Pedal Mods: CryBaby True Bypass and LED Indicator

[@lamoscafodase]

I followed your instructions and my pedal now is working true bypass with led. Thanks, dude. Greetings from Brasil.

[@filipelucciano]

BR

[@Chilling4Shillings]

thank you sir, this tutorial is by far the best and easiest to follow here on youtube. just wired mine up for true bypass, LED's are on the way so that will be next,. Maybe it's psychosomatic but I noticed with the true bypass mode that the sweep range of the wah has improved drastically, even if it is all in my head.

[@dragonsfire333]

Dude, this worked flawlessly, and sounds great! Thank you! I added a ground wire with a 470k ohm resistor off the top center post to a washer placed on the nearby cover-post, ran the foot screw through it; gets rid of the activation pop.

[@vanGrav]

First soldering project since I was a small boy. Now I have a Crybaby with true bypass and LED indicator. Many thanks for your video!

[@ScienceofLoud]

I have a series of 3 videos that look at wah modifications, the other 2 focus on changes to the wah sound by firstly altering resistors on the board and secondly by replacing the inductor. Check out my channel for more.

[@djmk227]

Thanks for the tutorial! A couple tips for people thinking about doing this: -You don't need to scratch out the trace on the circuit board if you are pulling out one end of the capacitor, it's redundant. -The new boards have a different type of capacitor that is surface mounted to the board, so there is no room to pull out one end and solder. In that case, you SHOULD scratch out the trace noted in the video, and just solder the wire directly to the board where the capacitor connects.

[@jimijames27]

Your channel has come a long way. I did this mod and love it. Thank you for keeping this video up. I need to fix a couple of wires and forgot the wire layout. Surprised the vid only has 140,862 views. It's a great mod. Thanks again.

[@ScienceofLoud]

This mod will work for most common wahs, the only real problem I can think of is if the components I've mentioned are located in different places, or in the case of the 535Q, the foot switch is attached to its own PCB and connected to the main board by ribbon cable. In each case carefully trace where everything is going and you should be ok.

[@ДмитрийКрутиков-щ7к]

Great instruction! 4 years ago I was inspired by this and unsoldered my crybaby. Finally I had the courage to finish the job, everything works Excellent! Thank!

[@FretFriendGWaL]

Did my 2nd one of these tonight! Used a blue LED and it looks great! The Wah only cost me £10 and I already had the parts in for the upgrade so a bargain! This video is the best :)

[@NickLeonard]

Did this recently as my first "serious" mod. Very easy to do and everything worked first try! Desoldering the leg at 6:20 is unnecessary as you broke the trace, you can just solder that wire to the back for a better connection. Also very glad I paid attention to the voiceover around 12 minutes and not just the schematic with the mixed up colors as you said! I put a purple LED on the left side and it looks sick.

[@sixthview]

This is by far, the best Mod Video I have ever watched. Awesome detail, discussion and direction. Hope you do more pedal mods real soon!

[@ScienceofLoud]

Your little blue box is a capacitor, so don't worry about that. You'll still want to break the connection between the two components. With the green wire, you will want to connect it to the top left contact, and then add a small length of wire that bridges the top left contact and the middle contact on the bottom row. This is referred to as a 'jump' wire, so that's why I said it jumps to the bottom middle. Sorry for the confusion.

[@Jubjub9000]

Thank you for the mod tutorial. just did mine today and its working very well.

[@ScienceofLoud]

It would certainly be possible to change the cheap box style caps for an equivalent. I'm thinking about doing so myself pretty soon, along with winding a custom inductor to replace the stock one. I suspect that changing the cap for a higher quality one that is of a different physical construction will change the sweeps smoothness and richness, in the same way different caps on a tone control do. Naturally I'll have a video of it up when I get round to doing it.

[@tyjay99]

Great video very clear, liked the drawings Took about 30 mins or so and cost about £2.30 £2 for switch 30p for led and 6p for resistor happy days Bought the other bits for the other mod that u did so will do that a bit later Thanks

[@hammietime8404]

Thanks for the video. Just bought an old CryBaby for a decent price, but I immediately found out how much tone this thing sucks. According to the specs, the input impedance should be 1M Ohms, but if I reference the tone suck with Boss NS-2 (1M input impedance), the difference is a night and a day.

[@antonyfiori2931]

Just done this, took about 40 minutes start to finish and worked first time. My LED is a little bright (maybe needed a different resistor?) but it's much better knowing if the thing is on or not.. I'm a novice to this kinda stuff as well. Thanks for the vid, dude! Each step is very clear and educational. Might look at the more wah mods video next...

[@ScienceofLoud]

A resistor of a larger value will make the LED dimmer. It's there to resist the flow of electricity to the LED, so the more it resists the less light you get. Glad to hear that it worked out well.

[@MrFuzzyBoss]

Thank you so much for your vid and your perfect explanations , I did the mod , it works perfectely. Just a thing , when you wire the leg of the 10n capacitor , you don't have to cut the trace on the PCB . In any case , great job ! Cheers.

[@ArcAngelArmoury]

For sure! I'm not experienced with wiring diagrams for 3P3T switches but they offer many possibilities. Just wire two LEDs to the same resistor, but if you like, you can connect the other LED to other poles on the switch. Adding a second LED to the resistor (parallel) will add your Ma, as opposed to adding your voltages which leave less for the board and requires another resistor. You may want to research the wattage of the resistor to make sure it can handle it but it's not very hard.

[@shaunwilliams3662]

Thanks for the step by step and the info... I made the mods to my Dunlop Crybaby and they work perfect... no more guessing if my wah is on! And the true bypass is awesome!!!

[@TheOriginalMack]

Hey thanks man. WIth your help, I just finished the mod. Thinking about adding switchable inductors next.

[@cesarrivera4163]

I just tried this on my Zakk Wylde WAH ZW-45. Let me tell you sit sounds way better in my chain and the LED looks awesome! Thanks for the great tutorial!

[@ScienceofLoud]

The Shite Paul is still around. I'll hopefully have a new episode of it quite soon :)

[@Upspoon]

hey man, Thanks so much for posting this. You made this mod beyond easy and i also added the vocalizing mod and volume mod. My effects chain is louder, and so much clearer. You are a champion! Cheers again!

[@ScienceofLoud]

That said, it is quite possible that you could design a circuit that would disable the battery when in true bypass, but for a pedal that wasn't initially designed to feature true bypass, it isn't very likely that feature will be supported.

[@echodigger]

After I finished this mod, I plugged in my guitar and amp and it didn't work...I guess in my excitement I forgot to plug in power for the wah pedal. Once I corrected that, I heard a big difference right away in the lack of tone suck and volume drop. Because of those initial reasons, my Crybaby has been kept off my board. Now it is going back on. Thanks for the video guide.

[@IamtheActionman]

Thanks dude Gonna give it go...love the pedal but it really does change the overall tone when disengaged. This mod sounds like it changes the wah sound slightly but I could live with that no problem. Thanks again

[@bryanbanks1966]

Can't understand a word he's saying but a well made and very informative video. Well done.

[@RobMods]

I found it wasn't a straight swap. Even without any washers, the 3-pole switch was too short. So I also replaced the felt under the treadle. It was worn almost right through. I used a dremel polishing wheel. Its thickness easily made up for the difference. Thanks for your video!

[@Fsuholley]

Very clear and easy to follow. Thank you for your knowledge and passion, it is appreciated.

[@jacobkantor3886]

I did this mod and now my pedal is a radio lmao.

[@josefeld7164]

Jacob Kantor excellent !

[@jimmybakir6283]

Same

[@elymolloy8333]

OMFG ME TOO I HATE IT I JUST WANT THE DAMN LED LOL

[@VelvetProductions]

Hi! Your instructional is very clear and straight forward especially the quality of your video. I followed your instructional and did my crybaby to work but the LED does not work for some reason. I use 1k-ohm resistor(1/2 watt / 5%) and 5mm LED(16mW min / 1.2v / 100ma / 45' 940nm) from radio shack. All of connections are double checked, everything is clean.

[@jimraimondi410]

Awesome instructions. I just did this mod and it worked perfectly. Thanks for posting.

[@numbr009]

Wow, awesome video. Did the project and it worked great. You did an EXCELLENT job at explaining things, and showed it all very well. Thank you!!!

[@JMaoeeeee]

Hi there. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing this information. I followed your instructions and it worked first time! A great improvement. Thanks again! [2] I did mods in "Pedal Mods: More Wah Mods" video too. Now my Cry Baby is other!

[@rjerezc]

Worked perfectly. No annoying sounds from the switch even when it's a cheap one ($3 USD on Chile). Thank u buddy. Used a high luminosity blue led and a 1k resistor / multistrand wires.

[@jacobhammond6783]

I put my wah thru a boss line selector that seemed to take care of my tone/ true by pass issue as well since it's run thru an effects loop also put an LED mod on mine after seeing this video thanks Colleen for the inspiraton

[@Grs2805]

Thanks for the tutorial, i followed it and it surprisingly worked first time which i was not expecting. The only thing i would suggest would be a higher value resistor for the led as mine is blinding when on.

[@mobbinator]

followed your instructions 100% and the mod works great! I mostly did this to install the LED but the true bypass is cool too. thanks so much Colin!!!

[@javiereu]

I followed the instructions and my pedal worked on the first try! Thanks!

[@Davide97x]

keep making videos, yours are always interesting and fun and deserve more recognition :)

[@robincooper6324]

dude love ur videos. i thought i was the only person with that backwards clock

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

Hi there. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing this information. I followed your instructions and it worked first time! A great improvement. Thanks again!

[@TheTurbo930]

I did do the mod where you take the little tab loose and swing it out of the way and you can move the roller gear all the way forward more toward an "off" position, I haven't plugged it in to see if it helped or worked at all, I'll keep you posted, again this is for the crybaby Q95 switchless wah.

[@TheTurbo930]

+Brad Ivie Well that trick doesn't work for the Q95! It renders the pedal useless, for you still have the effect coming through in the off position but when you try to activate the wah and step on it it does absolutely nothing!! SO I sure hope I can find the spot as close to where it was to put it back so that it at least works again lol! Someone please help!!?? How or can you make the Dunlop crybaby Q95 have true bypass?? Tell me you can...please.

[@Mikhail72051]

Awesome! I really love my Crybaby 95q with the auto wah because I know it's gonna kick on and off when I need it to. I'm gonna have to try this on my Vox that it replaced on my pedal board.

[@ScienceofLoud]

As long as there is a jack plug in the input the battery will be active, whether true bypass is present or not. TB reroutes the signal directly to the output jack without going through the circuit, but the battery will still be powering the circuit when the jack plug bridges the gap. Best you can do is unplug the input jack when you aren't using the pedals, or run it off a AC power supply.

[@paulproductions9213]

don't listen to much of a difference after modded , still is admirable the work and the knowledge you have to do something like this.

[@flo-bezee9547]

Hello yeah!!!! It worked!!!! Thanks little buddy from across the world. You rock. I watch all your videos.

[@cococaster]

MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS DESDE ARGENTINA!!! El unico tutorial que esta bien explicado el unico que me resulto, en 20 min listo para funcionar!!! un maestro!!!

[@magutanko]

Oh MAN! I just came by this looking to mod mine. I'm subscribed and have been watching for a couple of years -- you're just a wee babe >_< (p.s. thanks for being so informative and such a legend!)

[@xWhiteNova44x]

I follow instructions closely,and I wish there wasn't a long pause between "I cut myself" and "two new lengths of wire"

[@borutklemencic3470]

Awesome tutorial... but i dont get it why is necessary to desold one leg of the capacitor and pull it out ? The Why the wire shouldnt be soldered on the bottom of the PCB directly to the pin of that Cap leg, like you did for the LED. The connection from the input jack to Cap is already cuted so...?

[@dobeeeeval]

That's my first thought. Why cut the connection when you're just going to desolder the capacitor and leave it hanging off the board anyway? And it seems a little insecure only connected to the board at one point. I think what he was supposed to do after severing the connection was just solder the white wire directly to the back of the board where the capacitor comes through.

[@lavachemist]

Cool mods, just one note - there is no reason to both cut the trace AND de-solder the leg of the cap. If you cut the trace, just leave the capacitor attached to the pad. Once you cut the trace, you have disconnected that leg of the capacitor from the circuit, de-soldering is redundant.

[@ScienceofLoud]

If your information is correct then your LED is working, it's just invisible. 940nm corresponds to Infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. These IR LEDs are found in CCTV cameras for their night vision. Choose an LED that is between 400-700nm, or one where the colour is clearly labeled.

[@Itsok-456]

Can somebody please tell what the capacitor at 4:37 would be called and its value? ill have 2 order another one to put in as I have managed to break it in half! A friend told me it is a Tantalum type? I guess this is what happens when someone very inexperienced tries to do electronics lol

[@MrTomb789]

Fantastic video...how calming the Scottish voice is....

[@guitarwhores753]

Great vid. I may try this to my old Cry Baby since I have all the parts.

[@CraigCbestguitaristintheworld]

Anything MXR or Jim Dunlop is by far the best in pedals. I have a CryBaby original and a MXR Black Label Chorus with a Fullbore Metal Distortion and I have the greatest tone ever. I greatly recommend MXR for pedals!! 8)

[@waynemcteare5308]

i find mxr pedals suck tone when off, sound fine when on, they all need true bypass

[@ScienceofLoud]

I certainly would like to, however as a mini kaoss pad costs around £100 and I'd need to completely butcher a guitar to do the mod, it is quite outwith my current budget. however if someone were to hand me a guitar and a kaoss pad and say "put these together" I'd give it a go.

[@fantasticflyingfrogs]

Dude, cool video. I just really want to hear you say... "But we haven't had second breakfast." Thanks for the info!

[@roccsterx]

Super video m8, and mod worked like a charm :D Sure wish I would have known what the h* I was doing, but as long as it works ;) Now im gonna check out your other Wah mods!

[@HarryMusicStuff]

It works but I ended up with a lower output wah that sounds like a telephone (no bass and attenuated high-end). I checked everything - I've done it right. Even did the stinkfoot tweak to get rid of the pop when activated. Also tried to change those input gain resistors - no effect at all. Any suggestions? The wah really sounds terrible now :-(. I had a different input cap in the original circuit - one with a plastic "case".

[@snap-off5383]

Um, the schematic for the crybaby wah I'm looking at shows true bypass already. . . it shows switch one swaps both ends of the circuit out of the wah path down a single wire. I guess I'll investigate while I install my LED.

[@whatcloud]

Where about would i find the 3p2t switch? And what size is the LED you use? And love the intro song!

[@rizwankasmuri948]

thanks for this very clear instructions & demo, great job! i might try this. though, i've seen a lot of people putting the LED on top face, any reason why i shouldn't put it on a side? my wah is normally first in line so for me visibility is better when the LED is on the left side (somewhere in front of the output) i think

[@TheTurbo930]

Well I've looked through about all of the comments and NO ONE I saw has asked about the Dunlop Crybaby Q95 switchless model????? I have this one and want to know if and how you do this mod to it?? When I used this pedal with my Marshall Valvestate it seemed to be turned off and in a kind of bypass mode, but with my Orange all tube amp it's totally evident that the effect is still being sent even when the pedal is all the way up with it supposedly ingaged in the off position. Is there a way to correct this?? I sure hope so for I purchased the Q95 for the reason of no swtch on off just put your foot on the thing and go! But there is way too much effect coming through the Orange amp when the pedal is in the "off" position. Please help or do a video on the Q95 crybaby for I'm sure there are a few owners that would like to know the same thing! Thanks, and excellent video I just wish it applied to my crybaby! :(

[@JD-qn7lv]

I would love to mod my cry baby into wah and volume pedal. Can u do a tut on this?

[@ronaldhein3763]

That works so fantastic! Thank u very much, great sound and the light is on.....

[@ericbusa]

Thanks for the awesome and clear wah mod will have to give it a try

[@VelvetProductions]

got the regular led, it works perfect! thanks a bunch!

[@needlehopper669]

Just did the LED mod, thx, peace of cake!

[@phenixreturns]

i prefer the sound before bypass !

[@pc90k]

It seems like your wiring in the 3PDT switch is a little bit diferent than the wiring you drew on the video, for instance: you jumped (with a red wire) two switch terminals that are immediately side by side to each other, and the two blue wires seem to be soldered in a diferent position than its drew. Am I right? Can I do EXACTLY what you drew for it to work, or do I need any other connections not-drew in the video?

[@GibsonLesPaul2273]

Agree with everyone perfect tutorial thanks

[@mkzgenari]

Thanks for this tutorial man! Works fine for me! You are the man!

[@BenK12345]

thanks for this! I successfully modded my pedal using your video :)

[@etzeppy]

I don't think you need to lift one end of the cap and cut the trace. It should be either/or but not both. The trace that is recommended to be cut only disconnects the cap leg (lifted end) to the input jack. If you lift that end of the cap off of the PCB, the trace does nothing...right? Therefore, you should be able to lift the cap and continue per the instructions (without cutting the trace). The alternative is to leave both ends of the cap connected to the PCB for stability. Connect the new wire to the top end (north) of the cap without de-soldering the cap leg. Then cut the trace per the instructions. I can find no reason to lift the cap leg and cut the trace. Someone explain why I'm wrong here. Nice instructions though...thanks for sharing. Update: I lifted the cap leg only but didn't cut the trace. Works great. Bypassed signal passes with no power applied to the wah. That should mean that the true bypass mod worked as intended.

[@daisycutterband1741]

I was going to post the same thing!

[@erikolsen1333]

This man is a legend

[@Syldar]

I modded my wah thanks to your video thanks a lot :)

[@bricezz8267]

I hear a "click" when I activate the switch. Is it because there's no ground connected ? How (where) to connect one if it's necessary ?

[@JohnnyThorn]

Excellent thank you! Does anyone know this sequence for a Rev C board? I can't seem to find anywhere.

[@MattGuilhermeMusic]

I tried this mod and it doesnt seem to work. The true bypass is fine but the LED wont turn on. My circuitboard was identical to this one except the component referenced at 6:18 is shaped like a box as opposed to the little squiggly diode.

[@boneufeld8575]

I've done this a few times, and the resistor on you're circuit board should definitely be ok, i was doing another one today though and ran in to the same problem you're talking about here. It's never happened to me before have you figured it out yet??

[@MattGuilhermeMusic]

Bo Neufeld I have not, to be honest i kindve gave up.

[@elxero2189]

I'm wondering about why you cut the trace to the cap if you disconnected it from the pcb anyway. Seems to me, you didn't really need to cut the trace. Is that bit which the cap goes into going to anywhere else, it didn't look that way to me. Can you clarify?

[@LordSonny94]

Hi. Do you know how I can take apart the two pieces on the wah?

[@VictorLee335]

ok on 7:55 of your video, is the white wire connected to the Diode the same wire that was connected to the capacitor that is on the left of the electrolytic Capacitor?

[@marcorinaldi7349]

Isn't possible to use the battery positive and negative wires to wire the LED instead of soldering wires to the pcb? (then I will only use the power supply of course..) Thank you!

[@guitarded5198]

I know this video is 1000 years old but damn!! You’re great at this! How did you learn this stuff? The internet?

[@Santiago.Ortiz.H]

thanks a lot, i did the mod, but my PCB was a little different from yours, my capacitor was like a blue box, but still your video was very useful!

[@dforget12]

Very helpful especially that android app that u mentioned. Keep up the good work man

[@Webgkil]

Im trying this as a first project in stomp box modding.You say you are using a 500Ω resistor on a 5mm red LED.Typical values for that type of led i find on the net are 1,8-2,2V and 20mA.With those numbers though, the app says i need a 360Ω resistor. Are you just going higher to be on the safe side, or are your led values different? I actually bought a bunch of color leds, and each color seems to need a slightly different resistor value (ranging between 270-360Ω).Should I go for the exact value the app gives me or would it be easier/better to go for something that covers all, say 400Ω (or 500Ω as you did). Anyways, loving all the vids man, that accent makes them even that much better (Greek guy here!)

[@nicknolan]

Thanks so much for this video. Worked great!

[@nitemunky76]

It may have a triple pole/double throw switch, but it probably isn't true bypass. The easy way to test it is to plug your guitar in thru the wah and into your amp, but do not power the wah (remove battery or DC power). When you play the guitar do you get a signal when the wah is switched off? If you don't hear anything (no signal) then the pedal is not true bypass. If you have the GCB-95 it wont be wired for true bypass from the factory.

[@beppecusumanoguitar]

hello I own a crybaby dunlop gcb95 ... if I send it to you, how much does it cost me to make changes to the video ??? I am writing to you about Italy. Thank you

[@johncollins2054]

Awesome vid, thanks! Can you tell me what the value of the capacitor is that you first unsoldered? Mine disintegrated when I moved it! My pedal is over 20yrs old so not unsurprising! Thanks! Is it .22uf? This is my first project and I haven't touched electronics in about 20 yrs so I'm relearning everything.

[@ebrix9]

I know this is an old video, but i was wondering: why did you cut the trace on the PCB if then you proceeded unsoldering the input cap from the PCB?

[@scottmeiklejohn7763]

aye aye manny, i was following your vid but for some reason my pcb is different to yours? where youve got your capacitor ive got a wee blue box with "10nj100 1x7" on it? do i still scrape away the back bitty or? major confused man help a fellow scottish rocker out :) Also any chance your could explain what you meant with the green cable coming back down to the bottom middle aswel as im a machinist and dont have a clue what you mean. cheers! Scott

[@checkoutthedescription1055]

Thanks so much for putting this video out, I never realized how much tone the wah sucked. I'm definitely going to change it to true bypass and add a light to the pedal to make my wah pedal better for my channel. Thanks again, this video is super easy to follow and really informative. Also how can you tell which resistors are which, because I want to add LED lights to another pedal I have.

[@napomania]

I own a crybaby 535 ( the one with external potentiometer and treble booster). It's a tone sudker. How can I mod that?

[@Chaoslava]

Make sure you record and encode in de-interlaced progressive scan.

[@matthiasmuller4629]

Your wiring diagram doesn't require a ground connection, most other instructions have a ground connection at the top-middle-connector of the switch. Does it work without ground connection?