Modding a Morley classic wah

[Leprecon]

Hi,

I'm kinda new here. I amused myself first with reading other posts, but
now it's time for a question.

Can anybody help me with modding my morley classic wah?
I would like to have it more wah sounding, and I think a lot more treble... when placed in front of distortion, the wah is almost gone, and so is the treble...

Any suggestions?

[Tim Escobedo]

Which model to you have? If it's the currently available CLW model Classic Wah, I might be able to offer some advice. If it's one of the older chrome classic wahs, maybe not.

[Leprecon]

It is a new one...

that would be nice, if you could help...

[Tim Escobedo]

The current model CLW is essentially the same as the model PWA, except that  the CLW has no input buffer and subsequently, no buffered bypass. You can see the PWA schematic here:

http://morleypedals.com/pwa.pdf

Eliminate U1B, C24, C25, R32, and R33, and the rest of the circuit is the same. Also P1 is a swapped with a fixed 6.8k resistor.

First thing you could try is manually tweaking the LDR/LED on either side of the shutter. This can affect range quite a bit.

One thing I found useful was to parallel a .002uF cap with R1. I simply piggybacked the cap onto the resistor leads and soldered them together. This affects the treble by boosting the highs a bit. I found this most useful.

Another thing I did, which you may also find useful is piggyback another .002uF cap with C6. Interestingly, this lowers the range a bit but also makes it a bit more useful, IMO. Even more interesting, the circuitboard shows that C5 has a value of .0068uF (as does the schem of the PWA). However, in the CLW I have, the actual value of C5 is .0022uF.

These simple mods have made my CLW more useful and easy to hear when put in front of a dist stage.

[Leprecon]

Thanx for helping me,

I'm not sure what you mean by manually tweaking the LED ... Could you explain perhaps?

Thanx,

Michaël

[Travis]

Move the LED/LDR around.  Change the angle and distance between them.  Tweaking their positions will have an effect on the sound.

[Leprecon]

Another question:

When I piggyback those capacitors and resistors, Can I increse the value of the piggybacks, and by this affect the range more or less???

And what can I do to make it sound more wah??

Thanx,

Michaël

[Travis]

Changes in values will change the effect.  I'd start with the mods he suggested, and then work out exactly how you want it to sound.  Do the mods one at a time, and play through the pedal after each change.  That way you'll know what each mod does, and how to increase/decrease the effect.  

A helpful tip: If you have extra switches, put each mod on a switch for the trial run.  That way you can A/B the modified circuit against the original.  If you have no surplus switches, the best you can usually hope for is a friendly guitarist in the neighborhood.  It helps if he's good.

[Leprecon]

Thanx,

Will try that and let you know what sound good...

[gak]

hi everyone, i'm new here

i've never thought about moving LDR/LED, so when it was an interesting idea to try... i haven't found too much change in sound, but it affects the way the effect is driven with the movement of the pedal allowing more 'expressiveness'...
i own a Morley Wah Pro Series-II and at least the last half of the run of the pedal was useless... now almost the whole range produces different sounds and it sounds more like a conventional wah... i think the best set i've found is LDR inclination up to 20° and LED at 45° (aprox..)..

i think tomorrow i'll try it better (it's too late and i don't wanna bother my neighbours :oops:) and i'll also try the resistors and caps mods...

i wonder if it would be possible to make a mod to turn it into a switchless wah like the bad horsies... what do you guys think?
edit: i was looking at the schematics and it doesn't seem to be pretty easy... but what do you think about a case-mod to put the switch at the end of the run like it's in the crybaby's?

thnx!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

i own a Morley Wah Pro Series-II and at least the last half of the run of the pedal was useless... now almost the whole range produces different sounds and it sounds more like a conventional wah... i think the best set i've found is LDR inclination up to 20° and LED at 45° (aprox..)..

I can't imagine what Morley are thinking, I see these completeley out of whack (some wholly useless!) in my local store, just need adjusting. Have they no quality control at all?? :shock:
I have seen some secondhand where the original LDR has been replaced also..

[gak]

well... i'm not sure if the 0,002uF cap in paraller with R1 made any difference... (i've also tryied 0,001uF)... i think not... maybe i'll try other values later...
anyway, after that mod and lot of LDR/LED tweaking i feel more confortable with my morley wah pro series 2...
anyway, any other mod suggested?

[Travis]

Paul,
Morley used to be proud of the fact that the first half of their throw was below the useful range for guitar.  I believe the old low figure was 20Hz.  They were trying to design for the entire recording industry, though; keys, uber-bass, etc.

I should note that I have yet to play a Morley made after 1983.

[Transmogrifox]

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:38 pm    Post subject:    

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Move the LED/LDR around. Change the angle and distance between them. Tweaking their positions will have an effect on the sound.

It's easier just to change the bias resistor on the LED.  This principally has the same effect.  It just moves what I call the "break point" around.  It's a matter of do you want to hear the vocal "wah" sound right at the end of the range, or do you want it to max out more quickly?  Do you want it to not even travel as far as the vocal wah (break point) range?  
Toe heavy or heel heavy? <----as Digitech calls it.

I personally kinda like it just a little bit further back than Morely has it in their stock pedals, so I just make that 4k7 resistor a little smaller so it hits the "break point" sooner.

As far as the wah circuit itself goes, this is a crybaby or Vox.  I recommend using something other than the 3904's.  I personally think they make it a little more muddy than the crybaby.

[Travis]

I always install a trimpot in series with the bulb/LED the first time I replace it.  They generally need a bit more to sound right.

Moving the light source/LED does make a significant difference, at least in the old effects, because the sweep is predicated by the cloth drop.  Different relative angles make a large difference in the speed of the sweep, and, more importantly, in the duration (not just location) of the sweet spot.  

The trimpot can dial in some of that effect, but it seems to be more useful for regulating the fully open (fabric completely withdrawn) sound.  As you noted, large portions of the pedal throw sometimes have minimal effect on the sound.  Both steps work together to even the sweep.