Wahoo Hiss/digital noise

[james]

Here's some measurements I just did of my Crybaby (the one on which Wahoo preset F00 is based), and my Wahoo (which is typical, no special mods or anything). Both running on batteries.

Using a high-spec RMS multimeter to measure wide-band noise. The input to the Wah was grounded (using a special jack that's shorted together) to remove effects of guitar variation from the equation.

Crybaby GCB-95
Bypassed (it's not true bypass): -83dBV (the noise floor of the meter)
Effect Active (heel-down): -67dBV
Effect Active (toe-down): -66.5dBV

Wahoo (Preset F00)
Bypassed (true bypass): -83dBV (the noise floor of the meter)
Effect Active (heel-down): -76dBV
Effect Active (toe-down): -76dBV

I actually had problems with the Crybaby -- quite a bit of mains hum depending on it's position, so I had to move it around to get rid of that to get the noise measurement down.

So the Wahoo is quieter, but this is wide-band noise.... Through an amp, the Wahoo sounds a little bit louder, but the noise is clearly around the filter cut-off, so I did some spectral measurements (see attached plot). The Wahoo is perhaps 10dB noisier, but the spectrum is very smooth. The Crybaby is mostly quieter, but has some large "hum" peaks at the lower frequencies. I didn't have time to try to match the output levels.

So this is what I would expect, the Wahoo will be a little bit noisier, it shouldn't be a lot noisier than a crybaby.