I modded an old crybaby today and it sounds AMAZING

[Exactopposite]

I have an old thomas organ crybaby that I think dates to the 70's. I got it for a mere $25 because the owner said it was broken. All it needed was a pot, but then a while after that the inductor (tdk) became really microphonic to the point that it was unusable. So today, I put in a whipple inductor, changed the "Q" resistor  to 100k, installed a fulltone pot, and replaced the 3.9 uf cap with a 4.7 uf non-polar panasonic. It was a complete transformation of this wah. It's really smooth and clean. Not edgy or peaky at all anymore. At the same time it's very resonant when used with distortion. It's easy to "catch" a note and make it sustain from the harmonics. It's pretty remarkable to use it. I can't find anything negative to say about it at this point.The pot taper will take some getting use to since I've been using a colorosund reissue which is a totally different animal. At first it was TOO bright with in the toe down position, but adjusted the pot just a little and it's just right now.

When  i have some more time (most likely this weekend) I'll convert it to true bypass, and adjsut the value of the input resistor accordingly. It's so old it doesn't have the buffer  in it so it's a real tone sucker.  I was trying to get something close to the old vox tone and since this is an old wah I figured it was a good platform to try and do that on. It's already got the old caps and resistors, and the 5117 tansistors. So there wasn't a lot to change. I haven't had the fortunes of using one of the old italian wahs, so i can't say how close it is, but it's pretty much exactly what I was hoping it would be.

Even tho this was a pretty simple mod, it became a bit of an adventure. At first I jsut put in the new inductor and the Q resistor. I tried it and it sounded good. I opened it back up to replace the pot (it had an old hotpotz1 that i had put in just to get it functional before) and I changed that polarized cap with the non polar at the time.  I put it back together, hooked it up, and it didn't work. It would pass the sound when switched off, but when I switched it on i got nothing at all. I knew it was working before, so i took a look around, reflowed all the places i had soldered and tried it again. Still nothing.  So i start from scratch troubleshooting it to find the problem Turns out that the wire that connected to the positive battery terminal inside the peice that snaps on te batter had come undone. It's no wonder since the thing is 30+ years old, but it was a coincidence that it happened when i had been doing some work to it. Fortunately I just got in some parts from smallbear so  I had another battery connector to put in there.

I have a couple of questions tho. What are those old caps that look like they have wax paper wrapped around them?  Does anybody know what type of caps they are? They seem pretty big for their values. Also the  cap that I replaced (the one that is normally a 4.7 uf electrolytic in newer wahs) is a 3.9 uf polarized cap that is really tiny to be of that value. I'm guessing it's tantalum since they are used for larger cap values, but i have never used them before.

If anybody was wondering about the whipple inductor, the name sounds a little funny, but I think it's a real winner

[spaceace76]

The whipple is amazing. I've used a couple and they add a real nice resonance to even a cheapo Dunlop wah. Great sound!

Also, if you're feeling up to it, try some 2N4124's. I wouldn't want you to mess too heavily with such a great sounding wah, but the 4124's gave my wah a bit more oomph. 

Great find by the way! $25 for a 70's crybaby? If you spent less than $30-40 in parts you got a fantastic wah for less than the current crybaby! Always nice to find a bargain.

Post a clip if you can.

[Exactopposite]

I'm not setup to record clips here. A friend of mine does some recording tho. I'll see if i can get him to record me with it.  It's pretty hard to come by the 5117 transistors (which was a thomas organ part #) these days, so i'm definitely not changing those.

I have another wah project in the works though, so i might try them in there. I'm planning on using some bc109c's but i'm open to trying something else.

[zombiwoof]

Just want to thank you for posting this, your problem with the bad connection in the battery snap was the answer to a problem I've had troubleshooting my brother's JH-1S wah.  I was scratching my head trying to find the problem till I saw your post.

By the way, those caps in your pedal are called "Styroflex" caps, they're available on Ebay.  I think they might be polystyrene caps, which were in the first wahs.  There are other polystyrene caps available elsewhere, I got some nice NOS ones from an electronic surplus place, and there are some Xicons you can get from Mouser.

Al

[Jered]

  Where do you get the whipple inductors? I've never heard of them, but now I want to try one. Thanks.
  Jered

[Exactopposite]

  Where do you get the whipple inductors? I've never heard of them, but now I want to try one. Thanks.
  Jered

they are only sold on ebay. The guy that makes them winds them all by hand. He's a great person to deal with too . If you do a search here you will find some talk about them.

[Jered]

  Great! Thank you very much.

[drewl]

Nice!
I bought my Thomas Cry Baby for my 16th birthday, $60 new I think.
My mother gave me a check to buy whatever I wanted and was shocked when I came home with just the wah!

Well a few decades later, a little TLC, true bypass and routine maintenance, it still works and sounds great....maybe I'll try a couple of your mods for fun!

[Exactopposite]

Nice!
I bought my Thomas Cry Baby for my 16th birthday, $60 new I think.
My mother gave me a check to buy whatever I wanted and was shocked when I came home with just the wah!

Well a few decades later, a little TLC, true bypass and routine maintenance, it still works and sounds great....maybe I'll try a couple of your mods for fun!

My original plan was to repair this one and sell it for the profit. Since the inductor became microphonic tho, there was no way to repair it and keep it original. Thats why I kept it to mod. I didn't want to mod a vintage pedal even if it wasn't the most prized.

There is nothing  revolutionary about the mods. They are pretty well documented at this point. I really think this inductor is a winner tho. There is a clarity about this wah that i have never heard in any that I have used. The only thing i can attribute it to the inductor.