Replacing Dunlop Wah Inductor

[Deep Blue]

I've got a GBC-95 Dunlop wah wah, newer model.  I know, I know, it's not a very good wah.  But I got the thing for $40 with a free 3pdt switch and 2 patch cables thrown in.

So anyways, I want to make it better.  First of all, I plan to replace the 33k resistor that runs in parallel with the inductor with a 68k, which is supposed to give the wah a more 'vocal' effect, which might be cool.

But I could probably get the most sound improvement by replacing the stock inductor.  Fulltone offers what I need - their Clyde wah inductor, modelled on the halo, but which costs $30.  That's almost what I got the pedal for.  I'm not paying $30 for a relatively-small electronic component.

Is there somewhere I can pick up a similar inductor for a sane price?  Or any other sort of inductor that will improve my sound a good deal?

[Craig V]

That's what you have to expect to pay for quality.  You might want to try the Fasel that Dunlop makes.  Order it from Small Bear for $20.  

I think you also might want to try to make a completely different circuit board.  The Dunlop has some extra buffers that you don't really need.  Maybe remove all the guts and put that in a seperate pedal; it'll be just like that Dunlop Q pedal that they make, basically a wah without the rocker.

The wah pot is also a $25 part.

[Deep Blue]

Is the dunlop fasel as good as the Fulltone clyde inductor?

[Craig V]

I haven't played the Fulltone, but there was someone here a few weeks ago, in the old forum, who did a comparison of a whole bunch of inductors.

The new Fasel was #2, the only thing higher was the Italian can.  I haven't been able to get into the archives, but you may want to try.

[danny]

I'd try getting a new board first.... If you wanna go the cheaper route,try some resistor and cap changes.

[ErikMiller]

I'm writing up an article about just this subject, but until I finish it, my suggestions are to try these things in order:

1. True bypass (duh)
2. Increase the value of the resistor in parallel with the inductor (I like 82K or 100K).
3. Eliminate the input buffer.
4. Replace the 390 Ohm resistor between the emitter of the second (not counting the buffer) transistor with 470 Ohms. I've not seen this mentioned anywhere, and there's more than one "Dunlop Crybaby" schematic that incorrectly indicates the value as already being 470. Check yours.
5. Replace the transistors with 2N2222's (or BC108B's if you can find some).
6. Replace the inductor with a red Fasel from Small Bear.

Knowing what I know now, I'd first do steps 1-4 at one time, then 5, then 6, checking the tone/operation each time. I did them all, but in a different order, so I'm not sure which ones had the most effect. I can say that after I did all these things, my Dunlop Cry Baby sounds very little like it did when I started, and I'm very happy with it.

[ErikMiller]

I just remembered: in my Dunlop Crybaby, the resistor in parallel with the 4.7uF cap (from one side of the inductor to gnd) was 82K while the McCoy schematics call for 100K in that position. I changed that along with the 390-470 swap.

These changes were all to bring it in line with the Clyde McCoy, which seems to be the standard for Cry Baby type wahs.

Until I made the reisitor changes, my wah was muddy and distorted in the bass region. Now it has a throaty growl in that range.

[Arno van der Heijden]

I just noticed that the Dunlop JH-1 wah has some extra capacitors. One of them across the pot, the other across the inductor.
http://www.geocities.com/j4_student/jh1wah.gif
What would be the effect of these capacitors? It sounds interesting to me as I have never heard of these mods before.

[Prive]

That was the first mod i did in my 95, i liked and i use it for a long time and when a friend ask me to mod his 95 i put the 2 95 in line just to compare and the difference was really big, if you like the hi-end don't use it, but if you put that caps in the empty places you'll lose bright and make the sound a little dark and lifeless.

Saludos, Marcelo.