Wah maintenance ???

Orvillain

Orvillain

Rock Star
Richard Cranium
Messages
8,523
@James Freeman and others.

I bought a bb535 a few years back. Sounds marvellous. But if I power it from a 9vDC source, whenever I activate the wah there is an issue where the wah briefly loses power, and goes really fucking loud with a huge squeal or oscillation type sound. It doesn't do it when powered by a battery.

What should I look at investigate in order to fix this???

It isn't the PSU, and it isn't the PSU cables. Strymon Zuma, and it works fine for everything else, and my other wahs.
 
Ya, there's not much going on inside a wah and there's plenty of space for shit to flap around and get loose.
Plus having that big hole in the top of the chassis lets in all sorts of dirt and crap.

If you got pets expect to find some hair inside - especially all tangled in the grease used on the pot gear.
 
Out of curiousity, is the cable from the guitar to the wah shorter than 20’?
 
DrewJD82 said:
For shits and giggles, see what happens with a 20’-25’.
Click to expand...
I was just using it tonight with a long ass cable, and just powered by a battery. Everything fine.

But when I unplugged the input, I got a bit sweeping down buzz sine tone thing; high pitched to low pitch. I'm not sure if my other wah does that tbh, but it seems sus. Otherwise it was fine.

I've got some contact cleaner on the way!
 
SillyOctpuss said:
Nice. Always good when it's an easy solution. I'm having a similar problem with a fuzz I'm trying to solve. Haven't changed the dc socket yet though.
Click to expand...
I think the central barrel in mine was flimsy and basically losing its mechanical connection. So yeah it turned out to be quite an easy fix in the end.
 
Orvillain said:
I think the central barrel in mine was flimsy and basically losing its mechanical connection. So yeah it turned out to be quite an easy fix in the end.
Click to expand...

One of my fuzz faces has been making a loud pop when engaging recently and I'm trying to track down the reason. For a few days every pedal further down the chain was popping after turning on. After isolating every pedal I realised it was the fuzz causing the problem.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
One of my fuzz faces has been making a loud pop when engaging recently and I'm trying to track down the reason. For a few days every pedal further down the chain was popping after turning on. After isolating every pedal I realised it was the fuzz causing the problem.
Click to expand...

If it's an actual Fuzz Face pedal case, it's that. Send it to me and I'll send you something you can stick the guts in.

(I need an empty Fuzz Face so I can paint it blue and make a replica of EJ's late 80's FF, the pedal that turned me into a gear nerd)
 
DrewJD82 said:
If it's an actual Fuzz Face pedal case, it's that. Send it to me and I'll send you something you can stick the guts in.

(I need an empty Fuzz Face so I can paint it blue and make a replica of EJ's late 80's FF, the pedal that turned me into a gear nerd)
Click to expand...

No it's a wedge enclosure I've got. These guys do a proper fuzz face enclosure replica but they're based in the UK. They are really high quality though.

fuzzcases.com

'66 Fuzz Case 'FUZZCASES' Enclosure - Drilled with 'Cliff' Jacks, Rubber Beard, Back Plate, Feet & Screws. - Fuzzcases

'Fuzz Case' pedal enclosure.Handmade in England by ‘Fuzz Cases’.Cast aluminium classic 1966 rounded nose, super thick-walled fuzz enclosure. Sand cast using moldings taken from an original 1966 enclosure. The unit comes with the footswitch hole drilled at 12mm diameter. The input and output jack...
fuzzcases.com fuzzcases.com

I wish the Chinese company that makes the cloned mini Klon enclosures would make mini Fuzz face enclosures too. I'd buy a bunch of those.

Edit-- if you ever do make that replica let me know and I'll send you some transistors. I've got a load old Texas Instruments BC183s which would be perfect.
 
Last edited:
SillyOctpuss said:
No it's a wedge enclosure I've got. These guys do a proper fuzz face enclosure replica but they're based in the UK. They are really high quality though.

fuzzcases.com

'66 Fuzz Case 'FUZZCASES' Enclosure - Drilled with 'Cliff' Jacks, Rubber Beard, Back Plate, Feet & Screws. - Fuzzcases

'Fuzz Case' pedal enclosure.Handmade in England by ‘Fuzz Cases’.Cast aluminium classic 1966 rounded nose, super thick-walled fuzz enclosure. Sand cast using moldings taken from an original 1966 enclosure. The unit comes with the footswitch hole drilled at 12mm diameter. The input and output jack...
fuzzcases.com fuzzcases.com

I wish the Chinese company that makes the cloned mini Klon enclosures would make mini Fuzz face enclosures too. I'd buy a bunch of those.

Edit-- if you ever do make that replica let me know and I'll send you some transistors. I've got a load old Texas Instruments BC183s which would be perfect.
Click to expand...

I actually have that link saved and totally forgot about it!

Eric's was a '71 apparently. Supposedly the Fulltone '70 was based off it but without having EJ's actual rig from 1989/90 it's a little hard to tell. Soon I'll be ordering a couple of these in various sizes so I can start fucking around with DIY pedal work. https://www.coppersoundpedals.com/shop/p/diy-breadboard

Breadboard_Mini.jpg


And the entire reason I want to do it is to try to make my own Fuzz Face that's anywhere on par with Eric's. I can only upload this to Dropbox as YouTube blocks it immediately, but skip to 0:40 in this vid. When it cuts to the pedalboard and he steps on an A/B switch then the Fuzz Face, between the look of all the gear I had no clue WTF was and the sound coming out of that rig, my 11 year old mind was blown. My participation in this forum probably wouldn't be a thing if it weren't for those few seconds.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com
 
Amplified Parts down the street from me in Tempe AZ has those... a bit pricy tho

Chassis - Classic Round Fuzz, Sandcast Aluminum | Amplified Parts

Pre-drilled classic round fuzz pedal enclosure made of sandcast aluminum. This large enclosure is a close match to the original enclosures used on the vintage fuzz effect. It features two holes for potentiometers, two top mounted holes for Cliff style jacks, and a footswitch hole. Comes with two...
www.amplifiedparts.com www.amplifiedparts.com
 
DrewJD82 said:
I actually have that link saved and totally forgot about it!

Eric's was a '71 apparently. Supposedly the Fulltone '70 was based off it but without having EJ's actual rig from 1989/90 it's a little hard to tell. Soon I'll be ordering a couple of these in various sizes so I can start fucking around with DIY pedal work. https://www.coppersoundpedals.com/shop/p/diy-breadboard

Breadboard_Mini.jpg


And the entire reason I want to do it is to try to make my own Fuzz Face that's anywhere on par with Eric's. I can only upload this to Dropbox as YouTube blocks it immediately, but skip to 0:40 in this vid. When it cuts to the pedalboard and he steps on an A/B switch then the Fuzz Face, between the look of all the gear I had no clue WTF was and the sound coming out of that rig, my 11 year old mind was blown. My participation in this forum probably wouldn't be a thing if it weren't for those few seconds.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com
Click to expand...

I'll watch that after I get home.

The copper sound stuff looks excellent. I love diy pedal experiments. it's tons of fun.
 
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