# wah mod



## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

has anyone ever done a mod to their wah?

is there a place where i can see schematics/reviews/hot-to guide to doing a mod to mine?

is it hard to do?


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

http://www.guitarscanada.com/Board/showthread.php?t=16084&page=2

Check out the links in this thread. I've modded all my wahs and it makes a huge difference.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Some are easy, some are a bit more fiddly.
What is it you want to do? 
What type of wah do you have?
Can you use a soldering iron?

True bypass is a good idea. 
An output buffer is a good idea if you're going to use a fuzz with it.

Start here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.castledine/greenfuz/wah.html
Some background and discussion: http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/wahmod/wahmod.htm
Some specifics for the crybaby: http://www.stinkfoot.se/andreas/diy/mods/dunlop.htm
More crybaby info: http://www.diyguitarist.com/DIYStompboxes/WahMod.htm
Here's a discussion of V847 mods: http://www.home-wrecker.com/wahmods.html
Here's how to wire a 2PDT switch for true bypass: http://www.fulltone.com/v847.html
Here's how to DIY an output buffer: http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/mccoy.php
The FoxRox wah retrofit: http://www.foxroxelectronics.com/Wah retrofit 1.html
Area51 has one too, but shipping is very high.
Greg at SolidGoldFX will do it for you: http://solidgoldfx.com/wah.php
here's a long thread on TGP on this subject
info on pots and things: http://www.happybob.com/marc/pot_adjustment_procedure.htm
info on inductors: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.castledine/greenfuz/inductor.html
The Whipple is a nice inductor: http://www.myspace.com/whippleinductor
Stemac has parts: http://www.stewmac.com/


For some super cork-sniffery, this guy swapped out individual components on a V847 to make it more like a Clyde: http://www003.upp.so-net.ne.jp/kazuhee/ewahmod1R.htm

That should keep you busy for a bit....


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

devnulljp said:


> ...
> _(message truncated due to HUGE A$$ED LIST OMG :O )_
> That should keep you busy for a bit....


Just a bit eh!!:rockon:

/me gets out the old soldering iron and looks to see what he can do!!


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

IMHO, I would just send it to Greg at www.solidgoldfx.com . He is the uberwah dude. The best in the business. He did a wah for me and it is amazing. Great guy to deal with.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

mario said:


> IMHO, I would just send it to Greg at www.solidgoldfx.com . He is the uberwah dude. The best in the business. He did a wah for me and it is amazing. Great guy to deal with.


Good to hear - he's got the old Jen I just got from faracaster...I wouldn't want to go near that one with my five thumbs/soldering iron combo. 

But it can be fun to mess around with a basic wah like a GCB95 or a V847 and see what you can do to it. In the end, if all you want is a good wah, you're probably better off buying a Teese (WoF is great!) or a Buddah or even one of the higher end Dunlops like the Q as costs do begin to add up. $20 for a switch, $40 for the buffer, $20 for the inductor, $25 for a new pot...your $50 wah now cost $155, and an RMC picture wah is what $180? I got my WoF for $200.


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

Glad to hear that..you will not be sorry!


devnulljp said:


> Good to hear - he's got the old Jen I just got from faracaster...I wouldn't want to go near that one with my five thumbs/soldering iron combo.
> 
> But it can be fun to mess around with a basic wah like a GCB95 or a V847 and see what you can do to it. In the end, if all you want is a good wah, you're probably better off buying a Teese (WoF is great!) or a Buddah or even one of the higher end Dunlops like the Q as costs do begin to add up. $20 for a switch, $40 for the buffer, $20 for the inductor, $25 for a new pot...your $50 wah now cost $155, and an RMC picture wah is what $180? I got my WoF for $200.


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## Deef (Nov 5, 2006)

I had my Vox v847 wah modded for true bypass and an on/off LED when I bought it a few years ago. I didn't like the sound of it, so I installed a Whipple Inductor... it made a huge difference. It actually sounds like an awesome wah now.

I had also tried some of the resistor mods, but they didn't do anything I liked, so I put the old ones back in.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The gold standard is the article at geofex. It explains the function of every single part in the circuit and what changes to that component will do.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

You are correct.

You can find schematics for most of the Morley line here: http://www.morleypedals.com/downloads.html The Power Wah is found here: http://www.morleypedals.com/pwonewes.pdf I think it corresponds reasonably well to the basic Cry-Baby circuit, although it is obviously drawn differently.

You will note that while the standard Cry-Baby circuit uses a 100k pot in voltage-divider mode (i.e., the foot movement changes how much of that 100k falls on one side or the other of the middle wiper contact), the Power Wah operates in a slightly different way. Since foot-operated pots take a lot of abuse and can quickly become scratchy as a result, Morley early on decided to opt for a design when pot wear and tear was a non-issue. I fixed one of these for a kid some 12 years ago, and had a chance to see the inner workings. When you move the foot treadle, what you do is move a sort of variable shutter that adjusts the amount of light reaching a photocell. If you look at the schematic, the photocell and R24 form a kind of voltage divider with resistance on two sides of a common point. Except that in this case, rather than their relationship being reciprocal (one side gets larger whenever the other side gets smaller), only the resistance on one side of that common point gets changed as you move the treadle. This probably introduces a slightly different "feel" to the sweep, but electronically does not change it all that much. It is still a basic Cry-baby circuit. Study this diagram closely and you should be able to find correspondances between RG's part-by-part description, and what you see here.


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