Potentiometers always have static scratching noise

[Mark Hammer]

T'wasn't his sister. It was a guy whose name escapes me at the moment. The fellow went off to do something else, and the time and cost required to provide the decoration and hand-legending was making the pedals rather non-competitively priced. Zach detailed on diystompboxes some time back all the steps required to prepare and protect the graphics on those original series of pedals. As I recall, the entire process took several days.

Zach also detailed the many months he was living out of his car, driving around from music store to music store to drop off a few pedals. I assume he's doing okay now, but I'm also sure there were a lot of bills to pay off for a while, and that current sales provide for a decent place to live, a car that will pass safety inspection, and health insurance.

I'm having a get together with a bunch of guys from a number of respected pedal companies at the start of May. I'll make it a point to ask for opinions on pots.

[Leo_Gnardo]

T'wasn't his sister. It was a guy whose name escapes me at the moment.- - - -

Oh well, that was the "legend" that arrived to my ears at the time those fx first appeared on the market, cute hand painted boxes with bees & flowers & whatnot. "You're not only buying a hand made effect from a craftsman, but you're also buying a work of art." Drat, I thought those kids were paying their way thru college. Another all-American dream, busted.

Nonetheless it makes a case for the "scratch OK" sign. It happens, if you're moving a DC level, adjusting bias on a transistor or whatever.

[Mark Hammer]

Oh they absolutely are hand-painted and "a work of art". I just thought Jason Myrold should get the credit ( Zachary Vex of Z.Vex Effects | Tone Report ). To be honest, I don't even know if Zach has a sister.

To link two seemingly disparate topics, there was a point, about maybe 15 years back, when Zach's product line was not as extensive as it is now, and when he didn't have quite so many competitors, that counterfeit Super Hard-Ons started showing up in Japanese stores. Zach was justifiably livid about it, and posted pics of the real and fake pedals. The parts used weren't as good, and situated differently, and the paint job wasn't as good either. Of course, since ZVex products weren't as widely available then as now, it was hard for anyone in Japan to see an SHO in the display case and think "Well that doesn't look right". Moreover, since the graphics were hand-painted on an otherwise nondistinctive Hammond 1590B chassis (as opposed to a proprietary chassis like a Klon or Mayer or Colorsound pedal), and normally looked kind of improvised, you couldn't look at the graphics and be as taken aback by differences as if, say, a different pedal in a 1590B had an "MRX" logo on it.

Just one of those things in the ongoing history of pedals.

[Fuzzdemon]

Regardless of annoying scratch, Mr ZVex and his sister (who painted the boxes) must have made a fortune by now. Not at all a tough circuit to build, and they sell for gold dust money.



A little more information than we need...

Makes you wonder what they are doing thats so right.

[Fuzzdemon]

T'wasn't his sister. It was a guy whose name escapes me at the moment. The fellow went off to do something else, and the time and cost required to provide the decoration and hand-legending was making the pedals rather non-competitively priced. Zach detailed on diystompboxes some time back all the steps required to prepare and protect the graphics on those original series of pedals. As I recall, the entire process took several days.

Zach also detailed the many months he was living out of his car, driving around from music store to music store to drop off a few pedals. I assume he's doing okay now, but I'm also sure there were a lot of bills to pay off for a while, and that current sales provide for a decent place to live, a car that will pass safety inspection, and health insurance.

I'm having a get together with a bunch of guys from a number of respected pedal companies at the start of May. I'll make it a point to ask for opinions on pots.

Do you think he used cheap pots on purpose to keep cost down thinking people wont be too bothered about the scratching? if quality pots fix the issue id rather upgrade them.

[Fuzzdemon]

Oh well, that was the "legend" that arrived to my ears at the time those fx first appeared on the market, cute hand painted boxes with bees & flowers & whatnot. "You're not only buying a hand made effect from a craftsman, but you're also buying a work of art." Drat, I thought those kids were paying their way thru college. Another all-American dream, busted.

Nonetheless it makes a case for the "scratch OK" sign. It happens, if you're moving a DC level, adjusting bias on a transistor or whatever.

oh yea I forgot the DC thing, im actually adjusting the bias on a transistor and resistor, either way its totally unavoidable then, damn, thanks for the info anyway guys much appropriated I can get on with living with it.

[Leo_Gnardo]

oh yea I forgot the DC thing, im actually adjusting the bias on a transistor, either way its totally unavoidable then, damn, thanks for the info anyway guys much appropriated I can get on with living with it.

From the point of view of an amp repair man, sometimes a capacitor carrying signal to a volume or tone control starts leaking DC, that makes pots that sound scratchy all the time no matter what quality or how much Deoxit or whatever cleaner / magic fixit goop is applied. When the cap is replaced or other source of DC is eliminated, the scratch goes away. So it's one of those inconvenient facts-of-life. Just smile and remember that "scratch OK" advice. (put smiling bumble bee face here)

[nickb]

I set the MM to volts and touched the outer lugs of the pot and its showing me a different reading depending on which way the pots dial is turned, as if im measuring ohms. Its going from 0.0v to 0.262v.

Changing R9 is really not a good idea because of the DC through the pot and because it messes up the DC operating point of the circuit so let's back right up. What is it you want to control / achieve?

[nickb]

I knew RG had said something about this - it took me while to find it - very useful info: The Technology of Wah Pedals

[Fuzzdemon]

Changing R9 is really not a good idea because of the DC through the pot and because it messes up the DC operating point of the circuit so let's back right up. What is it you want to control / achieve?

Ive never liked the travel of the main pot on a wah, like the hot potz 2 or a new chase tone I bought or an even older 1990's pot, its too short and turns to bass too soon when you rock the pedal back so I thought modding would fix this but its only helped, so my main issue if you are asking is finding a pot that has a longer travel especially around the mids and highs.

Obviously while im here im modding the wah as much as I can, so ive got a master volume knob, gain knob, middle gain knob, wah intensity knob, 12 position sweep switch, 12 position bass control knob, 2 position switch to choose between 2 fasels, thats the main stuff anyway, some upgrades too, got some vintage caps on the way and other goodies.

Also theres another resistor that I havent touched yet, that needs a knob lol

[Fuzzdemon]

I knew RG had said something about this - it took me while to find it - very useful info: The Technology of Wah Pedals

Ive seen that before but it blew my brain, still a noob at this, I have it bookmarked some good troubleshooting tips on there.

[52 Bill]

Ive never liked the travel of the main pot on a wah, like the hot potz 2 or a new chase tone I bought or an even older 1990's pot, its too short and turns to bass too soon when you rock the pedal back so I thought modding would fix this but its only helped, so my main issue if you are asking is finding a pot that has a longer travel especially around the mids and highs.

The pedal sweep is controlled mainly by the taper of the wah pot. Original pots in the '60s were very fast in tonal sweep, which contributed to their vocal phrasing sound. Through the years with different manufacturers, the tapers started to change and now pots are available in a number of different tapers, none of which have been documented of compared, as far as I know of, at least.

Original pots had a reverse audio taper. To get a wider tonal range, I'd suggest that you try and find a pot with a linear taper.

[nickb]

Ive never liked the travel of the main pot on a wah, like the hot potz 2 or a new chase tone I bought or an even older 1990's pot, its too short and turns to bass too soon when you rock the pedal back so I thought modding would fix this but its only helped, so my main issue if you are asking is finding a pot that has a longer travel especially around the mids and highs.

Obviously while im here im modding the wah as much as I can, so ive got a master volume knob, gain knob, middle gain knob, wah intensity knob, 12 position sweep switch, 12 position bass control knob, 2 position switch to choose between 2 fasels, thats the main stuff anyway, some upgrades too, got some vintage caps on the way and other goodies.

Also theres another resistor that I havent touched yet, that needs a knob lol

I suggest you put it all back to stock and simply change C7 currently 10nF, e.g. 4.7nF will shift the resonance peak higher by half an octave.

[eschertron]

Ive never liked the travel of the main pot on a wah, like the hot potz 2 or a new chase tone I bought or an even older 1990's pot, its too short and turns to bass too soon when you rock the pedal back so I thought modding would fix this but its only helped, so my main issue if you are asking is finding a pot that has a longer travel especially around the mids and highs.

Obviously while im here im modding the wah as much as I can, so ive got a master volume knob, gain knob, middle gain knob, wah intensity knob, 12 position sweep switch, 12 position bass control knob, 2 position switch to choose between 2 fasels, thats the main stuff anyway, some upgrades too, got some vintage caps on the way and other goodies.

Also theres another resistor that I havent touched yet, that needs a knob lol

I think you're still missing a Tesla coil and a couple Jacob's ladders
Just half-kidding. If you're aiming for laboratory gear, I say go for it! If you want something gig-able, take Nick's advice and scale back. I have a hard time coordinating standing up and playing; just thinking about tweaking half a dozen knobs and switches during a performance makes me dizzy

[nickb]

Here's another approach I just thought of.

If it's just the bottom end you don't like you can reduce the range of the wah by adding a resistor ( or pot) between ground and pin 1 of the the wah pot to avoid the bassy end that you don't like. The value of the WAH pot is not shown (100k?) so I suggest a pot wired as a variable resistor of half of the value of the WAH pot would be suitable. You can then tweak to get the desired range.