VOX 847/848 - How to make your guitar sound like a sitar? - santana sound?

[ulysses]

hey guys

i just made the 847 with 848 mods

how can i make my guitar sound like a sitar like on the original vox wah wah pedal radio commercial? looking for that early santana sound..

it is working correctly i think. it makes a nice wah sound when turning the pot.

cheers
ulysses

[jonathan perez]

haha! funny commercial.

well...i suppose stock values in a clyde will do the trick, along with a decent halo.

470 ohms at the emmiter of Q1, 1.5 mid resistor, .01 caps, 68k input, 33k Q, and 500mH 30ohms inductor.

[ulysses]

hey tbom

i thought the clyde was like this
470ohms at the emmiter of q1 and 68k Q

and the 847 was like this
510ohms at the emmiter of q1 and 33k Q

both the 847 and 848 have 2x .22uf and 2x .01 caps

is this right?

i have made a switch to switch between the 470ohms and 510ohms resistor and also to switch the 33K to 68k Q.

at both settings, i am unable to get that sitar santana sound.

i am using the ariel fx halo 500mh inductor.

cheers
ulysses

[ulysses]

i have scanned the net for some more schems

the clyde schem on fuzzcentral has the Q resistor changed from 33k to 100k..

the clyde schem on fuzzcentral also has the polar 4.7uf cap changed to a 4uf np cap..

the clyde schem on fuzzcentral also has the resistor hanging off the Q1 emmiter at 470r..

i found an official vox 846 wah schem which has the 33k Q, 470R off the emmiter and 4uf np cap instead of the the 4.7uf polar..

anyone have a real vox schem for the picture wah 848?

cheers
ulysses

[Stratomaster]

I don't know about a wah for that nasally Santana tone.  I normally just use a nasally sounding distortion.  The metal zone unmodified is amazing for that sort of thing.  Check out the clip and tell me if this is something like what you're going for.

http://web.mit.edu/omj/www/Recordings/smooth%20solo.mp3

If it is, maybe you're looking in the wrong place.  The only difference between the early Santana tone is less gain with the metal zone.  The sitar, however, is something I'm not even willing to attempt at.

[ulysses]

thanks for the reply stratomaster

check this link

http://hype.non-standard.net/track/247525

for the sound i am looking for - the bit about the sitar

not really santana - maybe a little extreme for santana - but his sound was definatly on the way there

cheers
ulysses

[jonathan perez]

ok, let me explain....

stock wahs had 33k.

modified wahs had everything above.

buy an old clyde, it WONT be anything about 33k.

period.

[Stratomaster]

That clip sounds more like it depends on note choice and the treble end of the wah sweep with some distortion.  Should be able to get with any wah--not just a Clyde.

[ulysses]

buy an old clyde, it WONT be anything about 33k.

hi tbom,

im not sure what you mean  did the clyde have a 33k Q or something else.

also the vox schems i found had 470R resistors hanging off the emiter of Q1. where did the 510R idea come from? did any vox wahs have a 510R?

i dont seem to be able to get that sitar sound from my wah.. its made to exact vox 846 schem with the exception of the 4uf np cap - i used a 4.7uf polar cap (as per many updated schems) - and i am also using an alpha pot 100k linear taper - on vero small enough to fit into in a 1590BB case.

what is the reason the redrawn schems use a 4.7uf polar cap instead of the original 4uf np cap?

cheers
ulysses

[Gila_Crisis]

where did the 510R idea come from? did any vox wahs have a 510R?

in mine v847 there was a 510R! then i changed it with a 450R

[RaceDriver205]

The Jawari sounds much more sitar-y than the sound in that ad. Maybe do a search.

[leonhendrix]

buy an old clyde, it WONT be anything about 33k.

hi tbom,

im not sure what you mean  did the clyde have a 33k Q or something else.

Yeah the clyde did use 33k, I've owned and looked at quite a few and noticed that clydes with the large hole halo usually had the 33k where as clydes with the small hole halo had the 100k.

[George Giblet]

> the 33k where as clydes with the small hole halo had the 100k.

Wha's use a resonant circuit.  The 'Q' of the resonance depends on *both* the Q resistor and the inductor losses.  If you use a higher loss inductor (a smaller inductor will often have higher loss) you can to a large extent compensate for the loss by increasing the Q resistor.  So despite the different circuit values the circuits can behave similarly when you factor in the inductor losses (which most people don't see/know about).

(I always thought Santana used the amp distortion.  Usually you put the Wha after the distortion.  On the Boogie amps you can put the what in the effects loop but in the early days you can't do this without amp mods.  So what was Santana's signal chain with a wha?  I'm pretty sure it he didn't use a distortion pedal.)