Wah Pedal failed on me

[RW James]

Saturday - during practice, thankfully, my wah stopped bypassing (is that a word?)

I've had problems before where the power lead falls out - and when I turn the wah on, suddenly, there's nothing. But this was just the opposite. I was using the wah, no problem, then turned it off - and the signal dropped out - well not completely, and that's the wierd part. There was a faint signal still coming through. Turn the wah back on, and full strength. Turn it off - nothing but a whisper.

I pulled it off my pedal board and worked around it. I haven't had a chance to test it yet. But even if it works, I'll always have this fear that it will fail again someday.

Has anyone every had this happen? What should I look for - to either fix it or determine if I should just junk it?

By the way, it's a Dumlop CryBaby.

 

[Chaos]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Bad switch

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

You need a Weeping Demon. It's always great to make a demon weep, especially in church.

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

You need a Weeping Demon. It's always great to make a demon weep, especially in church.

Are those any good? I have nothing but bad luck with wahs.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Are those any good? I have nothing but bad luck with wahs.

I'm quite fond of mine.

Any Wah topic that comes up I'm plugging it.

 

[Curly]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

don't Teese me

maybe check Dunlop's wah FAQ?

 

[RW James]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Thanks for all the responses. I sent Dunlop tech support an e-mail... we'll see what they say. If it is just the switch, I could probably fix that. Otherwise, I may go for the Weeping Demon. Actually this would be appropriate in church... it made me think of this passage from Matthew

When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"
Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."

He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

I may go for it anyway...

Or does anyone else have another pedal they would suggest?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Was it modded for true bypass or was it still stock? How old is it?

 

[RW James]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Was it modded for true bypass or was it still stock? How old is it?

stock - no mods at all. I bought it new about 3 years ago.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

stock - no mods at all. I bought it new about 3 years ago.

Well, one benefit of taking it out of the chain, it stopped sucking tone. :laugh2: Wahs are notorious for that unless they are true bypass. I don't care if many of my pedals are TB or not, but wah's and Phase 90's are a must, or they better have a darn good bypass buffer.

Get it modded for true bypass with a good quality Carling 316 DPDT. You won't have that problem anymore.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

I really like my Morley CLW wah. My only complaint with it is it makes a loud pop when I turn it on on my clean channel...

However, it sounds great. Morley makes slightly better ones if your budget can afford them, but the CLW is only $60. They are definitely built to last, no doubt about it.

 

[RW James]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Get it modded for true bypass with a good quality Carling 316 DPDT. You won't have that problem anymore.

I think I may do this... but I thought you needed a 3PDT for true bypass...

btw, I tested the wah over my lunch hour and it works like nothing ever happened. But as I said before, I'm afraid now - especially if it happens in the middle of a performance.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

I think I may do this... but I thought you needed a 3PDT for true bypass...

btw, I tested the wah over my lunch hour and it works like nothing ever happened. But as I said before, I'm afraid now - especially if it happens in the middle of a performance.

A 3PDT is required *IF* you want to do it the easy way with an LED in place. Since a wah doesn't have a LED, a DPDT will work fine. The Carling 316 DPDT is the way to go.

There may be some dirt or other crap in the switch making it work intermittently. It happened to me with the stock switch in mine. Of course it was over 10 years old and sat collecting dust for a long time.

 

[RW James]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Okay... but I've been sitting here thinking how nice it would be to have an LED, but I can't imagine where I would mount it, anyway... so a DPDT I guess will do the job.

 

[RW James]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

The Carling 316 DPDT is the way to go.

Vendor?

I looked through the vendors I have bookmarked, and none of them mention Carling by name.

EDIT: Nevermind, I just found it at Small Bear

 

[ErikH]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Vendor?

I looked through the vendors I have bookmarked, and none of them mention Carling by name.

EDIT: Nevermind, I just found it at Small Bear

there ya go. That's who I was going to recommend.

Now, since yours is stock, some minor surgery may be needed. Depends on the revision of your board. Once you get the switch in, let me know and I can steer you in the direction of a fellow who help me with mine.

 

[RW James]

Re: Wah Pedal failed on me

Follow-up

I went ahead and ordered the Carling 316 DPDT and will try to rewire for true bypass.

I had e-mailed Dunlop tech-support and actually got a response asking me to call them (800 number).

I just called them on my lunch hour. He agreed that it sounded like the switch, and even though my warranty had long expired they were willing to fix it for free.

But when I explained that it was working again - so they would probably test it and conclude there was nothing wrong with it and send it back. He agreed. I told him that if he agreed it sounded like the switch I would rather go ahead and make the fix myself.

He then said that if after my fix, I still had a problem, to give him a call and he would see what they could do.

I just want to say that I am pleased with the response from Dunlop. Thought you guys should know.