Popdose kicks off this regular feature with a vintage commercial for the stompbox that launched a thousand garage bands.
Amazingly, in this era of clean, perfect digital clones of everything — some of which indeed sound better than the originals –they still make the Vox wah-wah effects pedal, as well as its longstanding competitor, the Crybaby Wah, which sonic Van Gogh Jimi Hendrix used to paint beautiful sound pictures with his guitar.
It’s more than just some sort of analog fetish: You just can’t get the sound, technique and timing down with new gear. You can try, but Hendrix wasn’t a digital wuss, and you shouldn’t be either. The wah pedal remains popular for good reason.
Does the name Electric Prunes ring a bell? One of the few memorable one-hitters of the late garage rock/psychedelic ’60s, they recorded “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night),” which ushered in the Summer of Love in 1967. “Wah-Wah Peddle” (download) comes off Pebbles, Vol. 2.
Tags: Electric Prunes, Lo-Fi Mojo
