Chasing Wah Tone

[AzzR]

Anyone heard the theme for the TV show "Grounded For Life" by Ween? If not you can hear what I mean here www.myspace.com/cartoonaus, the song Kieth The Moth has the wah sound I am talking about.

Anyhow I can tell you that the Cartoon guitarist uses a Roland Multi-FX unit but for can't remember the settings on the thing.

At the moment I have two ways to chase this sound. 1. Mod my crybaby 2. Attach an expression pedal on my BOSS FT-2 which is similar to the MultiFX unit.

Either way I don't know settings for Q, rollover etc so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated. I would be more fond of crybaby mods as they are cheaper than an empty wah shell for the FT-2.

Thanks

-Azza

[MikeH]

I think a big part of that wah tone is the distortion being used, so think about that too.  I can't say exactly how to get that wah tone, but if you try a few of these mods it will make your cry baby more tweek-able to get the sound your looking for.  You can find them by searching:

1. Variable Q- I think it just replaces a resistor with a pot.  Easy and effective.

2. Sweep cap- I hooked mine up with a rotaty switch (like a 535Q has).  Lots of tone options there, from really screechy to nice and round.

3. Inductor switch- This one's a little more expensive, but it's nice to have 2 different inductor choices.  I used a red and yellow fasel (although I wouldn't recommend that combo; they're a little too alike for it to be worth the 15-20 bucks for an extra fasel).

The point of these mods is just to make your wah more versatile and thusly, able to get closer to the tones you want.

[John Lyons]

As always you can read up at "the technology of the wah" at GEOFX. Link above

john

[AzzR]

I'm fairly sure that the distortion is coming out of a Vox combo.

So to add the Q pot what value pot should I use. Should I have the 33k resistor in series with the pot to stop the value going below that. What pot value would get me closest to 33k - 100k?

What values do you reccomend for the sweep cap? Can the caps just be mounted straight on the pot? I was going to get a halo inductor for the thing anyway.

-Dream

[John Lyons]

I'd use a 100K pot for the "Q". Take out the 33K
If you find a value you like and you don't deviate, then just solder in that value is a fixed resistor.

Try a value below and a value above the sweep caps "normal" value.

[Thomas3D]

check out this wah modding site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.castledine/greenfuz/wah.html

Change the sweep by swapping the 0.01µF cap between the emitter of Q2 and the inductor. A smaller value will make the wah sweep more trebly and vice-versa. If you're converting to or from a bass wah, this is the one to change. Try 0.068µF for a bass wah.

on my wah i used common values between .01 and .068 on a rotary switch like MikeH suggested
i used cap of values: .01, .022, .033, .047, .068

[MikeH]

check out this wah modding site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.castledine/greenfuz/wah.html

Change the sweep by swapping the 0.01µF cap between the emitter of Q2 and the inductor. A smaller value will make the wah sweep more trebly and vice-versa. If you're converting to or from a bass wah, this is the one to change. Try 0.068µF for a bass wah.

on my wah i used common values between .01 and .068 on a rotary switch like MikeH suggested
i used cap of values: .01, .022, .033, .047, .068

I used the same values, but I had a 6 pos rotary, so I also threw in a .0068 too.  Although it's not much different than the .01.

[AzzR]

I have modded the cap and added values between 0.068uf and 0.27uf and mounted them on a rotary switch. Works great however I can not get the Q pot to function. I have placed a 100k pot in place of the 33k resistor but can't get a change in sound. I have tried both grounding and not grounding the pot and also having the 33k resistor in series and not. Any ideas?

Cheers

-Azza

[Johan]

if you have a LesPaul type guitar, try the wha with the neck pickup
j