Weirdness from a Walco Sound-Go-Round.

[skiraly017]

After searching for a long time I finally got a Walco Sound-Go-Round. It arrived in the original packaging and I don't have any reason to suspect it's been messed with. When I turn it on I get a loud thumping that beats in time with the speed control. The switch and trimmer seemed dodgy so I gave them a quick shot of contact cleaner but that didn't change anything. I think the trimmer might be no good since I lose signal if it's moved. I don't imagine QC was real high on this stuff but I'm hesitant to start replacing parts.

1) Is the thumping normal or should it be quiet?
2) If not, where should I start poking around?

Thanks for any help.

[GREEN FUZ]

From what I know these effects don`t garner a great reputation and can often be found cheap, still in their original packaging. The Sound-go-Round is meant to be a kind of stuttery square wave tremolo, so, I guess, never having heard one, yours is about right. I`ve just looked on Harmony-Central. Most of the reviewers describe the same thumping.

[DougH]

There was a lot of discussion here in the forum about this and its really crappy LFO a few years ago, do some searches. I breadboarded it back then and it does indeed suck.

edit: Oh and btw, if you think that's bad try the Walco sustainer...

[skiraly017]

The thumping is so loud that it renders the effect unusable. I knew not to expect a lot from it but I wasn't expecting a complete waste. 

[GREEN FUZ]

Sound-go-POUND?

[skiraly017]

Sound-go-POUND?

You're not making me feel any better. 

[JasonG]

I bought a 5 pack of those pedals just for there boxes ,jacks ect. I have converted 2 of the boards into a fuzz tone and rangemaster. I like how the boxes look a bit off. Most of the pedals I build for studio work so I don't need a foot switch. BTW they were nib but most of them didn't work at all.
If you do want to reuse the printed circuit board I recommend de soldering all the components, making sure you can see all the holes, then scanning it  into your computer and invert it. Print it out then draw in the circuit componenets you want to put into it. I have a few boards laying around that could be converted to effects. My main reason for doing that on these pedals was there was not much space in there and everything was mounted nicely.

[RickL]

I'll be the voice of disension here. I built one from the schematic floating around (don't ask me where I found it, I don't remember) and it worked fine. As stated, it is a choppy tremolo, similar to the Kay tremolo but with more output.

I can't be much help in getting it to work but it can be made to perform better than you are describing. I wouldn't give up on it just yet.

[skiraly017]

I'll be the voice of disension here. I built one from the schematic floating around (don't ask me where I found it, I don't remember) and it worked fine. As stated, it is a choppy tremolo, similar to the Kay tremolo but with more output.

I can't be much help in getting it to work but it can be made to perform better than you are describing. I wouldn't give up on it just yet.

That's encouraging. I'm okay with the choppy trem but if I understand you, there should be no extraneous noise from the unit. I'll start with trimmer and move to the switch since they seem to be giving me the most trouble.

[DougH]

Okay, since no one else will do it. Start here:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?action=search2

[skiraly017]

Okay, since no one else will do it. Start here:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?action=search2

Thanks Doug, just haven't had the chance yet.

[zachomega]

The Walco stuff is a mixed lot...I have all of the pedals...The QC definitely was low.  Some have solder joints with no solder...some have cold solder joints...and some have parts placed in backwards (like electrolytics)...

With that said, the Sustainer sucks the worst.  Replacing the goofy FET they used with a 2n5457 eliminates almost all of the static noise though.  Doesn't make the pedal any more useable. 

I do like the Fuzz Tone though.  I think it is actually good if you like sputtery fuzzes. 

Additionally, the Signal Booster is really cool. 

When I first got the units, I took them all apart and examined them and drew crude schematics for my own purposes. 

-Zach

[dr.benway]

I just built one and think it's a great trippin' pedal. Sure it's noisy, thumps loudly, but there is an echo and grind to it that my vox repeater clone doesn't have which makes it that much wilder.

The only thing I didn't understand in the schematic is what the 10k pot and trimpot are supposed to do. They look like some kind of depth control but such a control seems to remove volume and character from the effect so I removed them.

[MikeH]

edit: Oh and btw, if you think that's bad try the Walco sustainer...

Oh come on!  Aren't those supposed to sound awful?  I thought that was the appeal.    

I had one, on which I considered labeling the foot switch to simply read "Suck".  Or "Turn on the Suck".  Maybe "Suck Harder". Lol.

[theundeadelvis]

I had one, on which I considered labeling the foot switch to simply read "Suck".  Or "Turn on the Suck".  Maybe "Suck Harder". Lol.

That reads like settings on an inflatable doll. Sorry! Couldn't resist! 

[Paul Marossy]

Oh and btw, if you think that's bad try the Walco sustainer...

I had one, on which I considered labeling the foot switch to simply read "Suck".  Or "Turn on the Suck".  Maybe "Suck Harder". Lol.

That reads like settings on an inflatable doll. Sorry! Couldn't resist! 

[dr.benway]

Just built a sound go round. Anybody know how I could add a flashing led indicator to it?

[kaycee]

I had a set of these sent to me for repair by a guy I do the odd, erm repair for. Most of them were broke right out of the box, very shoddy construction. The boxes are actually quite small, just pressed/folded steel - the switches were cheap and nasty and tiny - there were things like the jack lugs touching boards. The Sound Go Round has two gantic green caps inside, the legs of one touching the board and they had some weird 'bypass' method. I fixed them up as best I could, the Sustainer is particularly hilarious, swallows your signal and then vomits it back out in a huge wall of hiss and sustain, feedback at bedroom vol.

I did a couple of samples, the SGR:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2l9miu9tdysd1b1/WALCO%20SGR.MP3

And the Sustainer:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/cdakg2g4m5dh7sw/WALCO%20SUSTAINER.MP3

I'll sort some pics if anyone is interested..

[dr.benway]

sorry to keep vaunting the merits of this pedal---coz yeah most of you are right it does kind of suck----, but it sounds really good with a gritty fuzz before it (od-850 overdrive, behringer sf300 is what i had on hand).
Has a life of it's own. sure, extremely limited, anything but subtle but for about 10 euros and a half-hour to get up and running it does allow to venture into quirkier sounds.

[wavley]

sorry to keep vaunting the merits of this pedal---coz yeah most of you are right it does kind of suck----, but it sounds really good with a gritty fuzz before it (od-850 overdrive, behringer sf300 is what i had on hand).
Has a life of it's own. sure, extremely limited, anything but subtle but for about 10 euros and a half-hour to get up and running it does allow to venture into quirkier sounds.

I'm with you brother, I'm a believer in being able to coax a neat sound out of just about anything, sometimes the thing that makes it crappy is actually what makes it interesting.