The ultimate wah mod

[Bricksnbeatles]

Hey there everybody, I'm going to tell you about a mod that I'm planning for a Zack Wylde wah I got from a friend for $40 because the rubber tread and the bottom plate were missing. It works fine but I feel like I want a more versatile wah. The mods I plan on doing are:
-Acrylic bottom plate with LED status indicator: I'm currently trying to figure out if I can source some color shifting LEDs that I could set to fade from green at the heel to red at toe down. If I can't do that I'm just going to use the regular LEDs that shift at a fixed rate thru the roygbiv spectrum. Hard to describe with words.
-multi inductor selector:  I know most of you don't think the inductor makes a difference, but I've tried wags with multi-inductor mods and I hear the difference, plus I'm doing these kids to pretty much make the wah to end all wah mods. I'm going to use a 5 position rotary switch to select between red, yellow, evh, whipple, and hand-wound. Since it won't fit them all, I think I could "expand" the wah enclosure by attaching a 1590b to it somewhere.
-Range selector switch 12 position switch ala 535q
-switch to reverse the jacks to get the gilmour seagul sound
-q control knob
-upgraded caps and resistors to vintage spec
-custom painted enclosure

More details coming soon, when I have it all ready and planned out.

[mcknib]

Dead Astronaut does the wha light plates that may interest you for pimping up yer wha!

http://deadastronaut.wix.com/index#!__wahmods

[deadastronaut]

hi, yep,  i do the light plate kits for wahs,

i have just got a new version manufactured without the battery cut out...

the light spreads much better...(i figure with 4 leds nobody will use a battery anyway )

[Gus]

people have done most if not all of what you posted.

With inductors you need to OPTIMIZE the rest of the circuit for each one to make a fair comparison.

Ask yourself do you want a wha with controls that can break  or possibly get moved on a dark stage
or one that is more simple that has the sound you use most of the time.

Then there is the all important potentiometer.

[Transmogrifox]

...or have 3 wahs that can be controlled with an expression pedal, making for a total of 4 wahs.  It seems there is nothing wrong with having several wahs on stage if you're the kind of person who likes different wah sounds for different licks, including the ability to do the "contour wah" thing -- 1 wah fed into a stuck wah.

Anyway it seems you pretty much have your mind up about "waht" you want to do so above all else have fun tweaking!

[Bricksnbeatles]

As far as having the controls that can break and stuff, this is more just for recording purposes where the little differences between the wahs can really come out. Also tho I'm pretty gentle with my pedals at gigs.

[strassercaster]

i built an ultimate wah. 5 inductors. Joe gagan tone tank, Joe gagon Italia , 1972 tdk , 1968  stack of dimes and a whipple. i have about  three componenets  on on on switches for the sweep  cap .01 .0068 and .0168 the 33k on a 50k pot woth an inline 22k resistor , plus a tpdt for my 1st transistor . capAfter all my time and trials for me i felt that the transistor gain played a much bigger part in the tone of the way than the inductors. all these inductors are good and when i go through my rotary switch it is different on every inductor sure but its a really major when you change the transistor gain. i like from 250-800 hfe. the 250 is 60's the 350-450 is 70's and the 800hfe is modern I have the 1st  transistor on a switch for a low and a high gain hfe transisotr. then i have the 33k on a 100k pot . , i pit the 470r on a 1k linear pot, i put in tropical fish caps for the .22 , i put a 2k pot on the 1.5 k resistor its two affects the sweep and mids. i did all kinds of stuff. my wah weighs almost 10 pounds ha ha.spent 200 just on inductors and since they are on a rotary switch i only use one aa time . i think i would enjoy the different tones more with two or three pretty much fixed setting wahs of different gain. .everytime you change an inductor you want to tweak a couple of compnent values to best accentuate that inductor. thats why i ended up with 7 controls on my wah its dense with wire and all kinds of drilled holes. the more you jam stuff in there the easier it fails and it makes for a pain in the axx ha ha . i am considering taking some of my $200 in inductors and and putting them on a two way in one of my late 90's  wahs.

looking back i wish i hadnt built a super wah. i should have built two super wahs  . i would have made a low and high gain wah for the fact that if i ever decided to sell it at least get my money back. i have over 300 in my wah plus at least 20-60 hours researching buying parts. It has been Very Fun and I learned so much. I still keep doing and adding stuff ha ha. i put a color changing led under the treadle then got one of my wife make up mirrors and glued it underneath its got some bling. I used plexiglass for the bottom and had a color changing led pointing down as well. i found that the plexiglass  really affected the shielding and the pedal was  noisier.


I loved every minute of the build and still want to add more stuff but now that i found a few settings i prefer.  im thinking of spilitting up some of the inductors being that they are all better  sounding than stock dunlap inductor imho. in a live setting you dont have time to dial and tweak you just plug it in and play make a tweak or two here and there . definitely have the que knob and just one or two inductors tuned in with the resistors and the 1st transistor on a switch . Have fun with it  . i used velcro to mount all my inductors and each inductor has different color lead  wire. it helps keep them straight. Have fun with it

[duck_arse]

strasser - with all those inductors, you could add a switch and go all bow-wow-yoy-yoy.

[digi2t]

strasser - with all those inductors, you could add a switch and go all bow-wow-yoy-yoy.

Crap.... get outta my head! 

[strassercaster]

Hey there everybody, I'm going to tell you about a mod that I'm planning for a Zack Wylde wah I got from a friend for $40 because the rubber tread and the bottom plate were missing. It works fine but I feel like I want a more versatile wah. The mods I plan on doing are:
-Acrylic bottom plate with LED status indicator: I'm currently trying to figure out if I can source some color shifting LEDs that I could set to fade from green at the heel to red at toe down. If I can't do that I'm just going to use the regular LEDs that shift at a fixed rate thru the roygbiv spectrum. Hard to describe with words.
-multi inductor selector:  I know most of you don't think the inductor makes a difference, but I've tried wags with multi-inductor mods and I hear the difference, plus I'm doing these kids to pretty much make the wah to end all wah mods. I'm going to use a 5 position rotary switch to select between red, yellow, evh, whipple, and hand-wound. Since it won't fit them all, I think I could "expand" the wah enclosure by attaching a 1590b to it somewhere.
-Range selector switch 12 position switch ala 535q
-switch to reverse the jacks to get the gilmour seagul sound
-q control knob

You can easily fit the 5 inductors in I did and still have room. You stack them in the front corners with velcro. Some color changing leds make a lot of noise so buy a few different kinds just in case.
-upgraded caps and resistors to vintage spec
-custom painted enclosure

More details coming soon, when I have it all ready and planned out.