Weener Trannie, Cap, and Resistor Combo

[frankie5fingers]

FWIW, YMMV, whatever. To my ears, I've found the perfect combination of sweep, range, gain, and clarity.  I used the somewhat popular 10nF in C5, with a 15nF in C1 (per Timbo) and removed the freq pot (per Jakefuzz).  I also put a 33K resistor in R2 to keep the output up, with a 150R in R4 which keeps the gain up without Q1 clipping. The 2n3565 and BC549c in Q1 and Q2 is really great. Timbo's 2n2925s are really soulfull too.  I wanted a wah that had a lot of quack, a very (very) wide sweep, and zero noise.  I wanted it to be clean enough to do '70s porn soundtracks or score a "Shaft" marathon, but ballsy enough to play something like "Tales of Brave Ulysses" or Hendrix' "Rainy Days". That's a tough request cause those are the polar opposites of wahs. With the above changes, it's the sh_t.  The 2925s really push the both edges of the sweep, but it's hard to fill out the middle.  The 3565 and BC549 are a "lighter" version of that same quack and puking wah sound - it's a tough call.  In a live setting, cutting throug a mix, the 2925s are it.  For studio work I call the spec trannies.  A little EQ can g a long way to accommodating both. Again, YMMV, but this set of mods gives me all that's needed for a major improvement against available wahs and in an almost noiseless package. It  takes a bit of tweaking the trimmer to find the exact spot where the peak and clipping can live happily, but it is in there, just takes some patience. Vintage to modern with turn of the pot and a little EQ. If there's a more versatile or better sounding wah, I haven't heard or played it.

[Jargo]

This is what I wanted to read! nice

[frankie5fingers]

Glad to hear it.  I hadn't wired a wah before and had to be re-educated that a wah is just like any other pedal, but once I got that through my enormous and evidently very thick skull, the build was a breeze.  The tweaks and mods took a little patience to dial in, but like I said, for my money, it's my fave wah of all.  More Madbeans pedals to follow.

[Jargo]

Finally managed to get a few minutes with the iron. Removed the Freq pot and voila! the wah is now speaking to me. I am waiting for some trannies from Timbo (I couldn't ignore your insistence). But as it stands, I cannot recall a wah that liked as much as this one. I do have to score some fancy grease at the mechanic's down the street. I may want to dirty-it-up a bit. Don't know yet

[frankie5fingers]

Socket R4, I can't decide either, I go back and forth.  Sometimes I like it jumpered, sometimes clean - I dunno, but either way, I like it.  I socketed that and all the others I'd need to change; output etc.  I'm glad they told me to do that.

[Ang3lus]

so i just leave the freq trimmer out ?

[frankie5fingers]

If you're building; yes, you can leave the freq trimmer and C6 out.  If you're removing, just remove the trimmer, you cut off C6 by removing the trimmer anyway so no need to remove it.  To my ears, it sounds better without that pot.