Colorsound Wow-Fuzz Help

[rocket8810]

So I finally got all the parts for this and built a colorsound wow-fuzz after playing with a vintage one, and it works. But, I have one problem. When the wah is on the volume drops to about 25% or so of the clean signal. The fuzz is massive and monstrous and is sounds perfect. I used a halo inductor from small bear, which is 600mH instead of 800mH like the original. I changed the 10nF cap to a larger 22nF cap as suggested, and played around with different caps and no difference in volume, just the sweep of the wah. From what I can guess is the output resistor is too high and needs to be changed, but I'm not 100% sure what to change it to nor which one it is. BTW, here is the link to the wiring http://www.turretboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/wowfuzzreissueperf.pdf, and the schematic http://audiohi-fi.narod.ru/cxems/Cwfuzz.gif.

Someone suggested that I should add a booster after the wah with an internal trimmer to control the volume. I'm not sure how I should add the booster? All of the schemes for boosters I've seen have external pots, not trimmers, and/or a pot for gain. Plus it needs to be really small, as I don't have much more room in the enclosure.

I'm going nuts, on this one. I'm not to sure why its like this, cause everything is exactly as it says from turretboard and has been done point to point. I know it has to be something with the way, cause the fuzz is perfect.

I really need some help.

[PRR]

Change the 100 ohm resistor to 200 or 300 ohms.

[rocket8810]

Change the 100 ohm resistor to 200 or 300 ohms.

PRR, there aren't any 100ohm's on the wah circuit, which is on the top, but there is one on the bottom on the fuzz circuit. How will changing the resistors on the fuzz board affect the wah?

[joegagan]

What happens if you just remove the 100k to ground at wah output? That would be pretty easy to try.


Changing the input r to the wah with 68k or even 47k ( louder still ) will bring that part more into crybaby or other wah values. This might alter the tone of the wah, you may hear more bass or even distortion. In some cases, further tweaking of the sweep cap might be needed. The 100k to ground at end of wah circ might be replaced with a 250 k trimmer to find a balance in volume.
If it wre my wah , i would put a 100k trimmer at input r and the 250k at output and fine tune.

[rocket8810]

What happens if you just remove the 100k to ground at wah output? That would be pretty easy to try.


Changing the input r to the wah with 68k or even 47k ( louder still ) will bring that part more into crybaby or other wah values. This might alter the tone of the wah, you may hear more bass or even distortion. In some cases, further tweaking of the sweep cap might be needed. The 100k to ground at end of wah circ might be replaced with a 250 k trimmer to find a balance in volume.
If it wre my wah , i would put a 100k trimmer at input r and the 250k at output and fine tune.

I will give that a try, here is my question then, which is kinda noobish, which is the output resistor and which is the input resistor on the diagram? Is the output resistor the one 100k all the way on the right, which connects to ground on one leg and goes to the switch on the other? Is the input resistor the one 100k on the left, right below the 10nF poly cap, and connects to the cap on one leg, and the transistor on the other? How can i add the trimmers in place of the resistors since the trimmer has 3 legs and the resistor has 2?

[deadastronaut]

you can just use 2 lugs of the trimmers...3 or 1  and lug 2 (middle lug) out..(same as a pot.)

100k on input / to the right of the 10nf  (left schematic)

[rocket8810]

you can just use 2 lugs of the trimmers...3 or 1  and lug 2 (middle lug) out..(same as a pot.)

100k on input / to the right of the 10nf  (left schematic)

Thanks, I figured that was the input when I looked at the board that was the input. What about the output resistor?

[joegagan]

yes, i looked at that and figured the 100k series output resistor was there to get the level right going into the fuzz. you could experiment with that as well.

[PRR]

> How will changing the resistors on the fuzz board affect the wah?

You want more gain.

That 100 ohms passes the whole signal(?) and is suspiciously low. Couple-hundred ohms is commonly seen.

If you try it and it does not help, sorry for the distraction.

[joegagan]

the 100 ohm resistor is only in play when the fuzz is activated. the wiring diagram linked shows each effect can be engaged independently. the original Q was in regards to the wah only signal as i understood it, which removes the 100ohm from the equation.

[rocket8810]

So I put in the trimmers and it made a huge difference in volume for the wah, so thanks for everything. But now I've noticed that its not actually making a wah sound, its acting more like a volume pedal. That's both with and without the fuzz engaged. I spoke to Steve at smallbear, because I got an Electra Halo inductor from him and I thought it was bad. It tests as being fine as far as resistance goes, but he's not sure what the problem is. So far I have checked the 10nF cap at the top, which was changed to 22nF due to using a 600mH inductor rather than an 800mH like the original, and it's not bad. I checked the whold circuit for conductivity, all the caps, all the resistors and everything is measuring correctly and allowing current to flow. What could it be? This pedal is driving me nuts, and its the second pedal that isnt working properly and I cant figure out what's wrong.

[joegagan]

This usually indicates a disconnect of either the inductor or the 4.7u cap from inductor to ground. Reflow the solders at those points and see if it wahs again.