Well, dang!

[DaDoc]

Just got my old Thomas Organ Co. wah back today..BIG disappointment!

I bought it back around 1981-ish, and never could really use it as it was noisy as HELL when switched on, so I shelved it and kind of forgot about it.

Then in the 90's I scored one of the Dunlop reissues which works great, and then my brother found another Dunlop someone had tossed in the trash and gave it to me..It also works great! I have no idea why someone threw it away..

Anyhoo, after reading here on the forum about some of the great drop-in replacement boards being offered nowadays I decided "Why not get my old one working right?"

So I ordered a replacement board from a highly recommended builder, and put it in the old wah..Didn't work, due to me not connecting something up correctly.

I contact the builder, and he offered to wire it up correctly for me, all I had to do was send it to him and pay shipping, so I went for it!

Sooooo, after spending a total of around $150.00, the trouble of boxing, shipping, ect., ect, I finally get it back today looking forward to having some fun with my "new" toy..

And lo and behold, it's just as noisy as it was when it had the original board in it! DAMN!

What a freakin' waste of time and money!

Oh well, at least I still have my trusty Dunlops!

 

[dragonvalve]

 

[jeffb]

None of that old stuff was quiet, unfortunately, but maybe that was part of the mojo. Sorry to hear you spent all that $ for the same outcome.

If you go back and listen to a lot of great live recordings from 60s and 70s even into the early 80s- when they kick on the wahs, phase, CE1 chorus, Flangers, etc...things just got noisy as hell. Michael Schenker stopped using a wah for a bit in the 1980s, because said he could no longer find any of the old ones, and he hated the new stuff. If you listen to those early 80s live MSG recordings, his old 60s and 70s wahs were terribly noisy.

 

[dragonvalve]

None of that old stuff was quiet, unfortunately, but maybe that was part of the mojo. Sorry to hear you spent all that $ for the same outcome.

If you go back and listen to a lot of great live recordings from 60s and 70s even into the early 80s- when they kick on the wahs, phase, CE1 chorus, Flangers, etc...things just got noisy as hell. Michael Schenker stopped using a wah for a bit in the 1980s, because said he could no longer find any of the old ones, and he hated the new stuff. If you listen to those early 80s live MSG recordings, his old 60s and 70s wahs were terribly noisy.

Twasn't the mojo, it was the state of technology. Everything had noise, wow and flutter, signal to noise that was more noise than signal. We took it for we knew no better.

 

[Marshallmadness]

I have a 76 Vox wah. It was brand new NOS when I got it a few years ago. It worked awesome but started getting noisy. I actually took apart the pot on it and cleaned it real good. It has been quiet and functional as any new wah since then. It’s my favorite sounding wah.

 

[El Gringo]

Just got my old Thomas Organ Co. wah back today..BIG disappointment!

I bought it back around 1981-ish, and never could really use it as it was noisy as HELL when switched on, so I shelved it and kind of forgot about it.

Then in the 90's I scored one of the Dunlop reissues which works great, and then my brother found another Dunlop someone had tossed in the trash and gave it to me..It also works great! I have no idea why someone threw it away..

Anyhoo, after reading here on the forum about some of the great drop-in replacement boards being offered nowadays I decided "Why not get my old one working right?"

So I ordered a replacement board from a highly recommended builder, and put it in the old wah..Didn't work, due to me not connecting something up correctly.

I contact the builder, and he offered to wire it up correctly for me, all I had to do was send it to him and pay shipping, so I went for it!

Sooooo, after spending a total of around $150.00, the trouble of boxing, shipping, ect., ect, I finally get it back today looking forward to having some fun with my "new" toy..

And lo and behold, it's just as noisy as it was when it had the original board in it! DAMN!

What a freakin' waste of time and money!

Oh well, at least I still have my trusty Dunlops!

You know this struck my memory as this same wah was my very first ever Wah pedal and I of course did something to it with all the stomping and stepping back then around the same time period that you said and it was so much noise and I tried using lubricant on the whateveryou callit and that did nothing and I took it in for repair at the local mom and pop way back and after I got it back it sounded the same and I remember paying $75 bucks for the repair in the early 80's and it still sounded like crap and was even more top heavy treble than it was when brand new . I did the same thing and replaced it in 1994 with a Dunlop 535 Wah which has 3 or 4 different tone settings and I have it set on a more modern flavor that's some where in the mids for tone and this thing works well and is very reliable .

 

[Phony iommi]

Just got my old Thomas Organ Co. wah back today..BIG disappointment!

I bought it back around 1981-ish, and never could really use it as it was noisy as HELL when switched on, so I shelved it and kind of forgot about it.

Then in the 90's I scored one of the Dunlop reissues which works great, and then my brother found another Dunlop someone had tossed in the trash and gave it to me..It also works great! I have no idea why someone threw it away..

Anyhoo, after reading here on the forum about some of the great drop-in replacement boards being offered nowadays I decided "Why not get my old one working right?"

So I ordered a replacement board from a highly recommended builder, and put it in the old wah..Didn't work, due to me not connecting something up correctly.

I contact the builder, and he offered to wire it up correctly for me, all I had to do was send it to him and pay shipping, so I went for it!

Sooooo, after spending a total of around $150.00, the trouble of boxing, shipping, ect., ect, I finally get it back today looking forward to having some fun with my "new" toy..

And lo and behold, it's just as noisy as it was when it had the original board in it! DAMN!

What a freakin' waste of time and money!

Oh well, at least I still have my trusty Dunlops!

Could a noise gate possibly help with this?

 

[StrummerJoe]

Well that sucks. I hate that feeling of wasting money and not getting what I wanted.

Total bummer @DaDoc

 

[dragonvalve]

Could a noise gate possibly help with this?

It might help depends on how it's set and what's being played.

 

[Riffraff]

I don't really agree with that are all noisy but they certainly can be of you are running a large amount of gain with single coil pickups or stand right in front of the amp. What's your set up? What are you using it with?

I have a Thomas Organ wah I got new in '76 when I was just a kid. It was my 2nd pedal, my 1st was a Big Muff I used with it. I've barely used it over the years but broke it out a few times in the last 2 years to use in it recordings. I used with a Musket fuzz a few times which was cool and once with a 6505+ which I expected to be noisy but it was fine. I used it in a couple of collaboration tunes in my DAW a few months ago too. I think I still have recordings of all of those situations and none of them are noisy.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

dont fix what aint broken.
damn doc that sucks bro. those pedals were once very popular.
did you call the guy and ask him what might be the problem?
i would. hell $150 is $150 bro. not cheap for no improvements.
ya cant go wrong with dunlop as you said. i have the ZW and its
by far my fav wah. no ear splitting highs and the lows go a little
lower.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

https://www.samash.com/spotlight/obscure-du-jour-thomas-organ-co-wah/

 

[dragonvalve]

I've got the Thomas Organ model. Does ok. Used it on a solo track some time ago. Can't remember how I hooked it up but like many times things just go serendipity but it was a combination of other effects going stereo. Think I used an NS-2 somewhere. Control the gear don't let it control you.

I can see where copping classic solo covers might get n the way. Don't forget those tracks were done in a great studio with some primo gear, gates and lots of luck.

 

[ibmorjamn]

I've got the Thomas Organ model. Does ok. Used it on a solo track some time ago. Can't remember how I hooked it up but like many times things just go serendipity but it was a combination of other effects going stereo. Think I used an NS-2 somewhere. Control the gear don't let it control you.

I can see where copping classic solo covers might get n the way. Don't forget those tracks were done in a great studio with some primo gear, gates and lots of luck.

That is a great statement to remember for everyone. The engineer’s keep secrets better than the Whitehouse. I only have one Wah that I want and even though Schenker’s tone is to die for I hated the CBFH. In fact all Dunlop wahs. That being said the one thing that nearly everyone missed in his tone is the amp. I hear so many Wah is the key. It is not, the amp cranked to 10 in another room is part of it. Not all of the songs are Wah heavy but the one song that seems define Schenker to the masses is “Lights Out” that song is very much Wah driven. Not my favorite but I do get that cool vibe from it.

 

[ibmorjamn]

Oh yeah CAE dual phasal wah is the one!

 

[Marshallmadness]

I forgot to mention that you can also adjust the tonal range of the pot by adjusting the gear a slight turn one direction or the other. That is accomplished from inside and is pretty self explanatory once you get in there and take a look. Tweak to your preferences. I also have a ZW wah that I like a lot and ironically sounds quite Hendrix of all things.

 

[anitoli]

I found that noise from a wah when properly exploited can lead to some interesting soundscapes..............

 

[DaDoc]

None of that old stuff was quiet, unfortunately, but maybe that was part of the mojo. Sorry to hear you spent all that $ for the same outcome.

If you go back and listen to a lot of great live recordings from 60s and 70s even into the early 80s- when they kick on the wahs, phase, CE1 chorus, Flangers, etc...things just got noisy as hell. Michael Schenker stopped using a wah for a bit in the 1980s, because said he could no longer find any of the old ones, and he hated the new stuff. If you listen to those early 80s live MSG recordings, his old 60s and 70s wahs were terribly noisy.

Even my Dunlops are noisy, but at a bearable level. It's no secret that I love vintage stuff, effects included. (I even have a Roger Mayer Octavia!) But even so, my setup is fairly quiet..But the noise coming from the wah is ridiculous, even at clean settings!

 

[DaDoc]

I have a 76 Vox wah. It was brand new NOS when I got it a few years ago. It worked awesome but started getting noisy. I actually took apart the pot on it and cleaned it real good. It has been quiet and functional as any new wah since then. It’s my favorite sounding wah.

I'm not sure when this one was actually built, I bought it new in '81, but it could be a few years older than that.

The thing about this is that I replaced everything in it! Even the input and output jacks (good Switchcrafts). The only thing still original is the shell.

And the new board has all the "desirable" components in it, Halo inductor, along with the more expensive switch and pot, tropical fish caps, ect.

To me, it's kind of weird that a total upgrade didn't do anything to diminish the racket..

 

[DaDoc]

I found that noise from a wah when properly exploited can lead to some interesting soundscapes..............

Absolutely! Hendrix was a master at that! Unfortunately the noise from this thing overpowers everything else.