WAH parts

WAH parts

The secrets of the WAH pedal

In the '60s, three basic tone shapers and accessories appeared alongside traditional guitar amps. One is the spring reverb, the other is the distortion, and the third is the WAH effects pedal.
In 1960, when Dick Denney, the ingenious designer of the VOX company, studied in detail the function of the sordino inserted into the bell of the trumpet, the resulting sound effect fired his imagination: - Why couldn't the guitar sound be manipulated in the same way? By shifting the frequency of a filter with a narrow transmission band, one can achieve the characteristic whirring sound. The designer entrusted the changing of the frequency and thus the shifting of the band to a potentiometer. The rotation of the potentiometer is created by the moving connection of the gear wheel attached to the shaft and the rack attached to the pedal.
The first versions were produced by the VOX company and served under the feet of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. In the 1960s, Zelmer and Marshall also developed WAH pedals. The first pedals were very simple two-transistor filter circuits with all their initial drawbacks. Among these we highlight the low output level. Few people know that the WAH produced by Zelmer worked much more intensively, but appeared in a narrower band. The WAH pedal didn't make Marshall famous either. Later, the Jim Dunlop company took over the production of WAH pedals and is now the market leader. The base model was called the GCB-95 Original Cry Baby.

It works in a relatively broad spectrum, its impact is intense and the guitar sound takes on a swelling character. The output signal level is high enough to drive the input of any standard guitar amp. Many people don't understand how a device made up of so few parts can cause so much trouble. Here are the main sources of error: First, of course, the potentiometer. Consider how many times the shaft rotates back and forth during your solo.
During this time, the potentiometer's wiper grinds and rubs on the resistive track many times.
This mechanical element is the most commonly used part. Unfortunately, you can quickly hear the crunching, crunching noise, especially in the lower end position of the pedal, which clearly indicates wear. Don't start DIY, it's not worth it! There are people who spray it with all sorts of (and mostly unsuitable) contact sprays and often get the opposite effect. Another weak point is the wafer-thin multi-pass resonant circuit coil, which sits on a ferrite pot-iron core. The wire breaks in various places from the vibrations of use, the little devil of engineering, although it ensures that it cannot be repaired. The mode switch is at least as vulnerable. The product of the Carling company in the metal-vinyl case design is of high quality and has a longer service life.

Only professional exchange can help! Even the series-related plug used does not increase reliability. Thin, fragile surfaces, wires that can break at the core, all increase the chances of failure. Flaws arising from the connection between the gear and the rack are less common today because they are made of very reliable material. This used to happen quite often and this part can also be defective in models that are a few decades old. The most mysterious error phenomenon is damage to the transistors. Bad cables and built-in pickups can send a picosecond long, but high-amplitude interference signal into the device, which leads to malfunctions in the electronics. In the event of one of the errors listed, only have this repaired by qualified and experienced specialist personnel!
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