Vox V848 Clyde McCoy Wah Part Values and Mods

[cooter7544]

I know a lot of people have info on modding the V847, but I recently picked up a McCoy wah and had two questions.

Does any have (or can point me in the right direction) the values for the stock parts?

Also, all of the mods that are generally discussed on this forum (sweep, Q, gain/bass response, midrange, vocal, etc) don't give much info on the V848. In other words, the diagrams and descriptions fit the V847 board which is quite different. Does anyone know of the part locations (R4, C3, etc) that the mods refer to on the V848? Any luck on these mods?

Thanks

[Ringwraith]

Check this link out...
http://fuzzcentral.tripod.com/mccoy.html
I think it will give you what you need.
I'm planning on modding my 80's Cry Baby to McCoy specs someday. ;-)

Cheers
Sean

[Pedal love]

Looks like an excellent vintage circuit.

[tclixx]

Lot of good links on this site.

http://wahmod.tripod.com

[Pedal love]

COOL WEBSITE

[stomper]

I'm planning on modding my 80's Cry Baby to McCoy specs someday. ;-)
Cheers
Sean

You won't be sorry.  It is very vocal and smooth sounding.

[Ringwraith]

You won't be sorry. It is very vocal and smooth sounding.

Kewl!
Did you use the trop caps & halo repro??

Cheers
Sean

[phillip]

You don't need to use tropical fish capacitors to get the McCoy sound.  There's a lot of price gouging going on with the TF caps...people are trying to sell them for a lot more than they're worth.  You can use any good 0.22uF metallized polyester film capacitor with the exact same (or even better) performance.

The McCoy parts list at Fuzz Central (see the link near the bottom of the page) lists an excellent alternative to the TF that you can order from Mouser.  They're actually quite a bit better and cheaper($0.17 ea.) than TF.

I think that inductors are crucial to the sound of a wah pedal...different inductors will lend a different voice to the whole thing.  The new V848 "reissue" comes with a repro. Fasel, but the original McCoys came with Halos.  I would switch out the Fasel for one of Stuart Casteldine's hand-made Halo replicas if you really want to go for the McCoy sound.  I don't know if the Halo will fit on the reissue V848 circuit board though...the Halo has four leads, while the Fasel only has two.

Another interesting thing about the original McCoy is that some came with 100K resistors paralleling the inductor, while other McCoys came with the standard 33K resistor.  I personally prefer the 100K...or something close like 68K or 75K.

Phillip

[Pedal love]

You don't need to use tropical fish capacitors to get the McCoy sound.  

Phillip, I think you are right at the base of, but people really want to try these capacitors out. Can you imagine you're on your death bed. You think about wah pedals and say, you wish you had bought Mullard C280 capacitors but someone diverted me to some cheap xicons. Its a chance that people are willing take, like it or not.pl

[phillip]

Well the problem is that the tropical fish are worth less than the Xicons...not to mention that the Xicons are quite a bit better.  The people who buy the old parts to resell crank up the price about 10x above what they're actually worth to take advantage of people who haven't been warned that they're being ripped off  I was just telling people where they could find better capacitors for their money for a lot less than old "NOS" stuff.

I've tried both in my McCoy and the Xicons had the advantge.  The tropical fish are also quite fragile...those leads don't like to be bent.  They leads are so close to the edges of the capacitor that if you try to bend them without being extremely careful, the edges of the capacitor will snap right off and the leads will fall out.  Even if you try to drop the capacitor down into the holes of the circuit board without bending the leads, the edges will still break off if you're not very careful about how you handle them.  This has happened to me on two occasions with the McCoy.

Phillip

[Pedal love]

You know Phillip, everything you said is exactly right. Some people, really feel that these are right for them. My mother is a sane, healthy, 78 years old. Last week she decided to get an afro and dye her hair green. I know this is the real world and its completely insane, but what can I say to stop her? shes made her mind up. Everyday millions of people attack life on gut feeling. If somebody wants something, just go ahead. Saying no, will just infuriate that person.pl

[stomper]

Sean,  my pedal is a late 80's Crybaby and I used the following parts.  Fulltone inductor and pot,  1 tropical fish 0.22uf and I left in an original silver foil type 0.22uf.  I tried using 2 tropical fish caps, but it didn't sound as good.

I have it wired for true bypass with 1 meg. pulldowns on the input and output to keep it from popping.  All wiring to the switch and jacks is George l's.  There is a lot of wire in there, and it really seemed to help the clarity of the effect.  I also read R.G.s "technology of the wha" article and messed with a few other component values so that the volume was the same when using the effect and bypassed.  I got my schematic from Phillip's site.  Thanks, Phillip!

Think SRV's Voodoo Chile and you're there.    Mark

[zeppman]

So what's the better inductor, the fasel or the halo replica?

[stomper]

Zeppman,  The fulltone inductor replaced the one that came in my pedal.  I've never tried any others.

[Manolo Dudes]

I have replaced my crybaby's inductor with the ArielFX halo replica and it sounds VERY good to me.

Details here, in spanish, as usual  :roll:

[jabez]

I got a a area 51 inductor & this is the best to me. I've had a couple of the reissue halos & this inductor has the best high end tone. http://area51tubeaudiodesigns.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=001&Category_Code=cat003 -I talked to him for a good while about wah tone & he knows what is what.