Phantom Wah schematic?

[1wahfreak]

I have one. It's in a box at home and I haven't pulled it out for quite some time. IIRC, it was pretty touchy as far as sweep was concerned. Also if you are standing trying to play it wreaks havoc on your ankle. It provides no rest for your foot making it pretty hard to control it well. I thought there was a sensitivity control on it too. I will look when i get home tonight and report back. Any thing else i can help with???

[Paul Marossy]

Also if you are standing trying to play it wreaks havoc on your ankle. It provides no rest for your foot making it pretty hard to control it well.

That confirms my first thought about that Phantom Wah. 

[MR COFFEE]

theblueark,

The first part of your post answered the question. Thanks!

1wahfreak,
Thanks also! Did adjusting the sensitivity change your impression of it?

[dadadata]

Hi Paul,

I can't remember a company - I think it was one of those one-product companies that came and went. It never caught on big, and I've never seen one in person.

I don't know about the Z. Vex Fuzz Probe - does it work on light or proximity? I got the impression the Phantom wah was controlled by proximity of the human foot to the plate (capacitance, I presume).

Hi RCC,

Thanks, but different animal of the same name. It wasn't a DIY project, and it didn't have a treadle that turned a potentiometer.

I read an interview a few years back of some guy who put one on his guitar with duct tape and worked it with his hands (like playing a bongo or something, I suppose). It was one of those "industrial" noise-maker type bands.

I read a review of one many years earlier (1980s somewhere - maybe in Polyphony or Electronic Musician?)

Hasn't anybody here seen one or (I wish, I wish) have a schematic for it?

Mmmmm. I wrote that review. I liked the sound of that pedal. It was thin without being brittle. I recall the company was in Ohio. Mentor, Ohio maybe? It was definitely a couple-o-guys operation in a tiny NAMM booth. I used to like go around the obscure booths at NAMM.

It used capacitance to control the wah function and was tiring if you tried to balance your whole foot over it. It's spice, not gravy, so to speak.

Mine is in need of resoldering a battery lead, and the place isn't very obvious.

What I enjoyed about it was that you could use your fingers or hand, not just your foot. Like a theremin-wah. In fact it was in possession of a friend of mine for a long time who actually also had a Maestro theremin. I think he broke the theremin at some point but I got the wah back.

If there's any interest I suppose I could disassemble mine and take pix.

[ElectricDruid]

The probe circuit generates a small (one or two inches high) "bubble" of RF energy at about a million cycles per second above the copper plate. As your foot or hand (or any wet or metallic object, for that matter) approaches the copper plate, the RF field is disturbed and the circuit reacts by increasing the brightness of an LED, which drives a photoresistive cell and controls the Z. Vex wah circuit. The wah circuit is actually the Seek-Wah sound circuit without the sequencer control. It's also the same wah circuit as the one in The Drip guitar that I make. The only difference is the boost circuit in this Wah Probe model.

This sounds a lot like the basic principles of a theremin. A theremin generally has two aerials, and proximity to one controls pitch, while proximity to the other controls volume. But the basic theremin-proximity-detector circuit can be used to produce a control voltage that can control anything, pretty much. (At least some of) the Moog theremins come with CV outputs on them, so you can use them as controllers, as well as using them as instruments in their own right.

I'd have a dig around for "build your own theremin" projects and see what you can find.