Attention Wah gurus...

[Ed G.]

I have a 70's Thomas Organ Crybaby with the 5117 transistors and the TDK square inductor. I recently built a wah, using BC109C transistors (about 500 hfe) and a stock dunlop inductor.

The mod-wah sounds great, it's fatter and richer, but I would like a little bit more of the clarity of the Thomas wah.

Before I built it, I intended to get a better inductor, but used the dunlop for the time being. I imagine this will have a pretty big effect on the sound. But will a good inductor sound more 'clear' and bright?

Or maybe it's the transistor choice. Should I use a lower gain transistor, I ordered the BC109C thinking it was the preferred one, but I did some research and I think it's the BC109B that I should have used.

Whaddya think?

[jimbob]

I recently did the same thing experimenting. I sold the T organ wah sepulvda , ca TDk ect. and call that ..and built one and socketed most of the stuff. Ill be honest -i think the biggest diference youll notice is the inductor swap- I want to get a Stewart Castledine stack of dime next..until then i have a yellow fasel dunlop from Aron. I think it sounds great. U might try socketing a few different places and see what u like the best. I heard 2n2222's were great and turned out decent, also bc108/109 ect. and tried those as well with a number of combinations of other things. I think i ended up liking a mpsa18 and a bc108b the best- if i recall correctly. I recommend going to Phillips site. His axis wah and is fantastic!

Im not a guru- sorry- But i have been a man in search of answers about wahs lately as ive sold a number of them and built a few as well. BTW- add a 5p2t rotary switch for different cap selections- REALLY i mean REALLY makes a difference there to!

Good luck

jimbob

[Jered]

Ed, get a fasal from Aron. I've done all the mods res/caps, etc. they do help but the biggest improvement has been the fasal. One of my wahs had a clarity problem also, I fixed this by replacing the stock .01 caps with polystyrene of the same value.
Jered

[Ed G.]

It's funny for such a simple circuit, how many variables make a difference. Putting together a good wah is as much an art as a science, so I can see how Geoffrey Teese has made his name.
I've socketed the transistors, so I'll try different ones in there. As far as caps go, I've used polystyrene for the .01 like the Italian wahs. Orange drops seem to be the closest modern equivalent for the tropical fish .2 caps, so that's what I used there. I did use the cap selector switch but I'm doing all the critical listening with the selector on the stock .01 cap. That value seems to emphasize the fundamental frequencies the most, but I like the sounds of some of the other caps as well.
I've been to just about all the sites, including Phillips site. Good information. I've also done some searching through the archives. I'm considering the fasel red or the fulltone inductor right now.

[petemoore]

I recently did the same thing experimenting. I sold the T organ wah sepulvda , ca TDk ect. and call that ..and built one and socketed most of the stuff. Ill be honest -i think the biggest diference youll notice is the inductor swap- I want to get a Stewart Castledine stack of dime next..until then i have a yellow fasel dunlop from Aron. I think it sounds great. U might try socketing a few different places and see what u like the best. I heard 2n2222's were great and turned out decent, also bc108/109 ect. and tried those as well with a number of combinations of other things. I think i ended up liking a mpsa18 and a bc108b the best- if i recall correctly. I recommend going to Phillips site. His axis wah and is fantastic!

Im not a guru- sorry- But i have been a man in search of answers about wahs lately as ive sold a number of them and built a few as well. BTW- add a 5p2t rotary switch for different cap selections- REALLY i mean REALLY makes a difference there to!

Good luck

jimbob

Great write Up Jimbob !!! I've been studying inductor and wah posts for well over a year, trying to figure out wahs...I have 2.
 I was going to work around the existing inductors I have, now I think put a Fasel Y in one, ...thEn tweek it.
 Actually I did socket the Q's boosted the Vol., I think every other mod except the cap tweeks...still works, just nothing to write home about.