Kirk Hammett Looks to Dimebag Darrell When Choosing a Wah Pedal

On top of any other guitar effect, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett is known for his love of the wah-wah pedal. The rocker's frequent use of wah eventually led to the design of his own signature wah pedal with the guitar products company Dunlop, the KH95 Kirk Hammett Signature Cry Baby Wah Pedal.

But in a new interview, Hammett revealed that he mainly chooses another artist's signature wah pedal first when it comes to studio recording — the late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell's DB01B Dimebag Cry Baby From Hell Wah.

That's what the Metallica shredder told Rick Beato in a video that emerged this week (Aug. 17). Watch it down toward the bottom of this post.

Kirk + the Wah Pedal

While discussing his ongoing "addiction" to all things wah, including his collection of Vox Clyde McCoy wah pedals, Hammett was asked if there's just one "magic" wah he still prefers over others.

"There is one, and I only have one of them, and I break it out every single time I go into the studio, and it's the Dimebag wah," the rocker responds.

"I love Dimebag," he adds. "I loved him as a guy; I loved him as a person; I loved him as a player. To this day, I have a lot of emotions towards him."

The Dimebag Wah Pedal

Hammett continues, highlighting the Dime wah's 6-way frequency range selector and dedicated boost switch, "[Dimebag Darrell] made a wah with this pickup selector, where you can toggle through all the various things, and it's the greatest idea. And on top of that, there's a boost [function]."

Indeed, it's those unique features that seem to drive the Metallica guitarist to want to choose Dime's wah over his own in the studio. In fact, Hammett wanted to duplicate the features for his signature model when the time came, but he abstained.

"When I was looking at this wah, I thought, 'This is the wah that I should've made," he explains. "And when Dunlop said, 'Let's put out your version of the wah,' I wanted to copy it. But I didn't out of respect for Dimebag. But that's the wah for me — it's the Dimebag wah. It's the greatest wah, for me, that's ever been fucking made."

Watch at 1:19:15 below.