Question-Simple,inductorless wah?

oldrocker · September 09, 2006, 12:30:38 PM

I was wondering if there is any schems for a wah w/o an inductor that's simple but effective. I saw one somewhere but I can't remember where. Even if it uses an LED/LDR is okay.

John Lyons · September 09, 2006, 02:01:28 PM

Try the colorsound inductorless wah.
I have found that it's a good wah tone for sound with a little dirt in it or along with an overdrive. The Colorsound and most twin T circuits seem to distort a little always (so I've been told). For a toally clean wah sound I didn't like the colorsound, but i'm picky...

There is another inductorless twin T wah at GEO effects but I haven't made up that one yet.
Try looking for a schem and PCB layout at diyguitarist.com , if you can't find it there or here I can send one to you.

John

oldrocker · September 10, 2006, 11:22:57 AM

Okay I'm still looking into the Colorsound (can't find the schem only the layout). I did find the Idiot Wah and the Twin T style Wah which look interesting. I'm considering building both an inductorless and one with an inductor too. I was comparing the Dunlop Cry Baby and the V847 Vox. Has anyone built these? Which one would you suggest.

Aharon · September 10, 2006, 11:45:20 AM

I built Craig Anderton's,10 parts I think and worked fine,sounded good.
The schem is somewhere on this site.
Aharon

Mark Hammer · September 10, 2006, 03:22:41 PM

All that envelope-follower stuff in the Dr. Q is for driving a transistor so that it *acts* like a resistor to ground. Just build the filter section, skip the envelope follower and replace the transistor with a foot-controlled pot, and you have a wah.

MartyMart · September 10, 2006, 05:43:33 PM

I built the Colorsound inductorless wah a few weeks ago and have an empty Vox wah shell.
It sounds great, though only checked with a "regular" 100k pot.
Just got a Dunlop pot from smallbear, so will be fixing it up in the shell asap.
Sounds very good, I'll also add a 50k pot for "Q" tuning, replacing the 33k.
Schem is here, I just searched for "Colorsound wah"

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=25279.0

MM

$uperpuma · September 10, 2006, 06:03:21 PM

http://www.diyguitarist.com/PDF_Files/ColorsoundWahPCB.pdf Paul Morossy made a nice PDF for it... I just etched one for thebattleofmidway (and one for myself) I'll probably get it together sonetime this week

John Lyons · September 10, 2006, 06:50:17 PM

Marty etc.

How does yours sound with a clean amp. My Colorsound Wah build always gets a bit gritty. It's not noticeable with a little grit on the amp but not as full and sparkly clean with say a fender twin reverb type sound.
John

oldrocker · September 10, 2006, 08:41:11 PM

Well I did put together a V847 Vox Wah. It doesn't work which I believe might have something to do with using the Radio Shack audio transformer. I wired in the primary side cutting off the black center tap wire and also cut off the red and white secondary wires. Using only the blue and green wires but I can't tell if it's got the right a mH value. (It could be a defective Xformer). Resistance is around 63 ohms although I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it.
Mark H. that's sounds like a great idea if I can hopefully incorperate your description. I built the Dr. Quack and love that pedal. If I can get a manual control version of that I would be happy.

oldrocker · September 10, 2006, 11:34:46 PM

Thanks Basicaudio and Martymart, I just bread boarded a Color sound. It works pretty good. I haven't really fully tested it yet since the pedal part isn't hooked to it, but so far so good. I haven't tried the Q pot mod yet but I think I'll add it when I box it up. Now I'll try and get my inductor wah working and see if I can get manual control of the Dr.Q too.

oldrocker · September 11, 2006, 07:24:16 PM

I've got the V487 Vox Wah working. Had a short btwn to solder joints. It sounds good with the 100K pot I'm using now. I have a question. Is there a good way to use an LED/LDR instead of a pot on the Vox Wah like I did with the Colorsound I just built? The Vox uses three lugs on the pot so I'm wondering how I can use the two leads of a LDR to operate the wah.

oldrocker · September 12, 2006, 03:42:05 PM

I used the same wierd cloths pin control on the Colorsound as I did with the Crash Sync. I havent' added the light shield over the LED/LDR yet which will cover the glue mess. I'll post pics and show you how I did that also.

John Lyons · September 12, 2006, 10:48:44 PM

Ha! That looks like Punky Brewsters ( 80's teen TV star) Wah pedal! No offense! Cool idea for sure.

John

Paul Marossy · September 13, 2006, 02:31:51 PM

I think I need to resurect my Colorsound Inductorless Wah...

oldrocker · September 13, 2006, 05:26:28 PM

I changed my Colorsound and put it in my wifes antique sewing machine pedal. This is more stable than the cloths pin and looks really cool. And yes, my wife said I could use it. (Aint she sweet.) You can see the LED glowing through the holes in sides of the pedal. My friend thought something was heating up in there.

Paul Marossy · September 13, 2006, 05:52:41 PM

Now that's the first practical sewing machine pedal stompbox that I have seen. The size, construction and operating mechanisms vary all over the map. The one I had could really only be used as an A/B switch.

oldrocker · September 13, 2006, 09:19:49 PM

Actually the idea to use one came from your website Paul. You're the one I owe to getting me started in stompbox building. I stumbled accross your website when I was searching for an onboard booster and since then I've built over 30 pedals. You host DIYGuitarist.com, right? It was that site that started it all for me. Thanks for getting me going on a wonderful journey into the world of DIY effects.

Paul Marossy · September 13, 2006, 09:30:19 PM

Quote from: oldrocker on September 13, 2006, 09:19:49 PM
Actually the idea to use one came from your website Paul. You're the one I owe to getting me started in stompbox building. I stumbled accross your website when I was searching for an onboard booster and since then I've built over 30 pedals. You host DIYGuitarist.com, right? It was that site that started it all for me. Thanks for getting me going on a wonderful journey into the world of DIY effects.

Yep, that's me. Gee, I don't know if I should say "thank you" or "sorry"!

Seriously, I'm always happy to hear that my website has helped people in one way or another.

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Question-Simple,inductorless wah?