Tuesday 4 April 2017

Colorsound Fuzz Wah/Fuzz Wah Straight/Wow Fuzz


The Colorsound Fuzz-Wah, or to be exact the Colorsound Wow-Fuzz! A new version of a funk-tastic old timer. The original 1970’s two transistor silicon distortion stage delivers the fuzz and the classic inductor based Colorsound wah circuit gives you the wow! Ah, the inductor based circuit you say. Been awhile since Colorsound did that, right? That’s right and who better to achieve time machine like accuracy on such a wah circuit than monsieur Castledine of Castledine Electronics fame. From the reproduction circuit board to the custom wound vintage specification inductor, this is a genuine and bona fide Colorsound wah in everyway. The huge soaring sweep, highs that level mountain tops and low mids that sink ships. Fast reacting prono soundtrack like cool, nothing chukka-wah’s like a Colorsound. Buddying up along side this specially falvoured wah circuit we have the authentic fuzz stage as featured in all the early Colorsound Fuzz-Wah’s. Voltage feedback family ahoy. This transistorized silicon fuzz circuit is biased for a smooth and mellow fuzz tone. Rich with heavy density that gels perfectly into the wah stage once engaged.

Independently switchable stages. In other words one switch to engage each circuit. It may seem a little odd at first having both mounted at the front of pedal but it does work surprisingly well indeed. After a little bonding session with the pedal it becomes quite easy to select the circuit you desire or even engage/disengage both simultaneously. It is most certainly not rocket science but a little introductory time is never a bad thing. 





You want to use DPDT switches to turn each effect on and off, unless you're going to put LEDs in to see what's on and off, and the wah comes first in the circuit.

A quick note: The original transistors have a pinout of BCE top to bottom on the flat side, but since they can be rather pricey these days I decided to make the layout using the more common CBE pinout. So if you decide to hunt down the original transistors be aware that you will need to twist 2 of the pins. Not a big deal, but can be kind of annoying for those of us that are a little on the meticulous side.

Also, the description I posted is for the Sola Sound reproduction made by the captain. He switched the 5k trimmer to a 47k, so you can put a 50k no problem.

11 comments:

  1. I own the inductorless version of this.

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    1. i didn't know that there was an inductorless fuzz wah, all the ones i know about are all traditional inductor wahs. if you've got or can take some gutshots i'ld love to take a look at it.

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  2. nice!
    I have an old wah shell that needs this!

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  3. Any way to just build the fuzz section of this?

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  4. I haven't tried thoroughly checked this but of course I have the Fuzz Face schematic burned into my brain forever lol so it looks like there's a cut missing between input and Q2.

    Right now Q1 collector is connecting to Q2 collector, it should be Q1 collector to Q2 base

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    1. damn man, can't believe i did that. fixed it, and should be good to go now.

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  5. Fixed this up and works nicely. 4123 and 4124 for the fuzz, BC108s for the wah. I was getting some oscillation and tried all sorts to fix it (swapped out the transistors, used a trimmer instead of the 1k resistor on Q4's emitter, shielded wires etc). It then dawned on me that most of the issues with wah and fuzz stem from the old debate about their order.

    TL:DR wah before fuzz didn't work for me. Fuzz before wah works a dream. Thanks for the layout! Great work :)

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  6. Any suggestions for a housing for this?

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    1. I've got an original enclosure that was gutted some time before it came into my possession. The sweep of the treadle is wider than a Cry Baby so I'm not sure you'd get the same range. Worth a shot though if you have an old wah enclosure to hand.

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  7. http://www.smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/expression-pedal-shell-kit/

    Does anyone has experience with smallbear or with that kit? And should it work with this build? I really like the fuzz tone from the video!! And is there a way to make a blend knob? I had some ideas for a fuzzwah but then 1 dpdt switch and with a blend knob. So for example, if you turn it all the way right you will hear the wah circuit and if you turn it all the way to the left you hear the fuzz circuit and in the middle both of them. Should that work? I really appreciate this website and all the work it really helps with my builds,

    Atze

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  8. So I have a yellow fasel inductor but it only has two pins...Can anyone tell me if that would still work on this and how to arrange it. Thanks!!

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