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Sonic Mountain
18-12-2018, 01:26 PM
So I was digging through one of my many boxes of cables and gear recently and came across this old wah pedal I'd completely forgotten about. It was given to me like this and apparently there is some problem with the power supply. I have done a little bit of googling and it is supposed to have a 9v connector attached to the board. I have one, as per the pic, but I'm not entirely sure where I should be soldering it on the PCB. There are a few different versions of the board and I can't find a clear pic of this one.

So I guess I'm just after a bit of advice and direction. Is the above a reasonable place to start? Should I just buy another PCB? Who's a good local supplier?

I think I can see how the pot used for the wah attachment mechanically connects to the pedal, so I'll start fiddling with that and see how we go...

https://i.imgur.com/JtAHbX2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/aubma9y.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4p8JSSi.jpg

I also have a korg multi effects pedal that the wah doesn't work on...if this goes well I might investigate that as well.

Bakersdozen
18-12-2018, 03:02 PM
So funny , last few days I've been looking into modding my crybaby for true bypass, led and tone shaping. All very easy mods to do and relatively cheap <$10. I've found a good place for parts (switches, caps and resistors) is Pedal Parts Australia. They have complete crybaby boards ready to drop in to an enclosure if it ever comes to that as well. Also other genuine wah pedal parts etc.

And you may get some more info on the different circuit board revisions from stinkfoot.se along with any mods you may want to do while you've got her cracked open.

Have fun!

Bakersdozen
18-12-2018, 04:25 PM
Don't know if this will help as mine is a different PCB, but where I have marked with a circle traces to where the positive of the battery goes. Looks like the third lug in from the edge on yours is the same connection ...29454

Andy40
19-12-2018, 01:46 AM
Hey Sonic, good luck with this. I was thinking of building a wah pedal after I get through my current back log of pedal builds. They have a wah pcb on Pedal Parts Australia wedsite

Sonic Mountain
19-12-2018, 05:07 AM
Cheers guys, further googling reveals that the battery connection is on the two outside lugs on the board connector. Again I can't see my specific board with a battery, but this shows the connections here. This ones been modded for bypass as well....

http://www.danieleturani.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_2050-1024x764.jpg

So I might try that. A replacement board is only $52 on that pedal parts site, so I can always go that way if I can't get this one working.

FrankenWashie
19-12-2018, 05:37 AM
This thread reminds me that i need a new power supply for my Wah. And one for my Trem-N-Dous Gain. And my EQ. and a pedal board. Hey Santa.....

Sonic Mountain
19-12-2018, 06:21 AM
Hah yeah, I've got a new group of people to play with so I'm trying to put together a halfway decent jamming rig.

I normally use emulators on the computer or my Korg multi effects. Which is fun, but its a lot of randomly cycling through presets to find the right sound, plus it doesn't let you switch between clean and effects easily.

I bought a Boss Metal Core pedal off facebook yesterday which is pretty awesome, so I have that and the DS-1, gives me a decent palette of classic rock to more 90's stuff distortion wise. Need a better chorus as I only have a horrible PSK pedal and possibly a Phaser and that should do for the stuff we are going to work on.

My first time as lead guitarist.. so no pressure :p

FrankenWashie
19-12-2018, 06:42 AM
Hah yeah, I've got a new group of people to play with so I'm trying to put together a halfway decent jamming rig.

I normally use emulators on the computer or my Korg multi effects. Which is fun, but its a lot of randomly cycling through presets to find the right sound, plus it doesn't let you switch between clean and effects easily.

I bought a Boss Metal Core pedal off facebook yesterday which is pretty awesome, so I have that and the DS-1, gives me a decent palette of classic rock to more 90's stuff distortion wise. Need a better chorus as I only have a horrible PSK pedal and possibly a Phaser and that should do for the stuff we are going to work on.

My first time as lead guitarist.. so no pressure :p

Nice, I need to start following songs and playing in conjunction with others. I spend a lot of playing time pointlessly noodling; a bad habit I need to break.

Sonic Mountain
19-12-2018, 06:50 AM
Yeah it has been really good actually needing to specifically learn something, so when we get in the space early next year we already have a decent set to work on. Even though its only for shits and giggles, it's still a reason to pick up the guitar and practice rather than noodling and playing the same phases and riffs over and over. I've definitely fallen in a rut since my last band fell apart.

Sonic Mountain
19-12-2018, 01:43 PM
OK, so I found a 9v power supply with the headphone style jack in amongst all my bits and pieces. I definitely have power, I can get sound through the pedal. Clicking the switch activates the pot and it makes some noise as I turn it by hand (like an old dusty pot would) but there is no 'wah' effect, although the guitar still makes sound through the pedal.

I'm tossing up replacing the PCB. I am pretty sure I can score one of these pedals - working- for a little bit more at Cash Convertors, but then I don'y really learn anything.......

Sonic Mountain
19-12-2018, 01:47 PM
Lol..hold up!

I just went and looked at that pic above again and noticed the black wire is on the wrong lug on mine. I swapped it and it works!

Now to see if I have all the bits to reassemble it.....

Bakersdozen
19-12-2018, 02:33 PM
Winner! Looks like someone might have hacked at it before it was in your possession.

Sonic Mountain
20-12-2018, 06:39 AM
Yeah seems like it. So the only thing I am missing is the nut for the wah pot. And I don't have a suitable one in my bits and pieces.....so need to work out how I can get my hands on one of them. May end up buying a new pot.....

Bakersdozen
20-12-2018, 06:41 AM
If you can find it on pedal parts let me know, I'm going to do an order soon and I can mail it to you.

Sonic Mountain
20-12-2018, 06:46 AM
Cheers man, I'll see how I go.

Sonic Mountain
20-12-2018, 04:50 PM
I found a suitable nut finally. Turns out I did have one.. I need to have a big reorganise.

The pedal still isn't right though. The cog is spinning on the pot and the wah effect is intermittent. So there must be bad connections somewhere. I guess I'll keep fiddling.....

Bakersdozen
22-12-2018, 04:07 PM
I found a suitable nut finally. Turns out I did have one.. I guess I'll keep fiddling.....

Trying hard not to make a nut joke, sorry Man [emoji3]

Andy40
22-12-2018, 04:52 PM
Ha ha ha nuts so funny

DrNomis_44
30-12-2018, 08:41 AM
I found a suitable nut finally. Turns out I did have one.. I need to have a big reorganise.

The pedal still isn't right though. The cog is spinning on the pot and the wah effect is intermittent. So there must be bad connections somewhere. I guess I'll keep fiddling.....

Sounds like the Wah Pot is a bit dirty (a pretty common issue with Wah pedals since the Wah pot tends to have it's shaft rotated a lot and they wear out over time), what I would do is order a new Hot Potz of the correct value online, Realtone Music may have them in stock, I used one to replace the dirty intermittent Wah Pot in my Jim Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wah pedal and it fixed it completely.


I just remembered that I've got a Jim Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal that's fully working, I'll post a pic of the insides once I find it.

Sonic Mountain
31-12-2018, 06:01 AM
Cheers Doc, yeah that's the plan re the pot. Seems the most logical point of failure. Hopefully that will also rectify the pot 'cog' spinning on the shaft and not turning the pot reliably.

DrNomis_44
31-12-2018, 11:05 AM
Finally found my Jim Dunlop Crybaby pedal, so here's a couple of pics of the internals:

29582

29583


Here's a tip, if the stock SPDT (single-pole double-throw) footswitch ever goes intermittent in operation, you can easily replace it with a 3PDT footswitch, I did that with my Jimi Hendrix Wah, and after adjusting the footswitch so that the treadle switches it reliably, it worked perfectly.

I'm seriously considering modding both my Jimi Hendrix Wah pedal, and my Crybaby Wah pedal so that they both have indicator leds, I'll start a new thread detailing how to do the indicator led mod later on.

Sonic Mountain
31-12-2018, 04:20 PM
Cheers Doc. That's the later circuit board, mine is the first one they changed to the jacks being directly soldered to the circuit board. Mine doesn't have the 'buffer' in the circuit apparently.

Electronics is a bit of a new frontier for me. I've always been fine with electrics in general, but once you get into this level my knowledge is sketchy at best.

But yep thanks for the tip. I may just replace all the guts, it's not that dear compared to a whole new pedal. I'd like to try and problem solve and learn a bit first though.

Bakersdozen
31-12-2018, 04:36 PM
Just did the true bypass, triple wah (stock/Hendrix/bass wah) and LED mod to my crybaby.

Sounds great and you can change tones at the flick of a switch. The only thing I am experiencing is that the LED is constantly illuminated, albeit very dimly, when the wah circuit is off. Goes brighter when the wah is activated. And there is an audible pop when the circuit is activated.

Currently troubleshooting this, but open to suggestions if anyone has been thru the same thing. I followed stinkfoot.se for the processes.

DrNomis_44
31-12-2018, 08:25 PM
Just did the true bypass, triple wah (stock/Hendrix/bass wah) and LED mod to my crybaby.

Sounds great and you can change tones at the flick of a switch. The only thing I am experiencing is that the LED is constantly illuminated, albeit very dimly, when the wah circuit is off. Goes brighter when the wah is activated. And there is an audible pop when the circuit is activated.

Currently troubleshooting this, but open to suggestions if anyone has been thru the same thing. I followed stinkfoot.se for the processes.

If one pole of the footswitch is used to switch the indicator led on and off, then it's possible that there might be some bad contacts in the footswitch that's causing the led to be constantly illuminated, does your Wah pedal use a 2PDT, or 3PDT footswitch?, you can check the contacts by using a multimeter set to continuity test....hope that helps.

Bakersdozen
31-12-2018, 08:48 PM
If one pole of the footswitch is used to switch the indicator led on and off, then it's possible that there might be some bad contacts in the footswitch that's causing the led to be constantly illuminated, does your Wah pedal use a 2PDT, or 3PDT footswitch?, you can check the contacts by using a multimeter set to continuity test....hope that helps.Brand new 3PDT from Pedal Parts, Doc. Can I do the continuity test with the switch still wired up, or will I have to de-solder all points to test?

DrNomis_44
31-12-2018, 09:47 PM
Brand new 3PDT from Pedal Parts, Doc. Can I do the continuity test with the switch still wired up, or will I have to de-solder all points to test?


Yep, you should still be able to do continuity tests with the switch wired up, some of the 3PDT footswitches I've used have ended up with loose solder terminals after I took too long soldering wires to them and overheated them, this tends to cause the contacts to go a bit intermittent.

Bakersdozen
01-01-2019, 03:38 AM
Yep, you should still be able to do continuity tests with the switch wired up, some of the 3PDT footswitches I've used have ended up with loose solder terminals after I took too long soldering wires to them and overheated them, this tends to cause the contacts to go a bit intermittent.Righteo, is that fixable or do you need a new switch?
And do you rekon that would be the root cause of the pop on activation?

DrNomis_44
01-01-2019, 08:40 AM
Righteo, is that fixable or do you need a new switch?
And do you rekon that would be the root cause of the pop on activation?


In some cases it may be fixable like for example if the footswitch is a 3PDT but only two of the poles have been used, you can just simply solder the wires from the faulty pole onto the unused but good pole , but I usually just replace the switch with a new one, the pop you hear on activation is usually due to charge build ups in the input coupling cap of the pedal's circuitry, you can fix that by soldering a 1M or 2M2 1% metal film resistor from the tip connection of the input socket to the sleeve connection of the input socket, doing this will allow the built-up charge to bleed-off to ground, since the resistor is very high in value it will not have any audible effect on the sound.

Bakersdozen
02-01-2019, 07:18 AM
Thanks Doc!

Managed to get the LED working correctly by bridging the earth over to the spare lug. Found that out when doing the continuity tests and connected that lug and the LED went out. Now it works as expected.

In regards to the pulldown resistors, does it matter which one to use ie. 1M or 2M2 ? And would these be suitable?

https://www.evatco.com.au/1-watt-metal-oxide-resistors

I just can't find anything pertaining to 1% on there though.

Going to do the gain and vocal mod next, which is just swapping out 2 resistors. Do you also rekon that replacing the caps with orange drops would be worth it on the triple wah mod? Would it make that much of a difference to the sound quality in your opinion?

Sorry Sonic for hijacking your thread.

DrNomis_44
02-01-2019, 11:49 AM
Thanks Doc!

Managed to get the LED working correctly by bridging the earth over to the spare lug. Found that out when doing the continuity tests and connected that lug and the LED went out. Now it works as expected.

In regards to the pulldown resistors, does it matter which one to use ie. 1M or 2M2 ? And would these be suitable?

https://www.evatco.com.au/1-watt-metal-oxide-resistors

I just can't find anything pertaining to 1% on there though.

Going to do the gain and vocal mod next, which is just swapping out 2 resistors. Do you also rekon that replacing the caps with orange drops would be worth it on the triple wah mod? Would it make that much of a difference to the sound quality in your opinion?

Sorry Sonic for hijacking your thread.

You can use either a 1M or a 2M2 resistor, it won't make much of a difference other than getting rid of the pop, those 1W metal film resistors will work, the resistor can even be a 1/4 Watt 5% carbon film type and will also work, you might not hear much of a difference if you swap the stock caps for orange drops, since the Wah pedal is running on a +9V supply.


The resistor just needs to be high enough in value so that it doesn't present too much of a load to the signal, and either a 1M or 2M2 resistor will do the job fine.

Bakersdozen
02-01-2019, 12:12 PM
Thanks mate Jaycar it is then [emoji3] your probly right, spending the $ on orange caps isnt really worth it. Appreciate all your help

DrNomis_44
02-01-2019, 01:56 PM
Thanks mate Jaycar it is then [emoji3] your probly right, spending the $ on orange caps isnt really worth it. Appreciate all your help


There's nothing stopping you from putting orange drops in your Wah if that's what you want to do, yeah you can get those resistors from Jaycar, they sell packs of 300 1% metal film resistors in various values, I bought a pack so that I've got them if/when I need them, no worries at all, only too happy to help out whenever I can.


Bag of 300 1% metal film resistors:

29603

Bakersdozen
04-01-2019, 05:13 AM
There's nothing stopping you from putting orange drops in your Wah if that's what you want to do, yeah you can get those resistors from Jaycar, they sell packs of 300 1% metal film resistors in various values, I bought a pack so that I've got them if/when I need them, no worries at all, only too happy to help out whenever I can.


Bag of 300 1% metal film resistors:

29603Hi Doc, I've added the 1M resistor (from Jaycar #RR0644) across the tip and sleeve on the input socket and the pop still occurs. Is this what you meant, or have I missed something? Any other ideas?

Gain and vocal mod were a success, swapped out 2 resistors and makes a world of difference.

Really happy with all the mods now, apart from this dang popping .. I should note that I have removed the led from the equation to test and that doesn't fix the issue.

Edit: have now tried the pulldown resistor on all combinations of input / output jacks. And from the circuit input and output lugs on the switch to ground. No luck. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190103/97b220fbee564af774d431dd01696ad3.jpg

DrNomis_44
04-01-2019, 08:31 AM
Hi Doc, I've added the 1M resistor (from Jaycar #RR0644) across the tip and sleeve on the input socket and the pop still occurs. Is this what you meant, or have I missed something? Any other ideas?

Gain and vocal mod were a success, swapped out 2 resistors and makes a world of difference.

Really happy with all the mods now, apart from this dang popping .. I should note that I have removed the led from the equation to test and that doesn't fix the issue.

Edit: have now tried the pulldown resistor on all combinations of input / output jacks. And from the circuit input and output lugs on the switch to ground. No luck. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190103/97b220fbee564af774d431dd01696ad3.jpg


The Sleeve connection is actually the one to the left of the middle one, the middle one is the ring connection, shouldn't make much difference though since the middle and left connection get shorted together when you plug a 6.5mm Tip/Sleeve plug in it, I'll have to do a bit of thinking to figure out what else could be causing the popping sound.

Bakersdozen
04-01-2019, 08:49 AM
The Sleeve connection is actually the one to the left of the middle one, the middle one is the ring connection, shouldn't make much difference though since the middle and left connection get shorted together when you plug a 6.5mm Tip/Sleeve plug in it, I'll have to do a bit of thinking to figure out what else could be causing the popping sound.That's what I figured. I did also try directly on the far left as well with no luck.

Bakersdozen
31-01-2019, 06:53 PM
Finally all fixed after waiting for a new switch. Must have burnt out the previous one and was causing issues with led and popping. Was very careful with this one and took my time to ensure good, clean and fast solders.

Sorry again Sonic for hijacking your thread mate. Regular viewing is now resumed.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190131/3960dd731018519538ec3776ddbc51f9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190131/ac92364a6294aa8b6d6dba2729895c5d.jpg