Difference between revisions of "Wah Inductors"
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Plunkett's task was to make the amps more profitable for Thomas Organ by lowering the cost on the amps. By redesigning the amp circuit to use a $0.20 potentiometer instead of a $4.00 switch (presuming the buying public would accept such a change), the amp would become more profitable... | Plunkett's task was to make the amps more profitable for Thomas Organ by lowering the cost on the amps. By redesigning the amp circuit to use a $0.20 potentiometer instead of a $4.00 switch (presuming the buying public would accept such a change), the amp would become more profitable... | ||
| − | One morning, in the span of about 4 hours, Plunkett had built a new variation of the previously-mentioned tone control into a sweepable tone control. After some experimentation in the office with this new control, it took on a life of its own. An unused treadle housing for a foot-swept volume control organ pedal was repurposed, and the first ever wah-wah pedal was born. Needless to say, this innovation captured the imagination of the people at Thomas Organ / Vox and it was released as a standalone product. | + | One morning, in the span of about 4 hours, Plunkett had built a new variation of the previously-mentioned tone control into a sweepable tone control. After some experimentation in the office with this new control, it took on a life of its own. An unused treadle housing for a foot-swept volume control organ pedal was repurposed, and the first ever wah-wah pedal was born. Needless to say, this innovation captured the imagination of the people at Thomas Organ / Vox and it was released as a standalone product. Jim Dunlop actually made a YouTube feature about the Crybaby wah-wah pedal that we love called [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAMSJwG0xVs|"Crybaby: The Pedal That Rocked The World"]. It will randomly pop up and will be similarly withdrawn from YouTube without notice. The link provided may or may not work. |
| − | === Impact | + | == Thermionic Inductors == |
| + | When most people think of an inductor as a component that gets wired into a wah-wah circuit, it's considered something of a black box. You want a different sound in your wah-wah? Replace your current inductor (the "Plain Jane Dunlop", for example) with another (the "Dunlop Red Fasel"). And this will change the sound. And yet it might not get you the sound you're looking for... | ||
| + | |||
| + | We have, ourselves, gone down the rabbit hole, and quite unintentionally. Being fascinated by wah-wahs and wanting to build a better one than can be bought at Guitar Center or Sweetwater, we bought multiple wah-wah inductors with the goal of making "a better sounding wah-wah". | ||
| + | |||
| + | Track to a few years later, and we learned that "winding your own" wah-wah inductor isn't much more effort than winding your own electric guitar pickup. "No kidding? Not different than a pickup? Really? Winding a pickup mostly consists of a few thousands turns of very thin enameled wire..." | ||
| + | |||
| + | And that sent us down the wind-it-yourself inductor rabbit hole. | ||
| + | |||
| + | We have spent multiple hours to try to understand what it takes to identify and assemble the correct pieces in order for someone to wind their own wah-wah inductors. An inductor consists of top and bottom ferrite core halves, a coil former, yoke, assembly, and adjusting screw. Not all inductors come with a screw. The screw isn't to hold the inductor together, it serves to act as an insert to move up and down and adjust the gap between the two ferrite core halves. A wah inductor needs a gap, as it is necessary for the inductance of the part. If the gap is too small, the core will saturate and inductance will drop, and if the gap is too large, inductance is harder to create. With non-toroidal inductors there seem to be only 3 types that go into wah-wahs. "Stack of Dimes", "Halo", and the "ME-6". Toroidal inductors include certain inductors from Dunlop, including red and yellow "Fasels". | ||
| + | |||
| + | So we're winding some of our own inductors. We're going to wind each of the "flavors" of coil-based inductors. Here's what our investigations lead to with respect to ordering the parts. We found that Mouser seems to have the most breadth and depth of inductor parts. So here are the components codes to look up the various pieces so as to be able to wind your own inductor. | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Stack of Dimes / 1408 === | ||
| + | {| class="wikitable" style="left; margin-right:20px; background-color:#eeffee;" cellpadding="10" | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | ! TDK Part Number || Inductor Assembly Piece | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65549E0004X023 || Inductance Tuning Screw | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65545B0009X000 || Yoke (Harness) & 4-Lug Terminal Carrier | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65542B0000T001 || Coil Former | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65541T0250A048 || Ferrite Coil halves (0.10 mm gap) w/ threaded insert | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | 5678140921 || "Fair-Rite" branded Ferrite Coil - no insert - tight gap | ||
| + | |} | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Halo / 1811 === | ||
| + | {| class="wikitable" style="left; margin-right:20px; background-color:#eeffee;" cellpadding="10" | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | ! TDK Part Number || Inductor Assembly Piece | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65659F0001X023 || Inductance Tuning Screw | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65655B0009X000 || Yoke (Harness) & 4-Lug Terminal Carrier | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65542B0000T001 || Coil Former | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65651D0000R048 || Ferrite Coil halves zero gap - sand paper to tune | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65651T0400A048 || Ferrite Coil halves (0.10 mm gap) w/ threaded insert | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65651T0250A048 || Ferrite Coil halves (0.20 mm gap) w/ threaded insert | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | 5695181221 || "Fair-Rite" branded Ferrite Coil - no insert - tight gap | ||
| + | |} | ||
| + | |||
| + | === "Wedge" / RM-6 === | ||
| + | {| class="wikitable" style="left; margin-right:20px; background-color:#eeffee;" cellpadding="10" | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | ! TDK Part Number || Inductor Assembly Piece | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65659F0001X023 || Inductance Tuning Screw | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65808B2203X000 || Clamp (harness), 1-piece | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65808N1004D001 || Coil Former with 4-pin Lug | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65807J0400A048 || Ferrite Coil halves zero gap - sand paper to tune | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | | B65807N0250A048 || Ferrite Coil halves (0.12 mm gap) w/ threaded insert | ||
| + | |} | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Impact == | ||
Most musical electronics professionals who've looked into the wah-wah pedal agree that the inductor, in and of itself, is not the most important piece of circuitry. It's clear from outside experimentation that adjusting other, more mundane pieces of the circuit can also have a large effect on a wah wah pedal's tone. However, since the inductor continues to capture the imagination of people around the music world as the "silver bullet" in a wah-wah pedal, we've decided to offer the "wah inductor" its own page. | Most musical electronics professionals who've looked into the wah-wah pedal agree that the inductor, in and of itself, is not the most important piece of circuitry. It's clear from outside experimentation that adjusting other, more mundane pieces of the circuit can also have a large effect on a wah wah pedal's tone. However, since the inductor continues to capture the imagination of people around the music world as the "silver bullet" in a wah-wah pedal, we've decided to offer the "wah inductor" its own page. | ||
| − | == | + | == Various Inductors == |
| − | + | === Dunlop === | |
* Red Fasel Toroidal Core | * Red Fasel Toroidal Core | ||
* Yellow Fasel Cup Core | * Yellow Fasel Cup Core | ||
| Line 25: | Line 90: | ||
* Dunlop "Standard" Black | * Dunlop "Standard" Black | ||
| − | + | === Joe Gagan === | |
* Joe Gagan's Tone Tank | * Joe Gagan's Tone Tank | ||
* Joe Gagan's 60s purple tone tank | * Joe Gagan's 60s purple tone tank | ||
* Joe Gagan's red tone tank | * Joe Gagan's red tone tank | ||
| − | + | === Arteffect.co === | |
* Arteffect Halo | * Arteffect Halo | ||
* Arteffect stack-of-dimes | * Arteffect stack-of-dimes | ||
* Arteffect stack-of-halos | * Arteffect stack-of-halos | ||
| − | + | === MammothElectronics.com === | |
* Mammoth Electronics ME-6 | * Mammoth Electronics ME-6 | ||
| − | + | === Dandyjob.com === | |
* Dandyjob.com "Whipple" Halo | * Dandyjob.com "Whipple" Halo | ||
| − | + | === Fulltone.com === | |
* Fulltone Silver Can Inductor | * Fulltone Silver Can Inductor | ||
| − | === | + | === Miscellaeneous Inductors === |
* TDK 5103 "cube" | * TDK 5103 "cube" | ||
* Castledine Halo | * Castledine Halo | ||
| Line 68: | Line 133: | ||
# Chasetone.com stack-of-dimes $17.99 / eBay | # Chasetone.com stack-of-dimes $17.99 / eBay | ||
| − | ==Sites that Offer Wah Stuff== | + | == Sites that Offer Wah Stuff == |
* [http://www.arteffect.co arteffect.co]: home-spun inductors. Also sells pots. | * [http://www.arteffect.co arteffect.co]: home-spun inductors. Also sells pots. | ||
* [http://www.jimdunlop.com JimDunlop.com]: Saved the Crybaby Wah-Wah from oblivion. | * [http://www.jimdunlop.com JimDunlop.com]: Saved the Crybaby Wah-Wah from oblivion. | ||
Revision as of 04:22, 8 September 2026
It seems a little unusual to have an article on just one part that goes into a wah-wah pedal. In fact, there are circuit designs for wah-wah pedals that don't use an inductor. The reason so many wah-wah pedals have an inductor is because of the design and success of the first wah-wah pedal manufacturer: Thomas Organ Company. Thomas Organ employed the inventor of the Wah-wah, when he invented it: Brad Plunkett.
History
Brad took his design for the wah-wah pedal from a tone control that was part of another piece of equipment. It's believed this unmentioned piece was a keyboard amp. The wah-wah pedal, like most great inventions, came about completely as the result of an accident. In 1966, the owner of Thomas Organ, Joe Benaron, wanted to lower the cost of the Vox Super Beatle amp(and probably others).
On certain Vox amplifiers, including the Super Beatle, was a switch called the "MRB". This "MRB" switch stood for "Mid Range Boost". As you can imagine, it boosted the midrange frequencies. However, the cost of this switch was about $4.00 in 1966-1967.
Plunkett's task was to make the amps more profitable for Thomas Organ by lowering the cost on the amps. By redesigning the amp circuit to use a $0.20 potentiometer instead of a $4.00 switch (presuming the buying public would accept such a change), the amp would become more profitable...
One morning, in the span of about 4 hours, Plunkett had built a new variation of the previously-mentioned tone control into a sweepable tone control. After some experimentation in the office with this new control, it took on a life of its own. An unused treadle housing for a foot-swept volume control organ pedal was repurposed, and the first ever wah-wah pedal was born. Needless to say, this innovation captured the imagination of the people at Thomas Organ / Vox and it was released as a standalone product. Jim Dunlop actually made a YouTube feature about the Crybaby wah-wah pedal that we love called "Crybaby: The Pedal That Rocked The World". It will randomly pop up and will be similarly withdrawn from YouTube without notice. The link provided may or may not work.
Thermionic Inductors
When most people think of an inductor as a component that gets wired into a wah-wah circuit, it's considered something of a black box. You want a different sound in your wah-wah? Replace your current inductor (the "Plain Jane Dunlop", for example) with another (the "Dunlop Red Fasel"). And this will change the sound. And yet it might not get you the sound you're looking for...
We have, ourselves, gone down the rabbit hole, and quite unintentionally. Being fascinated by wah-wahs and wanting to build a better one than can be bought at Guitar Center or Sweetwater, we bought multiple wah-wah inductors with the goal of making "a better sounding wah-wah".
Track to a few years later, and we learned that "winding your own" wah-wah inductor isn't much more effort than winding your own electric guitar pickup. "No kidding? Not different than a pickup? Really? Winding a pickup mostly consists of a few thousands turns of very thin enameled wire..."
And that sent us down the wind-it-yourself inductor rabbit hole.
We have spent multiple hours to try to understand what it takes to identify and assemble the correct pieces in order for someone to wind their own wah-wah inductors. An inductor consists of top and bottom ferrite core halves, a coil former, yoke, assembly, and adjusting screw. Not all inductors come with a screw. The screw isn't to hold the inductor together, it serves to act as an insert to move up and down and adjust the gap between the two ferrite core halves. A wah inductor needs a gap, as it is necessary for the inductance of the part. If the gap is too small, the core will saturate and inductance will drop, and if the gap is too large, inductance is harder to create. With non-toroidal inductors there seem to be only 3 types that go into wah-wahs. "Stack of Dimes", "Halo", and the "ME-6". Toroidal inductors include certain inductors from Dunlop, including red and yellow "Fasels".
So we're winding some of our own inductors. We're going to wind each of the "flavors" of coil-based inductors. Here's what our investigations lead to with respect to ordering the parts. We found that Mouser seems to have the most breadth and depth of inductor parts. So here are the components codes to look up the various pieces so as to be able to wind your own inductor.
Stack of Dimes / 1408
| TDK Part Number | Inductor Assembly Piece |
|---|---|
| B65549E0004X023 | Inductance Tuning Screw |
| B65545B0009X000 | Yoke (Harness) & 4-Lug Terminal Carrier |
| B65542B0000T001 | Coil Former |
| B65541T0250A048 | Ferrite Coil halves (0.10 mm gap) w/ threaded insert |
| 5678140921 | "Fair-Rite" branded Ferrite Coil - no insert - tight gap |
Halo / 1811
| TDK Part Number | Inductor Assembly Piece |
|---|---|
| B65659F0001X023 | Inductance Tuning Screw |
| B65655B0009X000 | Yoke (Harness) & 4-Lug Terminal Carrier |
| B65542B0000T001 | Coil Former |
| B65651D0000R048 | Ferrite Coil halves zero gap - sand paper to tune |
| B65651T0400A048 | Ferrite Coil halves (0.10 mm gap) w/ threaded insert |
| B65651T0250A048 | Ferrite Coil halves (0.20 mm gap) w/ threaded insert |
| 5695181221 | "Fair-Rite" branded Ferrite Coil - no insert - tight gap |
"Wedge" / RM-6
| TDK Part Number | Inductor Assembly Piece |
|---|---|
| B65659F0001X023 | Inductance Tuning Screw |
| B65808B2203X000 | Clamp (harness), 1-piece |
| B65808N1004D001 | Coil Former with 4-pin Lug |
| B65807J0400A048 | Ferrite Coil halves zero gap - sand paper to tune |
| B65807N0250A048 | Ferrite Coil halves (0.12 mm gap) w/ threaded insert |
Impact
Most musical electronics professionals who've looked into the wah-wah pedal agree that the inductor, in and of itself, is not the most important piece of circuitry. It's clear from outside experimentation that adjusting other, more mundane pieces of the circuit can also have a large effect on a wah wah pedal's tone. However, since the inductor continues to capture the imagination of people around the music world as the "silver bullet" in a wah-wah pedal, we've decided to offer the "wah inductor" its own page.
Various Inductors
Dunlop
- Red Fasel Toroidal Core
- Yellow Fasel Cup Core
- Dunlop Halo
- Dunlop EVH
- Dunlop "Standard" Black
Joe Gagan
- Joe Gagan's Tone Tank
- Joe Gagan's 60s purple tone tank
- Joe Gagan's red tone tank
Arteffect.co
- Arteffect Halo
- Arteffect stack-of-dimes
- Arteffect stack-of-halos
MammothElectronics.com
- Mammoth Electronics ME-6
Dandyjob.com
- Dandyjob.com "Whipple" Halo
Fulltone.com
- Fulltone Silver Can Inductor
Miscellaeneous Inductors
- TDK 5103 "cube"
- Castledine Halo
- ArielFX Halo
- Chasetone.com "Stack of Dimes"
- Stuff to note and update
- Dunlop "Standard" black cylinder - not seen a price, comes installed in base model dunlop wahwahs, can be gotten on eBay
- Dunlop "Yellow" cup-core - Price varies, seen low of $12.00 on tubesandmore.com, high of $20.00 from Dunlop
- Dunlop "Red" toroidal core - Price varies, seen low of $12.00 on tubesandmore.com, high of $20.00 from Dunlop
- Dunlop EVH "black signature" inductor - Price varies, seen low of $19.00 on Dunlop, high of $35.00 from eBay
- Whipple Halo Inductor - $27.00 dandyjob.com / eBay
- Arteffect.co Stack-of-Dimes inductor - $29.00, must await shipping from Israel
- Arteffect.co Halo Inductor - $31.00, must await shipping from Israel
- Arteffect.co Stack-of-halos - $25.00, must await shipping from Israel
- Joe Gagan's "Original El-Rad Tone Tank" - $22.77 on eBay. Joe Gagan has FB page, but no business website
- Joe Gagan's "Red Tone Tank" - $22.95 on eBay. Joe Gagan has FB page, but no business website
- Joe Gagan's "Purple 60s Vox Tone Tank" - $27.77 on eBay. Joe Gagan has FB page, but no business website
- TDK - 5103 inductor - Doesn't seem like it's available anymore except to be cannibalized from old electronic equipment - doesn't have a good reputation for musicality, but per Joe Gagan, the TDK 5103 came in two flavors - low impedance and high impedance with the low impedance inductor reported by Joe as sounding fantastic.
- Mammoth Electronics "ME-6" Inductor - $8.00 / Mammoth Electronics
- Fulltone "Silver Can" inductor - $49.00 / Fulltone.com
- Chasetone.com stack-of-dimes $17.99 / eBay
Sites that Offer Wah Stuff
- arteffect.co: home-spun inductors. Also sells pots.
- JimDunlop.com: Saved the Crybaby Wah-Wah from oblivion.
- eBay.com: Search for "Joe Gagan", "Chasetone", "Dandyjob", or "Whipple" for more specialized stuff.
- area51tubeaudiodesigns.com: No idea why the site is "Tube Audio" when it's all wah-wah. Sells switches, pots, custom wah wahs
- realmccoycustom.com: Geoffrey Teese "RMC" boutique wah wah. Other models as well.
- chasetone.com: Wahs and other pedals, but no inductors. Chasetone has only sold self-wound inductors on eBay (we have one).
- www.wah-wah.co.uk: Castledine Electronics. We think we'd like a "Wizard" pedal by Castledine too...
- chicagoiron.com: Sells clones of the no-longer-available Parachute Wah Wah by TycoBrahe. Tony Iommi loves them.
- Additional Sources
