Morley Wah major rebuild (HELP)

[BatmanSandwich]

I was just wondering about the feasibility of an idea I had recently, and how best to go about it if it is possible. I have a Morley Bad Horsie wah which I absolutely love the switchless operation of, but I have never really liked the tone. Also, it seems to have lost nearly all of it's bite over the years, and I just broke the inductor kind of stupidly. I ordered a whipple inductor and popped that in, but it still seems kind of lifeless and dull.

I was wondering if there was any way I could take this circuit here (or similar crybaby clone):
http://i.imgur.com/Hbg7M.jpg

And put it in my morley wah, utilizing the optical switching and ldr stage of this circuit:
http://www.morleypedals.com/vai-1es.pdf

Can such a thing be done? I figured I could add a bypass switch quite easily and just use the ldr to control the sweep, but it would be really cool to keep the switchless activation too.

Thanks for your time

[StereoKills]

Hi! I also have a Bad Horsie because I love the switching. Other than the optical componants, it's your basic inductor wah circuit and can be easily modded to suit your tone tastes.

R.G.'s "The Technology of Wah Pedals" is a must read.
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/wahpedl/wahped.htm

Boogietube had some suggestions on mods here:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=31657.0

Really any of the Vox mods will work, it's essentially the same circuit.

[joegagan]

same answer as i was thinking(morley had to copy the crybaby formula to make vai like it in my best guess). to 'wake up' the wah, play around with the 220 ohm to ground at Q1, and especially the .01 sweep cap. my guess is that the optical pot is causing the sterile response you are hearing tho.

[StereoKills]

I think if you do some of the basic mods such as input cap and the resistor parallel to the inductor (q resistor?) you'll find the circuit comes to life a bit. I'd at least try those before attempting to gut it and use the optical components (no small feat).

[joegagan]

again, agree with evan.
a lot of people recommend raising the 33k resistor parallel to the inductor, but i have also had very nice results lowering and/or eliminating it. some early voxes did not have this resistor, and i seem to recall some colorsounds and others that omit it.

the morley inductor has a nice 500 mh, and morley's specs call for 12 ohm, which is low by CB standards. this has not been a problem, if other parts are adjusted, this inductor can sound great,

don't forget that the sweep and voice are also heavily influenced by the 1.5k from Q1 base to Q2 emitter. a little goes a long way, raising to 2.2k makes a pretty big change. boomerang BG1s have 4.7k in this postiion, but that circuit biases quite differently from the CB/ vai we are speaking of.