DIY : Rackmount wah wah - Part I

The goal of this DIY project is to turn the Dunlop Cry Baby 95Q wah pedal into a rackmount device. Basically, the guts of the wah is installed in a 1U housing so the audio signal stays in the rack. The pedal is designed to control an optocoupler which in turn controls the wah sweep.

I like doing such DIY project even though I'm not as skilled as Pete Cornish or Bob Bradshaw. If you plan to build a rackmount wah in a budget you may find this blog post useful (I hope so)

Hunting down parts

I think it is the most tedious part of this DIY project:

Below is a list of basic parts needed to build a rackmount wah:

• 1 x Silonex NSL-32 optocoupler (or equivalent)
• 1 x 100µF polarized capacitor
• 1 x 0.22µF capacitor
• 1 x 100KΩ resistor
• 1 x 2.2KΩ resistor
• 1 x SPST momentary switch
• 2 x male 6 pin DIN plugs
• 2 x female 6 pin DIN plugs
• 1 x 5 meter 6 wire cable
• 4 x standoffs
• 1 x small blank pcb

European customers may purchase parts at:

Selectronic (France) - Banzai (Germany) - Das Musikding (Germany)

American customers may purchase parts at:

Radioshack - Small Bear Electronics

Diagram

I simply followed with the diagram below found in R.G. Keen website. Check it out! Very informational!

Let's roll!

It is time to remove the wah PCB out of the wah chassis.

It was very hard, wasn't it?

Making the 6 wire/pin DIN cable

pin 1 = 9v pin 2 = bypass switch (to pedal) pin 3 = bypass switch (back to rack) pin 4 = signal out of Hot Potz II potentiometer pin 5 = Hot Potz II ground pin 6 = Ground

to be continued...