To mod a wah or buy a better one

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:38 am

So I have a vox v847 wah. It looks nice but I'm not a massive fan of the sound. Very small range, even with tweaking the pot inside. I'd prefer a more rounded wah sound with a bigger range. I'd like something more like the jerry Cantrell, just not keen on the Alice in chains livey.

Would I be able to mod the vox to sound more like the Cantrell? Vs just buying a Cantrell. Not got much dollar so modding might be the cheaper route.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:46 am

A parts comparison with the Cantrell might yield some easy swaps. i was THIS CLOSE to getting one for a decent price as the specs and vids sounded good, especially the adjustable rocker.

There's quite a selection of boutique drop in parts designed to give teh n@j@s but they can get spendy.

Hmmm I basically just said some stuff but didn't actually help much, sorry old bean!

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:08 am

This is also going to be a fairly unhelpful response, but I really like the look/sound of the CAE Wah - http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/mc404-cae-wah.
Looks like you can tweak it easily and get a good range of sounds out of it. However, each time I really think about it I don't want to spend that much on a new Wah when my Bad Horsie suits me just fine.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:43 pm

I know I say this every time a wah thread comes up but get the boss pw-10 v-wah. It's stupid good.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:44 am

Yellow Fasel inductor for gritty rawk wah, Red Fasel for cleaner mellow wah.
There are also capacitors you can change for different sounds obviously, but the Fasel is a much easier mod.

Stock V847/old Crybaby reissue inductors pale in comparison to either, no matter what sound you're after (except them "shit sandwich" tonez).
I think the Cantrell might have one because vintage Vox/Crybaby wahs had Fasel inductors (not the same as these ones but y'know, what a name) and it's thought of as a fancy thing to have so a lot of the new deluxe crybaby models are quick to shout about it. Some of the artist signature wahs (and an MXR one) have more than one inductor so you can change the sound with a switch, so if you do get a new wah instead of just changing the inductor I'd make it one of those so you have more options from one pedal in the future and can make it sound however you feel that day.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 9:00 am

You can actually change the range of a wah like that a bit.

Here's a picture I found on the internet that might help explain what I'm trying to say:

You have the gear connected to the pot, then the "ladder" connected to the pedal, then a thing which keeps the first two thing connected. You can actually move the ladder towards the white plastic thing a bit, disconnecting the gear from the ladder, thus being able to re-arrange the relationship between them and changing the range.

Although I guess you have probably tried this already. Still it should take at least 15 minutes to really get all the possible combinations.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 9:59 am

Might try adjust the pot again before I decide, wish I kept the old crybaby of Fran's. Just a big standard crybaby but that one sounded really good. Anything I get off Fran seems to have his magic pixie dust on it for better sounds. That and herpes!