Has Anyone Ever Successfully Converted A Wah Pot To An Optical?

[frankie5fingers]

I posted this differently earlier so I apologize for repeating, but maybe I asked the question wrong.  I'd like to eliminate the pot and gear in a wah for an optical circuit with just as much range and depth.  Is that possible or am I showing my ignorance just by asking?  Thanks

[jkokura]

I think there are few people around with the expertese you might need for that. Joe Gagan shows up occaisionally here, and there is nobody who I know of that know about Wah circuits more than him. However I don't know that he knows anything about the optical circuits in those Morley type wahs.

I know that R.G. has some info about them on geofex, so if you haven't go search that website.

I would also recommend asking at DIYStompboxes or at Free Stomp Boxes because both of those sites have wider pools of people who might be able to help you.

Wish I could offer more.

Jacob

[badgerific]

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35038&p=294461&hilit=wah+voltage+divider#p294461

That topic there shows a good compromise between optical and pot control of wah effects.

[JakeFuzz]

I have an optical foot controller out of a Hammond organ. It is very simple mechanically but you would have to make some intense modifications to the traditional wah enclosure to make it work in a similar fashion. You would almost be better building something from scratch. I can take some pictures of the mechanism if you'd like (this weekend). It is pretty much a tube with a neon lamp and a diffuser at one end. The foot pedal drops this small black sheet metal shield through a slot in the tube which slowly cuts off the light going into the end part of the tube which is just a standard LDR.

You may be able to build a similar tube and have the mounts for the rack gear attached to the light shield which would just actuate in and out of the light tube inside the pedal.

[frankie5fingers]

wow, no really...wow.

That wah is quite interesting but I guess it's not going to be as simple as just adding another optical board/circuit in place of the pot and gear.  That's really where I was heading.  I'm waiting on a few parts for the Weener and was thinking about which shell to put it into - I have a couple of Crybabys and one Morley.  I was just wondering if I could Frankenstein some of the Morely to make the Weener into an optical.  Cool idea but I think I'd better go old school on this one.  Thanks for the replies, I'm sure I'll have lots more questions.  Frank

[joegagan]

in over 11 years hanging out at aron's forum, i have never seen a build report on  the 'anderton ldr/led pot replacement circuit" (shown at geofex) that was successful.

i tried it, and found a bad time lag that made it unusable. didn't bother to try and perfect it, just moved on.
someone asked about a lag in the circuit, and i recall RG said that LEDs lit up in milliseconds, so it shouldn't be a problem. but there are plenty of components in there, who knows where the lag could be.

in a separate experiment, i built a dual ld/ldr setup for wah and vol control and found it plenty fast enough. the morleys also keep their leds or bulbs lit continuously and don't seem to have any lag problem. buy a morley cheap and copy their setup. cute little tadpoles in cardboard shutters.