wah inductors (just a word or two)

[ariel-fx]

hey gang,

although I don't post too much on this board I do drop by from time to time and read what people are talking about.
I've read some things people said about fasel inductors, my inductors, Stuart's and fulltone inductors.
people seem to think that by changing the inductor alone they will get a Clyde McCoy sounding wah pedal and if the inductor
didn't work out for them it's probably the inductor's fault. the fact is that these people have to read an article (or at least one section of it)
or even better, print it and keep it!

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/wahpedl/wahped.htm#basicmod

RG wrote down all the components and their individual influence on the tone - work from there, it's the best piece of information
you'll read on this subject!

second thing, the fasel inductors (both red & yellow) have their inductance all over the place, so if you liked a red fasel in a friend's stock
GCB-95 don't think that if you'll buy a red fasel and install it in your stock GCB-95 it will surly sound the same - only if you are very lucky.

boutique inductors are usually made from parts that are mass produced and during the last year or two (?) they found their way to the market
in the form of kits. I think it's a good thing because people can wind an inductor for fun and experiment in a way that was very difficult until now.
in fact I wrote a guide to help people get started on inductor winding (see it on small bear electronics). personally, I don't think this takes away
from the "quality" of the inductors Stuart or I or any other boutique maker builds. we all have our own techniques for winding, potting and assembly of these kits not to talk about tuning and different wires more over, some parts might look the same but they are not the same. I know for fact that Stuart is making excellent quality inductors simply because I own a few, and I know from people who bought my inductors that they do the trick at leat as well.

so if you are building your wah project and you are not happy with your tone, before you try all the inductors in the market you might consider
reading a little article for 10 minutes and save yourself headache and frustration.

[Paul Marossy]

people seem to think that by changing the inductor alone they will get a Clyde McCoy sounding wah pedal and if the inductor
didn't work out for them it's probably the inductor's fault.

Yep, that's a common fallacy.

second thing, the fasel inductors (both red & yellow) have their inductance all over the place, so if you liked a red fasel in a friend's stock
GCB-95 don't think that if you'll buy a red fasel and install it in your stock GCB-95 it will surly sound the same - only if you are very lucky.

Can you give us an idea of what ranges they fall in? And the nominal values? In my experience building and tweaking various wah circuits, they are just about as individual as two "identical guitars are. In other words, it seems to me that no two wahs sound exactly the same.

[ariel-fx]

right now, i have yellow fasels from 150mH - 690mH

[Paul Marossy]

right now, i have yellow fasels from 150mH - 690mH

Wow! They are all over the place. 
Is there a range that most fall into? And how about the red ones?

[analog kid]

This is really interesting , I researched wah inductors and all the various vintage wah circuits' values and design for about a year and a half straight , of course not having access to many of the actual vintage wahs I just studied the info that others had researched and built/ rebuilt and modified every wah I could get my hands on. In the end I think I finally ended up with a couple of the best sounding wah pedals that  "I" have ever heard , In Person.  My point is that most aspects of the circuit and values including pot taper and how it interacts with the rest of the circuit , I was able to observe and track how little changes effect each other BUT THE INDUCTOR is a different story. !! Unless like some of you can , you may have some sort of Henry / Inductance meter, Most can't have any idea what the given inductor is giving the circuit to work with. So you likely  end up making R and Cap value changes to "suit " the inductor you have , until you reach that sweetest sweep , ( I mean I think you can make an inductor measuring 400mH sound pretty darn good  but not with all the same values used with a 500mH in there)
I have wondered about the Fasels (dunlop) , I've heard it said it's the same company reopened for dunlop but I don't know, I can't imagine thery're made to the same standards if what TOM said is true. Although, who knows if they weren't that inconsistent in the old days. ? The main thing I believe about the vintage Fasels and ALL old inductors is the AGE taking it's toll upon the wire! There are all kinds of harmonic content that comes from the years of aging as RG explained in his article.
I'd like to hear alot more about what Tom and others have found in testing the new runs of Inductors!

[Paul Marossy]

Although, who knows if they weren't that inconsistent in the old days. ?

I don't think they were according to the research I seen by others. They did range from about 480-640mH, but the most of them were in the 500-540mH range. 150-690mH is a much larger variability - it's like a crapshoot buying those reissue inductors! I don't know what my yellow one measures, but I think it sounds really good. I need to get something that measure inductance, darn it!