Just bought an original 60's Italian-made Vox/JEN Cry Baby wah

Eywadude

Lunatic Member
It's always a good day when you score one for $70 Canadian pesos though. :D I just like how it says 'JEN Elettronica' on the baseplate. lol It's 100% original and has all the original components on the inside, including the original (and famous) 60's red Fasel inductor. Surprisingly, other than two missing feet on the bottom, this one is in pretty decent shape. The case is a little dusty, but there is very little wear on the treadle pad and other than a few chips here and there, there is virtually no foot wear on the finish for the treadle housing. There isn't even a nick or a scratch on the faceplate(!) and it's also pretty clean inside. Overall, it's a very good unit that has that truly authentic wah sound from the era. I'll consider myself lucky on this one! :)

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Is the lever action smooth and "fluid"? I used to have good luck with this model, the original UK model, and even the odd Thomas Organ era, American-made models, in the 80s. But as the mid 90s came into view, I encountered an ever-escalating number of these, of all makes, in which the lever action was slow, I s'pose from age, poor storage methods, etc. Of the 50+ I've owned since the early 70s, I have managed to hang on to a single specimen, an early UK model, as more of a "museum piece" than anything else since I hate using the "wah" effect when I play and I'm not too keen on the sound of "wah" @ anyone else's playing, not even Hendrix, whose ouvre is about as good as it gets w/ the wah effect element.

All the same, still a "cool" artifact to have around, y'know?
 
Is the lever action smooth and "fluid"? I used to have good luck with this model, the original UK model, and even the odd Thomas Organ era, American-made models, in the 80s. But as the mid 90s came into view, I encountered an ever-escalating number of these, of all makes, in which the lever action was slow, I s'pose from age, poor storage methods, etc. Of the 50+ I've owned since the early 70s, I have managed to hang on to a single specimen, an early UK model, as more of a "museum piece" than anything else since I hate using the "wah" effect when I play and I'm not too keen on the sound of "wah" @ anyone else's playing, not even Hendrix, whose ouvre is about as good as it gets w/ the wah effect element.

All the same, still a "cool" artifact to have around, y'know?

Yep, it's smooth and fluid in its action and the original pot still has plenty of action to it. Surprisingly though, it's not scratchy at all and it's got lots of life left. As mentioned in my initial post, other than a few chips around the edge of the treadle, I don't think this thing was used much over the years because there is literally little to no wear or "smoothing" of the crinkle finish, or on the treadle pad itself. Also, as evidenced inside, unless it was meticulously cleaned at one point, I was surprised to see that the board and all the components were very clean and free of dust. I didn't even clean it for the photos. What you see in the photos is exactly how I got it. I still need to clean the case and I think I'll Deoxit the pot as a precaution, as well as clean and (carefully) re-grease the actuator gears inside, but other than that, this thing is tip-top and ready to go.

As far as the action of some of the ones you have tried, did you try Deoxiting the pot and re-applying grease to the actuator gears? A lot of the time the factory grease dries out and hardens, and makes the action stiff and wonky. Sometimes a good cleaning and re-greasing is all it needs to get it back to where it needs to be. Also, sometimes the plastic tension loop that applies pressure on the back of the straight gear can apply too much pressure and sometimes a replacement one can fix the stiffness issue. If you ever get another one of them I'd try cleaning it (particularly the old grease from the gears), as well as checking the tension loop that applies pressure to the backside of the straight gear. Wah pedals can be a little finicky at times, but most of their mechanical issues can be easily remedied.

I do likes me some wah effect though. :D I like what they can do to the tone of a guitar. I love that vintage "fingers down the throat" sound that many of the early wahs produce with the original Fasel inductor in them. This one has that sound too. The only other wah pedals that come close sound-wise (that I've heard and IMO), is the relatively new Dunlop CBM95 Mini Wah that has a 3-way switch inside to modify the tone and sweep range. To good effect too. I've seriously considered buying one. The other pedal I really like the sound of is one of the cheapest and crappiest wahs you can buy called the Daphon DF2210. It's a really cool sounding wah (if you get one that's assembled correctly), but it comes in a horribly cheap plastic housing with cheap jacks and pot, etc. I really like the tone of it, but I've always wanted to install the board from one into a regular Cry Baby housing with better quality switches and pot to make it more reliable. Both pedals have a really great honky, puke-y sound that I really like.

Anyway, it's too bad you're not a fan of wah pedals though. Sounds like you've had quite a collection over the years! There's a few in there that I'm sure I would have loved to have.

Cheers. :)
 
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I believe Mystic said it best concerning judicial use of wah.

Krk (see what I did there, anyone?) has ruined it for me, eternally.

Seriously nice find tho!!!!!
 
I believe Mystic said it best concerning judicial use of wah.

Krk (see what I did there, anyone?) has ruined it for me, eternally.

Seriously nice find tho!!!!!

Oh, I agree. I think you can use it too much to the point of it losing its special character and it can become annoying if it's used in every song. But I think that also applies to any effect or overall tone. Used judiciously, it can be a great effect. I think it's best suited to accent certain passages and phrasings instead of an all-the-time tone or theme. I think the saying "everything in moderation" certainly applies. :)

With that said, a couple of my favourite wah tones are Jimi's use of it in 'Still Raining, Still Dreaming' (which we all know), as well as simple uses of or wah like in this song that makes this guy's tone in the rhythm parts in particular sound so nasty:


And one of my favourite uses of a stationary "cocked wah" sound can be found on this album:


Just a few of many examples, but I do love wah and what it can do to a guitar's tone in the right situation. :)
 
Has the seemingly ever-present helium voice yodeling robot autotune thing become the new overused wah-wah?
 
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Has the seeminly ever-present helium voice yodeling robot autotune thing become the new overused wah-wah?

Autotune, synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, keyboards, etc. All overused, inorganic crap IMO. Nothing can replace the human touch or nuance. Long live rock! :rockon:
 
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Autotune, synthesizer, samplers, drum machines, keyboards, etc. All overused, inorganic crap IMO. Nothing can replace the human touch or nuance. Long live rock! :rockon:
I did like Gary Numan's Tubeway Army "Replicas" album a lot. I was stoned in a German keller bar the first time I heard "Are Friends Electric?" and it made quite a lasting impression. I thought it all was very "Blade runner" distopian futuristic.
 
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