate Treble and Bass controls—tweak until you find a sound that works well with your amp’s natural overdrive.

Replace. Sometimes the sound of your overdrive pedal is so good that that’s all you want to hear. This is pretty much the “plug in and go for it” approach, but if you have a tweakable pedal such as the Double-Double Overdrive, you should take some time to figure out the breadth of options available to you. Since you’re starting with a clean amp, you’ve also got a clean slate. Set your amp the way you want it and tweak the pedal to your heart’s content.

Pickup & Amp Considerations

Your overdrive pedal is just a small part of your tonal recipe. A number of other factors can affect your sound depending on how elaborate your setup is, but we’re going to focus on two components that every electric guitar player has in common: pickups and amplifiers.

Pickups. Most players use single-coil pickups or humbucking pickups. Generally speaking, single-coil pickups produce a greater tonal range (more highs and lows) with a lower output, while humbuckers sound more focused in the mids and low mids and produce a higher output. What does this have to do with overdrive pedal settings? Well, a setting configuration that sounds great with single-coil pickups may not sound that great with humbuckers, and vice versa.

Take the Double-Double Overdrive as an example. To get a good baseline, set the Volume at noon, the Drive very low, Bass off, and Treble at noon. Listen to how everything sounds and adjust as necessary. If you need beef up your single-coil signal, choose the Hi setting, you’ll want to turn up the Drive, roll off the Treble, and add some Bass. If you want to tighten up your humbucker signal for a more focused lead tone, try the Lo setting with Bass off, Treble at 2 o’clock, and Drive to taste. Ultimately, it depends on what your goals are: do you want the overdrive sound to complement the tonal profile of your pickups or give it something it may be missing?

Amps. Two of the most popular amp styles are the plexi and the blackface. Plexi-style amps generally have more mid-focused gain, whereas blackface-style amps have a cleaner, more scooped sound. The same question applies here as it does with pickups and any other piece of gear: what sound do you want?

If you’re running a guitar with single-coil pickups through a blackface-style amp and your overdrive signal sounds a bit thin, try turning up the Drive and Bass on the Double-Double Overdrive. If you’re running a guitar with humbuckers through a plexi-style amp, you may want to accentuate and boost the mids for a searing solo that cuts through the cacophony of the band. Try a lower Bass setting and bring the Drive down while letting the amp providing most of the distortion.

A quick note on blackface-style amps: they have a lot of headroom. Cranking them into overdrive territory can result in unusable volume levels. So how do you combine the natural overdrive of a blackface-style amplifier with that of an overdrive pedal? Use the pedal’s volume control—it’ll make the amp work harder than it normally would at usable volume settings, and you’ll get the best of both worlds.

Dialing in Specific Tones

Now let’s look at how all those factors might come into play to create a specific sound.

For a classic rock sound, you’ll want a guitar with low to medium output humbuckers and a plexi-style amp that’s already pushing into overdrive territory. Try the setting the Double-Double Overdrive to its Lo setting with the Treble control around 1 o’clock, the Bass around 11 o’clock, Level around 1 o’clock, and Drive around 12 o’clock.

For a Texas blues rock sound, use a guitar with single-coil pickups and a blackface-style amp turned up loud. Set the Double-Double Overdrive to its Lo setting, with Bass set low, Treble turned up, and Drive to taste (but not too much).

For a classic thrash metal setting, use a guitar with active humbuckers and a high-gain 6L6 blackface-style amp that’s already overdriven. With the Double-Double Overdrive’s Lo setting selected, set the Bass knob low, Treble around 12 o’clock, Level around 2 o’clock, and Drive about 11 o’clock.

Remember, these are just guidelines. Your gear and sonic needs may require different pedal settings, but hopefully you have a better understanding of some of the ways that an overdrive pedal such as the Double-Double Overdrive can interact with your guitar and amplifier. Always use your ears to dial in the sound you want, not your eyes.

During a recent visit to the US, Shin sat down to tell us a bit about himself and the Shin-Juku Drive.

How did you get into the pedal-making business?

I first became interested in building pedals when I was in middle school. By the time I was in high school, I was already building pedals for my musician friends. Basically, I taught myself how to repair and modify equipment as well as build new equipment from scratch, and one day I decided to do it for a living. Today, many Japanese artists and even some famous American artists use equipment that I have made or modified in some way.

What was your goal when you designing this pedal?

I wanted to create a pedal that would match the big, wide open sound, the smooth overdrive, and the fast response of a particularly mythical style of boutique amplifier. I know the style very intimately because I have not only played and listened to them, but also repaired them. I think that the resulting pedal, the Shin-Juku Drive, really nails it. Not only the sound, but also the feel and response to your attack.

It’s not simply an overdrive—it’s like an amp in a pedal box. At certain settings, the Shin-Juku Drive is perfect to use as an “always-on” effect to put the finishing touch on the tone coming straight out of your guitar.

How were you able to achieve that sound?

Well, I knew exactly what sound I wanted, and as I said, I am well-acquainted with the inner-workings of the amp that produces that sound. I had a good idea of where to start the design process. I chose a bunch of different parts that I thought would get me close to the sound of that legendary amplifier, and then I made a pedal. I tested the pedal again and again, changing parts as necessary, until I matched the sound I wanted. This is the same process I go through for most of the pedals I design.

What does the Dark switch do, and why did you include it as a feature?

I included the Dark switch to give players the option of a slightly warmer sound. Pushing the switch cuts some of the high end, which is perfect for taming the brightness of silverface or blackface-style amps, or for when you just want a smoother, mellower sound.

The Cry Baby Bass Mini Wah may be small, but it doesn’t skip on a single detail. Just like the 105Q, the Bass Mini Wah has Volume and Q controls to fine-tune your wah sound. Stepping in and out of the wah effect to sweeten up fills and solos is simple and seamless thanks to convenient auto-return switching. Players of downtuned and extended range guitars, take note—this little beast will sound great with your rig, too.

With such a small footprint, the Cry Baby Bass Mini Wah will fit nicely on your downsized travel board. Take a look…

We picked out four effects to stick on this Pedaltrain Nano board—the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, the Cry Baby Bass Mini Wah, the MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe, and the MXR Bass Preamp—that will cover your tonal and utilitarian needs while still allowing you to travel light. The first three effects take you all over the musical landscape, from funk and R&B to hard rock and heavy metal, while the Bass Preamp lets you shape your overall sound and run your signal direct to FOH.

Pick up a Cry Baby Bass Mini Wah at your favorite online or brick-and-mortar retailer today. Travel light and groove heavy.

Bass Compressor + Bass Octave Deluxe

Running the Bass Compressor into the Bass Octave Deluxe makes for a tighter, more focused octave effect with an even thicker sounding thump. We can’t say for sure, but a lot of bass players are convinced that Pino Palladino used the compressor+octave combination to get his iconic tone for Paul Young’s “Tear Your Playhouse Down.”

Bass Octave Deluxe + Bass Envelope Filter

Combining these two pedals is the perfect way to get funky synth sounds without having to double up on keys. Run the Bass Octave Deluxe into the Bass Envelope Filter for best results. Check out this clip of the great Tim Lefebvre demonstrating the great range of deep, expressive tones these pedals are capable of when paired:

Bootsy Collins used this effect combination quite often—listen to the song “Bootzilla” for another great example.

Bass Octave Deluxe + Bass Fuzz Deluxe

Combining the Bass Octave Deluxe and the Bass Fuzz Deluxe is all about subterranean chainsaw grind. Putting the octave pedal in front of the fuzz pedal can fill out the sonic space, fattening up and adding some depth to your signal. Check out “All the Love in the World” from Nine Inch Nails or “No Hassle Night” by the Dead Weather to hear how the octave/fuzz combination sounds when done right.

Bass Envelope Filter + Bass Fuzz Deluxe

This combo is all about liquid, percolating funk with a more aggressive attitude. Just run the Bass Envelope Filter into the Bass Fuzz Deluxe and pluck away. Bootsy Collins liked to use this combination a lot, as does Les Claypool.

Bass Octave Deluxe + Bass Envelope Filter + Bass Fuzz Deluxe

This combination gives you thick, funky synth-like tones that cut through with hard-charging authority and dynamic expression. Just run the Bass Octave Deluxe into the Bass Envelope Filter into the Bass Fuzz Deluxe. Bootsy strikes again with this one, just listen to “What’s the Name of this Town.”

Bass Distortion + Bass Chorus Deluxe

Combining these two pedals—Bass Distortion into the Bass Chorus Deluxe—gives you the dark, spectral sounds chorus pedals are known for, but the distortion adds a whole ’nother level of texture and attitude. For a subtle but effective use of this effect, listen to Puscifer’s “Galileo.” Type O Negative’s “IYDKMIGHTKY (Gimme That)” has a more obvious example.

There’s a ton of other effects combinations available to bass players, but we feel these are the the most basic, foundational combos you should get to know as a bass player. Line ’em up and dig in.