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Projects => Build Reports => Topic started by: bangerang101 on March 19, 2012, 03:59:28 AM

Title: Wee-wah
Post by: bangerang101 on March 19, 2012, 03:59:28 AM
 Hey guys,

Just wanted to share this new project Ive been working and I finally completed building the prototype... The "Wee-Wah". I got inspired by Brian's baby board projects and started designing and building this thing! Turned out really good and works and sounds great for such a little pedal.

In "park'd" mode, the Wee Wah acts as a fixed wah, that you can set to your liking to boost certain frequencies for leads/solos, etc. What makes the Wee Wah really stand apart though, is the "sens" mode. In this mode, the Wee Wah uses an external LDR that, depending on how much light is hitting it, will control the wah sweep. In other words, you can use your foot just like a wah motion, or your hands to block/let through light; which makes for loads of experimental fun! It also has an output buffer built in, so it will work great w/ drive pedals following it, as well.

Let me know what you guys think.


Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: chromesphere on March 19, 2012, 05:56:10 AM
Orsum is what i think  :o  Love the finish / colors.  Respect for getting it all in there!

It's probably an easy mod, but i was thinking, a switch or something to change between wah mode and volume mode would be cool!!  So you could use it like a volume pedal!  Oh no...another build to the list :(
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: nzCdog on March 19, 2012, 01:53:37 PM
Love the look of this pedal... very nice
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: DutchMF on March 19, 2012, 05:28:16 PM
I WANT ONE!!!!

No really, it's to cool!

Paul
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: midwayfair on March 19, 2012, 06:03:40 PM
Hey, Luke, did you figure out what do do about using it on a dark stage?

reading light on the pedal board, maybe? :D
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: bangerang101 on March 19, 2012, 09:05:11 PM
Hey Jon!

Yep, you got it! You just kinda have to deal w/ it... The sensitivity knob really helps in dialing it in, but you still need a reasonable amount of light. It's really fun to mess w/ though.
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: nzCdog on March 19, 2012, 09:22:43 PM
You could get a little gooseneck LED light or something and run it from your power supply... that'd make the LDR more useful on a dark stage maybe?
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: bangerang101 on March 20, 2012, 02:06:51 PM
Yeah, exactly... something like that would definitely work. I'm really pleased w/ the values I chose for the filter's sweep. It can really sound like an actual wah pedals sweep, w/ the sensitivity all the way down, and just rocking your foot over the LDR (assuming you have good lighting of coarse).

Also, if you consider most people would have a pedal that is this small just for the fixed wah sound... the sensor mode is sort of like "icing on the cake", if you know what I mean.
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: Ettore_M on March 20, 2012, 07:44:43 PM
That's great, dude! Awesome build! I just love the finish. It's perfect!  ;D
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: jkokura on March 20, 2012, 07:57:49 PM
Think we could see a demo?

Jacob
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: bangerang101 on March 20, 2012, 10:30:26 PM
Thanks so much guys...

J, I do want to post a demo video so badly, but I need to acquire a simple camera that I can use to just film random stuff like this, to post (my brother has a super nice camera, but I have no idea how to use it... theres like a million buttons on it). I'm also terrible w/ any kind of editing software because of lack of experience w/ any of it. I might need to upgrade to one of those nifty smart phones that are so popular these days :)

Anyway, thanks for checking it out... glad this project wasn't a terrible mishap (like alot of my other ideas!), and it actually came out pretty cool.
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: bangerang101 on March 20, 2012, 11:00:11 PM
Oh! Just remembered... I wanted to mention: if anyone is planning on building one of these 1590a projects, I found these jacks on mouser that are absolutely perfect for sitting the pcb on top of in these small enclosures: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/KC-301116.pdf

and don't forget these mono snap in jacks: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/KC-300872.pdf

there actually quite nice and a good bit smaller than the standard round DC jacks normally used. Plus you only need + and gnd lugs for these 1590a projects, since your obviously not putting a battery in.
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: jkokura on March 21, 2012, 04:38:34 AM
Quote from: bangerang101 on March 20, 2012, 10:30:26 PM
Thanks so much guys...

J, I do want to post a demo video so badly, but I need to acquire a simple camera that I can use to just film random stuff like this, to post (my brother has a super nice camera, but I have no idea how to use it... theres like a million buttons on it). I'm also terrible w/ any kind of editing software because of lack of experience w/ any of it. I might need to upgrade to one of those nifty smart phones that are so popular these days :)

Anyway, thanks for checking it out... glad this project wasn't a terrible mishap (like alot of my other ideas!), and it actually came out pretty cool.

I have used my iPhone pretty successfully.

Jacob
Title: Re: Wee-wah
Post by: jtn191 on March 21, 2012, 07:07:39 AM
could you post some more about the circuit (schem etc)?

+1 on a demo. I really like Chromosphere's idea about a volume pedal mode