My favorite pedal ever? NPD

[lars]

I recently stumbled across a craigslist ad for an odd MIJ pedal from a company I never heard of. It is one of those Fuzz/Wah combos from the 70's that it seems like everybody and their grandma made around 1975. It was cool-looking though, funky, pretty cheap, and didn't work...so I took a chance.
After finding out some information on it, and doing some mods...it is great.
It's a Pax Pedal Number One. It has what amounts to a Univox Super Fuzz in it, (although in stock form they did some weird circuit changes that made it sound god-awful). I modded it back to a proper "orange/blue" Super Fuzz, and now it sounds fantastic.
The wah circuit is basically the best I have ever used...and I've owned/built some great wahs. Nothing comes close to this thing.
Unfortunately, the original tread was gone and had been replaced with duct-tape. Underneath the duct tape was a very old garage sale masking tape label that said:  $10-. I put some replacement grip tape on.
Anyway...this pedal sounds awesome:

[jimilee]

Nice, what a gem of a find.


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[jjjimi84]

That is really cool! What is it about the wah that makes it so great?

[harryklippton]

I've always been curious about fuzz wahs but never pursued it. Which order are the circuits in?

[lars]

That is really cool! What is it about the wah that makes it so great?

It just has "that sound". I've never had a wah that feels like you're playing on an old Hendrix recording. The "W" is very pronounced, and it works great with dirt pedals. Most wahs I've ever tried tend to loose something when you add distortion, or they get very notched in the sweep. This thing is smooth and controllable. And it does the whole Shaft funk thing perfectly. The transistors are the same ones used on vintage Super Fuzz circuits. The inductor looks really cheap, and the potentiometer is a standard 100K LINEAR taper. Yep, all "wrong" according to the boutique expert builders...but together it all sounds so right.

I've always been curious about fuzz wahs but never pursued it. Which order are the circuits in?

In this pedal, stock, the fuzz goes into the wah. I reversed it to try the wah into the fuzz, but didn't like it, so switched it back.

[jjjimi84]

That sounds like the kind of wah i might actually like. Every gips i have is exactly what you mentioned. I think I have been through about ten wahs and have given up.

[culturejam]

That's a great find!