wah inductors and pots

[hendriko]

so, i decided to make my own thread:P

anyway, what wah inductor and pot would you guys suggest for that hendrix (still raining still dreaming) and frusciante (sir psycho sexy or similar) sound?

i've seen a couple of them around

inductors
fulltone (can't seem to find that one for under 200 bucks?)
area 51
whipple (from ebay)

pots
fulltone one
the one from the area 51 store
the ICAR one from small bear


so any suggestions and opinions are welcome
cheers

[bigbud]

I use a stuart castledine replica halo inductor and I use his pro Icar pot as well as it mimicks the ageing of the original pots.

A friend of mine has an original 60's vox wah with all original components and my vox (which is a vox reissue not the dunlop reissue of the vox) sounds a 100% replica of his, if mine didn't look so new or his didn't look battered or old then you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I also use BC107 transistors instead of 108 or 109,109c.

the fulltone and another inductor I can't remember the name of sounded too trebly which I think was one of their selling points however it was wrong the original which I have heard my friend has one is not too trebly at all unless your amp settings are full treble and low mids.

hendrix sometimes had a trebly wah due to amp settings and volume settings also because later he used a silicon fuzz.

the fulltone does sound good but $200 staurt castledine sells them at £20.00 so about 30 35 dollars and the pro pot with it is a perfect blend.

[hendriko]

does he have a website? or soundclips anywhere?

sounds worth looking into...thanks for that

i'll see what my wah sounds like with a couple of resistor changes and TB

any opinions about the output buffer from fuzzcentral? is it transparent?

[jonathan perez]

hold on a second.

200 dollars? dont bother, thats what you call a "rip off." the whipple's are the SAME values. will it sound different than the fulltone? most likely better.

trebly, im sure, depending on the settings/amp.

the inductor youre using, bigbud, is not too trebly, is it? thats because its got a resistance of around 90, which tames the high end of the sweep, a bit.

the icar smallbear sells is good for the price, it cannot be beat.

if you can get a fulltone pot, please do. its the best, beside's teese's pots. (which you CANT buy.)

area51's inductor is different, so be prepared. it measures 600mH, 20ohms. which is pretty much the same as those found in stock dunlop crybabys. unless youre going for a big, fat wah tone with a tamed high end and a big vocal sweep, the area51 wont be for you. i love it, for what it is.

[rockgardenlove]

I by far prefer the Smallbear pot.  I have a Fulltone in my Wah now, don't like it much.  I was really happy with the Smallbear.

Rumour has it the Smallbear Black Bear is the same as the Teese pot?

I dunno.

[hendriko]

yea..the only place i could find the fulltone inductor was at some shop in Europe for 200 bucks

does anybody have some self-recorded soundclips of the whipple? i'd really like to hear what it can do some more.

so, christian, the icar from smallbear is the same as the teese? thats interesting...might be worth checking out
where can you get fulltone pots anyway? i can't seem to find them anywhere

and the area51 is like the stock crybabies? nah, that's not really what i'm aiming for - like i said, i'm more for like a more trebly-vintage-tone

[jonathan perez]

theyre not the same pots.

you can find them on ebay.

if you want the vintage tone, there is no need for finding soundclips. the whipple is what youre looking for. no, i dont work for him. i just know that his inductors measure at 500mH, 30ohms, which is what youre looking for.

damn, do i sound pushy or what? 

[hendriko]

umm...yea, a little bit:P

no worries though, if its really that good, i'm sure i'll thank you lots more later

yea...i don't really want to buy anything that says fulltone on it from ebay:P (not saying that they're all crooks on there - i've made some awesome deals on there) mainly because it seems so easy to just print "fulltone" on a pot and say its the real one

i think i might just go with the smallbear one and see what its like

thanks for the help/input/suggestions

anything else i should consider/do?

[forsaknazrael]

^Yeah, that's why I'm iffy about bying a "fulltone" pot offa eBay...I'll probly go with a Smallbear.

[jonathan perez]

ive been using them for years, theyre not fake.

[forsaknazrael]

The ones off eBay? Well, lucky you, but there's a lot of people still selling them, and unless they're an autorized dealer...still would seem iffy to me...

[hendriko]

^thats exactly what i've been thinking...nice to see you here john:P

what pot is stock in the vox v847? is it the hotpotz?

and just exactly how much difference will a new pot make? will it make the sweep smoother? make it stand out more?

so, you're saying the whipple is exactly how the old vintage wah inductors (the halo ones) were?

[jonathan perez]

and just exactly how much difference will a new pot make? will it make the sweep smoother? make it stand out more?

so, you're saying the whipple is exactly how the old vintage wah inductors (the halo ones) were?

the icar pots give a little more range to the sweep, usually more towards the top end of the sweep. smoother isnt the word, i dont think...i think maybe its..."sweeter." it wont stand out anymore than it would with any other pot. thats based on other board changes.

yes, the inductors are indentical to the original ("old") large hole halos. 500mH, 30ohms. the ones that castledine sells are based off of the small hole halos, 500mH, 80+- ohms.

[hendriko]

oh ok..thanks for letting me know

interesting...and that for 23 bucks...i mean that pretty much is a deal you can't say no to 
i'll try to maybe order one in the near future (right now i'm pretty much broke - spent all my money on parts for a Fuzz, buffer and a couple of wah mods)

cheers

[bigbud]

Well all I know is that My vox now sounds like the original italian vox that all greats used in 60's so don't really care about the ohms only the mh matters to me. It's all down to personal preference.

[hendriko]

^did you change anything else besides the inductor and pot?

[jonathan perez]

Well all I know is that My vox now sounds like the original italian vox that all greats used in 60's so don't really care about the ohms only the mh matters to me. It's all down to personal preference.

no doubt, but a 700mH 18ohm inductor wont sound vintage, by any means.

[hendriko]

^so, what exactly does the mH rating and the ohmage of an inductor change?

[funkycam]

Just changing the pot & the inductor is not an instant recipe for good wah tone.
I have an 80s crybaby that sounded really bad stock.
I put an ariel inductor & a fulltone pot in.
It sounds better but it's still far from good.
Specifically, before & after it was ( & still is)
bass shy, harsh & super peaky with a very disjointed sweep.
with the replacement pot & inductor it is worlds better but I am thinking the transistors must have some crazy values & I will need to do several resitor & capacitor tweaks before it's anywhere near useable
YMMV
Cam

[hendriko]

^i did kind of figured that

all i wanted to know is what inductor/pot to go for for that sweet vintage wah

i'm gonna get that 500 resistor kit from radioshack and just change the Q, volume and sweep cap/resistors until i find what i like

cheers