Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

I have an issue.. I have many issues, but seriously...

I need a wah with true bypass, my old wah is toast. (got wet)

I just got a cry baby wah for 20$ and I was checking utube and I found these.

Are these videos complete? They look pretty good, but before I throw down for parts and start this madness, I'd love someone to tell me this guy knows what he is doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1iuVgGmlpc&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwYerwwl ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrpNLoLb ... re=related

I'll let Mike handle this one.. I bought a mod kit from ebay with instructions, and it worked very well. But maybe Mike can give you some pointers on saving some cash. The kit I bought was only $12 though.

I bought a $1.75 2pdt switch from effectsconnection and did it... I don't have an led on mine... cause I wanted to do as little modification as possible because mine is a 74'.

http://www.stinkfoot.se/andreas/diy/mods/dunlop.htm
this link tells you all you'd need to know. Also has some great mods that I've been wanting to find a newer crybaby to try...

Oh thank-you, thank you for the links and advice.. (bows)

That's the link sent to me as well along with the kit. I recognize it now.

I removed the buffer on mine as well. But nothing else. The signal really boosts when you click it on which can be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. If you leave it on, toe up, you will have boosted highs. Click it off and I need an extra boost pedal to match the Vol. level.

Sometimes I throw sound-guys into a complete fit with my setup. "He's up!! Then he's down!! He's all over the place!!

When I do a sound check, I do it with the wah clicked on, toe up. Then I have to give the sound-guy specific instructions not to adjust my vol. level at any time during my set. I have it covered. I boost high and low for specific songs to put the rhythm guitarist front and center sometimes. Especially when he's doing a lead. And if I want the same vol. level with a rich tone, I'll use my SD Pickup booster, wah off.

When we have no sound-check, it never fails.. I'll click the wah off, and the sound-guy will compensate with HIS volume level on the board. Then when I click it back on, I just blasted the place with searing highs and above level to everyone else. That's when they have a FIT!! "What the hell is he doing??" no.. What the hell are you doing? Leave my vol. level alone dude. This band creates depth, we're not a one-trick-pony.

So Scott. Good luck man. It's an easy mod, and you'll like it a whole lot better. Nice and clean and clear.

Might as well have some fun sending some sound-guys into a tissy while you're at it. Even I get a kick out of it sometimes. Keeps them on their toes. Funniest part is, if they would just leave things alone everything's fine. But instead they get all freaked out and start wondering what's wrong with their equipment. I see them frantically pulling their hair out sometimes. hahaha. If it's a sound-guy who's being a prick from the get go, he's in for a long set. Ah yes, a modded wah can be a nice little weapon.

I've been looking at wahs for my rig.
I guess I'm a little slow on the up take here. Nothing new right?

So................

Why the "mod"................ whats the point?

The main mod is to swap the switch with a True Bypass switch. Without making the swap, the wah distorts the true tone of the guitar even when it's switched off. Sounds real nasty.

From what I understand, it's not a mod that can be done with all wah brands. So if you do decide to get one, a good 'ol fashioned Crybaby is the way to go. A new switch is only a few bucks.

Yeah that's it.

The right tone to me is crucial.

If any effect reacts to my signal when not in use, it must be corrected or discarded.

"give me true bypass or give me death" lol

OK, good info. I sure dont want anything jackin with my tone.
Thats a NO NO

let me correct a few things there... no offence...

the crybaby wah - even the new ones - suck tone.

by this I mean they bleed highs off of your tone even in bypass mode - not distort.

if you compare your signal thru a bypassed wah into your amp to your gtr into a cable into the amp you'll notice a slight loss in vol and highs when the wah is in the path and bypassed.

crybabyies also can add noise... I believe this is a result of not sending the circuit boards input wire to ground when in bypass mode.

a typical true bypass switch is a 3pdt as it can use the first switch to change the signal path, the second to shunt the input to grnd and the third to effectively 'turn on' an LED.
note: most crybabies were made w/o an led so you only need a 2pdt to get true bypass if you don't care about the led.

fulltone, budah, and many other high end - ie expensive - wahs feature true bypass out of the box and IMHO are better wahs... but they are all in the $150 and up range.

if you do buy a crybaby, I wouldn't bother taking out the buffer... it will cause a slight drop in volume when the pedal is engaged if you do.

Don't forget the other effects in the chain.


i.e. Test your setup with and without the wah.

Sometimes you are happy with a slight volume loss, as long as you knew it was there..and planned for it.

if you do buy a crybaby, I wouldn't bother taking out the buffer... it will cause a slight drop in volume when the pedal is engaged if you do.

In all honesty, I haven't experienced any volume drop w/ the buffer removed. I'm experiencing the exact opposite.

When I click my wah on, the volume boosts. In fact it has the appearance of boosting louder than if I plug straight into the amp due to the quick spike in treble. It goes from a humbucker sound to a hot single coil sound instantly. Nice and bright and sparkly. We've had sets that were shortened to 20 minutes, and in those cases I just leave the wah on the whole time. It sounds great. It's not any noisier than a single coiled 60's cycle hum pickup. Any instrument or gadget that boasts extreme highs will have SOME level of white noise if it's any good. It's the nature of the beast.

Depending on what style you play, a modded Crybaby is as good as anything on the market. It's no different than with guitars. Some like LPs some like Teles. Some like Modern, some like Vintage. I would categorize a modded Crybaby as a hot, in-your-face wah. Much like sporting a Vintage Strat or Tele.

In my experience with my modded Crybaby, all "tone sucking" (or distortion, stop splitting hairs) is gone, it's clean, and it serves me well. That's the bottom line on my end.

if you are experiencing the exact opposite it must be the result of some other change - are you sure your kit wasn't more than just a true bypass kit?

a buffers function is to bring a signal up to level when engaged... hence removing it would cause a slight (hardly audible) drop in signal.

by it's very nature a wah boosts/cuts treble... so if the pedal is toe down it should have a noticeable difference in treble... but it shouldn't be a more noticeable difference based on a true bypass mod alone.

"a modded Crybaby is as good as anything on the market."
- again, a true bypass mod shouldn't be a mod of the core circuit or tone at all... perhaps you did some other mod to yours.

"tone sucking" (or distortion, stop splitting hairs) - again we're speaking two totally different languages... tone suck != distortion... it is a loss of highs associated with buffered bypass pedals.

After the mod, my wah sounds just like it did before, but now - in bypass mode - it doesn't bleed off those subtle highs that are so important to your tone. Again, this is a hardly audible difference till you have several buffers in line in your signal path. A true bypass mod alone should have zero effect on the pedal when engaged.

I think you might be confused about what mods you did... but either way... sounds like you are happy so: more power to ya.

I picked up a Crybaby today while messing around in Tyler.
It definitly reduces the highs a bit when turned off. I cant really tell a big difference in volume change but it drys out my amp sound somewhat.
I guess I'll be looking at doing the true bypass mod my self sooner or later.
I have never played a wah before and really no hearing a lot of places for it in our present repituar.
I'll dink with it some before I get in a hurry to do the mod.

Here's a nice tutorial on wah pedals. It'll give you some insight on how it works. Plus the guy makes some funny faces when he uses it. Pretty hilarious to watch.

Don't worry about his take on Crybaby's breaking down a lot. Mine has lasted me 10-years so far. Dude just needs to learn how to balance himself on one foot while using it standing up. It's not a step-stool, it's a pedal.

Still a good tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy7-Cao9BN8



.