Wah pot tapers, more specifically CW vs CCW in crybaby shells.

[Myampgoesto12]

Sorry to double post, forgot to mention pink's comment on the fact that its a part of the filter. That really helps me feel better and think about it better actually.

Thanks a lot ha.

[pinkjimiphoton]

bigger cap will equal more bass will equal more gain will equal more distortion, probably a "phatter" tone. the only dif between dunlop guitar and bass crybabies is the size of the coupling caps, if memory serves.
go too big, and it may motorboat on you, or oscillate in the heel down section.
i believe it will also affect the entire "range " affected by the filter, but i'm a fuzzbox guy, my
gig is breaking rules not understanding them

[Myampgoesto12]

Ok, so its worth trying it, it may yield a different effect since its allowing more frequencies in, may not.. Hah.

I hear ya about breaking rules. A few years ago I would never tear into one of these. Then my singer stepped on my weapons demon and I was too broke for a new one, so onward to the path of diy.

Thanks

[pinkjimiphoton]

yeah, i'm a broke ass musician, too

[joegagan]

Hotpotz 1 and 2 are same fast ramp or kinked taper,  same as all thomas crybabies going back to 71 or so ( Allen Bradley,  Clarostat and Centralab all supplied thomas, their methods for making the taper affected the feel, there were slight deviations on the basic recipe) Most people are most familiar with this taper, sort of a quack . Lotta bang with little foot movement. Hotpotz1 are usually 107k to 128k, HP2 is tighter tolerance, 96k to 102k typically. This effects tone a little. Generally, 127k is creamier top end than 96k. The new square -body " hotpotz " found in minI crybaby and all gcb95 post 2018 are less kinked, somewhere halfway between hotpotz2 and audio.

Old Icar and my RV4 "smooth pot" are essentially audio/log taper. Regular log for regular wah shells, including post 74 rectangle shape dearmond wahs and vols. 
rev log in boomerang, which has the pot on opposite side .
I use Rev log in crybaby shell for some of my colorsound inspired joe-sonic wahs, the treble comes in at very end of toe down, similar to the actuator in colorsound.

Linear  pots are awesome for wah. Foxx, musonic, snarling dogs and others use linear. The colorsounds do not use the bottom 45%of the pot value, the circuit is biased in a way that makes them oscillate in the lows if you set them to the low part of the pot.

Lin brings out more harmonics for inductor wahs in my experience. I believe this is related to the charge/discharge rate of the inductor cap. The slower resistance action allows the cap to charge more fully, adding texture (theory).
Crybaby wah shells need modding to use lin, approx 3 or 4 more teeth on the rack gear,  + some grinding at the heel of wah top. Dunlop made their rack gear approx 1/4" longer starting in mid 2000s.

Thomas stereo fuzz wah in the mid 70s used 2 centralab pots, standard fast ramp crybaby taper, reverse taper on opposite side.

Bg2 boomerangs all had centralab pots, a modified rev log (condensed) taper, usually measure 27 to 30k, despite being called 25k. Modern pec RV4 25k are low, usually 23k and do not sound right.

Re: the 470k hotpotz . The jimi hendrix wah used 470k hotpotz1 in the early 90s. When the hotpotz2 came out in 95, they made a 470k fast-ramp version for the hendrix wah. The Dunlop volume pedal had a 470k hotpotz2 that was a more spread out taper than the jimi wah version. At some point,  the volume pedal got a 250K hotpotz2, mid 2000s they gave up and just went to 100k hotpotz2  for the jimi wah.

Standard gear for wah is 14 teeth. I have used 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, and 22 in various pedals.

All of the above is approximate, averaged out for post brevity. Of course there are exceptions and minor deviations.

[joegagan]

The debate about plastic element vs carbon is ongoing.
My smooth pot and hotpotz1, the castledine Icar type etc are carbon.
Hotpotz2,  hotpotz, chasetone, mcCono2 etc are,plastic element.
Oddly, I think plastic sounds cool in vintage wahs,w sloppy old parts, carbon sounds nice in modern wahs with new, tight tolerance parts.

I did a 6 pot shootout semi-controlled test in one vintage 69 italian vox v846 at gear page, in a blind test the hotpotz2 was number 1.

[Myampgoesto12]

Wow its really cool to hear from you in here, Joe. Thank you for your input!  I was curious about your smooth pot, and have been browsing your eBay. I havent come across a linear pot yet, would you happen to have a linear pot and necessary rack for that? I'm not afraid to take a grinder to anything hah.

Soon I think I'll pull the trigger on one.

Thanks again!

[joegagan]

cool, thanks. yes, i list the lin as a replacement for foxx or colorsound. i am out of stock on the material to make longer racks, recently i extend & hand grind extra teeth into the stock dunlop rack. but i don't offer this as a service, sorry. i will have more material to make longer racks in 2 to 3 weeks.

[Myampgoesto12]

Awesome.

Would it be ok to pm you to see if you've got the materials?

Now that I have an idea of what goes into your crybaby mods I'll look around for audible comparisons.

[joegagan]

email is better. joegagan@gmail.com