crybaby

[Hammermc]

Hi

My friend gave me recently a plan of a crybaby and asked me to make one for him. Everything would be fine if I would know what the label on one of the pots mean. It`s writen next to it: "Hot Potzz". I know that there are certain types of pots A,B and C . Which one do you think it could be ??

[LukeR]

Hi man

i woundlnt be concerned about that. Hot Pots is a custom pot that has an extenmded sweep.

If you want a replacement, I would just try a radioshack pot, in the same value. I would try an audio pot- I think that is what I put in my crybaby - although it could be a linear.

either way, whilst the Hotpot is good, I dont really think its sworth the price.

Hope this helps,

Luke

[truerussian558]

so how did you make the pedal?, thats the part im stuck on right now.

[lovekraft]

The Hot Potz II is designed to work in a Crybaby, so it's going to work better, but it is going to cost you at least $20.00 (unless you get really lucky), so you have to do a cost/benefit on it. Do you have a case for it? IME, unless you've got a pedal shell on hand that's the most difficult thing to find. Believe me, making a wah pedal shell that works well and holds up to being stepped on is no small task!

[LukeR]

Hi guys,

go to

http://www.geofex.com/

and then press 'Ctrl' and 'f' (in-text search) for the name Maarten . He has written a great article on making an enclsure or a wah.

However, I just bought a dead crybaby off ebay ($15 US), and then re-built it, to my specs.

Its the easist (and cheapest) way to go. (and it sounds how YOU want it to).

Sorry- i stand by my origional position- The Hot Potz REALLY is a waste of money. If you make your own pedal, and can justify spending $20 on a $2 part, fair enough, but In my experience, it is not worth it.

Honestly, if you have a wah and some time up your sleeve, change the stock pot for one from radio shack- its near impossible to tell the differencetake care all,

Luke

[truerussian558]

and also the sound doesnt go through the pot at all or at least not to the output, through some mystical electronics power, it actually makes the circuit think that the cap parallel to the inductor changes its value, and thus changes the resonant frequency, and in turn changes the frequency which is boosted, and whgen you turn the pot back and forth different frequencies are boosted (standard inductor wah from 600hz to a bit over 1khz), and gives the wah effect,

[lovekraft]

The issue with the pot isn't whether the signal goes through it, but its taper, and the corresponding range of filter sweep in the pedal's travel. The original Crybaby pots had a semi-log taper, somewhere between audio and linear, and I assume that's why the replacement pot is a special item, but if you're also doing a homebrew pedal case, you're going to have to figure out how to get 270º of pot rotation out of about 45º of pedal travel anyhow, so you can probably use an audio taper to enhance the change. If you're trying to duplicate the original sound and range of the classic, you're gonna need to stick pretty close to the original parts, including the rack and pinion pot drive on the pedal that expands the pot's travel, but if you just want a generic wah, you can use a huge pot, like a 1Meg, to expand the frequency sweep in a shorter travel pedal. Read RG's article on the Technology of Wah Pedals while you're over there looking at Maarten's pedal design - he explains the "mystical electronics power" that truerussian mentioned . The circuit is fairly simple, and tweaking it to sound like you want is just going to take some time. Even an original won't sound right if the pinion gear on the pot is offset by a couple of teeth.

[Hammermc]

Thanx for all te advice. Right now I have a lot of things to think out. I`ll let you know how if my plan worked out.

[ansil]

ok for all the folks with the wrong mythical knowledge of the hotpotz pots you might want to crack one open. for those who have dont' take this the wrong way.

theres a lot of crap on the web on why they sound the way they do.. i have on my desk a hotpotz one and two. after measuring the entire sweep range i got to looking at it. ti has two dead zones on it. one at the top and one at the bottom.. this way you dont' have to loose out on some of the throw of the pots range and you still get 99k (as both of mine measured) and mine apears to be linear at best as its too far away from being log pot. although you can crack open a standard lin 100k rat shack pot and modifiy it to do the same thing. the easiest way is to put a standard pot in the crybaby and mark where it stops working in both posisitons. and what you do is simple from here. one side of it where it stops workign remove the resistive element. so that it will be dead ground. ie the ground side. the other side is simple scrape off whats past the highest point and don't worry about it since the pot won't ever travel there. then measure between the two points. you need aprox 100k resistance. there so get out a rzor blade and get to work. for those a little hazy on what i am getting at go to the geofex site and read or better yet print off the article called "THE SECRET LIFE OF POTS" theres enough stuff in there to keep you busy for a year if you apply it to simple circuit.s for instance have you ever heard a 1Meg pot in a wah.. freakin amazing.. hard as crap to control acurately with a foot pedal but works killer in a non rocker situation where you use it as a filter as it give you more inbetween sounds.

apply the same thing pot wise to a distortion. so that you can have say six settings similar to a rotary switch but its smoother. and you can get all sorts of sonic madness in the in between places.