Jimi Hendrix' Gear and Mods at West Coast Organ and Amp

[niknik]

Yes, it's true, with 30k and over, the fuzz has an pronunced gain reduction effect, but my vox wha doesn't sound good with lower value input fuzz res, expecially in the heel position.
maybe I have to check if my wah has something wrong..

[Tek465b]

Yes, it's true, with 30k and over, the fuzz has an pronunced gain reduction effect, but my vox wha doesn't sound good with lower value input fuzz res, expecially in the heel position.
maybe I have to check if my wah has something wrong..

I had the same problem before. i was using about 30k, any lower made the wah sound bad(probably some post about it somewhere). I think it has to do with the wah peak being too sharp...(what wah circuit are you using??)
Probably one of the reason they modified the woodstock wah to reduce the sharpness of the peak.
or its the fuzz settings. With fuzz on zero and the fuzz modified for high volume output and with the modified wah, it just sing its really awesome. Someday i should try to record star spangled banner, its just too sweet .
Too bad i have to stay away from loud stuff(deafness/tinnitus on right side) :/, i can't practice as much as i want so i turn out to be a really shitty player. The only recording gear i have is my cellphone

[niknik]

My vox is a "frankenwah"
it's an Area 51 component board, with an inductor and the pot from kyle chasetone, nos original signal capacitors, into a vox v847 case.
it is now basically a v846.
my germanium fuzz face has 50k input pot set to about 30k, and a trimmer acting as output gain after q2.
I tried to compensate low gain in the input with an higher output gain, so to boost a little more the input of the amp.
I like the result, it sounds like a fuzz/overdrive, it is a sort of best of both worlds, also at high level of fuzz control.
Obviously the issue is the more hiss when you raise the output gain trimmer.
yes please post some clips, I'll do the same when I finish to perform the 5687 driver mod in my west coast marshall with stancor ot.

[Tek465b]

My vox is a "frankenwah"
I tried to compensate low gain in the input with an higher output gain, so to boost a little more the input of the amp.
I like the result, it sounds like a fuzz/overdrive, it is a sort of best of both worlds, also at high level of fuzz control.
Obviously the issue is the more hiss when you raise the output gain trimmer.

This is exactly what i did with my 3 transistor fuzzbender, the trimmer is set to about 750 Ohm right now and i absolutly love it.
I dont really have hiss problem with it, its pretty quiet for a fuzz(fuzz control always on minimum/zero)..
Can see it there:
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=44159&start=135

[niknik]

My vox is a "frankenwah"
I tried to compensate low gain in the input with an higher output gain, so to boost a little more the input of the amp.
I like the result, it sounds like a fuzz/overdrive, it is a sort of best of both worlds, also at high level of fuzz control.
Obviously the issue is the more hiss when you raise the output gain trimmer.

This is exactly what i did with my 3 transistor fuzzbender, the trimmer is set to about 750 Ohm right now and i absolutly love it.
I dont really have hiss problem with it, its pretty quiet for a fuzz(fuzz control always on minimum/zero)..
Can see it there:
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=44159&start=135

It seems really very cool!!
I think I will try 3 transistors mod, I found some 2n525 and 2n527 trans with right values.
thanks to you and thanks to Dave, and you all!
I have a lot of work for the next days, tuning up my 45/100 to solve ghosts issue, perform the 5687 driver mod in my west coast Marshall, and build a 3 transistors fuzz!
yes, a lot of work, and I am happy!
I will report all the results

[bill bokey]

Having fun work




https://soundcloud.com/castle-made-of-s ... endrix-jam

[niknik]

Great tone Bill!!
Did you perform all the west coast mods?
what the specs of your amp? Did you also modified the fuzz and the wah?
seems all combine very very good! I love the tone in the last part of clip!
please tell us more!

[bill bokey]

Thanks !

Here is what I wrote about the amp : viewtopic.php?p=462281#p462281
and the fuzz : viewtopic.php?p=462295#p462295

The Fuzz Face in the new clips needed a 27k input resistor, it didn't work with the fuzz @ 15k like the previous FF.

I also modded the wah to 60's specs, replaced a few resistors and capacitors.

[chrisom]

Bill- Those are some NICE sounding-clips indeed. Makes me think of all things vintage-sounding. And that groovy picture of your guitar-amp rig is impressive, too!

Seeing all these vintage 'throwback' rigs makes me happy- I just swapped a nice condition JCM 4x12 w/ Vintage 30 Celestions for a beat-up 1960BX cab with 'Made in England' Greenbacks. Now I have 2 full stacks of vintage style Marshall cabs- 2 have newer British 25-watt Greenbacks, 1 has Chinese Celestion Greenbacks, and 1 has British G12-30H 55Hz Celestions.

The first stack is a 1960AX and BX, the other stack is a 1973-74 bottom w/ newer Greenbacks, and a 1960AHW top cab. I plan on upgrading the internal bracing in the 3 reissue cabs to vintage specs. I scored enough of Marshall's reissue grille to do all 4 cabs.

[niknik]

Bill,
is your fuzz face modified or stock? 27k input resistor and some other mods? Bc108?

[bill bokey]

Here's the schematic for the JH-F1 :

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M4RTvP2htXU/T ... _JH-F1.gif

I removed C5, and replaced :
R1 -> 100k
C3 -> 10nF
R2 -> 33k (VR1 set to 0)
R4 -> 6k8 (VR2 set to 0)
R3 -> 1k5

There is also a 15k resistor in series with the input, soldered on the input jack.

The FF I used for the latest clips has a 27k input resistor instead of the 15k I used on the video.

[niknik]

Here's the schematic for the JH-F1 :

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M4RTvP2htXU/T ... _JH-F1.gif

I removed C5, and replaced :
R1 -> 100k
C3 -> 10nF
R2 -> 33k (VR1 set to 0)
R4 -> 6k8 (VR2 set to 0)
R3 -> 1k5

There is also a 15k resistor in series with the input, soldered on the input jack.

The FF I used for the latest clips has a 27k input resistor instead of the 15k I used on the video.

Thanks!
so no output gain mod, right?

[daveweyer]

Depending on the output impedance of the device going into the fuzz, you can use up to 50K, but I found that 20K and under seemed to be the most valuable range, at least with the units I had. Running into the 3 transistor fuzz, for instance, in order to get completely clean tones, I had to use more than 20K.
Jimi would often, for his trad blues sound, use the unit almost squeaky clean, and just let the amp break up on the hardest strokes, normally the attack. 6550s will give you that tone on their own.

[Tek465b]

I have a question about the wah.
On the wah story post you made.
reference post:
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=43932&p=462385&hil ... 89#p462385

It say you used 5089 transistor with beta around 750
Used a 530mh inductor and 10u bypass.

But here is where i get confused.
reference image:
http://imgur.com/a/ORqKH
reference video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6_DCjR67Uw

In the youtube video it show the cap underneat the board, but on the post/picture about the wah story there is nothing about it?(i guess cap just fell off and needed resolder, on the picture we can see where it should be).
Just to make sure, did the cap was used at woodstock or not?

Also on the Youtube video it show a 3k resistor to the output, but on the post with the picture it say and show a 10k(i guess it was changed later). Wich one was used for woodstock?

[Tek465b]

Ok Warning long post
So i did a bit more math and simulation for the wah, this time on the heel back/dark position.

Here is the stock value.
500/33k/10n
fo=711Hz
Q=14.75

Here We see that with the 530mh inductor and 13n cap, at the same frequency(wah pot setting) smooth the wah in the dark range, wich is a really really good thing.
530/33k/13n
fo=681Hz
Q=14.54

Now if we factor the 3nf in parallel with the 10nf, that make the low frequency sweep down to 606hz .
IMO putting the 3nf cap in parallel with the inductor is a better idea,(give a better range while also smoothing the heel back position)
530/33k/13n
fo=606Hz
Q=16.33

Here is what happen with my 500m/30k/15n value. range is a little bit better and the heel back position is smoother.
500/30k/15n
fo=694Hz
Q=13.74

Here is a quote from the result to the push toe/bright position from the other topic.

Tek465b wrote:
Stock value
500mh / 10n /33k
fo=2.250 khz
Q=4.666

Dave value(lower frequency a bit sharper peak)
530mH / 13n / 33k
fo=1.917 khz
Q=5.168

My Value(pretty much the same as above)
500mH / 15n / 30k
fo=1.837khz
Q=5.196

stock value with 15n(samelower frequency but peak too sharp)
500mH / 15n / 33k
fo=1.837kHz
Q=5.715

Now to push it further.
Can see that on the heel/back position the Q factor is much higher, this should result in a much more intense wah effect but it just do not happen in the simulation/real world(in effect the effect diminish at low frequency).

Reason is pretty simple...
The 100k wah pot and the 220n capacitor act as a high pass filter cutting down that intensity.
so putting in a 470k-500k wah pot will make the heel/back position much more intense/sharp and increase the dark/low frequency sweep. wich to my taste is just bad.

Ok the dunlop JH-1 wah usee a 470k wah pot and the effect is not that intense, but they use a 22n from the wiper to ground wich do reduce the heel back wah effect drastically(it also fuck with the pot taper and reduce low frequency sweep range).

I put in some 800HFe transistor in my wah and the bias measured right at half VCC Supply. it almost look like it was made to bias at this HFe loll

So to recap
530mh and 3nF cap parallel to the inductor with 100k wah pot really seem an interesting configuration.
or the 500mh / 5n(parallel to inductor) / 30k is what am gonna try(since i dont have a 530mh around)