GCB95 Crybaby "Fatwah" mod problem

[Seven64]

yea, thats what i was thinking.

also thinking about using a variable cap for the sweep cap.


i wanna know what a dual inductor wah would sound like, and put it on a switch for either 1 or 2 inductors.  they also make variable inductors on like mouser and whatever.

i have seen some people actually do dual wah pots too, but i don't understand that either.

[joegagan]

Thanks for proving the point I keep making about wah inductors. 

i had a conversation tuesday with a famous pedal freak. he owns good examples of most of the holy grail 60s wahs. one of his faves ( after sampling 3 different examples from the same type/era) is the 'film can' inductor italian vox/CB. the only measured specs i have ever seen on the film can is 500 mh, 17 ohm. this is exactly the same as many of the tdk brown rectangles ( other common examples measure 144 ohm, go figure). a more definitive test might be to install one of the TDKs into a filmcan wah and AB test to see if tonal differences can be heard. would love to try it.

also the modern black cylinder dunlop inductors almost always measure 18 ohm. commonly Mh in the 550 - 640 mh range.

[Seven64]

interesting.  i have watched youtube videos comparing the red and yellow fasel inductors, and although i can hear a subtle change in the sound, nothing compares to this fatwah mod!  seriously.  it is 2 resistors and a cap if you don't add the switch.  if i hadn't drilled the enclosure for the switch i would take it out!  2 resistors and a cap is sooooo much cheaper than a fasel inductor.  i don't have much wah experience, but i don't see myself needing to switch inductors anytime soon.

[Paul Marossy]

Apart from my beloved Maestro Boomerang, one of my best sounding wah pedals is the one with the dreaded TDK 5103 inductor in it. I also have an Vox wah with an original Fasel in it, and I'm just frankly not that excited about it.

I have heard that the Italian "film canister" wah pedals *can* sound really good, too.

[Gila_Crisis]

i wanna know what a dual inductor wah would sound like, and put it on a switch for either 1 or 2 inductors.  they also make variable inductors on like mouser and whatever.

my "no-more" vox wah (which is completely modded to boomerang maestro specs with added mid pot (10k pot instead of the 4k7 resistor), sweep cap rotary-switch and foxrox-clone output buffer) has an on-on-on switch with 2 yellow fasel inductors, which can be putted in series, parallel or split (means just 1 is used, they are wired the same as a parallel-split-serial switch you would use for humbuker pickups).

in parallel the sound is thinner and in series is fatter, but a way different than switching the sweep cap, here is a sound-sample: http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/25/1457713//boomwahssp.mp3

sounds are in order: parallel, split, series, split,  parallel

[Paul Marossy]

my "no-more" vox wah (which is completely modded to boomerang maestro specs with added mid pot (10k pot instead of the 4k7 resistor), sweep cap rotary-switch and foxrox-clone output buffer) has an on-on-on switch with 2 yellow fasel inductors, which can be putted in series, parallel or split (means just 1 is used, they are wired the same as a parallel-split-serial switch you would use for humbuker pickups).

in parallel the sound is thinner and in series is fatter, but a way different than switching the sweep cap, here is a sound-sample: http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/25/1457713//boomwahssp.mp3

sounds are in order: parallel, split, series, split,  parallel

That sounds like a useful arrangement. 

[SISKO]

That sounds like a useful arrangement. 

+1

That soundclip is very usefull! Thanks for posting it, i really like the split posittion

[Paul Marossy]

Just letting everyone know that I fixed the error on the schematic shown on my "Fat Wah" page.

[mat]

I have a crybaby from around 1983-1984. It has only two transistors. Can a put the fatwah-mod on to it ?

The pcb side has numbers '25-5500' in it.

http://mattitee.kuvat.fi/kuvat/sekalaisia/IMG_0324.JPG

[joegagan]

i know nothing of how the fatwah came to be, or how this schem ended up in the diy realm. it has been around for at least 10 yrs that i can recall tho. funny, i can't recall hearing any reports of how the mod sounded in all this time.

but, from looking at it, was designed around the 3 transistor later type dunlops. without specifically comparing the two schems, i think there is a good chance the mod will not work without modding the mod.

[Seven64]

i doubt it will work on the older types.  i have an older wah (as pictured in this thread) but see no reason to mod it at all.

[mat]

Any other ways to 'fatten' the wahs sound ? I might try to sub the input/output caps for bigger ones.

[joegagan]

if a wah circ was a woman, the sweep cap would be the red part.

[mat]

if a wah circ was a woman, the sweep cap would be the red part.

Sorry, did not get it. English is not my native language 

[joegagan]

sweep cap is the key to wah universe

[mat]

sweep cap is the key to wah universe

That part I know 

[Paul Marossy]

i know nothing of how the fatwah came to be, or how this schem ended up in the diy realm. it has been around for at least 10 yrs that i can recall tho. funny, i can't recall hearing any reports of how the mod sounded in all this time.

but, from looking at it, was designed around the 3 transistor later type dunlops. without specifically comparing the two schems, i think there is a good chance the mod will not work without modding the mod.

It's a mod created by Paul Crowther of Crowther Audio. It will only work on the GCB-95 wah pedals that have the MPSA13 transistor on the input. I don't know where I dug up the schematic, but I've had it for probably close to ten years now.

[mat]

i know nothing of how the fatwah came to be, or how this schem ended up in the diy realm. it has been around for at least 10 yrs that i can recall tho. funny, i can't recall hearing any reports of how the mod sounded in all this time.

but, from looking at it, was designed around the 3 transistor later type dunlops. without specifically comparing the two schems, i think there is a good chance the mod will not work without modding the mod.

It's a mod created by Paul Crowther of Crowther Audio. It will only work on the GCB-95 wah pedals that have the MPSA13 transistor on the input. I don't know where I dug up the schematic, but I've had it for probably close to ten years now.

Thanks for the answer, I'll try to put a parallel cap on input/output caps. I just like the idea of the wah to be a little fatter and maybe little louder.

[azrael]

i know nothing of how the fatwah came to be, or how this schem ended up in the diy realm. it has been around for at least 10 yrs that i can recall tho. funny, i can't recall hearing any reports of how the mod sounded in all this time.

but, from looking at it, was designed around the 3 transistor later type dunlops. without specifically comparing the two schems, i think there is a good chance the mod will not work without modding the mod.

It's strangely not a popular mod, but it's been around for quite a bit.

I like it. It's a cool alternative to the all too common practice of simply yanking out the input buffer.

[joegagan]

i agree. i  like these approaches that utilize a lot of what is already in there. i turned  the buffer stage into a bazzfuss when i couldn't sleep the other night. sounded awesome but it had some issues so i can't call it a 'good' mod yet.

thanks for the info paul. crowther was well respected by ken fisher, i believe ken had something to do with assisting to make the hotcake what it is, similar to his consulting on the dino fuzz, brontoboost and dinodrive.
ken told me paul was protective of the secrets of the hotcake, and that it was designed specifically to make split end guitarists' axes sound great thru AC30s.

ken also helped bill finnegan at least get the klon  out in the world. it just occurred to me that he may have been the mystrery egineer that bill has readily admitted was involved in the klon1 development. hmmm.

side story, sorry. only to say, crowther has the respect of someone i respect highly.

don't know where else to stick this:
http://www.klon-siberia.com/mag_reviews.html