Wah Wah Building

[rasco22862]

Hi, i´m gonna start a wah wah project, but i just don´t know wich. I don´t know about wah wahs. I looked the genreal guitar gadgets and tonepad wah wahs, what are the diferences?  And what the mods do specifically?

I listened about a Crybaby wah wah, Is this the best?
is possible to make a pedal to regulate the pot??
Thansk, i just want someone to guide me

[jonathan perez]

GGG's wah is the wah i build...VERY versatile, if you know what youre doing.

check out my page, myspace.com/sunshinewahs for some ideas on what to build.

if you need any more mod questions, this is the place for you!

[rasco22862]

GGG's wah is the wah i build...VERY versatile, if you know what youre doing.

check out my page, myspace.com/sunshinewahs for some ideas on what to build.

if you need any more mod questions, this is the place for you!

but there is no information about the building of the wah wah
Did you do any mod to the ggg wah wah?

[Paul Marossy]

As usual, I also have to suggest the Maestro Boomerang - the best sounding wah ever, IMO. You can see my Boomerang projects at my website. 

[jonathan perez]

As usual, I also have to suggest the Maestro Boomerang - the best sounding wah ever, IMO. You can see my Boomerang projects at my website. 

+1.

but there is no information about the building of the wah wah
Did you do any mod to the ggg wah wah?

uh...i suppose you need a wah shell, first.

then buy/build the ggg board, with the required resistors/transistors/capacitors.

[rasco22862]

what is a wah shell? how much?

[jonathan perez]

have you ever seen a wah wah? do you know what it sounds like?

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/wahpedl/wahped.htm

[lacto]

How do you know you want to build something , when you don't even know what it is or what it does? This is ridiculous. 

[tcobretti]

You may want to go to a music store and play some wah pedals to see if you really want to build one.  If you haven't built a few pedals, you may want to start with a fuzz or two. 

I also love the boomerang.  If you don't build it, you should build a Vox, or at least stay away from typical Crybaby specs.  The Crybaby is the bottom of the barrel as far as wahs go.  The PCB I recommend is from Tonepad.com, it has trimpots to adjust Q and output volume.  They list specific part values for the pedal, but you can easily substitute  Boomerang values.  I'd also recommend using a lower gain transistor than the MPSA18 they recommend; a 2N5088 would be more appropriate.

A wah shell is the rocking foot pedal part, and it will easily be the most expensive part of the project if you don't have one.  You may want to hit ebay for a used crybaby to gut.  Small Bear sells the enclosures as well as most or all of the parts you'll need to put it together.

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=548

I will tell you that a Boomerang sounds great and if you build it on the tonepad PCB it will have input and output buffers (which is nice), but a stock Vox V847 sounds really good.  If building a wah is more than you want to get into, just buy a Vox.  I bought mine and the only mod was to swap in lower hfe transistors.  Otherwise it sounds great.

[rasco22862]

i know what is a wah wah and ow it sounds like, i´m from argentina, and i didnt know what is the wah wah shell.
Thanks for your answers.

The question now is what is the diference between the tone pad and the ggg wahwah?

[tcobretti]

Well, the GGG wah gives you maximum flexibility if you buy the Mod-able version.  So, with this one you will be able to tune your wah in every conceivable way to make it sound good with your rig.

Meanwhile, the Tonepad wah had fewer tuning options (but still more than most factory made wahs and probably as much as you need), but has an input and ouput buffer.  The input buffer allows you to use non-true bypass switching which is useful if you want to stick it in an old Crybaby/Vox shell.  The output buffer allows you to run the wah into distortion or fuzz without losing the wah effect.

Before you get too far into this, you might want to email both sites to be sure they'll ship to Argentina.

[rasco22862]

Well, the GGG wah gives you maximum flexibility if you buy the Mod-able version.  So, with this one you will be able to tune your wah in every conceivable way to make it sound good with your rig.

Meanwhile, the Tonepad wah had fewer tuning options (but still more than most factory made wahs and probably as much as you need), but has an input and ouput buffer.  The input buffer allows you to use non-true bypass switching which is useful if you want to stick it in an old Crybaby/Vox shell.  The output buffer allows you to run the wah into distortion or fuzz without losing the wah effect.

Before you get too far into this, you might want to email both sites to be sure they'll ship to Argentina.

Thanks for your reply, i think i´m not going to import shell, i just gonna make my way to regulate the wah pot with the foot on a regulate enclosure, or sometghing like that.

So... Wich one do you recommend? tonepad or ggg?

[smallbearelec]

So... Wich one do you recommend? tonepad or ggg?

There are so many possible ways to vary either one of these builds in terms of choice of components that no one can tell you for sure which one is more likely to "grease your crank," as we say here. You will probably have to buy or build a shell. Then I would buy a solderless breadboard

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Categories.bok?category=Tools+-+Prototyping

and set one or both circuits up on that. Listening is the ultimate way to find out what you want to build for real.

I ship a lot to Argentina, so let me know if you need help.

Regards
Steve Daniels
smallbearelec.com

[tcobretti]

If you plan to use it as a wah pedal you will need a wah shell.  You can't turn the knob with your foot to make it "wah". 

If you are going use it with a lot of distortion or fuzz, I'd definitely build the Tonepad.  If not, then it doesn't really matter.  The GGG will be slightly more complicated, but offers more options.

Once again, if you have not built a few pedals, I'd probably just buy a Vox.  It will be cheaper, much easier, and they sound very good.

[rasco22862]

Ok, im going to the ggg one.

1)Should i go to the regular or mod-able wah wah???
2)How much is the wah shell?
3)If i´m not buying the wah shell, can i still use the pot to regulate the "wah", i mean with your hand ?
4)What are the inductors value?

[tcobretti]

1)  I would do the mod-able one IF you are comfortable reading the schematic and wiring it up.

2) Most if not all of the parts you need are available here:
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Categories.bok?category=Wah-Wah+and+Swell+Pedal+Parts
Pretty much all of us do business with Steve from small bear, and he just posted above that he'll ship to you.

3) Yes.

4) Somewhere between 400mH to 600mH.  Steve sells them at the page listed above.

[jonathan perez]

i get good days, and i get bad days...i think i responded on a bad day, in that i wasnt very patient, and i do apologize! 

tcobrettis takin care of ya, ill stand and watch 

[lacto]

tcobretti is being more than patient, but I literally do not think it IS possible to lead someone by the hand through this kind of project. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a beginner or not knowing about things, but you have to be willing to do some research so that you can even know what questions to ask?  There are so many variables based on taste that no one can tell you EXACTLY what to do or buy or even close to it.  Seriously, before you start laying down any money buying things that you might not want or won't work for you, get some basic knowledge about wah pedals.  If you don't want to use Google, probably the best source on the web for it is right here on this forum.  Use the search function, it is your friend.   There is tons of info about wah pedals on the DYI forum, if you would be willing to spend a few hours reading through it.  It will save you some money unwisely spent, and give you some direction as to how to procede with this kind of project.  Then come back and ask some specific questions based on what you learned.  I personally think you should buy a used wah pedal off of Ebay and mod it.  That way you would have a wah pedal, hear how it sounds, then you could determine what changes you would like to make and ask how to make it less bright or whatever you want to change about it. All IMHO.

[darron]

i agree with tcobretti, the cry baby is poo! i have a vox that i love.

[alderbody]

check out my page, myspace.com/sunshinewahs for some ideas on what to build.

hey TBOM, i visited your page and saw some images.

What are those "sausage-like" resistors on your builds?


[sorry rasco22862 for the thread hacking...]