How to fully Mod a CryBaby (GCB-95)

[@tomasvojtasek]

What potentiometers do you use? RV16AF-10-17K-* or RV16AF-10-15K-* series?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@tomasvojtasek RV16AF-10-15R1

[@vince8081]

Wow that's great, i made mine this afternoon with the 4 knobs, true bypass and a blue led inside the wha, just under the foot plate, for a great "wha effect". 🤣 Thanks for your video, very well made.

[@marij78tex]

Great demo and great help! Thank you for making my wah sound great :)

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Happy to help!

[@clownhands]

Small things like pre-desoldering components and graphically highlighting the components to remove are the difference between amateur and pro KZbin videos. Awesome job!

[@MrBTBusch]

Sounds like it got tinier to me with just the Fasel, seems like alot if work for not that much if not worse imo. Sorry

[@derpplayz7359]

just did the hot rod mod after getting all the parts, and OH MY GOODNESS this is incredible thank you for making this video!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

it’s like the Jimi Hendrix wah and Zakk Wyld wah had a baby.

[@erwin.mosselmann]

Nice project. Very well explained mods. 👍

[@David-jg7vm]

Great circuit to learn on! Use caution when soldering on those boards as it is easy to lift traces. The reality is the changes are subtle and can work against each other. For example, if you lower the input resistor(68k) it increases the volume of the wah but if you lower the resistor at the emitter of Q1 (390) it adds gain and bass. If you want more growl great, but if not you may not like it. The best thing you can do to a modern Crybaby (IMO) is convert to true bypass (their input buffer is crap), change the inductor, and use lower gain transistors. I prefer the latter because I prefer the wah to be transparent and not add any gain to the circuit. It is also fun to build your own wah.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

You know your shit. Cry baby boards are the absolute worst when it comes to lifting traces. I should have mentioned that in my video, I should have said to scrap the board if you lift a trace. I agree a vintage correct cry baby is the most versatile, these mods are for people that want something different or aggressive

[@Viks021]

Great demo, I did these mods before with internal trim pots adjusted to my liking. If I remember correctly Hendrix model and Zakk Wylde are exactly the same, just a different casing, one capacitor (i put it on toggle switch so that I can choose between the two) and physical pedal sweep. Recently I got ZW-45 and comparing to standard GCB-95, aside from capacitor difference I have noted the following: on ZW-45 on/off switch is much higher, and front rubber pedal bumpers are higher, so the pedal is not physically sweeping toward extreme highs - rubber hight on toe side is 4 mm on standard vs. between 7 and 8 mm on ZW45. Heel side of the pedals is of the same hight. Perhaps someone will find this info useful.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@Viks021 Zakk’s crybaby is very similar but has some major differences. 1. The buffer on Zakk’s crybaby is slightly different from a stock GCB AND Hendrix shouldn’t have a buffer. 2. The transistors are different between Zakk & Hendrix 3. Hendrix has an added resistor to it will play well with fuzz pedals. Yes I’ve experienced the long squishy feet. Replacements can be bought and the gear can be moved to compensate.

[@Viks021]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Comparing schematics ZW-45 vs. GCB, input buffers are the same. The only difference is 22nF vs 10nF capacitor. I will open it up to confirm.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@Viks021 yes you’re right the buffers are the same. I must of confused it with another wah. But a true Hendrix wah and a Zakk wah should sound very different since they use different transistors and have a slightly different electrolytic capacitor 3.9uF vs 4.7uF And the filter pots are very different 100K vs 470K So they kinda look similar on paper but very different. Give a Hendrix guy a Zakk wah and he’ll probably hate it lol.

[@rustyrobinson8027]

Thanks liked and subscribed 👍

[@vince8081]

Can't find anywhere a 500 ohm pot, so i put a 1k pot for the gain knob... have you any recommendation for the resistor that would go with it ? Or my 1k pot with 100ohm resistor would be right ? Thanks a lot.

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

The 1k pot with a 100ohm resistor will work, it will just be slightly sensitive to adjust. The 100ohm resistor is more important because that’s the max gain setting. The 1k pot will make the wah slightly cleaner & thinner on its minimum setting. So using a 1k pot will basically make the knob more sensitive.

[@rocanrolafx2179]

Apart from the electronic modification, it is also important to me that the travel of the pedal potentiometer is well regulated. What is your opinion about this..? Thank you!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes you can use different values and different tapers to get the right feel. However that’s what the sweep/q knob does…. It adjusts the amount of travel. The Q sweep knob might not be very audible because it’s more of a feel thing.

[@6spix324]

Hey man, I added the adjustable mods to my cry baby yesterday but it feels like I've lost a ton of power on the low end, almost like when I push towards the heel the volume is lowered. Before I had some throaty mids but now it just seems to be total bassiness with almost no mids. It sounds like it's totally underwater. Do you have any idea what's going on? I did vol, gain, sweep and mids with adjustable pots and the dual capacitor switch exactly as shown

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I’ll help you out. Email me with pictures of the work done. [e-mail] I like doing this stuff and helping out. You won’t be bothering me no matter how many emails it takes.

[@6spix324]

Dropped you an email, cheers

[@eladberger7148]

Hi thanks for great video. I modded the true bypass, LED and cap to a 2 cap switch. For some reason the pedal is only working with battery now and not a power supply, also just one cap position is working. My pedal had only one blue wire to foot-switch. I don’t know if it matters. Help?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

I’ll help you out as much as possible. Email me some pictures and we’ll communicate via email. [e-mail]

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Hey buddy still looking out for your email. No rush ✌🏼

[@eladberger7148]

Thanks I just grabbed the wrong greenie because I’m kinda blind. Works great! Thanks for your detailed videos.

[@Boefkick]

Really love the channel and content you have on here! Any chance of you showing some mods tutorial on the Crybaby 95Q? Unfortunately there are no videos on how to mod them yet and I'm sure you would do a killer job!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Unfortunately the 95Q is not a good candidate to mod because it uses the micro surface mount parts. That’s why you don’t see mods on the 95Q. The 95Q is a totally different design from the GCB. The Q is basically super modern and the GCB is of the vintage vibe.

[@Boefkick]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Ahh okay, bummer! Thanks for the quick reply and I'm looking forward to the next video!

[@MatthewGranato-p3i]

Great video!

[@rafaellemos6540]

Wow, what a complete and awesome video and instructions! I have a 535Q in which I added a led and changed the switch (as same as yours) to turn it into a TBP, but only now I realize I didn´t excluded the buffer components of the circuit! I´ll do some studies into my pedal, and try to add the Low Voice control (the 535Q has already the volume, gain boost and frequency controls). Thank you a lot!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Hopefully you don’t have the newer PCB with the micro parts.

[@rafaellemos6540]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Hi there! Well, I just checked and unfortunately it's the one with the micro components. I´m wondering if it would be possible to "skip" these buffer components without having to extract them? If not, I'll keep it that way. Thanks in advance!

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

@@rafaellemos6540 hmmm it might be possible to add a jumper from the input tip to the “start input” of the circuit to bypass the buffer. Though I really don’t know that circuit at all. Also keep in mind that input buffers aren’t always a bad thing. The reason why the input buffer was added to the crybaby was so it would react & feel the same with all guitar pickups single/p90/humbucker/active. The 535q may even need an input buffer for its circuit to work correctly.

[@rafaellemos6540]

@@ArtoriusGuitarNerd Thank you my friend, I´ll keep this circuit as it is, it´s a good pedal. Thank you so much for your time!

[@Montebruno]

23:27 That same resistor we swapped at the beginning?

[@ArtoriusGuitarNerd]

Yes I repeat all the mods again but with pots instead of resistors.