World's easiest wah repair

[Mark Hammer]

A buddy brought over a Fulltone Clyde wah that had been problematically inconsistent in its switching from effect to bypass, and vice versa.  Sometimes he'd switch and there'd be no signal.  Obviously not what you want for gigging purposes.

My immediate instinct was that the height of the stomp switch needed adjustment.  That was confirmed after I tried to press the switch via the foot-treadle several times.  IT just didn't feel like a "positive" click.  Loosened the outside nut, lowered the inside nut about 1/16, so that more stuck out of the chassis, and tightened the outside nut.  Bingo bango, flawless switching once more.

Most wah or foot-treadle actuated switching will involve some sort of flexible pad on the underside of the treadle to damp the sound, so that you get a soft click and not a loud clank.  That flexible pad can sometimes get compressed over time, or otherwise change consistency, depending on the material used.  That may suggest lowering the switch a bit (where the pad has gotten hard and does not squish in as much anymore), or raising it (e.g., a felt pad that has become compressed).

Either way, a painless and quick repair to an otherwise loved pedal that involves no solder, no heat, no damage, no replacement parts, and (unless you have particularly ugly and telltale pliers technique) does not void your warranty.

[Ronan]

I've seen a lot of youtube wah pedal clips where it appears you have to tread pretty heavy on the wah to switch it on or off. Makes it difficult to switch reliably in a live situation, I prefer easy switch-on switch-off (as per your adjustment in the post above).

I bet your buddy was stoked!

[DDD]

9/10 Offtop:
What for me, IMHO I'm a winner of the "Easiest WAH repair" contest.
Just pulled out a little piece of junk from the input jack. It's all. 

[Paul Marossy]

My immediate instinct was that the height of the stomp switch needed adjustment.  That was confirmed after I tried to press the switch via the foot-treadle several times.  IT just didn't feel like a "positive" click.  Loosened the outside nut, lowered the inside nut about 1/16, so that more stuck out of the chassis, and tightened the outside nut.  Bingo bango, flawless switching once more.

That's one thing that has always annoyed me about wah pedals, is getting that switch just right. And it does depend on the brand/type of switch you use, some work better than others.

[Mark Hammer]

Agreed.  I think it is also fair to say that the adjustment will also depend on whether it is toe or heel-actuated and how important that last little bit of sweep is to you at that particular end of the sweep.  What you want to avoid is reaching for that end of the sweep and inadvertently switching to bypass in the process.

I've not use one of those Morley Bad Horsie things that are supposed to switch from bypass to effect when you step on them.  Do they engage in seamless fashion, or do they come with an entirely different set of problems?

[wavley]

I was always fond of my old chrome morley (that I sold to help pay for my trip to play with Branca's 100 guitar orchestra, worth it, but I still miss it) because the bypass was independent of the treadle.  It had other quirks due to the whole ldr thing, but I liked that I could leave it in a sweet spot and turn it on as a fixed wah filter.

[Paul Marossy]

It had other quirks due to the whole ldr thing, but I liked that I could leave it in a sweet spot and turn it on as a fixed wah filter.

I can do that with my CryBabys and Boomerangs too. 

[wavley]

It had other quirks due to the whole ldr thing, but I liked that I could leave it in a sweet spot and turn it on as a fixed wah filter.

I can do that with my CryBabys and Boomerangs too. 

I don't understand, how can you do that without sweeping to the toe to turn it off or on?

[joegagan]

i put a switch on a sidepod on my shin-ei to do just that. see below

also, there are certain musical passages that would require a subtle turning on of wah that would not begin with the treble woo. experienced players learn to mute their playing during the switch, but this is less than ideal.

for paul's situation, you could put the wah in a TBP loop.

[wavley]

i put a switch on a sidepod on my shin-ei to do just that. see below

I was picturing stock wah

also, there are certain musical passages that would require a subtle turning on of wah that would not begin with the treble woo. experienced players learn to mute their playing during the switch, but this is less than ideal.

One of my favorite things to do was switch it in and out while feedbacking, so muting wasn't good for that

for paul's situation, you could put the wah in a TBP loop.

I was hoping for a fun super secret trick to do it with a stock wah

[Paul Marossy]

It had other quirks due to the whole ldr thing, but I liked that I could leave it in a sweet spot and turn it on as a fixed wah filter.

I can do that with my CryBabys and Boomerangs too. 

I don't understand, how can you do that without sweeping to the toe to turn it off or on?

Oh I see, you mean you keep it static and don't move anything. OK, well I meant that I can keep my wah pedals in one spot and it acts like a fixed filter. But if I want to turn it off...

So how does the Morley switching work then? You wave your foot over it and it just switches?

[joegagan]

looking up pdf from morley..

[joegagan]

http://www.morleypedals.com/tttrippointadjust.pdf

there was an early and later version, both were ldr switched.
the later version uses a spring to return the wah to heel down position, so there are no 'fixed wah' setting avail.

i have tried the later version, it felt ok, but i could detect a little lag on both turn on and turn-off.

[wavley]

I was talking about this one, the switch is off to the side.  Sorry about being confusing, the ldr I was talking about was the one that replaces the pot, not the switch.

[Paul Marossy]

Oh, I see, a switch on the side! Yes, can't beat that for a "set and forget" fixed wah filter setting.

[Cliff Schecht]

My easiest repair ever was one that took me WAY too many years to figure out. My dad bought a TS-7 at a Goodwill in great condition. I never got it to work at the time so I threw it in the junk pedal bin (everybody has one of these, right?). Earlier this year, on a whim, I opened it up and cut out the protection diode. Works like a charm, my singer uses it as a pretty dang decent sounding distortion.

I bought a bass wah on ebay once for $5 + $25. The fix turned out to be a bad digital IC (like a CD40xx type part) that cost me $0.05 to replace. Ended up being a good deal and I learned a couple of good lessons. One is that ebay sellers can burn you on shipping and the other is that if you don't solder down SMD components well, they tend to oscillate  .

[Paul Marossy]

I bought a bass wah on ebay once for $5 + $25. The fix turned out to be a bad digital IC (like a CD40xx type part) that cost me $0.05 to replace. Ended up being a good deal and I learned a couple of good lessons. One is that ebay sellers can burn you on shipping and the other is that if you don't solder down SMD components well, they tend to oscillate  .

Yeah, some sellers are ridiculous with the shipping. I think that's where they try and make their money. 

Good to know that about SMD components, in case I ever have to deal with that...

[fpaul]

I fixed my thomas organ crybaby a few years ago by bending the tips on the jacks.  Hadn't worked for years before that.  Gotta be in the running for easiest, but I didn't figure it out until I learned to build pedals. So maybe not.

[Mark Hammer]

Heck, I'm not going for any record or making any claim like that.  It was just something truly irritating that required much much less to rectify than the owner thought.  Whether it is bending jack contacts, moving nuts, or removing crap from the jacks, sometimes it really IS simple stuff.

[kaycee]

I too was lucky enough to get a nearly new Crybaby off of evilbay - listed as faulty for less than £20 all in . It was simply the adjustment of the switch as in the first posters comments, colour me chuffed