Thursday 26 May 2011

Wobblebox

Wobblebox : "Metal Box" in a metal box

Features
  • Enormous bass boost
  • Adjustable treble cut
  • "Wobble" and "Wardle" knobs (Bass boost and Treble cut respectively)
  • Wonky hand cut graphics featuring a lovely picture of Jah Wobble
  • Satsuma plantation stickers to cover previously drilled holes!
  • Hand wired
  • Hand drilled
  • True bypass
  • Blue LED

Notes
Rescued orange case previously used and heavily drilled for another abandoned project
Graphics printed and written on sticky-back white vinyl
No PCB - stripboard used instead


Photos

All Lit Up
From The Back


Samples
First sample recorded direct to PC. Second sample recorded via mic'ed up cab using a tube pre-amp. Both samples played with a pick.

Extended Notes
I generally use a very clanky bass sound but have always loved Jah Wobble's bass sound (especially from from his time with PiL). So I thought it would be useful if I could make a box which would give me the "Metal Box" bass sound at the push of a button (or stomp of a switch). The box itself was rescued from a different project and had many holes drilled through it. I could have covered the entire case with some material or other, but since I'd paid for a nice orange box once upon a time, I thought it would be nice to still see some of that. The graphics ended up being the most crude and the most fun part of the build. The controls are marked "Wobble", for the bass boost dial, and "Wardle" for the treble cut dial, because it sounds like "Warble". The sound isn't quite the same as Jah Wobble's (who said he just used to turn an Ampeg bass cab all the way up and then face the speaker towards a wall), but it's close enough. Also, even when the treble dial is fully open, there is not much high frequency. It's a Jah Wobble box, after all. The Treble Cut control works best as a way to "smooth" the signal out. With the dial at zero, even picking sounds like fingers.

2 comments:

The Mayfly said...

I've been a huge fan of Mr. Wardle's sound for many, many years now. That you made a peddle to replicate that sound is wonderful.

Much praise.

Max said...

Thanks very much!