cry baby stereo fuzz wah, 9-3701

[drummer4gc]

hey everyone,

i am trying to fix up an old thomas organ cry baby stereo fuzz wah. from what i gather, it is a combination of a fuzz face type circuit and the standard thomas cry baby circuit. however, there are two potentiometers linked by the gear that is actuated by the pedal. why are there two pots instead of one? the baseplate says something about a volume function, is one of the pots simply to make it a volume pedal?

the fuzz sounds nasty and sort of cool if you're into that thing. can't get the wah effect working yet, when you hit the switch it just sounds bassy like a wah %^&*ed back with no effect. might have to play with the pots, i just don't understand why there are two of them!

thanks,
matt

[waltk]

OK. So here's how it's supposed to work (well how mine works anyway)...

The fuzz switch at the top of the pedal always turns the fuzz on and off; there's no other external switch or pot that affects the fuzz (except for the master volume described below).  There are 2 internal adjustments for distortion volume and distortion sustain.  I don't think I've ever changed these settings, and the fuzz sounds smooth and natural - like a well tuned fuzzface or tonebender at moderate settings.

If you have the amp plugged into the "mono" jack, the main stomp switch toggles the wah on and off.  The treadle does nothing when wah is turned off. Fuzz is independent of wah.

If you have the amp plugged into the "mono with volume" jack, the main stomp switch still toggles the wah on and off, and the treadle also acts as a master volume control.  So when wah is toggled on, the treadle simultaneously controls output volume (from zero to full), and wah effect.  When the wah is toggled off, the treadle acts as a master volume controller.  The fuzz volume is also controlled by the treadle - that's why I'm calling it a master volume.

To answer your question, I believe the two pots are independent volume and wah controllers - but I haven't traced the circuit in any detail.

To fix yours, you might start with the "first - do no harm" approach.  Check for continuity of the pot connections, and measure the resistance through the pot rotation.  If you have some pot cleaner/lubricant, try that.  Use a fresh battery.  If you find something fishy, I can check values in my working pedal for you (time permitting).