Marshall Supa Wah

[mjkk]

Wondering if anyt here has had a go with one of these. I have the oppertunity to pick one up for a decent price. Has the germ 2G374's.
Thanks for your info!
~M

[joegagan]

i dunno about the real ones, but brad built a killer wah based on the germy supa

[mjkk]

Would you know the tonal difference between a Supa. and say a McCoy?

[Mr. Min T. Fresh]

I thought they were Colorsound based? Stu would be your main man to answer your question 100%

[mjkk]

Really the Supa Wah is colorsound based. tons of low end then I assume?? I'll give Stu a email, unless he sees this and chimes in :)

[Funky Druid]

There was one, here in Poland for sale recently for about $290.
Here's some p0rn:

[joegagan]

there seems to be a lot of mystery around the supawah. some were germanium, possibly later silicons were used. reports of widely varying inductor values used. this would have caused a wide swing in freq. response from unit to unit.

i believe brad's unit above has a custom made inductor, which contributes to that deep low endy tone, which i really like. but there is another supawah vid on youtube ( vintage unit) that sounds thin and more like a normal wah.
effect archeologists note that the circuit is roughly based on early vox wahs, as many wahs of the time were. i think the differences come down to inductor Mh more than anything else, which in the case of the supawah makes getting a used one a crapshoot.

[redeyeflight]

Graham has a big post somewhere on here about them. If I remember he said they're nothing to write home about compared to a Clyde, etc but might be worth a pick up if you can get it for cheap!

[Creepyfingers]

The Marshall Supawah is probably closer to a Crybaby circuit than a Colorsound but it has a way bigger inductor and the .22's caps are .1's. Its lower voiced compared to the Crybaby. Very vocal but can be on the dark side. That green one was a point to point build...

[Stu]

I've owned a few Supa Wahs, and repaired a number for others. From the data I've gathered, it appears that 4000 - 5000 were made between 1969 and 1973. They were based on the Vox/Crybaby circuit, with a few notable changes: germanium transistors ('69-'71), 0.1uF vs. 0.22uF caps, a 200k linear pot and a larger value inductor. Joe is correct that the later ones had silicon transistors. There is a wide spread on inductance values; I serviced one which had a 600mH inductor, but most are closer to 1H. With the lower sweep range, a linear pot, and a big clunky housing, I'd suggest they're more suited to adding some colour to rhythm work than Hendrix/Clapton style wig outs.