Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

[donahue]

Last night I was playing and when I engaged my wah pedal and it was in the toe-down position, I was faintly picking up an FM radio station.

I ran a few tests i.e. took the pedal off the chain, tried a dirt pedal cranked way up, took all pedals out, and cranked the amp and just listened, and nothing. Its only happening when the wah is on, toe down.

Have any of you guys ever ran into this prob? Is it a bad ground? Bad input, output jack?

Its not a huge deal, but its bugging the heck out of me for some reason.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

This from Dunlop:

"This is a common occurrence because the inductor in the Wah pedal acts as an antenna. When you are in an area with a lot of radio frequency, the pedal can and will pick up radio stations. It is not very easy to troubleshoot and fix, because it differs so greatly due to the different signals and the varying surroundings. What may work in one region might not work in another.

Check the inductor. If you have a metal inductor, you can purchase a shield from us and place it over the inductor with a ground wire that is placed under one of the screws on the PC Board. This acts as both an AC Hum and RF shield. (It is part number ECB99 - and lists for $12.00) If this doesn't work then...

Wrap the entire black wire harness in Mumetal foil, which comes in a tape format, and hope that that works.

Getting radio stations on your wah pedal is unfortunately, the nature of the beast, and has been that way since its inception. In some areas it is worse than others. It is especially bad in the great lakes region because the lakes act as large antennas sending out the radio signals to all areas - and all wah pedals."

These are just a couple of solutions.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

it wont happen with a morley....

 

[donahue]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

Thanks Gearjoneser. Very helpful post.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

mine used to do that. it's never the song you want to hear.

 

[andrizzle]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

they're made that way so you can jam out to whatever's on

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

This from Dunlop:

Getting radio stations on your wah pedal is unfortunately, the nature of the beast, and has been that way since its inception. In some areas it is worse than others. It is especially bad in the great lakes region because the lakes act as large antennas sending out the radio signals to all areas - and all wah pedals."

I found this quote interesting. So, using a wah pedal near a body of water can cause this? I'm curious to know who's had this problem with their wah pedal, and how close they are to water or a radio tower.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

last time i used a wah pedal was at a gig in sackets harbor and it was nuts how much crap it was picking up, not sure if it had to do with the water or not, but i couldnt stop the thing from playing some country station everytime i stomped on it

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

I've never had this problem. I have had some tube amps pickup the local radio station before. I had a Blackheart little giant that was horrible about it. There were times I wish it had a dial so I could change stations.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

I have an older wah and I used to have this problem but after everything got cleaned and spruced up by Mr. Spina I haven't gotten anything. (I live pretty close to a radio tower too).

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

Sometimes very small pf caps need to be placed inline of the Q1 transistor and this normally takes care of the problem.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

I've had this happen with various pedals, including my TS-9! One time I picked up a station from Spain or Italy in the middle of band rehearsal!

 

[GLJazz]

Re: Picking Up Radio Stations With My Wah

The Fuzz Factory is designed that way theres a specific "radio fuzz" setting - can be pretty cool, or pretty not