New guy with Noisy Wah

[vrn]

Hi Guys,

I am new to this great place and thought someone here may have ideas on how I get on with my project.

I have built quite some pedals in the past and have had no severe problems. However, I have recently started a new project involving a Rack-Wah and I simply can't get the noise levels down . The Wah is based on Morleys Bad Horsie (but with the option to switch to a classic Cry Baby type circuit). No matter what I do I get more hiss and significantly more hum than I get with the original pedals. I have tried all types of shielding, grounding and groundlifting and I have tried various regulated power supplies but nothing solves the problem completely. When I turn the wah on, the background noise sounds a little like if you would unplug your cable from the guitar while being on a distortion channel if you understand what i mean, i.e. as if some shielding/grounding of the live signal is missing or as if some gain stage is working as antenna. The sound is otherwise perfect and I am generally very happy with the contruction!

I am now beginning to think that maybe the self-made inductor could be (part of) the problem as it is also rather microphonic. Accordingly I have just ordered the red Fasel from Aron, does this sound like a reasonable approach to the noise problem ? Until the Fasel arrives I would like to check out all other feasible options. Thus, does anyone here have experience with reducing noise in a Wah?

Best regards,

VRN