Messages

Thanks again guys!    Since posting this up I have swapped the inductor out for a Whipple and I'm liking it even more but.... the new inductor (I assume) has introduced a bit of hiss into the toe down position of the sweep.

I'm going to revisit this and play around with some cap swaps to try and remedy that.  It is a great sounding wah otherwise!

Just finished up 2 more 4-Knob Compressor builds for a couple friends.  Everything went really well until I plugged both of them in for testing.  Neither one would bypass.  One was shorting out the input tip lug on the enclosure through the heat shrink  :?  so a piece of white decal paper fixed that one up.  The other was a bit trickier but it turned out to be a badly manufactured mono jack on the output (the tip was too long and wasn't contacting the correct part of the plug).  I got that swapped out and all is right with the world.

On the upside, I now know that the audio probe I built a couple weeks ago works swimmingly  Found both issues with it within a minute of beginning troubleshooting  

Here is my family.  None of them are high end, mostly heavily modded Squiers and Partscasters but they all feel and play great.













I really need to get me a Les Paul type guitar soon lol.......

radio shack tools put bad mojo into your builds

But they work so well! 

I use an automatic stripper from Radio Shack.  $19 and is quite possibly my favorite tool in my shop.  My only problem with them is if I need to strip a short wire in a tight spot but that is what razor blades are for lol..

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3932546

I already got a bass wah, bit I didn't build it, i'm feeling the need to make one happen.

Go for it   I have thought of building another one of these for bass as well.  This was by far the most fun I have had building a pedal in a while.  Fully recommended 

Sound sample! Sound sample!;D

I have no real way of recording one right now but I'll just say it sounds great

I had a similar problem with my weener (can't believe I just typed that  )  The problem was the trannies weren't fully socketing so I soldered them into place and boom.. wah city.

Post up the voltages you are getting and that should tell if they are part of the problem.

Sweet build!  I have one of these on deck to build.  What values did you use for the 150k pots?

Thanks,

Andy

I used B250K pots and a 330K resistor on lugs 1&3.  It got me to around 142K.  When you build yours play around with the transistors too.  The build docs say to use 2N5088's but I found that to get it to work like the demo vids of the Keeley the values should be ..

Q1 & Q2 MPSA18's matched around 940hfe

Q3 & Q4 2N5088 matched around 340hfe

Q5 2N5089 around 600. 

I think the matching is more important that the hfe rating though so like I said,  try a bunch out till it sounds right.  Loads of squish on tap with this one.

Sweet looking build!! This is on my 'very near future builds' list! Does th metal can actually make any sonic difference? It quite obviously looks sexy, but does it sound or play differently? As I already have some of NOS 'DIL' package ones..

Also, how does it sound? I've been lusting after a keeley 4 knob for a few years now, and came across the vero layout about a week ago.

Thanks


George

It sounds great really.  Suprisingly clean (and I tested it with dirty power and a cheap cable).    As for the metal can.. I have no Idea if it sounds any different than the plastic container.  These are what I had on hand lol. 

Thanks guys!  Time for coffee then I need to fire up the iron and finish up 2 more of these.

Finished this one up last week. It is a Keeley 4-knob Compressor.  The layout is from IvIark and it sounds spot on with the original.

Was a bit of a squeeze to get it into a 1590B but it all fit.  This is the first time using a pre-painted enclosure from Mammoth and I might do that again sometime.

Pics..




Now I just have 2 more of these to build and ship out then I can finish up my 4 in 1 modulation station

Oh man, that enclosure is HOT!  Is that from Mammoth?

Yep it's a mammoth enclosure.  The only real issue with it is I had to modify the mounting posts (had to grind off the aft post all the way off) in order to get the pcb to mount away from the bottom plate.

Thanks guys     I really had fun building this up.  It had been such a long time since I used a PCB (been vero and perf for the last year or so) that this was really refreshing.

I have a Current Lover and Smoothie on the bench now...  These boards are great   

Party on the outside,  Business on the inside!

I just finished up my Madbean Weener Wah build.  I had a ton of fun with this build (and a few hair pulling out moments too).  First off.. kuddos to Madbean for the awesome board!  It is very flexible and the mod options are nice.

This was my first time working with axial caps and carbon comp resistors but decided that since I had waited so long to build a wah I might as well do it up right.  In it also is a NOS 2N3565 that gave me some trouble finding the pinout for it and a Sabbadius inductor.  I also have a Whipple on order but wanted to try out this one as well and so far it sounds pretty good.

I had some trouble getting it mounted and nearly destroyed the damn thing adjusting the pins and mounting tabs to allow it to sit low enough in the case to close it up.  I also snapped the head off of one of the self tapping screws that holds the serated stick to the foot pad.  My own fault.. don't be lazy and use a power drill to drive the screws lol.  I was able to install the back screw just fine and used some Gorilla 5 min epoxy to secure the front.  It's not going anywhere  

I had a small issue with Q1 not seating in it's socket that gave me fits last night but I got that sorted out and now I am loving this thing!  I can't wait for my Whipple to arrive so I can pop that in here  

Oh yeah... and the tread is pink... what other color goes on a Weener  :lol:

Make sure your 3565 is making proper contact with the socket -- solder it in if you have to. Moving or jostling the pedal around could easily cause that and you should have some voltage on the base.

Ding!

I soldered Q1 into the socket and reflowed the socket joints on the pcb along with all the other solder connections while I had it out and bingo... Wah city now

You da man

Just finished up my Weener Wah.  It fired up the first time and all was good with the world.  I decided to adjust the felt pads and went to fire it up and tweek the peak trim and I only have bypass and led when engaged.

I hadn't opened up the pedal at all from one test to the other 

Need some help as to where to start on this.  I'll be building up an audio probe tomorrow (should have done that a long time ago) but I have pics and Q voltages right now.

Q1 2N3565

C: 8.08
B: 0.00
E: 0.00

Q2 BC549C

C: 7.92
B: 5.20
E: 7.02

Q3 2N5457

D: 8.63
S: 1.29
G: 0.00