Wah mods, any advice?

EttieneB

Hey all I have a Dunlop Original Crybaby! I'm not sure but think its the GCB95 which I hear is very bad! But to me it sounds ok! I want to do a true bypass mod and some other things! Any advice? Ill probably take it to someone but need to know if its worth it!?

joealien22

I haven't done any "real" mods to my cry baby really, but I found with mine (bought it 2nd hand) that the high's were too shrill, so I adjusted the range so that it doesn't go beyond the point where it gets too shrill. Really simple to do and took maybe 5 min max to do.

It is not really a proper fix, as essentially all I have done is shorten the range. But it still sounds a lot better to me

I think once I have more knowledge and confidence in soldering and modding I will do the mod properly.

kayDUB

http://stinkfoot.se/archives/tag/crybaby

EttieneB

Hey luc thanx I did that too! But when I kick in the drive channels on my amp the levels go down! And sounds weird in higher gain levels!
And I've read the stinkfoot thing on the net that's why I posted the thread to know if any one else tried that!

kayDUB

EttieneB wrote But to me it sounds ok!

If u are happy with it now then keep it as it is until you want to correct something you're not happy with.
I did the stinkfoot true bypass (3pdt) and LED mods just because the switch broke and I thought that I'd do the mods since I had to change the switch anyway. Didn't notice a huge difference, but didn't really do a before/after comparison. The true bypass mod is to improve (or decrease rather) "tone suck" from the input buffer - apparently. The on/off LED is purely visual, but it was pretty cool IMO.
I sold the wah btw, wasn't really using it at all.

AlanRatcliffe

The Stinkfoot mods are pretty much the standard mods done by everyone. The main ones to look at are the true bypass and the range mods (and use the trimpot as suggested rather than a fixed resistor).

EttieneB

Do u guys think I should get a fasel? What's the diff between red and yellow then?

Johnny-B

I found the information at this link very useful
http://www.wamplerpedals.com/downloads/Dunlop_wah_true-bypass.pdf
Just beware. The boards used in the GCB95 are single sided and not through hole plated, so the tracks lift easily when desoldering.
There is also variation in the production. I modded a friend's GCB-95 with the same mods as mine but I still couldn't get the same tone.
If you are interested BYOC do a drop in kit which gives you many options and is reportedly excellent.

EttieneB

Cool thanx that's the stinkfoot one! So whatsup with the fasel inductors?

AlanRatcliffe

The Fasel inductors were used in some of the legendary classic models. There is quite a bit of lore around about inductors, but there is nothing wrong with the re-issue inductors in the new models. Often guys end up unhappy with inductor "upgrades", because each circuit was designed around a specific inductor and changing it does not always sound as good as the original.

AlanRatcliffe

BTW, if you are interested in getting into the wah mods properly and understanding what they do, start with this article by R.G. Keen:
http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/wahpedl/wahped.htm