WAH pictures- diy , modded & etc.

[Güero]

That was an ordinary GCB-95.
The pattern was inspired in a cultural expression from Brazilian Indians and is called Marajoara style.
As requested by customer, the pedal must be  true bypass BUT switchless, just put the foot in the ramp and go crazy.  Some relay study made the magic.

[joegagan]

beautiful! a couple questions.

- are there blue LEDs under the treadle making the glow we see in the pics?

- is it true bypass, or are the relays activating a buffered circuit?

- are the graphics painted or decals?  love them!

[Güero]

beautiful! a couple questions.
- are there blue LEDs under the treadle making the glow we see in the pics?
- is it true bypass, or are the relays activating a buffered circuit?
- are the graphics painted or decals?  love them!

Tks Joe, let's to the answers.

Yep, there are two rows with 3 leds each - On full time.
Yep again, it's true bypass, just a DPDT relay driving by a transistor that is driving by a 4069 circuit - No buffers in signal path.
I've tried some painting for two times with no good results. That's a water decal with Tamuya band pattern.  link to the band : http://www.facebook.com/TamuyaThrash

Urutau is a bird. He lives in Brazilian Amazon. There is a legend that says a indian girl lost your loved man  and became this bird. His singing is like a baby crying , nice name for a wah wah.

[Güero]

[Ofek Deitch]

^Güero

How do you paint you wah enclosures?? They look super awesome
Do you sand them or use chemicals to remove the black paint from it?

[Güero]

^Güero

How do you paint you wah enclosures?? They look super awesome
Do you sand them or use chemicals to remove the black paint from it?

Tks!

I always remove the actual paint. This is important for a good results. The painting is made with ar compressor.

[joegagan]

i have been doing some boomerang restorations for customers. this one was particularly clean, here is a before and after shot of the interior ( someone had previously 3pdt'd it and installed a 100k propot with limiting resistor). i installed a 50k PEC pot and cleaned things up a bit per customer request.

the screw holes for the feet were stripped so i drilled and tapped for 8-32 screw, worked great. my previous attempts to fill and retap using JBweld, epoxy etc have failed in the past.

[Güero]

Joe, as always nice job!

A  Morley TM Stevens wah that was heavly modified   Sounds good now!!

[joegagan]

guero, that one looks super clean, nice and tidy.

here is a new one i just put up on ebay:

[paulyy]

Great looking wah pedal as always guys!
@joegagan=Whats with the red cap on the board. Is the resister still under it and what does the pot? Love the cadillac emblem.

[joegagan]

thanks paullllyyy

that is a 3000 pf silver mica bypassing the input resistor. there is also a .001 parallel to it under the board.
the sweep cap has a .001 added under to bring the total @ sweep cap to .011. both .001s are metalized poly.
the input gain is a simple 100k pot to (nearly ) ground at input ( 390 ohm resistor between lug 1 and ground keeps it from shutting signal off completely - prevents panic onstage )

sounds are here. i like it!

[John Lyons]

Sounds good!

[Andr3as]

Awesome wah's you got! I reallly like them vintage ones   

Maybe not the right thread but I got a fulltone standard wah with a broken pot, and I'm looking for a replacement..
Tried a 15$ Icar taper which just sounded weird, It seems like fulltone won't sell me a original one..
Any suggestions?

[joegagan]

 some 'icar' repros are 180k, some are 100k. not sure what fulltone uses, but you might be hearing the difference between 100k and 180k.

the original real icars from the 60s measure 180k in many cases. i doubt they drifted that far, i think they were 180k from the beginning.

wah pots generally fall into two categories.  icar and  crybaby type. crybaby type ( sometimes called hotpotz 1  & 2 in later years) has a more rapid 'kink' in the sweep. some players get used to this action as it can make the wah more talky, and allows more rapid fast wahing.

the icar shows up as a more gradual ramp, which other players prefer for its more precise expressiveness throughout the wah range.

small bear sells the CTS made mcConopot, which has a customized taper that designer mcconachie claims has an extended mid area. never tried it, although it appears he went to great lengths to have CTS increase the durability.

[Liquitone]

Banzai sells Icar pots which are sold as FT-wah pots, they look the same as the fulltone pots so got curious if the FT would stand for fulltone. then i found the same pot on the tube amp doctor site and it says;

This pot was designed to have the same characteristic as a vintage ICAR pot found in some of the early wahs.
straight from same manfactuer as the Fulltone item.

I bought 3 of them and installed them on a wah i modified for a friend and on my own modified Vox wah.
I noticed a high pitched whisteling sound which seems to come from the wiper resonating when turning the pot.
I even heard that whisteling sound amplified through my amp, which had me worried for a moment, but after some lubrication and in band practice and live situations I luckely didnt hear the whistle.
the sweep is very nice and vocal. much nicer than the original hotpotz I that where in both wah's

hers the links to the sites;
http://www.banzaimusic.com/FT-WAH-Wah-Potentiometer.html
http://www.tubeampdoctor.com/en/shop_Potentiometer_Wah_pots_und_accessories/Wah_pot_fits_Fulltone_Clyde_Wah_Dunlop_Cry_Baby_1160

and heres a soundsample of the wah I put it in;
http://soundcloud.com/liquitone/liquitone-modded-jh-1-wah

[Andr3as]

Hey! Thanks for the reply...

The replacement pot was an ICAR taper and measured 89k...
The sound goes from very thin to half wah... Tried to reverse the outer lugs with no luck, also tried several positions on the shaft...
Defect pot?

[joegagan]

i always do a listening test before engaging the straight gear to make sure i am getting full range of the wah upon adjustment.

if the pot's taper is correct, there will be a fairly large 'full treble' area to allow runout for the switch to engage. this is why linear pots almost never work correctly without some sort of cam mechanism to alter the taper.

likewise, the bass side needs a small 'runout area' to keep the full bass setting from stressing the stops in the pot.

89k is fairly low, but it should work. it may be that the pot is faulty. try a replacement pot.

[haveyouseenhim]

Before and after.





Here's a crybaby i did.

[joegagan]

cool swirls! i like them both.

[Earthscum]

Here's a crybaby i did.

Dammit... where's a freakin "Share" to FB button?!?