Tearjerker Suggestions, Recommendations, Lessons Learned, etc.

Big Monk

Well-known member
Gearing up to order the remainder of the parts I need to build a Tearjerker into my Dunlop Fasel Wah shell.

Anyone have anything they want to share?
 
What kind of sound are you going for?

If you're into vintage wah sounds, I'd suggest either breadboarding the circuit or socketing Q1 so you can experiment. To my ears, (much) lower hFE ranges sounded a lot better. MPSA18 have crazy high hFEs. I ended up with a JAN2N2222 with hFE below 200 on my build.

Breadboarding also helped with choosing the inductor.

Lastly, pay attention to the taper of the pot, it has a pretty drastic effect on the transition between the two extremes of the frequency sweep.
 
What kind of sound are you going for?

If you're into vintage wah sounds, I'd suggest either breadboarding the circuit or socketing Q1 so you can experiment. To my ears, (much) lower hFE ranges sounded a lot better. MPSA18 have crazy high hFEs. I ended up with a JAN2N2222 with hFE below 200 on my build.

Breadboarding also helped with choosing the inductor.

Lastly, pay attention to the taper of the pot, it has a pretty drastic effect on the transition between the two extremes of the frequency sweep.

I’m going for the Clyde type tone. I have an entire case full of NOS Silicon transistors under 200 hFE to choose from.

I have a Sabbadius Halo, Red Fasel and Yellow Fasel inductor. I’m contemplating a breakout board so I can have switchable inductors.

Also, I settled on the Chase Tone Tru Talk pot.
 
You should be all set, then! I tested the exact same inductors and ended up using the Halo. And I used a Joe Gagan pot. Really like the results and I think you will too.

And great idea having switchable inductors!
 
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