AW2 AutoWah Mods

Here are some interesting mods for the AW2 AutoWah, the child of the TW-1 Touch Wah.

  • Instant Attack switch for more psychedelic sounds; this can also stutter with some settings!
  • Up/Down switch, like the TW1 for a second Wah direction
  • Triangle LFO Mod changes the sinusoidal LFO into a Triangle wave for a subtle yet noticeable effect; sounds best at high LFO rates

These mods are of my own design and I have not seen them anywhere else. The schematics are not documented for the AW2, but its predecessor the TW1 is documented and is nearly identical. BOSS, AutoWah, Touch Wah, and AW-2 ARE TRADEMARKS OF THE ROLAND CORPORATION AND ARE USED FOR REFERENCE ONLY. THIS SITE IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE ROLAND CORPORATION IN ANY WAY.

Disassembly

Taking apart the AW-2 is easy and its sophisticated design is actually easy to disassemble for modifications. There are four screws on the bottom, plus 1 more inside to remove. Then, tackle the pots, jacks, and footswitch. For each of these pictures, you can get a super close-up, high resolution view by double-clicking on the photo.

STEP 1: Remove the Screws
Remove the 4 screws on back; pull out the battery compartment top to expose 2 more hidden screws. Remove the back plate and the clear plastic insulator sitting between the backplate and the circuit board.

Make sure to save all the screws and especially the insulator!

STEP 2 Remove the LED PCB and Jack/Pot Nuts
Pull up on the main PCB to expose the potentiometer PCB and LED PCB. The LED PCB is held in place by a single screw.

Once you get this screw out, you can pull out the PCB and then pull apart and separate the main PCB and potentiometer wiring harness from the unit.

Next, remove the nuts from the input and output jacks. Pull off the plastic knobs and remove the nuts for the potentiometers.

STEP 3: Disconnect the footswitch
De-solder the purple and black wires going to the footswitch. Once you have them off, press the two tabs on either side of the switch to free it and push out down toward the battery compartment.

Once it comes out you can thread the battery connecter harness back out through the switch hole.

This will completely free the circuit board, pots and jacks.

STEP 4: Drill out the Mod Holes
This is where you have some decisions to make. I decided that because of the limited space in the enclosure to make my mods switchable with micro-toggle switches. I chose the areas on the left and right just in front of the input jacks. This gave plenty of room for the new wiring harness. It's up to you exactly how you want to do this step - read the mods first and then decide, or follow along with my suggestions.



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