Modding a wah pedal for more throw

[MovingInSloMo]

any tips or mods besides trimming the rubber stopper pads that will get you more throw (sweep) in a wah pedal? I have a 70's thomas organ crybaby I've modded with a fulltone pot, fasel inductor (yellow version) and tropical fish caps. It sounds great... except I'd enjoy a little more range.

[mistercoffee1]

Do you have any reservations against cutting the stoppers, or removing?
I realize that you're aware of this, but it's a pretty easy fix that works.

Given that you have a Fulltone pot, those pots need a wider physical sweep to really sound correct.  When there isn't enough physical range, the Fulltone pots don't seem to allow for enough treble or enough bass or both (depending on where you have it indexed).
With the shorter physical sweep, I think that's where the Hotpotz II works better (for example when using the full sized rubber grommets on heel and toe side).

Myself - I like to use the medium sized rubber grommets on the heel and toe side when using a Fulltone pot.

[MovingInSloMo]

thought about it, tried it, the original stock hot potz pot does the trick. Sucks the fulltone needs more sweep.  How do people who use them put up with it?

[mistercoffee1]

When I first got my wahs (all used), they already had the medium grommets (rather than the full), so the longer physical sweep never seemed right with the Hotpotz II.
I think the Fulltone Pot works great in that regard (same with Hotpotz I).  In actual Fulltone branded pedals, the physical sweep is longer than a stock Crybaby/Vox.
I have no issues with having the longer travel, plus, the taper is better for me (smoother transition from bass to treble with a wider sweet spot).

[Fuzzy-Train]

What about replacing the sweep cap. You could probably score one in the FS forum... I remember seeing a lot of fish caps being tossed around in there.

[John Lyons]

On thing you can do is adjust the pot placement and or rack so the rotation matches the toe down position.
If you want the max high sweep just rotate the pot so the toe down position rotates the pot all the way clockwise.
Most of the quack and magic happens is the last bit of the sweep anyway so to make sure you get the most of the high rotation you can either rotate the pot or line up the rack so that the pot is at max at max toe down.
The rubber stoppers are nice so you don't have a clacky toe down position. It depends on your wah style. You can also put felt pads in which are not as thick as the rubber pads.

If you don't want the full rotation of the pot at toe down just back off the pot by rotating to adjusting the rack position.

John

[R.G.]

The width of sweep in an inductor style wah depends on three things.
1. The sweep cap. The cap from the emitter of the second transistor to the inductor sets the target (min and max frequency) of the range.
2. The gain of the first transistor. Since the variable capacitance that makes the sweep happen is a consequence of the gain, the more gain, the more sweep range that's possible.
3. The amount of the first transistor's output that the wiper of the pot actually moves across. If your rocker doesn't make the wiper travel end to end, you don't get the full sweep range. This last is what most of the advice is about in shaving rubber bumpers and diddling rack and pinion position.

I've thought several times that it would be clever to use silver-bearing paint to paint the start and end of the wafer travel for the wah pot. A wah is relatively insensitive to the actual resistance of the wah pot. So painting conductive stuff over the starting and ending 15% of the wafer would "short out" the pot movement at the extremes. This would let the rack motion which normally does not turn the pot fully to cover the full range of 0 to 100% feedback in a smaller mechanical rotation, so the lack of full coverage by the rack and pinion would not matter as much if at all.

[petemoore]

  1 or 2 less cogs on teh potwheel would have been ok.

[jakenold]

I really dislike the Fulltone pots. I've tried a LOT of pots in my never ending quest for good wah tone, and I really think the Fulltone is one of the most boring and overpriced pot you can buy. Really, the three I had died faster than the Alpha pots I used for test! If the HotPotz does it for you, use that, sell the Fulltone and don't look back.

Jake

[Solidhex]

I've sometimes used those 3m sticky bumper pads for the bottom of pedals on either where I've removed the rubber grommets or even on the top of the footswitch. You get a longer sweep and you don't get the treadle smacking against the base.

--Brad

[MovingInSloMo]

Thanks for the input guys. Clever idea R.G. I'm eventually going to rehouse the wah in a painted shell from smallbear and i plan to use the flattest grommets anyways. The the orignal stock case has seen way to much abuse since the 70's, looked like the previous owner(s) did 50 world tours with the thing. You step off the thing and the rocker goes *clunk!* to the toe position.

(ps. if you anyone wants the old case make an offer, PM me)