Build Your Own Clone Message Board

So, this is my neighbor's ( per my Open thread he is the guitar tech for TTB) and I fixed the battery issue so it works. But he would like a 9v ps with the battery option and an LED, basically like we build them now. Ok, if new easy peasy. However, this is not MY old wah so I'm not jumping in guns a blazin'. He thinks it's vintage and while it's old I have no idea if it has mojo but to him it does. So with that in mind.....

I've poked around on the webz and one thing that pops up is that once modified for the PS it becomes noisy. Some other folks said theirs was not. Who knows with this one.

Question 1: Can I dive in and wire for TB like all the others, stereo jack for in the input of course for battery use, LED, etc... or is there something about how these things were wired that would not allow for what appears to be a straightforward fix?

Question 2: If I do wire for TB do I have to cut the buffer trace/get rid of the buffer in some way? I read this over at Stinkfoot.

I don't intend to mess with the PCB per se if I can help it. I'll just strip the existing old wire and lengthen with the new wire not disturbing the PCB at all.

I'm wide open to some thoughts and potential pitfalls to bringing this puppy up to modern times.

Forgot my pics

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Stinkfoot.se is all about Wah mods. Check that out.


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Pedal building is like the opposite of sex. All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

Lots of good info over there. Thanks Jimilee.

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Oh, I didn’t even look to see who posted that. I can’t believe you didn’t know about it. There is a lot of good stuff there. I’m glad it’s helpful.

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Pedal building is like the opposite of sex. All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

Actually when you mentioned the name I recalled his site but I had never spent much time there in the past.

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Ok, so I sure could use a second opinion and insight on this. First. I went to Stinkfoot and sure enough found my exact PCB which was not on his site but he links you to another site for pre 1990 Wahs. On the PCB drawing below I seem to have a discrepancy on the terminals. I've gone over this in my head multiple times but again it's not my Wah so I'm trying to get this right out of the gate vs trial and error.

So if we start at the top of the Wah/PCB you have 6 terminals on the right descending.
1- PCB output?
2- PCB input?
3- PCB ground?
4- ?
5- Ground
6 - 9v

So if you will notice I have the battery hooked up to the last 2 terminals in the pics above. The pedal works like this so I'm thinking the 9v is the last one. There is also a red wire going to the input jack so I'm thinking good that's it. But if you look at the wiring diagram below off the website it has the opposite it appears with the ground as terminal 6 and the 9v as terminal 5. What gives?

I'm adding an LED thus the 3PDT. Also a pic below shows how I'm wiring the stomp switch.

Any thoughts on how to wire this one up?

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John, I can't be certain from the photos: does the input jack have two lugs (mono) or three (stereo/"TRS")? Looks like the latter.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Bob it has 3 on the input as a stereo. I've gone back and forth on ground vs sleeve on this jack. I can talk myself out of either one. I've spent a lot of time trying to work this out before I start. I think I may have it worked out but who knows. I've been locating vids and found some with the exact PCB and are much cleaner than this one.

I've taken many pics and wrote down what goes to what in case I have to just pull what I do and put it back in how it was.

What I think I have on the PCB for the 6 terminals as it is now is:

1- Goes to Lug 2 of the pot.
2- PCB in
3- PCB out
4- Ring going to battery neg ( I hope as this is where my mind tells me the black wire goes to ground/sleeve )
5- 9v+
6- Ground for both battery and input jack ( again this is where I'm thinking well it looks like this goes to the sleeve but the drawing on the attached pic says ground. )

I think part of my issue is these old jacks and what I think I see on the input jack vs what really is. Above is what I think I see on the input jack. The wire that you can't really see good is the black wire that runs from terminal 4 and goes under the input jack. I'm torn as black is what I think of in terms of "major" ground but I would swear it is the sleeve here. The red/faded pink runs form terminal 6 to what I hope is the ground and I intend to treat it as such as I rewire. I also think this as I've stared at the jack terminals and determined this to the best of my ability.

The switch that I'm putting in I'm trying to correlate with the existing wiring of course.

If it was my old wah and not his I would have already wired up and if it didn't work cross that off and move a few wires until I figured it out. I'm probably overthinking it worrying about messing up his vintage wah when it's really only wires and it's not like I'm pulling parts on the PCB and replacing them. But if I didn't worry like this I wouldn't be me

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John, do you have a TRS cable handy? That would be an easy way to conclusively know which lug was which (i.e. tip, ring or sleeve) on the input jack. Insert one end into the jack, then determine which section of the other end shows continuity to which lug on the jack.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Yeah that's how I came to my conclusion of what is what in the jack. Some folks over at Bean's don't want me to drill any holes. I appreciate their sentiment as I lean that way for these vintage things but the guy wants it more playable for his needs. It's always that dilemma with this stuff I guess.

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Bob any idea why they used a stereo jack since they were not switching between a battery and power jack? Was this some kind of way to keep the battery from draining with a cable left in the input jack?

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I wouldn't drill a hole for the DC jack unless you have express permission to do that from your neighbor. I would assume that he knows the implication of adding a DC jack for a P/S connection, but it never hurts to ask.


Yes, that's exactly why the stereo jack is used. If there's no cable in the jack, the ground path is open and battery current doesn't flow.

What I'm struggling with is the battery connections. Doesn't make any sense that the battery + would connect to the input jack. Is it possible that the red wire on the battery connector is the negative? Can you check that with your multimeter with a battery connected?

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Bob that makes sense. The reason is that when he gave me the pedal I was getting an intermittent signal. Turns out the battery connector he had was faulty. I swapped it out hooking the red wire to terminal 6 and black to terminal 5 just like he had his battery connector. Works a treat so I figure that the connections are correct. Then I run up on the diagram in this thread on the Castledine site and he shows terminal 6 as ground and terminal 5 for the battery + and I was thinking how can that be. Well if the red wire is neg that's how.

Before I pulled the battery connector off the wah I checked the voltage and sure enough terminal 5 at 9v and terminal 6 nothing. Now why the red wire would be negative baffles me.

I'm not sure how you mean on the battery. I hooked one up to a loose connector and put the black lead to ground on the wah casing and touch each connection on the battery lead and get nothing on either battery + or -.

Also I covered the power jack with him as he is the one who told me he wants it next to the input jack and not the output jack and where to drill as well as an LED hole at the heel. But I still plan to not drill, get it working with the jack and LED and then ask him one more time if he is sure.

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When it does come time to drill, expect it to take a little more effort (or a sharper bit) than standard aluminum enclosures. I drilled out a wah enclosure for some reason long ago, and I remember it was quite an undertaking. That might have been in the pre-drill press era, though.

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Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

OK, having pored over that old layout diagram and looking at the wiring in my own wah, I've marked it up, and this is how I would wire it with a 3PDT stomp switch and an LED. I didn't show the DC jack and battery adapter, but those just need to be wired to each other and the power + and - terminals on the PCB. Look it over and see what you think.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Holy cow Bob. Thanks for this. I'll report back later today.

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Hoping I got everything right! I'd definitely recommend confirming continuities on the 9V and ground paths with a multimeter as you go through this. A couple of comments:

• Your identification of the six PCB terminals looks correct to me with one slight correction to #6: I would call that the effect circuit ground and expect it to be isolated from the power (-) terminal (#4) except when there's a cable in the input jack connecting its ring & sleeve together.
• Note that my labeling of the tabs on the two jacks is just based upon what they're connected to. Their positions spatially on the jack may well be different than what the diagram shows.
• Don't forget the current-limiting resistor (CLR) between your +9V source (whatever connection point you decide to use for that) and the LED. If the LED and DC jack aren't physically close together, I'd be looking for a nearby point on the PCB that shows +9V with your meter rather than running a wire all the way from the DC jack.
• I couldn't figure out how the wiring you show for your footswitch would work, so I went with the connections that BYOC typically uses for a true mechanical bypass switch with an LED indicator.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Hot dog it works! Now I have to drill holes, I reconfirmed he wants this done, and reconnect and then clean it up. Dang it was the dirtiest wah I've ever seen. Unless you tell me dust bunnies have mojo?

Bob, I can't thank you enough for taking the time and helping me with this.

When I'm done I'll post some pics.

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Great, that's good news! Looking forward to seeing the pics when you have it all done.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Bob, quick question. So the LED lights with the 9v but doesn't with just the battery although it still works just fine.

Thoughts on getting it to light up with just the battery?

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Could I see a photo of the battery and DC jack wiring, please? Are you using a fresh battery?

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

I'm getting 9+v off the battery so I think I'm good there.

I have the + and - battery connection directly to the PCB. I then have a red wire going from the + terminal 5 to the DC+ jack. I then have + leg red wire of the LED going to the DC+ jack. I have the - leg of the LED going to the switch on as you had it drawn up.

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OK, try this:

1. Disconnect the red battery (+) wire from terminal 5 and run it up to the unused middle solder tab on the DC jack (add additional wire length as needed). This is necessary to preserve your battery when running off a power supply.
2. Check to see that the black wire attached to terminal 6 (main effect ground) is connected to the SLEEVE (middle) tab of the input jack.
3. Check to see that the thicker black wire attached to terminal 4 (power -) AND the black wire attached to the (-) tab of the DC jack both connect to the RING tab (closest to the LED) of the input jack.

Keep in mind that you always need to have a cable in the input jack for power to flow with this wiring scheme, because that ring tab connection is what completes the ground path needed for current to flow.

BTW, where's the CLR for the LED?

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

I'll wire it up and check back. The CLR is wrapped up in the black heat shrink. It's a 4.7k. You know I looked at that DC 9v and said I think I recall that's used for a battery and then I just did my thing and forgot about it I haven't wired up for a battery in 10 years.

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Yep, thought that was probably what you did....and a good way to do it!

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2