Arteffect vs. Whipple halo inductor replica?

vintagecharlie · Post by **vintagecharlie** » 24 May 2010, 22:33

Dear forum members,

i'm having hard time to decide which one of these halo replicas to choose for my v847 that will be modded to McCoy/v846 specs.
Any experience and suggestions about these inductors are welcome. Either way i'd buy them as a kit (Halo, ICAR pot, true bypass switch) from the corresponding sellers on ebay and the prices for the kits are basically identical - about 50$.
I've read contradictory opinions on these two, so any info and especially a comparison would help a bunch.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Kind regards,

VintageCharlie

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 24 May 2010, 23:58

I have worked with both. I feel like they are pretty similar, I like the Whipples just a bit more. Michael is a great guy to deal with, I have ordered more than a dozen inductors from him in the past year. A word on the ICAR taper pots everyone is selling, if you use your wah alot/agressively these pots get scratchy pretty quick. I like to use NOS Clarostat Hotpotz-1, but they are getting harder to find. One source that has them is BrownNote amplifiers, but they are not the best about responding to email. You can get them from time to time on eBay. I have 3, but I am hanging on to them. I have built a few V846/McCoy clones from the PCB's available on eBay. However those come from Thailand, and I think the mail is not working correctly there right now because of the rioting/civil unrest situation. Anyhow, the copper traces on those boards are VERY thin and fragile, it is a good idea to nickel plate the solder lands or at least pre-tin them. Good luck!

vintagecharlie · Post by **vintagecharlie** » 25 May 2010, 04:12

timbo_93631 wrote:I have worked with both. I feel like they are pretty similar, I like the Whipples just a bit more. Michael is a great guy to deal with, I have ordered more than a dozen inductors from him in the past year. A word on the ICAR taper pots everyone is selling, if you use your wah alot/agressively these pots get scratchy pretty quick. I like to use NOS Clarostat Hotpotz-1, but they are getting harder to find. One source that has them is BrownNote amplifiers, but they are not the best about responding to email. You can get them from time to time on eBay. I have 3, but I am hanging on to them. I have built a few V846/McCoy clones from the PCB's available on eBay. However those come from Thailand, and I think the mail is not working correctly there right now because of the rioting/civil unrest situation. Anyhow, the copper traces on those boards are VERY thin and fragile, it is a good idea to nickel plate the solder lands or at least pre-tin them. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply, timbo!

Could you please tell me what it was that you liked more about the whipple inductor?
I've already ordered the PCB from Thailand

Will look into these Clarostat Hotpotz-1 - that was news to me. I also thought that the new replicas, at least some are good?

All the best,

VintageCharlie

sinner · Post by **sinner** » 25 May 2010, 06:56

I had (still have) Whipple's only, so I can't compare to the Arteffect's. I'm very happy with Whipples

Not about the pots, I've scored some Diva wah pots from my local supplier, they're cheaper than anything else I was using in past, and that's the same thing that Fulltone uses in his wahs. Try to truck them

Greg · Post by **Greg** » 25 May 2010, 07:17

Speaking of pots, and sorry to go OT (I'm interested on the OPs question also)..
I have an original Italian Jen Super Cry Baby with a red Fasel in it.. I checked the pot which is stamped as 100K, and it has 165K within the sweep of the pedal, so I'm guessing it must really be 200K.

I have a stash of Dunlop Hot Potz IIs here and also a 200K Pro Pot.. are these good ?

Also the other inductor that you often hear mentioned is the Castledine from UK.

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 25 May 2010, 15:42

I think the Whipples sound closer to a real Halo inductor from an Italian Crybaby/V846/Clyde. Maybe a little more clarity or transparency on the top end of the sweep. Less "icepick between the ears" sound. The Arteffect are nice, but just don't have quite as vocal of a sound as the Whipple. I think the top end is more icepicky. Stuart Castledine's are supposed to be really super close to the original Halos, but I have never had one to evaluate. Most of the "ICAR" taper pots out there right now are made in Korea, this includes newer Fulltone, Whipples, Area 51 etc. Older Fulltone pots were made by Winged C in China. The Hotpotz-II is not as good as the Hotpotz-1 for a few reasons. The taper is different, using shorter bumpers on the rocker for more range doesn't work as well because of a big midrange peak in the curve. Hotpotz-1 were actually produced on the same machinery as the original Allen Bradley pots used on all USA Thomas Organ wahs, albiet that machinery was moved to Mexico in the early 80's and potz-1's were made there. I like them because they are rated at 1 million cycles, that is alot of wah-wah!

vintagecharlie · Post by **vintagecharlie** » 25 May 2010, 17:31

Thanks for the great info guys - that helps a lot! The info about pots is also very valuable to me, as i don't know which way to go in this regard either. So i'll keep an eye open on the ones suggested here, which i even didn't have on my radar.
Are the Castledine halos easily available or not really?
I suppose i'll go with the whipple or the Castledine then. For the pot i'll look into what can be found.

Thanks again! More suggestions are welcome, of course.

All the best,

VintageCharlie

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 25 May 2010, 21:22

FWIW the Castledine inductors are no longer available seperately, they just sell them with already populated boards.

Greg · Post by **Greg** » 25 May 2010, 23:24

timbo_93631

Thanks for the info.. you didn't mention the Pro pots, which I understand are 200 to 220K.
They should have a slower and narrower sweep I think with the so called "sweet" spot wider.
Any experience ?

I have one here that I'm looking forward to comparing, but I think it should suit what I'm after which is a more mellow sounding wah.

vintagecharlie · Post by **vintagecharlie** » 26 May 2010, 14:53

I've heard Castledine Halo being mentioned as the best around here and on other forums. So is there something like a "consensus" that his halos are top of the line or could the Whipple be an equally strong contestant?

I think if Stuart does that kind of service, i'd probably send all the NOS stuff to him and let him assemble the board for me, and include his Halo replica - i think that would be probably the best decision, as i wouldn't assemble it myself anyway (don't trust my soldering skills enough to mess around with such hard-to-find parts as piher resistors or nos BC109B's and the afaik easy to break tropical fishes. But if you guys would suggest going with the Whipple, then i'd find a local tech in my country for that probably.

Thanks!

VintageCharlie

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 26 May 2010, 19:03

VintageCharlie, where are you located?

vintagecharlie · Post by **vintagecharlie** » 26 May 2010, 20:32

Europe, Latvia. Why do you ask? Because of my location wah-wah.co.uk should be a reasonable choice, as it's also within EU and there's no VAT, etc.

Otherwise i'd probably buy a used RMC3 or RMC4 and put it's guts into a used v847 enclosure. But being on this side of the pond makes any RMC an item of luxury as due to shipping and VAT, taxes it gets insanely expensive.

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 28 May 2010, 16:00

I have just done a few different versions of V846 in V847 shell and I stll have some parts handy. I would offer to build you what you are looking for but I don't know how that would work, any savings I could offer you might be eaten back up by shipping cost. I posted some pics of recent variations on the theme, there is a late 60's Italian V846/Clyde clone, a Sepulveda V846 with an "03" inductor and a Sepulveda V846 with a TDK inductor.

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 28 May 2010, 16:01

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 28 May 2010, 16:03

sinner · Post by **sinner** » 28 May 2010, 17:59

Nice! I have a PNP and layout for those boards coming up soon, I'll post it here, or there

vintagecharlie · Post by **vintagecharlie** » 29 May 2010, 22:16

Thanks for the offer and the great pics, timbo! Shipping would probably be an issue. And after reading more onto the inductor topic - i think my best bet might be to go with Castledine. I already contacted Stuart - a really nice guy and seems to be into the same stuff as i when it comes to vintage-style amps and pedals. I think i'll just order an assembled board from him, with his inductor and with some nos stuff that i'll send him. And then i'll drop it into a Vox wah enclosure.

Thansk for al lyour input guys!

Good luck on the tone-chase!

All the best,

VintageCharlie

p.s. of course i'll report back as soon as the thing is put together.

sinner · Post by **sinner** » 13 Jun 2010, 07:28

As promised! No part layout, as I have no time to do anything other than keep myself ready for verification at work, but I'll update it sooner or later. Otherwise YOU can do it, and we can nicely ask mod to move it to ready to build project section. Here's your chance to be useful no posters long time members, or long time looker - first time poster, or whatever

As per dimension of the board - that will be also updated in time

timbo_93631 · Post by **timbo_93631** » 17 Jun 2010, 18:14

Thanks sinner! BTW your new profile picture is great!

sinner · Post by **sinner** » 17 Jun 2010, 18:19

Thanks

This cute chick is an hero in my country, soooo sexy!!! English girls are top class