Weak wah sound :(

[murf]

Hey guys.. I recently got a crybaby gcb95 and was hoping for a stong wah sound when I play sweet child o mine. But all I got was a very weak wah when I turn on the amp distortion, and even weaker when I go up to the higher frets.

I've read that this is a common problem with this pedal. Any advice on how to make the sound better? Or must I mod this pedal

 

[headcharge]

DIY mod, the gain mod specifically is you want to play with distortion, the cheapest way to go.

 

[murf]

To do that mod... you must swap resistors am I right? Most mods I've read about requires you to do that. How do i get the old resistor out, rip it?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, getting the resistor out is not a problem, problem is finding which resistor to take out.

If you can find the right one according to the info you find online, then you have to use soldering iron, heat the solder joint, take a desolder sucker thingy(can buy from diy shop, home fix etc) suckkkkkkkk up the melted lead, remove the component, put in new one, solder it back.

Heh, if the above is too difficult, i suggest some methods.

1) Change placement of wah in the effect chain and try again
2) Find someone who can play or at least listen, listen to the problem you find in the setup and decide if its really valid
3) Determine if the problem of weak sounding wah, is it an inherent design of the wah pedal itself or placement problem, wah-ing technique problem or some other reason, before jumping straight to modding.

oh lastly, if still wanna spend more money, then get a new wah. Spend less money, find out the mod thats available(more than enough sure to find after googling it) and diy. Dont want to spend money, relearn how to use the pedal with different placement in signal chain and gain adjusment/control

 

[murf]

Hey, thanks man. The problem, I found, is quite common with this crybaby model. The weak sounds, etc. I found this website about wah-modding...
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.castledine/greenfuz/wah.html
There's a ref photo below... looks like the gain mod reqs the 2nd resistor at the bottom to be replaced? That's what Im thinking =|

For methods 1) and 2), really would like to try that out, but I rely solely on amp effects. So there's no way I can change my set-up, haha.

Just got the pedal. So, I wont be getting a new wah! Should've gone for slash's wah if I'd known D:

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

another thing to take note is whether the revision of the pcb in your wah is the same one as the pics on the site stated.

heh, last thing wanna is new layout revision from manufacturer which might not be reflected on the mod page...

have fun!

 

[zax]

yeah the slash wah is awesome , my lead guitarist uses it cause he's on the wah all the time , love the tone but i'll stick to my dunlop customshop pink one

 

[murf]

But quite ex right, the slash wah? Bah.. totally regretting that I bought the standard now..
Will changing the line-up of pedals really work tho? Maybe I get a distortion pedal and put it before the wah...

 

[zax]

no no , the wah goes first , i have no problems with mine . Yeah of course its expensive but good stuff obviously comes with a price . haha I've learnt to live with mine , try adding a clean boost pedal like the mxr micro amp , or a boss ge-7 , might do some good cause thats what i do

 

[Whitestrat]

1) Change placement of wah in the effect chain and try again
2) Find someone who can play or at least listen, listen to the problem you find in the setup and decide if its really valid
3) Determine if the problem of weak sounding wah, is it an inherent design of the wah pedal itself or placement problem, wah-ing technique problem or some other reason, before jumping straight to modding.

I 100% agree. It's not always about the wah. It could be something else. Best is to try it on clean, and then find out if the wah is weak or not. If it's not, then it's either your gain stage, or your pickups which could be too compressed. Either way, best is to use Pathein's method, and find out first before spending anymore money.

But if you really want to spend more, here's something I stumbled across recently, and it's kicked my Hendrix wah off my board totally... Not too much sweep, and not too little. Just nice, but incredibly smooth.

Plus, it's got an on/off LED which is simple, yet bloody important, so I've discovered in the studio... Whahahahhaa...:mrgreen:

 

[murf]

The wah'snot weak on clean, but after changing to using amp distortion, the wah'spower get's sucked away. More so at higher notes. Can't do anything about my line-up... distortion is from my amp. Seems like I'm stuck in a rut =| Maybe I'll borrow a distortion pedal to see if putting it before the wah really helps.

And no... don't plan to get another wah anytime soon. Heh. Anyways, tthanks for the advice guys =D

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

if your amp got effect loop(efx sent and efx return), connect a cable from efx send, to the input of the wah and from the output of the wah, connect another cable back to the efx return on the amp.

if no efx loop, ignore the above.

oh, dont worry, if you try, it wont destroy anything either

, its just another way of connection, making use of the efx loop on the amp...to get your wah, after the distortion from the amp...

if theres effect loop on your amp, try it and let us know the result, bad or even worse than before

 

[murf]

I think don't have leh. Mine's a roland cube 20x.
http://www.roland.com/products/en/CUBE-20X/index.html

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

yup yup, no effect loop.

one last thing maybe you like to check first, before really opening up the wah and go ahead with the modding.

Borrow a wah pedal, a different wah pedal from your friend, connection and playing everything else remain the same, try to listen whether does it react the same as the one you have.

 

[murf]

I found out the reason. It's just what I expected... the effects chain prob. I tried putting a friend's distortion pedal in front of the wah, sounded perfect. Looks like all i gotta do is get a new pedal!

Thanks for the help guys =D really appreciate it.