New (broken) pedal day!

[Pepe]

The vintage Jen Mister Cry Baby Super is repaired and it sounds awesome! Luckily our dear fuzzbuzzfuzz was able to help me out with pictures of his own Jen Mister Cry Baby, so I quickly found out how the potentiometer had to be wired.

It has the great wah sound that I missed when I sold my Jen Double Sound, plus it serves as a very useful volume pedal when not in wah mode. I have read that the volume pedal function was a tone sucker, but with this replacement potentiometer it is possible to use it without noticeable volume or tone loss.

It is really annoying to repair those old wah pedals, because the modern replacement parts don't always fit perfectly. For example I had to use a thick plastic washer (that I cut through at one side so I was able to slide it over the potentiometer shaft) that made it possible to position the pinion gear of the new potentiometer more to the middle (see picture 2). And then, to ensure that the new rack gear keeps in contact with the pinion gear and the new tension clutch, I used iron beads to make it stay in the middle (see picture 3), otherwise it had moved to the sides and jumped off all the time.

Now I only need some fitting rubber bumpers, because the switch does activate too quickly.

[Pepe]

Now I only need some fitting rubber bumpers, because the switch does activate too quickly.

And that problem is now also solved already. I found some flexible and rather small rubber feet in my parts bin. I had to cut them in shape a little and put them in the treadle with super glue. Seems to work just fine this way. I have to test it tomorrow, since it is nighttime right now, but I'm very confident that the pedal is now in perfect condition.

I forgot to mention that these old wires are annoying. No matter how carefully I tried to solder them, the insulation melted like wax. The soldering job doesn't look beautiful. I blame those wires!

[laurie]

Nice fix!

I have a vintage Jen wah in 100% original condition (looks to be the same age as yours), with the vinyl carry case. They are very nice.

[Pepe]

Yes, this is my favourite wah for clean sounds. So many wahs sound rubbish without a dirt pedal after them.

And those rubber feet are now indeed perfectly working bumpers! Now I have to press it really hard to switch to the other mode, but that's just fine. The potentiometer is really great! No change in sound or volume on the last bit when switching to wah or volume mode. This pedal is definitely a keeper!

The rack gear support is really tight and at the wrong place for this setup. I think I'm going to drill a new small hole for the screw to move it a few millimetres to the side.

[Pepe]

Today I drilled a new hole for the rack gear support and now it has the right amount of tension (it was very, very tight at the old position). Plus I moved the rack gear to the side as well, so now both elements are very much in the center of the pinion gear of the potentiometer. I could remove the plastic washer and use the big metal washers instead, but it is absolutely okay the way it is now.

[Pepe]

Two days ago I received another broken unit that needs a lot of maintenance. A Monacor EM-200 Disk-Echo. Like the Italian Binson Echorec it uses a rotating magnetic metal disk to produce analogue delay. This delay unit was made in Japan and it can also be found with brand names of other companies like Echolette, Melos and Univox.

In an old review from 1979 it was criticised that the pitch wasn't too stable due to its V-belt drive, but for me that's a big plus and I'm looking for trying it out once it is repaired.

This faulty unit is said to produce some noise only and the disc does not rotate. I avoid to power it before I have given it a proper overhaul. I am going to replace the fuses and the old electrolytic capacitors. At least one jack (High Output) has completely broken, some other have cracks, so I'm going to replace them all. And I'm going to give all the connections and solder traces a reflow. Then I'll hope for the best.

[laurie]

That's pretty sweet!!

[Pepe]

Today I have disassembled most of it. The plastic of the old jacks has become very crumbly. Three of them are completely broken. I am going to replace them all. Also a potentiometer broke off and I have to order a new one.

And the thin metal foil has a big crack. I have bought a set of old 5.25'' floppy disks and I'm going to replace the foil with one of these. I hope that it works and that it sounds good.

[laurie]

Gotta love vintage mechanical systems...

[Pepe]

Aaaand the Monacor EM-200 is almost fully working again.

I still have to replace another potentiometer that has broken off. These and all the jacks were fastened very tightly, so I think that the parts had too much physical stress for all the decades. I replaced all the jacks and the electrolytic and tantalum capacitors and resoldered every single connection. I used the magnetic foil of a 5.25'' floppy disk and mounted it on the rotating disk.

A few minutes ago I decided to power it to test if anything is working at all after all the trouble. I was very pleased to see the motor spinning - the seller said that it didn't move at all when he tested it. And then I gave it a go with my guitar. Hey, that doesn't sound half bad with the floppy disk foil! Not as lo-fi as I imagined that it would be! I have to use another foil, because there is some unbalance that is audible as a rumbling noise. I need to try to give it more tension.