DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

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HorseyBoy
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DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by HorseyBoy »

Posted this is the "Boughted" thread but figured I'd give it it's own little spot. DeArmond 1800 wah/volume pedal courtesy of Joe Gagan. Very similar to a Maestro Boomerang, circuit-wise - sound is big, smooth and wide. Great range, too, from throaty bass up to clear but not brittle treble.

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I got interested in these because Chankgeez told me these wah enclosures are the best he's ever played and I have to say, in terms of flat-out comfort and smooth response, I think Chank's right. There's something really special about the feel. Maybe it's because they're so big. How big? Here it is between a Colorsound wah and a Jen Cry Baby:

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It's also got a really long throw and a very smooth action on the treadle. You can get your whole foot on there with room to spare; it's really stable, really good control.
Demo is just a quick run through with clean guitar, recorded into an iPad lying on the floor. Guitar is my aluminium hybrid Harvester, amp is a 1970 VibroChamp. Starts out using both pickups (middle switch), switches to the bridge pup (you'll hear it), then back to the middle.



I had a chance to run it with some fuzz (as well as phaser, delay, etc) this afternoon, too, and it worked really well with everything. KILLER wah. Thanks to Chank for the heads-up and Joe for the pedal :tu:
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66Park
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by 66Park »

There was a point back in the '80s when I had two of the DeArmond 1800s. They did sound great. I don't have them anymore, and I have no idea what I did with them! I had a Maestro Boomerang at the same time, and don't know what I did with that, either. I do recall that I used to give old pedals that I didn't use much to students, and I bet that's what happened to those.
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chankgeez
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by chankgeez »

Lucky students, 66Park.

You're welcome, Horsey, nice to hear you're gettin' on with that wah. (Huge is beautiful.)
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jreeves47
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by jreeves47 »

Did all of these have the same circuit?
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joegagan
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by joegagan »

That's awesome. Glad you got on with it so well.

The 1800 is much closer to a boomerang wah than anything else but it has some deviations.
As far as i can tell it came out in 73 or 74.
It used an allen bradley 30k rev log pot. Boomers were also 30k despite the 25k marking. It also used the same el rad inductor.
Dearmond changed a few values and most significantly added 100k resistors to ground at the bases of both transistors to give more bias stability in varying temps and overall.

The dearmond 1802 wah followed within 2 years and pretty much replaced the 1800. The 1800 was gone by 76 or so. I have heard from one ebay customer about a factory hybrid 1800 with 1802 guts. 1802 was a complete crybaby ripoff circuit and has none of the 1800 bg proclivities.

Dearmond also made a rebadged 1800 for the bell duovox accordion company. Rare but can be found cheap sometimes because people don't seem to be looking for it.

Compared to boomer, the 1800 is a more polite, less gainy, more even sweep. As horsey mentioned , the wide physical travel gives a really fine control over subtle shades within the sweep. His 1800 was in need of caps and an inductor rebuild, i took the opportunity to widen the sweep a tiny bit and give it the special sauce, i think it sounds a little nicer than a stock one.
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HorseyBoy
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by HorseyBoy »

66Park wrote:There was a point back in the '80s when I had two of the DeArmond 1800s. They did sound great. I don't have them anymore, and I have no idea what I did with them! I had a Maestro Boomerang at the same time, and don't know what I did with that, either. I do recall that I used to give old pedals that I didn't use much to students, and I bet that's what happened to those.
I gave away a bunch of pedals and mics back in the day, too. I only remember they're gone when I start looking for them :oldlol:
But yeah, Joe's special sauce definitely adds some flavour to this one. The 1802 "Weeper Wa" is in the same enclosure but, as Joe says, it's a Cry Baby clone. I love the Boomerang sound so I wanted an 1800 and was lucky enough that Joe had one. Still, I'd love to play an 1802 as well. And then there's the 1850 "Thunderbolt" - same enclosure but an inductorless wah inside.
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chankgeez
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by chankgeez »

Joe's working on something "Thunderbolt-y". :coffee:
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redeyeflight
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by redeyeflight »

Big fan of the thunderbolt. I had a weeper back in the day, was probably the crybaby ripoff version as I don't remember being that stoked on it and ended up giving it to a friend.
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HorseyBoy
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Re: DeArmond 1800 Wa - Wa

Post by HorseyBoy »

^ Yep, have added the Thunderbolt to my list of wahs I need to try :tu:
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