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A Little Wiring Help For A Weener Wah...

Started by frankie5fingers, March 22, 2012, 05:58:45 PM

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frankie5fingers

Please excuse my extreme pedal wiring noobiness.  I've just completed a Weener Wah, a MoRc comp, and a Whisker biscuit.  All seems well, but...
I have the weener board fully populated.  Pots are fine DC and in/out jacks too.  Then there's the DPDT (not a 3PDT) star type switch.  No clue, other than bridging #6 and #1 what goes where on that.  Pretty irritating, honestly, there are only four wires (no LED) but I'm still not sure how to do it correctly.  I could sure use a diagram.
Thanks in advance.

jkokura

No worries, we've all been there.

1. Without knowing what Pot you're using, I can't tell you what wire to attach to which lug. All potentiometers should have 3 lugs, each should be labeled with a number. Try and see if you can google the pot lug numbers for the pot you have.

2. Boss standard is actually center negative, not center positive. In this case, again we need to know what jack you're using before we can tell you.

3. Again, with a switch we need to know what you're using and how you're numbering. There is no standard for numbering the lugs. There are many wiring diagrams out there for truebypass modding of Wahs, perhaps knowing what diagram you're looking at would help? Have you tried to find something already and it's left you confused?

4. As to the other projects, there is a standard wiring diagram found here that you may find helpful: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/tutorials/downloads/StandardWiring_MBP.pdf. That's available on the projects page of the website. Obviously it may not help with some things like Wahs if you're using a different configuration, but it should work pretty much all the time otherwise.

Jacob
JMK Pedals - Custom Pedal Creations
JMK PCBs *New Website*
pedal company - youtube - facebook - Used Pedals

DutchMF

He Frankie,

It's not as hard as it seems! Starting with the pots: put the pot in front of you, with the shaft facing up and the tabs pointing at you. The left tab is nr. 1, the middle is nr. 2 and the right is nr. 3. Connect the tabs to the connections on the board with the corresponding number and you're there.
Boss-style dc-jacks are center-negative, so +9V goes to the outside connector, the center pin is your ground connection, where you hook up all the other ground connections (board, jacks....). This is the reason my first build didn't work at first when I plugged it in........  :D
For your jacks: Can you identify the tab that connects to the tip of your plug? That carries the signal, the other one should be grounded to the dc-jack. If you use open, metal jacks and a metal enclosure, only the input jack has to be grounded, otherwise ground them both. I ground them both anyway, just to be sure...
The star-type DPDT switch is basically the same as you see in Mad Beans standard wiring diagram, just ignore the row of contacts that has the LED on it, because on your switch, it's not there!

Hope this helps, Paul
"If you can't stand the heat, stay away from the soldering iron!"

DutchMF

Ok, my answer crossed with Jacobs, listen to him, he's way more experienced! My answers came from assuming you used the "standard" and easy to get parts, Jacob assumed nothing and asked for more info, I feel like a noob again......
"If you can't stand the heat, stay away from the soldering iron!"

frankie5fingers

#4
OK, the pot is a McConOPot from Small Bear - this one - http://www.mccon-o-wah.com/products/potentiometer/proper-care-and-feeding-re-your-cts-mccon-o-pot

The DC jack in a Kobiconn, but not the plastic one we're used to it's all metal (at mouser it's part# 163MJ21EX).  It actually looks like a regular 1/4" phone jack, only smaller.  I can find the center (there are two other tabs) the center to the 9V on the board?  I assume the the other two tabs go somewhere as well, right?
Finally, the input output jacks - not sure where to wire them is it universal?  Wire them just like any other pedal?  The general diagrams are all out there and I looked at all before I posted.  Many are different, that's why I posted.
The switch is the Xwing DPDT from PPP - this one http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PPP&Product_Code=9001&Category_Code=SWI

I get the concept, the soldering is fine - solid, shiny, tight.  I know pretty much what's what, but have never been faced with just wires and components without instructions.  I know some things get soldered together and it isn't just one wire to one tab, there may be two or three wires that get soldered together, I just don't which ones.
So... there you have it.    Thanks again, Frank

jkokura

You're asking a lot of the basic questions all of us have when we're beginning to learn about circuits. Unfortunately, you're asking them in such a was as to need me to write a whole essay to answer them all! It sounds like you really need to slow down a bit and begin to do some research because it sounds like you're trying to put the cart before the horse.

Early on in learning to do this, I read about someone who decided that he wouldn't do any work on a part of a circuit or a part of his build until he fully understood EVERYTHING about the work he was doing. So he put the time into understanding how resistors were made, how they worked. Same with capacitors and ICs and transistors. Then he learned how they worked in conjunction with each other, and what happened to the power and the signal as it went through the circuit. Only when he understood something would he actually put the thing together.

Now I'm not saying you need to do that, but in some senses I'm suggesting that instead of just asking us to fish for you, you should learn a little about fishing yourself.

So really, put some time into googling things, and certainly use the search function here on the forum and on the other sites. Once you really can't find an answer, I'll be happy to help. Also, if you're having trouble understanding something, or want clarification then you can ask for that too.

So what you should be looking for is understanding how switches work, both 3PDT and 2PDT - particularly paying attention to how signal flows through them and how bypass works. Next it sounds like you need to understand how jacks work, particularly with DC jacks. Lastly, I think you need to look into some basic understanding of circuits, and what ground is, and what pads go to what place in a circuit.

Again, I can answer those questions, but if you really plan on doing building you will be much better served looking up some of these things for yourself.

Jacob
JMK Pedals - Custom Pedal Creations
JMK PCBs *New Website*
pedal company - youtube - facebook - Used Pedals