Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Some pictures of my fresh-off-the-bench fully modded Wah for anyone who is interested. I include some wiring clarifications which I had somewhat of a hard time figuring out simply from text descriptions, so here are some pictures:





All controls of all the mods have been moved on the outside, except for the Buffer Gain pot, which for Unity Gain I found needs to be set to nearly full on, and to my requirements does not need adjusting. I put the buffer switch on the outside though as shown:





The internals of the pedal:







The two inductors I used, the original of the kit and a Red Fasel. The Fasel must be put a little sideways to fit the holes of the pcb.



This is important point #1: The solution to the 4-way (not 3-way) Selector Rotary Switch to have the inductors 1,2, 1+2 in series and 1+2 in parallel, as in this post:
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=2629&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
A 3P4T switch (like this: http://www.banzaimusic.com/Rotary-Switch-3x4-Pins.html ) will give you the 4 combinations you need and 4 wires leave the switch (A,B,C, and Pin2) to connect to the pcb, exactly as per the instructions of the kit. This picture shows the wiring for the 4th position (and the rest) clearly:



This is important point #2: The solution to the X-way Capacitor Selector Switch: This is my solution to wiring 6 capacitors (I show only 5, I reserved one position to determine whether I want to add the last capacitor to the top of the range or the bottom, after doing extensive listening tests) to the Rotary Switch. A 2P6T switch (like this: http://www.banzaimusic.com/Rotary-Switch-2x6-Pins.html ) will give you 6 range selections and has only 2 wires connected to the pcb, no polarity check required.
Wiring the capacitors in this manner, on top of the switch and to one side, makes it possible to position the switch inside the enclosure without interfering with the pot rotation axle. This picture shows the wiring:



I also chose to wire the footswitch in a True Bypass mode contrary to the instructions, and also used a LED indicator:

Wow!!
Awesome job, dude!

How do you like the sound??
Is the flexibility worth all the pots and switches?

_________________
http://www.myspace.com/roger-strom
http://soundcloud.com/roger-strom

WOW! I have just done mine with dual inductor and bass and mid mod only. White body (limited edition guitar model from about 7 years ago)
with chrome telecaster style knobs . . should post some pics

i would like to see how you wired the e X-way Capacitor Selector Switch with the caps as I am interested in doing this as well.

Sheesh - what are you, lazy? Is that all you're going to do to mod your wah?






Sorry. I actually really like what you've done. If I ever played any of my wah pedals I might consider giving something like this a shot. To repeat the question, though, how does it sound? It looks like a ton of work - was it worth it in the end?

_________________
- Robert ...

Well, this is an interesting issue, your question is simple and to the point, but the answer is a little more complicated..

To simply reply, yes it was worth it, certainly. This pedal is very good, and to be able to further tweak it to your taste, is even better.
I have other Wahs, some have more bass which I like, others are more subtle, which also I like, but you cant have it all from one design, each pedal has a character of its own, and each is good for different applications. And this goes for all pedals, kits or otherwise.

But modding -to me- is generally worth it, even if you dont get a super/excellent extra sound in the end. And how could you, when the designer would have factored it in the design, as a default, if it was there to be had in the first place. This is as far as this pedal is capable of going, before you hit the drawing board again. This is good to know.

I mod for fun, and to know I have extracted the best, every last drop of goodness, from each design. I socket a lot of key components and play around with tweaks, and I find this a pleasurable hobby. I refine my perception in that way. Someone may consider one difference is very subtle, another may think it is considerable. Same way as someone just needs a good wine to go with their food, and another likes to dwell into the intricate flavours and goes out of his way to get that. I guess that's just me, I read every day about others, that complain about "too many knobs". Well, it's one mans food, other man's poison.

wow, awesome-looking build. Thanks for the explanation of the 3P4T...I have one sitting around and I'm thinking about using the Whipple inductor as my #2. I think my philosophy may be aligned with yours with regard to having exhaustive tonal options.

I will report back with my results soon!

Holy crap. If I had one of those I could get rid of the five that I have.