Wah Wah mods

JoeyBones

I found this site. Anyone wanna give these a try ?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.castledine/greenfuz/wah.html

JoeyBones

I found this response to a question on increasing the sweep of a Cry Baby :

"Easy mod - no tools required (once you remove the bottom plate).

The crybaby and most other sweep pedals work with a rack and pinion gear. The pinion gear attaches to the sweep pot and the long, straight, rack gear (looks like a comb, with very short teeth) attaches to the pedal you press on. When you press on the pedal, the rack gear turns the pot, giving you the sweep. The problem you're running into is that most rack gears don't turn the pot all the way.

All you hafta do is pull the rack gear away from the pinion and turn the pot by hand till it sweeps the range you want. You might hafta do it by a little trial and error till you get it right. Just make sure you don't set it to where you can breal the pot by reaching the end of its travel too soon.

When you open the pedal up and see how it works, it'll take you a couple of minutes to get it set perfectly. It's no big deal."

Mr-M

Looks like a cool mod, but I'm happy with my Crybaby Classic just the way it is! ?

ralley

Hey Joey,
I just got bored tonight and decided to whip out my soldering iron and do some mods to my wah (Crybaby GCB-95 G). I did the true bypass mod (removed the buffer as well) from the pages you refer to and also added an LED. Can't see I hear much difference, but I've got cloth ears! I'll try the resistor and cap subs in the next few days.

Rob.

JoeyBones

Excellent man. I'm still waiting for my Wah Probe ... Freakin SA post probably sent it to Swaziland. I picked a Cry Baby up pretty cheap of a guy in the states. Gonna use it to test these mods. I'll wait for more comments from you before I start. This is gonna be my first attempt at moding anything electronic ?

kayDUB

This mod won't "increase" the sweep will it? won't it just change the frequency that is sweeped?
I.e. give it less treble tone or more treble tone? If so, sounds like a cool easy way to make it less "bright"?

Please, somebody correct me! ?

JoeyBones wrote: I found this response to a question on increasing the sweep of a Cry Baby :

"Easy mod - no tools required (once you remove the bottom plate).

The crybaby and most other sweep pedals work with a rack and pinion gear. The pinion gear attaches to the sweep pot and the long, straight, rack gear (looks like a comb, with very short teeth) attaches to the pedal you press on. When you press on the pedal, the rack gear turns the pot, giving you the sweep. The problem you're running into is that most rack gears don't turn the pot all the way.

All you hafta do is pull the rack gear away from the pinion and turn the pot by hand till it sweeps the range you want. You might hafta do it by a little trial and error till you get it right. Just make sure you don't set it to where you can breal the pot by reaching the end of its travel too soon.

When you open the pedal up and see how it works, it'll take you a couple of minutes to get it set perfectly. It's no big deal."

JoeyBones

I obviously didn't read the page properly. Someone with technical knowledge please respond ?

AlanRatcliffe

It doesn't give you a wider range - it just changes the frequency of the range the pedal operates in - and only as far as the pot has rotation.

kayDUB

That's what I thought.. so i can effectively change a crybaby to give a more midrangey sweep than a treble sweep?
This depends on the frequencies on which the pot operates, correct?

JoeyBones

I really need to read things more thoroughly ???

AlanRatcliffe

You should be able to do it, if it isn't already maxed out in that direction. The rack and pinion basically only turns the pot through about 75% of it's rotation. Set stock it may be turning the pot from (for example) 25% to 100%, or from 15% to 90%. If so, by adjusting the rack and pinion, you can change it to go from 0% to 75% - basically as low down in the range as possible.

Of course, if it's already set to the lowest range, you're SOL if you want it to go down lower. Then it's a case of changing the value of the choke to change the range.

ralley

Kaydub, the site referred to Joey in his first post has a mod to increase the mid range (change 1 resistor) and a mod to change the sweep range (1 cap).

I went to do these mods this morning and discovered I don't have any of the required resistors. I'll pick some up on Monday and make the changes.

Rob.

ralley

Ok guys I've just finished doing the mods and they are a definite winner. Gets rid of the piercing highs and changes the pedal so the whole movement range is a lovely mid-range "growl".

Added an On/Off LED (top right):

Added 3PDT switch for true bypass and LED (buffer removed, new wires from board to switch) , did vocal mod (swap 1 resistor), gain and bass response (swap 1 resistor), mid-range mod (swap 1 resistor), sweep range mod (swap 1 capacitor) and volume mod (swap 1 resistor). Swapped resistors are all 1% 1/4watt metal film (blue) and the capacitor is a poly film (yellow box).

Rob

JoeyBones

ralley wrote: Ok guys I've just finished doing the mods and they are a definite winner. Gets rid of the piercing highs and changes the pedal so the whole movement range is a lovely mid-range "growl".

Excellent ! Would you be able to record some clips. I've been a bit sceptical of taking a soldering iron to my effects. I'm keen to hear how much of a difference these mods made.

ralley

I don't have a mic so I can only try recording through my Line 6 Toneport. Not sure how good it will sound but I'll give it a try.

All the reports I have heard on these mods rave about them, I think it pretty much just makes it match the specs of the Clyde McCoy Wahs.

It's also really easy to do and easily reversible.

Rob.

JoeyBones

ralley wrote: I don't have a mic so I can only try recording through my Line 6 Toneport. Not sure how good it will sound but I'll give it a try.

I've got a UX-2 and it's pretty good. I've recorded a couple of clips using a roland vocal mic and I was pretty impressed with the results.

ralley

Yeah also got a UX-2 and it sounds good but running pedals before them tends to sound like arse, especially things like wah and fuzz that rely on interactions with the guitar and amp. Will try anyway...

Rob.

JoeyBones

I also found that the line6 amp modelling stuff doesn't work well with my stompboxes.

ralley

Okay Joey, I've uploaded a demo of the Wah pedal after modification. Setup was Burny Les Paul copy (Bridge pickup) -> Wah -> Toneport UX-2 (1968 Plexi Lead 100 Amp, Noise gate, no effects) -> Reaper. First 10 seconds or so are with the wah off. Just some random pentatonic wanking and a well know wah snippet. Apologies for the little blasts of noise, not sure where it came from, levels are well below clipping.

http://gfsa.s3.amazonaws.com/40/wah%20demo.mp3

Rob.