Put a lot of effort in this one, specially the enclosure. Right now there is a 10n cap for C1, 68k in R2 and R4 is jumpered. In Parallel with C5 there is that small rotary switch with the following caps: 10n, 22n, 56n, 68n, 82n, 100n.
The enclosure had a little drilled hole for a led when I got it, didn't really want a led so I drilled the hole a little bigger and was able to fit the buffer-switch on the top of the enclosure.
I have been tweaking a bit but still its not 100%. The Peak-control doesn't really do anything to my ears, I may have done something wrong there. The main issue now is it does drop in volume when its engaged. Otherwise I must its the most fun project I've done so far! thank you Brian!
great job, looks awesome. did you take the enclosure apart? That thing is a booger to get apart.
looks great, nice job.
the color is cool too.
hope you get the volume issue and peak control sorted, let us know how it goes.
Lower R2 to 10k -15k and it should pop right up. Could be that jumpering R4 might make the Peak a little less noticeable.
good point brian. i failed to notice that sig mentioned jumpering r4. you are correct, the hot bias of Q1 is probably adding so much low end that the freq caps aren't having as much effect.
Great looking wah.
Josh
Thank you, everybody! Yeah, I took it apart before putting in the sandblaster, It actually wasn't that difficult to take apart. It's not the same design as a Crybaby-enclosure, at least not my Crybaby, so it was a pretty easy procedure.
Just been testing out some more resistor options, right now R2 is 10k and R4 is 330R. The Volume is much better right now but I still don't think the PEAK control does any major difference. Gonna keep tweaking..
That sounds similar to what Paul was experiencing in his Wah. Take a look at member Jakefuzz's wah build for some idea of what might sold the problem for you.
Jacob
Wow thats tidy... vanilla whipple never looked so good! ;D
Brilliant placement of the buffer switch. Why didn't I think of that... ::)
That is one delicious looking wah. Banana cream pie is what it reminds me of.
I was getting a big volume drop when I first wired mine up. I found that I had switched the output resistor and the ground reference resistor in the output buffer section. Also decreasing that input resistor made a big difference in volume.
I have found the peak doesn't really do much. If anything it is super subtle. That is one of the classic components to swap in a wah though. I don't really notice if it cranked or all the way down. Mine just hangs in the middle :-X
Do you get lots of grit with R4 jumpered? I wanted to try that but wasn't to sure what it would sound like. I have a vero board with that same cap switcher, super handy. Do you get little pops when you switch between cap values?
Thank you!, I really dig the color too! Jumpered R4 didn't give as much grit as i was hoping for. The volume-issue is more or less solved but think i might go back and dubble-check all components.. Don't get wrong, its sound good, I just feel it could/should sound gritty, gnarly and more trebley!!
Yes, the cap switcher pops when i turn it. :-\
quote: Yes, the cap switcher pops when i turn it.
oh, don't worry, the wilson wahs that have freq changing cap switch do this also. + the official manual has no word of warning to turn your amp down when changing settings . ouch!
as early as 85, GMarts had designed a selector for sweep
cap and noted the need for 1 meg pulldown resistors.
(http://www.gmarts.org/html/pix/f_wahmods.gif)
oh, and i forgot, the foxx wahs of early 70s had a rotary freq selector as well. unknown by me if there were resistors to cut the crackle.
allright, just been tweaking a bit more. I put a 2n5088 in Q1 and jumpered R4 again.. Holy sh*tballs!! in heel-posistion i REALLY sounds like a envelope-filter, slight oscillations ;D very cool sound!!! anyways, I put a 390R i R4 and... THERE IT IS!!!, that's the sound i wanted!
Might actually drill for another switch to be able to swap between jumpered and 390R in R4. Lucky a bought a 4pdt toggleswitch cause it will be necessary to fine-tune R2 to keep the volume even between the two settings.
cool, appreciate the report. gains in Q1 and Q2 can also affect the wah quotient, remember the whole circuit is riding on the balance point of the two trans, if one or the other is too strong it can play into the response.
That makes me realise I really need to learn just what the hell I'm actually doing... as opposite to just follow a assembly-guide and then don't have a clue about "what does what"! ???
and in other news: now I finally have a wah that works like the old Vox's. Swap the instrument/amp plugs and play around with David Gilmours "seagull-sound" in Echoes!!! ;D Damn I like this Wah!