Vintage Wah wah pedals

[Torren61]

Is there a way to keep the original foot switch and wire it for true bypass?

 

[Jethro Rocker]

What's a fair price for this one? I took it apart for pics and to put a fresh battery in it and got a chuckle. I use the same batteries for pedals.

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I had this exact critter! Got rid years ago.
Still have a mid 70s Morley Fuzz Wah I got around 1980.

 

[TheToneDig]

Wah's at the start of the chain so buffered was the preferred type but some of these Wah's suck your amp tone into that same mysterious place where lost picks go. So you really have to be very careful or go true bypass on a Wah that doesn't suck. For that reason I use a CAE Dunlop as my main Wah but the best Wah, in my experience, is the tone sucking Vox 847-A but that is with a Hendrix type rig. If you go that way with hard rock, then that pedal does some really special tones, half-cocked and all, but like I said your amp tone will get replaced with a layer of this wah's color.

 

[Pete Farrington]

Is there a way to keep the original foot switch and wire it for true bypass?

No.

 

[AndyD]

ICAR, 100k Ohm. No serial number on the pot so I still don't know when this was pedal made.

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ICAR pot! That’s a great result. How does the Wah sound?

 

[AndyD]

Is there a way to keep the original foot switch and wire it for true bypass?

You need to change the switch to a darling DPDT switch. Also worth tacking a 180k resistor across the 68k input resistor to reduce it to about 49k. This will eliminate any volume drop when switching in the Wah from true bypass.

 

[AndyD]

Carling not darling!!!!!!

 

[Torren61]

Carling not darling!!!!!!

Too late. You said "darling". I love you now, Sweetheart.

 

[Torren61]

ICAR pot! That’s a great result. How does the Wah sound?

It sounds pretty good. I had a squeak that was telegraphing all over the pedal but it went away when I used WD40 on the side pins of the enclosure. I also put some lithium grease where the plastic pushes the gear rod on the pot gear. I also adjusted the position of the pot gear for a better range.

 

[yladrd61]

Any opinions on the best current manufacturer for vintage wah sounds?

Check out Joe Gagan "The Wah Whisperer" he has what you are looking for.
https://www.ebay.com/str/joegaganwah

 

[Torren61]

Check out Joe Gagan "The Wah Whisperer" he has what you are looking for.
https://www.ebay.com/str/joegaganwah

Thanks, I bought an old CryBaby.

 

[AtomicRob]

Is there a way to keep the original foot switch and wire it for true bypass?

No.

Just get a true bypass looper, problem solved without any modification needed to your wah pedal. And a bonus, you can leave your wah pedal half-cocked and switch it on and off without losing the sweet spot.

 

[DaDoc]

Update:

I'm in the process of ordering a Detrik board, a Hotpotz, and a 6 lug Carling switch from Jerry..Still haven't quite made up my mind which shell to use, probably the old one if I can remove the current components from it without damaging them.

Kinda stoked, this is gonna be FUN!

 

[Ivan H]

Update:

I'm in the process of ordering a Detrik board, a Hotpotz, and a 6 lug Carling switch from Jerry..Still haven't quite made up my mind which shell to use, probably the old one if I can remove the current components from it without damaging them.

Kinda stoked, this is gonna be FUN!

I've also ordered all necessary items to rebuild my Zakk Wylde Crybaby's circuit. Whazzgroover's component order has already arrived, just waiting on the Sabbadius halo inductor to arrive, sometime this week according to the shipping tracker. Haven't decided on which pot to eventually use yet, or whether to use the standard, 13 tooth or 12 tooth pinion gear,, if anyone has experience in this regard, any input will be greatly appreciated. I intend to use the old Vox Grey wah layout, wired point to point on unclad perfboard (that I already have), seen here
I've built a few stompboxes using this type board & technique, so am familiar with. The wah is already true bypass wired, so will stay as is in that regard. I'll probably drill out the enclosure to fit an insulated DC power socket. Of course, the input & output jack sockets will be reversed to what is seen on the layout. Yes, this will be a fun endeavour. Cheers

 

[Silverdome]

Any opinions on the best current manufacturer for vintage wah sounds?

I have a teese, a Fulltone, a Crybaby and a Vox. As of late I think the Vox does the best wah of all of them. The trick IMO is you need lower output pickups. If you have any distortion pedals you might need a buffer as well and then dialing that in is key.

 

[Silverdome]

Wah's at the start of the chain so buffered was the preferred type but some of these Wah's suck your amp tone into that same mysterious place where lost picks go. So you really have to be very careful or go true bypass on a Wah that doesn't suck. For that reason I use a CAE Dunlop as my main Wah but the best Wah, in my experience, is the tone sucking Vox 847-A but that is with a Hendrix type rig. If you go that way with hard rock, then that pedal does some really special tones, half-cocked and all, but like I said your amp tone will get replaced with a layer of this wah's color.

Yep, in all my journeys just a cheap old Vox 847 I bought off ebay for around $40 or so does the trick.

 

[Torren61]

How does one determine the year of manufacture using a Cry Baby wah serial number? Mine has a serial number of 39925

 

[DaDoc]

Got my Detrik components yesterday, Detrik board, Carling 6 lug switch, Hotpotz potentiometer..Along with an input jack for a DC input. I guess I'll get to work on it tomorrow!

 

[DaDoc]

How does one determine the year of manufacture using a Cry Baby wah serial number? Mine has a serial number of 39925

Hmm, I would think one could can look that info up online (somewhere).

My old one, which like I said is from the late 70's-early 80's has a serial # of 2087148, yours is obviously a lot older than that..Wish I could help more more.

 

[Torren61]

I narrowed it down to 1968.