Mold Spore

soggybag · March 28, 2005, 06:26:44 PM

I have a Mold Spore Wah. If you have not seen one it is a Wah with a Ring Modulator built in. You can activate the Wah and Ring Mod simultaneously, or either can be used separately. The foot pedal can control the Carrier frequency for the Ring Mod or it can be fixed. Overall it's a pretty crazy noise maker.

I see a few improvements that I would like to add to it. I have opened up the box and have made some drawings of the inside parts layout and circuit board. I have never posted one of these to forum before, though I have seen a few brouhahas develop over these things. I thought I would ask about the edicate for this type of posting before posting the drawings that I have made.

NoFi · December 16, 2005, 07:10:13 PM

What improvements were you thinking about ? I'm interested by your schematics.
I just got a broken one for cheap, the 1044 charge pump inside was fried -problem solved-

..
So know it works but the ring mod still seems to be bleeding through when in bypass although It has two 3PDT switches...
Has anyone tried to ground the input of the effect and does it solve the problem ?

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29500.0

I'd also like to tinker with the wah section, i've got the impression it's quite hissy and i coud use a bit more sweep on the high end zone...
So much things to do.

Anyway, Thanks.

soggybag · December 16, 2005, 08:40:40 PM

I had put this project aside for lack of interest. But I could always break it out again.

NoFi · December 26, 2005, 06:15:17 PM

Hi soggybag it's me again. I've solved the background noise when in bypass issue.
So first i tried to ground the inputs, well all it did was cause loud poping when turning on the wah because of the Leds.
Then i noticed (like maybe you and others noticed before me), there's a part of the circuit that is permanently connected to the input (input to cap C16).
So all i had to do was lift that connection and reroute it via the ring mod switch : cut the trace from the input to C16 and solder a small jumper wire from the effect input. Simple fix.
I'd really like to know if it's an error in the design, a lapse of memory, or if there is a logical explanation as to why C16 was permanently connected to the input.. I can't believe i did it !

Anyway the ring mod seems to work just like before.

I'm still interested by your work ! Do you know where is the "Q" resistor ? That would save me some time lol.
Thanks.
Greg

troubledtom · December 26, 2005, 07:12:13 PM

i loved that device, but all i ever heard was, ' if you just look at the pedal it whould break ' ,sad to say

- tom

NoFi · December 26, 2005, 07:40:43 PM

It's cheaply built that's for sure.
In mine the PCB mounted DC jack is starting to fall apart (the plastic is broken), and one of the switches (the small ones on the sides not the 3PDTs) is failing.

I might just take away those useless switches and put more pots instead.

The enclosure looks hard to destroy though.

soggybag · December 26, 2005, 08:09:07 PM

The quality of work is not very good. The idea is great. This has to be one of the craziest noise makers there is.

I had taken a few picturesof the interior and marked most of the parts. I hadn't started tracing the PCB yet. There didn't seem to be any interest so I dropped the project. I could post the pictures if there is interest?

NoFi · December 26, 2005, 08:40:57 PM

Like you asked previously i don't know if this would comply with the rules of the forum, but if it doesn't maybe you could email the files to the interested people (that's to say at least myself lol). It will make it easier to compare the wah circuit with other circuits and try to figure things out. I just found a suitable 33k candidate for the Q, not too far from the inductor, should be it.
But posting the files could allow people that now their stuff to chime in and i'm sure we could learn a lot.

soggybag · January 07, 2006, 01:14:54 PM

After seeing this topic popup again I got out my Mold Spore Wah, and the damn thing doesn't work again! Last time tis happened it was a loose solder joint.

The quality of the parts and assembly is very bad on these. It would be cool to make up a replacement PCB that used better quality jacks and more on board wiring.

I will try and find the pictures I took of the interior of mine and post them. I marked most of the parts and values on one image.

soggybag · January 07, 2006, 01:54:44 PM

here are the pictures that I made of my Mold Spore wah.

no one ever · January 07, 2006, 03:47:44 PM

i see it uses the same cheapo jacks that behringer uses

interesting concept... thanks soggybag

NoFi · January 07, 2006, 03:55:42 PM

Wow thanks a lot soggybag, that must have been a lot of work !

So first, i seem to have the same PCB version marked 7/99. Interesting thing is i noticed a few differences, i think the previous owner tried a few mods, or was it done at the factory ? Anyway i added them on the picture below.
- The blue solder joint is unsoldered on mine so the traces are not connected (maybe that's what makes the wah part of the pedal true bypass ?).
- The red thing on the pic is meant to be a small 102 green cap (just like that on the traces side of the PCB).
I dont know what those "mods" do, i'll try to resolder and take away the cap to see if i notice any differences.

The purple trace cut and yellow jumper are part of the mod i explained above to solve the noise problem when the pedal is bypassed (makes the ring mod part of the circuit true bypass ?).

NoFi · January 07, 2006, 04:06:13 PM

Also like Tim Escobedo said in another thread, the ring mod part looks like the one designed by Craig Anderton. And very strangely (or not), the whole wah footpedal concept (minus the gate) can be found here : http://www.lynx.bc.ca/~jc/pedalsBalancedMod.html .
The page is called "Mods to Craig Anderton's First Balanced "Ring" Modulator"; so now it's easy to know what caps can change the sound of the ring mod.

Here is a direct link to the schemo with the right side up :
http://thebin.free.fr/schematics/VariationRingMod.gif

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Mold Spore