How to diagnose wah problem?

Chistopher

malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
Howdy fellas, I got a used Crybaby From Hell for real cheap that appears to be having an issue. When I turn it on it behaves as a stuck wah, and using the foot pedal has no effect. All 6 positions of the rotary switch make it sound different, so I know the inductor works fine. However, the fine adjustment and q knobs don't effect the sound. I haven't played around with it too much yet, but that's the best I can describe what's going on.
 
That's what I thought. How can I tell for sure? Must I dissemble the whole unit or is there an easier way?
 
I am not sure what the inside of the unit looks like but you should be able to check the pot with a multimeter without taking it apart to see if the value changes when the pedal rocks.

 
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The CFH has one of those funny "Hot Pots" or whatever and it looks like it would be a pain to replace them with a conventional pot and the part is $20. Is there a similar 100k pot (with the lugs at the bottom) for cheaper

Also looking at it now, it looks imma have to disassemble the whole thing to get a good look at it
 
That sucks man. If you got it super cheap, it may be good practice trying to fix it. Still, I can imagine your disappointment.
 
I love my Crybaby From Hell, it's been rock solid for me for over a decade now!

Definitely sounds like the main pot isn't changing value when used but that may not be too tricky a repair. At one point I did have to replace the second switchable input jack, which was a PITA. But IIRC the pot isn't too hard to get at.

Pop off the back cover and hopefully it's not too tricky to swap out

Sent from my SM-F926W using Tapatalk
 
I love my Crybaby From Hell, it's been rock solid for me for over a decade now!

Definitely sounds like the main pot isn't changing value when used but that may not be too tricky a repair. At one point I did have to replace the second switchable input jack, which was a PITA. But IIRC the pot isn't too hard to get at.

Pop off the back cover and hopefully it's not too tricky to swap out

Sent from my SM-F926W using Tapatalk

It actually is somewhat tricky. I think I may send it into my tech as he owes me one, and I couldn't be bothered to do it myself because I've got a few things higher on my list of priorities to do in my free time.
 
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