Hey dudes,
So after alot of time and tweaking I have got my wah sounding perfect except for a slight clipping issue when I dig into the strings. I have been through alot with this wah including inductor swaps and pot swaps. I installed the whipple inductor which was nice but in the end I went back to teese's inductor. The worst thing about the "current" RMC3 FL's is the pot. Mr. Teese is actually not 100% happy with the current pots according to him. But please keep that info private. I sent the wah to him recently for a tune up and asked him to install an original HotPot 1. Long story short it did not fit by a hair so he installed one of his NOS icar pots and it made a world of difference. I then later, out of curiosity, filed down the opening to install the Hotpot and it is very similar to his NOS pot. Both are a huge improvement. So I am currently running the wah at 16v which I think it sounds the best. My setting are in the pic below.
So my question is, is there anyway to get rid of the slight clipping I get when I lay into the strings? I know guys like Happy and Sour are pretty good with modifications and such. I just want the same impact I get from the wah but needs to be cleaned up a little. If post pics of the guts maybe someone can help? I don't know if there is and input and output buffer, but maybe eliminating one would help? Maybe a lower gain trannie? I'm certain something could be done to help with the clipping. Please help!
I can post sound clips if interested?
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7344/11033870385_2d0a004246_m.jpg)
Not sure what you mean by "clipping" here. A sound clip or video would be cool.
Yep a sound clip please. I'll assume you are actually getting some distortion when you say clipping. Is it more of a problem when you play through an OD or distortion pedal too? If this is the case then you want to probably increase the size of the input resistor. 68K isn't a bad place to start. Swap with some other values until you get a good volume without to much clipping/distorting. I don't like my wah to be too loud since it does put the TS-9s too hard sometimes.
Also there is a Q resistor, usually 33K. This shapes the narrowness and height of your Q; your volume hump. If your value is too high then you could have a high, narrow, thin hump. Play with that if you want secondarily.
Inductors are very colorful too. I actually don't use a whipple right now since I wanted a darker, mellower wah.
Whipple is coming out with a new pot that can withstand 1 million cycles. It's a sweet pot indeed. I just helped him design the gear for it. The pot has a custom taper as well. Keep an eye out for it.
Yea, what I mean by clipping is distorting. I want a clean wah tone. I will get up some clips after the holiday as well. I have been talking to Dan over at Area51 electronics and he offers a "growl control mod" on his wahs. I actually might send it over to him to get a thorough inspection to see if anything can be done. I know it is impossible to completely eliminate "dirt" coming through when you have alot of "low end" dialed in on an inductor based circuit as I do, but we think there is a chance of a small improvement, which I am happy with even that. I will mos def keep you posted and get up some clips. This thing already sounds amazing as is so I can't wait to let you guys hear. May take a week long so be patent ;)
Thanks for the advice Happy.. I will definitely look into all of your input!
Don't want to come off sounding like a dink, but did you email Teese at all about it?
Hey friendly, don't mean to sabotage your post but I was just wondering if you ever got those picks? I tried to pm you, but it send your inbox was full.