Sewer Bæby part 2: GCB-95 Crybaby mods

2012/11/092015/01/14 Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

The Sewer Bæby… MY Sewer Bæby. This was one of my first pedal modification projects and it still remains one of the favorite effects I own. What happens when you take a salvaged, humble Dunlop Crybaby GCB-95 Wah and mod it? Falling into the rabbit hole of pedal geekery is one thing. Having a wah custom to your tastes is second. I’ve already written about how I added true-bypass and a much needed power indicating LED to this little guy. Next, I got into the guts and made it a kick ass bass wah: my fucking BABY.

The wah circuit is quite simple in terms of the quantity of parts. It’s a very interesting circuit, though, as it’s application wasn’t even intended by the inventors. It was supposed to be a mid-boost, but instead acted as a variable band-pass filter that simulated the human voice. If you’re interested in the intricacies of it, there’s no better article than The Technology of Wah Pedals over at Geofex.com. Alternatively, you can do just as I did: dive in based on a bunch of photos and descriptions of sound to shape up the tone of your wah.

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Sewer Bæby part 1: GCB-95 Crybaby mods

2012/11/022015/01/14 Doktor Ross Sewage2 Comments

Going back, way back, I found a broken Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby wah pedal in our jam space. I thought, huh, maybe I could use this if I figure out what was wrong with it. It turned out to be a loose battery clip, easily fixed. Then I thought, huh, sounds okay, what would make it sound better? A few internet searches later, I was led down the rabbit hole into the wild and wooly (more like impractical and laborious) world of modifying effects pedals. With a bit more knowledge under the belt, it’s time reevaluate what I did and look at what is still one of my favorite pedals on my board, the Sewer Bæby.

It’s a little beat up after a some years touring, but the hot rod paint job I gave the Sewer Bæby to distinguish it from yer typical Crybaby still looks alright. Of course none of that matters; it’s the inside that counts, right? Tell that to whomever you set on a blind date with Temple Grandin.

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Dead Alive: Emergency Speaker Repair

2012/10/192015/01/12 Doktor Ross Sewage4 Comments

With all the emphasis on amplifiers, pedals, cabinets, the humble speaker is oft forgotten. It’s the final destination for your signal and it’s the only thing you actually hear. What’s in your cabinet? If your speakers are crap, who cares that your amp is hand-wired? It’ll still sound like crap. For this discussion, what if it’s broken? Can you tell? The most common injury to a speaker will not necessarily stop it from working, but it won’t work well. When yer speaker cone rips, your tone cannot.

The first time I employed the following fix, I was on the road with my friend Christy. One night, we noticed her guitar sounded terrible. Upon inspection, the sound person had mic’ed a G12T-75 speaker in her cabinet that had a hole in the cone. Three other speakers had been somewhat masking the bad one, but that terrible sound had been coming out all along. We fixed it using an old roadie trick invented back before Guitar Centers were on every corner. Now that Guitar Centers don’t even carry guitar speakers, this old roadie trick is handy again.

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Resurrectionist: Earpollution Earbuds

2012/10/122015/01/12 Doktor Ross Sewage4 Comments

I love old music gear because it was built to last. Modern crap seems so fucking disposable. Why even bother? Sometimes, it’s worth a quick bother because I can’t be assed to go out to the store and plunk down even $10 when I know I can do something myself. Such was the case with a cheap ass pair of Earpollution Ozone Earbuds.

I got these at a truck stop to wear in the van while on tour. The rubber tips completely block out the inane chatter of my beloved bandmates when I just don’t have the patience. They actually sound killer with a boomy bass. I was wearing them at work when the cord got smooshed in a printing press. Only one earphone worked after that. While I was recently packing for a personal trip, I pulled them out and said, “Fuck this shit, I throw nothing away until all other options are gone.”

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Cry, Killbot, Cry! EHX V256 Vocoder Pedal

2012/10/052015/01/12 Doktor Ross Sewage3 Comments

There’s nothing impressive about a seven and a half foot tall robot that’s mute. That’s the issue we were having with Sean’s literal diabolus ex machina, the Killbot. Sean had made an impressive robot costume, lit up by yours truly which I covered in a previous post. He’s replete with spikes, claw, glowing brain, and a giant pepper-spray cannon. But his titular song called for the robot to do vocals. Being total nonces when it comes to playing along with a click-track and samples, we were stuck with a voiceless leviathan… and then came along the Electro-Harmonix V256 Vocoder Pedal.

Yes, it’s a tad thrashed. We play “thrash metal,” after all. And when Killbot springs forth from backstage, it is a sight to behold. He towers over us, punches me in the head, sprays the crowd, and it’s even better when he’s got something to say. The V256, released sometime in 2009, was just what we were looking for to complete this part of our act.

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Merde! Marshall Cabinet Casters

2012/09/282015/01/12 Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

I would like to congratulate Marshall Amps on their big anniversary, defining the sound and look of rock for 50 fucking years. Yup, they’ve been rolling along for awhile now. That is, until their really shitty casters broke and then them shits weren’t rolling nowhere. One sentence we will never hear another company say is, “Those Marshall casters are so well designed, we should copy them!”

Alas, the Marshall 1960A and B are such standard and well made guitar cabinets in every other way, the minor defaults with the casters must be forgiven and dealt with. The shitty plastic sockets strip out, the poorly mounted bolts come undone, and the riveted-in wheels bust. Loading in and out of venues every night doesn’t help their longevity, either. At an unreasonable $20 a pop each for genuine Marshall replacement casters, what else can be done?

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Operating Theater: Peavey Century 200H

2012/09/212015/01/12 Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

I almost feel guilty for writing about this, as the fix was so damn easy. Actually, that says a lot of good things about the manufacturer of this amp, Peavey. Behold, the Peavey Century (which was produced about twenty years shy of the turn of…)

I had a Peavey XR 400B PA head that I used to call “the amp that will not die.” I used it as a back up bass head before I had a proper bass amp to rely on. It was about the same era as this Century, used the same solid state power amp section, and could get kicked down a flight of stairs and still work. Sure, it never sounded that great, but it was unbreakable. This Century broke when my friend Mark, after seeing a documentary on Keith Moon, decided he was in the Who and sent it tumbling. So, WTF?

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Oh, Snap! Sennheiser MZS-421 shockmount

2012/09/142015/01/12 Doktor Ross Sewage8 Comments

In my Low End Theory 1 article, I expressed my overwhelming satisfaction with the Low End Theory 2 article, I explained the custom mounting of my sweet MD-421 using a Bass Hangar from basshanger.com, a common microphone gooseneck, and the Sennheiser MZS-421 shockmount. In all their wisdom, Sennheiser did not make the MD-421 fit in a standard mic clip. But at least they did make this mount that would isolate the microphone from nasty bass vibrations. It is perfect for my “on the cab” mic set up.

That is, until one of the rubber bands broke while I was on tour. Then a second rubber band broke. The remaining bands held the mount together until the end of tour, but the shock absorption was nil. Luckily, one of the broken bands was stuck in the divots of the mount. With that and the help of some photos, I was able to trace its original path and re-thread replacements.

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