Wah converted to volume?

enquiryband · March 16, 2009, 12:33:23 AM

Hi. New here. The resources are great and so helpful! I'm currently in the process of possessing three wah pedals and was wondering if anyone knew how I could convert one of them into a passive volume pedal. The pedals are two old thompsan crybabys and one newer dunlop hendrix wah. Any suggestions?? Thanks beforehand!

yeeshkul · March 16, 2009, 02:29:41 AM

Passive volume pedal is basically just a pot. You can do either that or try to lift the 4u7 cap from the ground.

German · March 16, 2009, 03:20:06 AM

There is Maestro Wah schematic. Just like CryBaby, with one switch added. Just like yeeshkul told

enquiryband · March 16, 2009, 03:26:23 AM

Quote from: German on March 16, 2009, 03:20:06 AM
There is Maestro Wah schematic. Just like CryBaby, with one switch added. Just like yeeshkul told

where can I find this? Anyone else got any suggestions with what I can do with these pedals since I really don't need three wahs?

German · March 16, 2009, 04:35:26 AM

I just have read first post and..
Take one of your wahs.. then put everything out(excepting jack's, switch, potenciometer).
Maybe you will need to change potenciometer. There are 25-100k usually. You will need 250K - 1M pot.
Wire it like simple volume control. That will be a passive volume control pedal.

syndromet · March 16, 2009, 04:43:48 AM

Make a feedback-loop like the TSA, and have the pot controll the feedback.

And whatever you do, don't destry the old wahs!

yeeshkul · March 16, 2009, 06:17:59 AM

Find a Wah schematics (CB, VOX, Clyde , Jen...), you will see a 4u7(or 4uF) cap(by the coil). Insert a switch so that the switch will disconnect the cap-leg that goes to the ground. That's it.

ACS · March 16, 2009, 07:52:15 AM

Sure you want a passive volume pedal? There's a VERY simple mod you can do (lift one resistor from memory) that in one step converts a wah in to a volume pedal. Still active of course, but with the added benefits that a) you can make it switchable, and b) you haven't destroyed a perfectly good wah!

From memory this is covered in detail over at Geofex...

yeeshkul · March 16, 2009, 08:35:28 AM

resistor? which one?

fuzzo · March 16, 2009, 11:30:17 AM

Quote from: yeeshkul on March 16, 2009, 06:17:59 AM
Find a Wah schematics (CB, VOX, Clyde , Jen...), you will see a 4u7(or 4uF) cap(by the coil). Insert a switch so that the switch will disconnect the cap-leg that goes to the ground. That's it.

I always read that..

I'm sure you can find a trick to switch between vol/wha with the regular footswitch (but won't be a "tru bypass" anymore)

yeeshkul · March 16, 2009, 01:32:37 PM

The only thing that put me off from making wah/volume hybrid is the fact that wah usually goes the first in the pedal chain and volume pedal goes the last. Separate volume pedal makes more sense unless you are "all in one" freaks

German · March 16, 2009, 02:59:40 PM

No.. volume pedal "must" placed before overdrive/distortion pedals - just like wah.
You could do a "violin" sound with it - slow attack effect.

Why I put must in "" - that's becose it's a classic way of using.
Some people use wah's after overdrive/distortion pedals - but that is a totally different sound.

Ssmit · March 16, 2009, 05:05:01 PM

Quote from: German on March 16, 2009, 02:59:40 PM
Some people use wah's after overdrive/distortion pedals - but that is a totally different sound.

I like to do this on bass (with a fuzz pedal). It gives a more "synthy" or "screamy" sound.

ashcat_lt · March 16, 2009, 05:06:11 PM

If you intend to use the passive volume in place of the one on your guitar - including the high frequency rolloff we expect to hear when turning that knob down - you'd want it first, before any buffering so it can interact with the cable capacitance.

I've actually done this, and found that the pedal doesn't turn the pot through its full rotation. This, I think, is on purpose, to avoid damage from accidentally trying to turn it too far. Unfortunately it means that you can't have it go from all the way off to all the way on. You can usually turn the pot case itself to a point where it will either go all the way up OR all the way down, but you can't get both. I tried to fix this by applying conductive silver paint to shorten the resistive strip, but did not have good results.

ACS · March 17, 2009, 07:34:08 PM

Quote from: yeeshkul on March 16, 2009, 08:35:28 AM
resistor? which one?

Um, yeah. Resistor, capacitor... what's the difference really!?!??!

Yes, lift one CAPACITOR is what I meant to say...

noelgrassy · March 18, 2009, 10:18:12 AM

In my Maestro there's only a SPDT stomp switch that accomplishes the conversion to a volume pedal.
I'll attach the Boomerang Wah schem.

The pedal & switch-

The Boomer2 schematic shows a switch that doesn't exist...while the schemadix from inside the pedal is correct. An electrolytic cap is lifted to produce volume FX.

News:

Wah converted to volume?