Build Your Own Clone Message Board

I recently bought a Wah drop in kit for a pedal I'm making.

Attached graphic shows a comparison between the BYOC pot taper and the taper of a pot in a Dunlop CryBaby. As I understand it, a potentiometer used for audio applications should have a logarithmic taper whereby if you plot the log(10) of the resistance against potentiometer shaft angle, the curve should be a straight line. As you can see in the graphic, the BYOC pot isn't even close to being correct for this application.

I can probably find a pot that has the right taper, but I'm wondering why the pot in the kit is wrong and if BYOC can send me one that is correct.

_________________
There are only 10 kinds of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Looks like the BYOC pot has more a more vocal wah than the Dunlop. That’s pretty normal, how does it sound?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Pedal building is like the opposite of sex. All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

I haven't put power on the wah pedal yet, so I don't know how it will sound with the BYOC pot.

Another concern I have is that most of the resistance change is in an area of just 70 degrees of rotation of the pot.

_________________
There are only 10 kinds of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Personally, I prefer the sound of the BYOC Wah drop-in replacement (including the pot) over my original Crybaby board, but it's always going to be a matter of taste. One thing to consider, though, is that you're unlikely to use either extreme of the pot's range, and you don't really want to, as you don't want to risk damaging the pot by having either extreme of the treadle's motion hit one end of the pot's range.

I'd suggest trying it out -- you can always replace the pot if the sound or the sweep isn't what you're after.

Isn’t there an internal trim pot or anything external knob to adjust the Q? I haven’t seen in in a while, so I’m not too sure. Did you want to build another crybaby?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Pedal building is like the opposite of sex. All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

The pot that comes with the BYOC wah kit is not a log taper pot, nor is it supposed to be. It is an ICAR taper pot. The taper is flat at the ends because you shouldn't be fully rotating the pot at either end. Repeatedly slamming the pot to its furthest rotation in either end will eventually damage the shaft. You should set the pinion gear so that the pot operates in its "active range". So that's why an ICAR taper pot has most of the "action" in the middle.

Also, the assumption that all pots used in audio applications should be logarithmic is incorrect.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

Keith - Thanks for the information. I'll put power on my pedal in the next few days. Looking forward to great sound from it.

I designed stops into the pedal I'm making to prevent overtravel of the potentiometer and thereby prevent damage.

_________________
There are only 10 kinds of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.