Crybaby mod issues - what's the sweet spot?

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DjPsychic
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Post by DjPsychic »

Good morning

I just went through my crybaby, and performed some of the typical mods I found on here and other sites. I'm having a few issues.

1. Heel down is a bit too harsh/loud.

2. I have a Mojo Vibe in chain after. When the vibe pedal is on and When wah is engaged, it causes distortion. Even if I'm not playing notes, there is a certain point in the range of the foot pedal/pot that causes distortion. When playing, it's distorted.

3. Not sure if it's my fuzz or the wah, but there is very little response from wah when germanium fuzz face is activated. just sounds like a treble-y version of the fuzz.


Here are the mods performed. Spent an entire day testing so my values may be a little off :blackeye:

Removed Buffer section/ True Bypass

Vocal mod: Replaced 33k w/ 68k (I've tried various values +/- 68k)

Gain/Bass mod: Replace 470R w/ 270-370R - I think I finally settled on 370 (6 hours later lol)

Midrange mod: Replace 1k5 w/ 1k8-2k2 - (I think I settled on 1k8)

Volume: Replaced input 68k w/ 47k (as suggested for removing buffer)


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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mozz
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Post by mozz »

What transistors? MPSA's? They are really high gain, find some 2n2924 or 2n2925. I toyed around with these a while back and only did the 68k mod, left the others stock. You can also buy a 4uf non polarized. There are some decent inductors on ebay from Europe. Fuzz may need a input control of 100k-250k. They never really acted good together.
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bmxguitarsbmx
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Post by bmxguitarsbmx »

DjPsychic wrote: ↑11 Oct 2020, 12:07 ...
Volume: Replaced input 68k w/ 47k (as suggested for removing buffer)
...
IMG_0332.JPG
My guess is your distortion is coming from here. Go back to 68k. You are lowering the input impedance and raising the gain and that may just be too much. Really hard to say though, that's the only thing that looks off to me.

Also, I do agree with Mozz that a 4uF does seem to be the just right value. 4.7uF and 3.3uF miss the mark IMO.
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DjPsychic
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Post by DjPsychic »

Hey guys thanks for the responses

I seem to have sorted it out...

Cleaned the pot which solved my staitc/scratchy issues

I went with a .022 "sweep" cap and it smoothed out the harshness...

Also replaced the stock trannies with a pair of 2N3904's. They sounds pretty good. Still punchy with out too much distortion

As far as the the wah not playing nice with my Ge fuzz, after doing some research, I found out this has been an issue for centuries. So short of adding an output buffer I think I have to live with it.
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DjPsychic
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Post by DjPsychic »

Heres another noob question for you, how much "distortion" is normal for a wah on footdown?
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