Wah enclosure suggestions

[Bret608]

I'm curious if anyone here has tried the wah enclosures from Antique Electronic Supply. If so, were they easy to work with? Was there a spot to mount a Weener Wah or other PCB that makes sense? I see Small Bear had a hefty price increase on the Eleca enclosures they carry, so I'm just scoping out other options before hunting down a used Cry Baby to gut. 

[WonkoTheSane]

I just buy a cry baby, I can find them for $40 or less, especially if they've broken down. Bonus it's painted and assembled.

[Bret608]

Thanks for the tip! Do you typically find those on Ebay or Reverb?

[WonkoTheSane]

Both, I picked up one last month with a stack of dimes, early dunlop with leftover Thomas Organ parts in it for $35 shipped.

[blackhatboojum]

I second the used crybaby idea.  The enclosure is of much better quality than what amplified parts/antique electronics offers.  I built a weener wah with one of those enclosures and I'm not that impressed with it.  It feels cheap. 

[jwin615]

I second the used crybaby idea.  The enclosure is of much better quality than what amplified parts/antique electronics offers.  I built a weener wah with one of those enclosures and I'm not that impressed with it.  It feels cheap.

Do you like the weener?

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Wah?

[Bret608]

I shall start scouring for a used one then! Thanks, everyone.

[blackhatboojum]

I second the used crybaby idea.  The enclosure is of much better quality than what amplified parts/antique electronics offers.  I built a weener wah with one of those enclosures and I'm not that impressed with it.  It feels cheap.

Do you like the weener?

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Wah?

The wah circuit itself, I like and think it sounds great.  I auditioned various components and voiced it to my liking.  The feel of the wah under my foot is what I'm not a fan of.  It's stiff, clunky, and gritty feeling because of the enclosure I used.  No amount of adjustments to the pot or treadle tension has really been able to correct it.  It doesn't have the smoothness that a Dunlop has.

[WonkoTheSane]

A couple went up on ebay today from $35-$45 and shipping.

[jwin615]

The wah circuit itself, I like and think it sounds great.  I auditioned various components and voiced it to my liking.  The feel of the wah under my foot is what I'm not a fan of.  It's stiff, clunky, and gritty feeling because of the enclosure I used.  No amount of adjustments to the pot or treadle tension has really been able to correct it.  It doesn't have the smoothness that a Dunlop has.

Good to know. I've never actually had a physical wah.  Plenty of modelled.ones over the years, but I've never need drawn to them much...
I've wondered if the real mccoy(pun intended) would inspire me more. I'm not a lead player by any means, no sweep picking or tapped solos here.  But figured I'd like to try a more vowel centetric wah sound if I went there. Does the weener hit any of the vowel/nasal tones at all?

[Bret608]

I hear you, I had a Dunlop Crybaby years ago (mid-nineties or so) and it wasn't quite my thing, but it seemed like it wasn't quite hitting the frequency range I was hearing in songs I like that feature a wah, if that makes sense. Now that I'm over 50, seems like time to give it another try!

[gordo]

It's weird but wah is such a personal/frequency dependent thing.  I'm fascinated by how people over use them as much as how they use them.  Eric Gales is an insanely great guitar player but his use of wah totally annoys me.  And he picks freqs that REALLY annoy me.  Doyle Bramhall II, total opposite.

Back on topic:  Most wah enclosures I've bought have been fair to middling.  I agree that buying an old one is usually cheaper/better.  It's going to get stood on it's whole life if it's used properly.

[WonkoTheSane]

Modern wahs use transistors that are too high gain and they tend to sound thin. 200-250 hfe is ideal, not the 500-850 they use now. Q1 should be lower hfe to prevent distortion and to bias correctly. They also use a 100K Q resistor which narrows the range and makes the filter sharper, 68K is compromise, I still prefer 33K. The Q1 emitter resistor controls the sound more than anything else, this controls the overall gain which changes the range of the sweep. If this resistor is too low you'll get distortion, I like it somewhere between 220 and 390 ohms. The original Clyde's had this resistor at 390 ohms, which lowers the range a bit and has a little more gain. The pot controls the feel of the sweep, I actually like the Thomas Organ sweep more than the old ICAR sweep. The inductor plays an important role too, the modern ones just don't sound very good, of them I like the yellow FASEL even though its not really a cup design as the marketing says it is. I have tried the new dunlop halo, imo its not worth the cost. I have not tried the Sabbadius one or any others. Of the old ones, the stack of dimes or original halo are my favorites. The trashcan is also interesting and has a narrower Q I think, at least of the ones that have been in wahs I've tried or repaired. The circuit is similar to a Fuzz Face and that every little tweak changes the sound.

[Bret608]

So I finally scored a used Crybaby, which looks to be "revision E" from 1990 (first time they used the board mounted jacks). It's actually got the 390 ohm Q1 resistor and the 33k Q resistor. Transistors are 2n3904, not MSPA18. Interesting! Also, for some reason they used a 2.2uf cap instead of the 4.7uf that most seem to use. It's just got a scratchy pot, but once I deal with that I'll be in a better position to see if I need/want to swap out the board or do mods.

One quick question though--the board is missing the screw that holds it down, so it can actually move a bit since the jacks weren't tightened down much. What type of screw is the right size/type for that spot? Nothing in my toolbox seems to work. Looks like a Menard's trip is my future!