OLD crybaby wah, mod recommended

[greatplanes]

i have what looks like an italian made crybaby. i`ve searched every where for mods, but do not see any with the small brown circuit board like mine
so i`m asking if any one know this board, and what can be done to give me a hedricks tone out of it

[Thaxt]

I know what you mean by that Jimi tone. Very 'vocal'. If you have a real, original , Italian made, Vox Clyde McCoy wah, (ca 1966-67) - wow, hang on to that one!

Try putting "wah wah mods" in a search...there are several good sites out there on how to do this. I've found & printed out lots of stuff on modding wahs this way

www.fuzz-central.com has an "Axis Wah" article that features great ways to optimize your wah tone.

The best thing to come down the pike for Hendrix 'talky-vocality" on wahs is the Whipple Inductor. He sells them on www.myspace.com/thewhipple, (or whippleinductor?) Its easy to just put "Whipple Inductor" in a search & get his site. I think he's setting up to sell these (home-wound) wah inductors more directly of late. The reviews & feedback from other players as to what these do for a wah's tone all seem pretty stellar. Good reviews from many players.

They're sold on ebay (put 'whipple inductor' in their search bar) , & run about $25 each. For some xtra $, he will include the right value resistors, & an ICAR (original Vox/McCoy/Italian wah taper) pot as well. I think the whole mod kit now comes to about $43.00 or so.

Anyway, it was found that it was the inductors themselves that held the foremost key to Jimi's & Santana's (& others) 'vocalness" of the sound - which these earliest wahs had a near-monopoly on for a long time.

Those first inductors were cheaply made, but had a certain kind of ferrite core that saturated the sound w the choicest harmonics...So, some players (natch) eventually got down & studied how to wind their own to recreate the variables that made them sound the way they did in those early models.

A UK cat named Stewart Castledine, & now, the Whipple's custom-winder, apparently got closer, even beyond (they claim) the reissued Fasel inductors. They say the Whipple is king now, as far as upgrading your own wah goes. Got to admit, much easier than trying to find an original '66 Vox wah!.

Hope this helps! - I am into all the same mods. My 70's Vox wah tone sucks by comparison.