New (broken) pedal day!

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fuzzbuzzfuzz
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by fuzzbuzzfuzz » Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:56 am

Pepe wrote:
Sun Nov 27, 2022 12:25 pm
Here's finally a picture of the ultra-cheap Alesis Mod-FX Philtre plus another recent pedal that was declared as "defective":

Image

The Vox Wah-Wah V847 was made in the USA, apparently 1993 or 1994. The seller said that it doesn't do anything apart from a lot of crackling. I opened it, cleaned the battery clip and it was alive again. :D The potentiometer crackled a tiny bit at the start, but it works like a charm now.

I bought the VOX Wah along with a badly treated vintage KORG FK-3 volume pedal that I can use as an enclosure for a pedal project in the future. Yay!

I'm going to sell the VOX Wah again, because I don't like the sound too much. In comparison to my mid-'90s Dunlop GCB-95 Cry Baby it sounds totally weak. If every model sounds like this, then I don't know why the V847 became so famous. I once had a Jen Super Double Wah that had a great warm wah sound. I hoped that the Vox would produce a similar sound.
Oddly I have collected two FK-3's for that same purpose! The shear fact they already have the footswtich hole and stereo ins/outs (plus a stereo pot) is most inviting! :D

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fuzzbuzzfuzz
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by fuzzbuzzfuzz » Mon Jan 23, 2023 1:06 am

I'm going to sell the VOX Wah again, because I don't like the sound too much. In comparison to my mid-'90s Dunlop GCB-95 Cry Baby it sounds totally weak. If every model sounds like this, then I don't know why the V847 became so famous. I once had a Jen Super Double Wah that had a great warm wah sound. I hoped that the Vox would produce a similar sound.

Well the original 847 is loved by modders because of the circuit being non SMT compared to the 847A (Chinese) and thus a nice base for time travel to a v-846 spec. Personally I preferred the "quack" of the VOXs compared to the middy/slightly harsh bite of the Crybabys, but wahs are quite the rabbit hole really so I tend to stick with my Union Jack V847A.

IMO the VOXs need a bit of overdrive to shine I think. In the past I had thought exactly the same, "weak and watery" testing a USA V-847 and Crybaby Classic side by side. Went with the crybaby way back then, but then it just didn't have that peak quack point like most CBs and the mid range was quite brutal into a mid range amp and mid range drive (TS808 and Blues Jr at the time). But really I think you get used to the quirks of each wah and paired up with whatever other pedals they can all be put to effective use.

I have a bog std Crybaby 95 sat here for sale that was a mere 2000 yen, heavy, short treadle travel, a 90s flashback, but sometimes it's the sound I like!

Same as used by Steve Craddock of Ocean Color Scene, and sounding fantastic on the track "40 Past Midnight", "Riverboat Song", "Traveller's Tune" etc.

Conversely I've sat through videos of "12 Dunlops wahs on test!" and thh like and thought, "nope no quack there", not a single one. As a reference tone for me its EC (Cream days) and Jimi, the super vocal thing and few things nail it like an original 846.

That said I know a reissue 846HW sitting in a shop that my curiosity will bit on one day (again weak and watery clean). :lol:

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bigtone23
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by bigtone23 » Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:43 pm

I do really like the V847. I have one I picked up in the 90s and gave it the true bypass mod, as all my wah pedals have received (VOX, plus a 76 TO Crybaby and 83-ish Dunlop that sounds surprisingly close to the 76). The Crybabys get swapped out on my 'big' board, leaving the other one to be the grab n go in the music room. The VOX resides on the 'small' board.

I do have a non working 75 ATD WV-1 that I picked up recently. It's the company that lent the design to Maestro for the BG2 Boomerang wah. Has the EL RAD inductor. Cool stuff.
Does anyone here in N America have the know how to rehab it? I'm sort of at a loss on getting it going. I would love to have it working.

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Pepe
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by Pepe » Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:57 pm

bigtone23 wrote:
Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:43 pm
Does anyone here in N America have the know how to rehab it?
Dr. Laurie to the rescue!
Pepe at YouTube and Instagram

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laurie
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by laurie » Tue Jan 24, 2023 12:49 am

I can help. I'm in Calgary, Canada. Or I could talk you through it.

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bigtone23
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by bigtone23 » Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:31 pm

laurie wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 12:49 am
I can help. I'm in Calgary, Canada. Or I could talk you through it.
Awesome!
I'll deep dive back into it and see if I can hopefully isolate the issue, or at least see where the signal stops. Then I will get back to you and see if it can be fixed.
In the meantime, I did find an original Maestro Boomerang tote bag for it. It was in a box of various drum sticks and such from a guy selling off his storage unit before moving back to Texas. He gave it to me! A cool find!

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bigtone23
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by bigtone23 » Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:55 pm

bigtone23 wrote:
Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:43 pm
I do really like the V847. I have one I picked up in the 90s and gave it the true bypass mod, as all my wah pedals have received (VOX, plus a 76 TO Crybaby and 83-ish Dunlop that sounds surprisingly close to the 76). The Crybabys get swapped out on my 'big' board, leaving the other one to be the grab n go in the music room. The VOX resides on the 'small' board.

I do have a non working 75 ATD WV-1 that I picked up recently. It's the company that lent the design to Maestro for the BG2 Boomerang wah. Has the EL RAD inductor. Cool stuff.
Does anyone here in N America have the know how to rehab it? I'm sort of at a loss on getting it going. I would love to have it working.
Well, the wah is working! Laurie was generous with his guidance and help, as always.
I did find a guy, Joe Gagon, that sort of specializes in Maestro Boomerangs, ATD WV1, among other older, wacky wahs. He had a couple videos posted that went over the really finicky nature of setting up one of these. Unlike my Crybaby and Vox wahs, you can't just tooth the bar/pot wherever it sounds best to you, but where it works within the circuit.
After pulling apart the pot and giving the wah a good cleaning (inside and out) and experimenting with the toothing, I got it to kind of work, though it seemed the pot was bad as the sweep and travel were wonky at best. I contacted Joe Gagon and he has some replacement pots specifically for these wahs. Just before ordering one, armed with his tips, I went back and took the pot apart again, looked at the resistive trace, reassembled and fussed with the toothing. Got it to work, at about 90% effectiveness! There just a short, small scratching in one spot, only when sweeping rather quickly/agreesively. This is perfectly acceptable for me, but I will order the replacement pot to have on hand. I don't trust 48 year old wah pots.

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laurie
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by laurie » Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:28 pm

bigtone23 wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:55 pm
I don't trust 48 year old wah pots.
That seems entirely reasonable ;)

Glad you could get it working. I wonder if they knew how delicate the setup was when they designed the pedal? Dunlop wahs are quite forgiving in this regard.

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Pepe
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by Pepe » Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:34 pm

Wow, that's great that your pedal is working again. And Laurie is an ace!
Pepe at YouTube and Instagram

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bigtone23
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Re: New (broken) pedal day!

Post by bigtone23 » Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:48 pm

laurie wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:28 pm
bigtone23 wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:55 pm
I don't trust 48 year old wah pots.
That seems entirely reasonable ;)

Glad you could get it working. I wonder if they knew how delicate the setup was when they designed the pedal? Dunlop wahs are quite forgiving in this regard.
It's delicate nature is seemingly from the get go of the design..? It uses sort of odd parts (like the stock pot that is 27-31K). What made these sell was the unique tone, bigger in the low mids for sure.

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