Dunlop Classic Crybaby

Plug in, plug out, toe down, click, WAH WAH WAH ... yup its simple - bless it.

I had been keen to get a wah, but didn't like the sounds of the ones I tried (Morley, other crybaby models, Vox, Boss PW-10 yik!) but as soon as I played this one - it sounded right just like my favourite recordings. Those faesels work! I play a bog standard MIA strat and a Maton with HB's (SG style)with different pedals in to a 3 channel (clean, fat and sick) Mesa Boogie Nomad 55 amp. With the strat the wah sounds almost excellent (can be a shrill in the high frequency part of the sweep)with the humbuckers (PAF type output) its superb. As already mentioned, the bass part of the sweep seems quite long and the treble cuts in suddenly towards the end - but its ok to work with. I am keen to try the adjustment mentioned in Green Tea 4 Me's review might boost my opinion to a 10.
It works with clean or distorted amps.

A have been playing it for 6 months with no problems. It looks and feels bullet proof. Backup - I don't think so.

Never had to deal with the company - seems to be plenty of parts around.

I love to play jazz funk, lush atmospheric stuff, blues, heavy blues, rock hell even death metal. It seems to work regardless of how you abuse the guitar signal (hell its great for controlling feedback freakouts!!).
If it were stolen - I would get another in a flash (after serving out the appropriate retribution to the perp of course).
I love its simplicity and warm sound, it sounds like your feeling when you play - very expressive I guess.
The not so good things - its a little peakey with single coils - especially through a clean amp and can be a bit mushy in the bottom frequencies but it sounds like its tweakable - yay.
An LED would be useful - but its no biggie at all.

Try one - they are a sweet wah.

Step on it and rock the treadle. Sorry if I'm making this sound more complicated than it really is.

This is my third wah; I also have a Vox reissue which I've had for 12 years or so and an Original silver label/old logo Dunlop Crybaby from maybe 1989 or 1990 (I won't be talking about that one much here).

To get true bypass and a Fasel inductor in a package costing around $100 is pretty awesome. The Vox isn't too bad on tone suckage, but the Original Crybaby, per its reputation, does knock off a little of high end on a bypassed signal. So right there the Classic rules the roost.

To my ears, the Classic is a little less refined and "dirtier" than the Vox. The Vox has a very smooth sweep from heel to toe. I actually had to tweak the pot a bit in the Classic to find the sweet spot (if your wah is too muddy/trebly, you can push the gear strip out of the way temporarily on most wahs and fine tune the pot by hand...for some reason I don't hear about a lot of reviewers trying this trick when they complain about their wahs). The bass end of the travel is a bit too wide for me and it seems like it takes too long to get the trebly end. Once finding the sweet spot, I was really impressed. The Classic has a rounder, thicker wah than the Vox. Adding my Fulltone '69 in front of it really made it sing.

On clean tones, there is just the slightest bit of dirt using the Classic, while the Vox is extremely clean....maybe even a little too clean. I wish the Classic was a bit cleaner, but the hint of dirt seems to add to the overall heft of gooey-ness of the Classic so it's not a bad trade-off.

Looks pretty good...definitely made better than the Original Crybaby and that thing has lasted a long time. I actually don't like the battery door on the bottom...makes the whole thing seem structurally compromised somehow....guess I'm old fashioned.

Fuzzy classic rock? Check. My Bloody Valentine wannabe freakouts? Check. Twangy old school country? Check. We could go on for a while here.

I'm only recently re-discovering the wah pedal after mostly shelving it for a couple of years. I got the Classic because I wanted something true bypass and I also wanted to try something different and figure out what the whole Fasel thing was all about. For $99, I think this thing is a great buy...it would probably cost the same or more just to do all that to a regular Crybaby. The Fasel really does make a difference to my ears. I think this is a great deal, and worth the extra $30 over a normal Crybaby.

The Vox costs the same and if I were trying the two out for the purpose of choosing one to buy it's hard to say which one I'd go with based purely on tone, especially considering I had to tweak the Classic a bit to get it where I like it. I haven't done anything with Vox except change the battery. In the end I'd probably go with the Classic because even before going to work on it I dug the fat, vocally quality. When you add true bypass and everything else, it's no contest. Close call tonally, though.

Highly recommended

step on it and go for Rock ;-)
but notice ; if you are using it with Batteries, you need to remove the Instrument Cable after playing, because its in a "standby" mod and sucks the energie.

Yeah, that is what I was searching for.
I have a CryBaby Hendrix ( to muddy ) and a Morley Tremonti Wah
( great for Metal lead lines, but the mid frequencies are missing and its very modern sounding with much highs...Its like comparing a Mesa Rectifier with a Marshall Plexi !! ). Also I played the standart Gcb 95 wich is nice but with "something is missing" in the ears. And
the classic cry Baby has that "feel" of perfect musician style, maybe thats the fasel ? great in clean and overdrive styles, I dont notice a dramatic sound influence when its off or on. I play it since 8 years as my standart Wah and have it everytime on Board. Sure you can play Hendrix, Slash or Metallica styles when the other equipment is right ( You cant have Hendrix sounds with a paula and Slash sounds with a strat ). And so I do, playing a mix of all.
I play the Wah direkt in the input of my Engl Screamer, Marshall Plexi and Rivera chupster, with a 70 Strat or a std. Paula. sounds great...but now I get a bit tired and orderd a Slash Wah, but its still my No.1 Wah. I love it.

I giged a lot with it and use it every day without any problems, its very solid build.
Yes I depent on it.

I don t care.

I play Hendrix meets Slash, Kirk Hammet and Paco de Luca in my own style and this one works. A lot of shit is coming under my feets all the years and the most is gone at ebay, but never this unit.
I play 20 years and yes, I buy it again, I play 2 - 5 Gigs a month and every year I visit the studio, Im a under paid pro.
I love that simple using and that great sound.
Yes its one of the effects that realy help making some music.
( like you step the first time on a overdrive ).
Try one out and make your own choice.

The Crybaby Classic as well as almost any other footpedal operated wah is just a no-brainer to use;if you can't use this,go bang your head on the wall, splash water on your face, and drink two cups of coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With this wah pedal, I can get all the classic sounds from the old days, 60's... you know what I mean.It is also great for modern rock,metal,grunge,etc...It is one great pedal, and the Fasel inductor is such a blessing...Alhamdulilah!!!

I just had it for less then two months, so I don't what to think...but it seems very sturdy.

I never had to deal with them, and hope I never will have to.

This pedal absolutely rocks my music either when I am rocking it or notching it at a certain harmonic. It blasts with distortion, fuzz, or overdrive. It works well with my Deluxe Electric Mistress and Small Stone too!

Press with your toe to turn it on and go! If you can tap your foot you have the aptitude.

I use various guitars. My current #1 is a modified 1998 Mexican Squier Standard Stratocaster, close second would be an Agile AL-2000 Les Paul copy which will soon overtake the Strat, btw.

Amp is currently a VHT Pittbull Super Thirty, sometimes a Peavey Classic 50 (4x10" speakers). Only other effect is a DigiTech Bad Monkey tube overdrive.

The sound quality is incredible, especially for the price. I haven't owned any wah pedals in the past but I have played with a number of them. It is very expressive and voiced with a lot of character. No unwanted noises have been noticed thus far. When switched off, the true bypass wiring doesn't affect your tone at all. True bypass is a modification that most people do to wah pedals that don't already have it. So this is a good feature to have if you don't do wiring.

I give it a 9 in this category only because I haven't heard vintage models from the past to compare it to. In person, anyway.

It is as solid as an armored truck. And probably equally as bullet-proof too. But it is too good to shoot it to find out for sure.

I haven't had it for more than two days so I can't give this a reliability rating.

Haven't had to deal with them. Don't think I'll have to anytime soon.

I play blues, blues rock, hard rock, some metal and this pedal fits all of those styles. Depending on how you use it, you can use it for any style.

I've been playing for 10 years, almost entirely self taught. I haven't owned much gear compared to some people I know but I choose my gear wisely and utilize what I have. This pedal will be utilized much of the time not only because it sounds good, but because I don't collect gear... I play it.

My only complaint is that I thought the pedal would have more range of motion. It only moves about an inch-and-a-half or so at the toe. It really isn't a big deal and it doesn't affect the sound quality at all. If anything it makes the wah sound a bit more abrupt without the risk of developing tendonitis. If it were less abrupt it wouldn't "wah" as easily and would probably just make a weird swelling sound. But an extra half-inch would have been cool in my opinion.

It not only sounds like a wah, but it's the wah pedal that all others are compared to. So my complaint in the paragraph above really doesn't make much difference. But I give it a 9 because I think an extra half inch of motion would have made it feel better.

Its simple. Move it up and down and it wah wahs or how haows accordingly.(how hoaws being what i call the sound it makes when a quick backwards motion is made after a tiny downward motion). At practice I couldnt hear if it clicked or not so I would just push the shit out of it, that techniques seems to work.

Im using my schecter omen 6(not stock, dimebucker in bridge) through a few distortions into this and then right to my cheap no name amp.
For those who dont wah much(or at all) putting a wah in front of distortion makes it weaker, and behind it makes it stronger.I eventually want to get another to put one in each position. But I typically prefer the stronger sound.

This has a great range, one of the best Ive heard thus far.Its a very pronounced wah sound, it doesnt feel watered down at all. I compared it when originally buying it to all the other dunlop crybabys(except the crybaby from hell, they had none) and in my opinion it had a better sound then the rest.

On a clean setting its allright but at certain spots gives a real bright sound, too bright for my tastes.I simply adjusted my technique so I didnt hit that spot.

Havent had it that long, but my other dunlop/mxr stuff lasts and lasts.

This is basically the standard of wahs, as far as Ive heard. Which is funny because when I originally tried a crybaby I thought they sucked, turned out I tried the new model.Since this ones designed exactly like they were before, its great.The only thing that compares might be a vox, but my vox crapped out after a year, so be wary. Like I said I plan on buying another unless i find the crybaby from hell sounds better, either way ill have one in front and one behind the distortion.Its not used much, because I play heavy, but when its used, even adding a little wah can make a song sound a lot more dynamic.

Very easy to use. There are no knobs on the unit to complicate things, you just press the toe end of the pedal down to activate. Well designed so you can't accidentally turn the wah off whilst using the effect. Replacing batteries is easy as well.

My setup is:

Squier Affinity Stratocaster -> Crybaby Classic Wah -> Marshall AVT50 with Channel Footswitch.

The wah sounds great on either the clean or overdriven channels. The unit isn't noisy at all and is true bypass so doesn't detract from the (very little) tone I get from my guitar. I mainly play Red Hot Chili Peppers style music and the wah works very well within that style of music. It sounds really vintage, you can really get the sound of Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and it also sounds good with RHCP's Get on Top.

I've not had the pedal long enough to really comment on reliability, though it certainly looks sturdy and well built.

Really great wah wah, I love it and would probably buy another if it was stolen or broken. I've been playing guitar for around three years now and compared with the Original Crybaby and a Ruby Wah i've tried it comes out on top in terms of sound - it's a really rich, lush wah wah sound. Great.

rock it forward press down and the magic happens

My setup is :

1983 MIa Std strat > Ts808 overdrive clone > CRYBABY CLASSIC wah > Fender HRDlx preamp > Dod fx-65 chorus > Fender HRDlx power amp.

i just switched from their Jimi Hendrix Wah, to which i switched from the regular crybaby. the regular crybaby was to shrill at the top. the hendrix wah was to deep voiced and made it dead toward the bottom. i was goning to buy a VOX but this wah had a much better sound.

IMO it sounds better than the vox, morley or buddah . all of which i tested side by side today. the tone on the classic is harmonically richer and vocal, i guess that fasel inductor really works.

My other wahs used to sound better with the overdrive pedal with gain from 4 to 6 and volume around 2.5. if i do this with the old pedals they would become slightly more harmonic, and there wouln't be a output level drop. as long as i managed to pull of the Stand-on-the-wah-while-you-turn-on-the-od-pedal Move. With this wah i can use the od pedal for what i originaly bought it for: a "clean" boost. the new wah does not drop volume wen turned on, to my ears it actually sounds slightly boosted. my bassist agrees cause he said everytime i had the wah on he couldn't hear himself. and he plays a mesa bass 400+ a 500 watt monster of a head,while i play my lil HRDlx 1x12 40 watter.

in Summary it sounds fregging awesome
the only reason that i have it an 8 is that i've never played with an orignal fasel equiped pedal(vintage ones) or any boutique pedals like the Teese rmc series. and i must take into consideration that they might be better

both my old dunlop wahs where tanks , taking abuse with the described switching move described above, and they naver had a problem. this new one is a much easier switcher and is using the same bullet proof case. it must be a tank as well. this gets a 10 from previous experince with dunlop pedals.

no just go it . lets hope it doesn't die. i dont think i would mod it

best sounding wah i've played, fits right into my style( i mean it's a wah ,it could be succesfully used in almost any style of guitar based music) If it was stolen id buy another one , prob sell some of my other pedals to be able to get it soon after the loss.

this gets a 10 considering the fact that it cost $10 more that the regular crycrap, and the same as the insult that is the jimi hendrix wah. and it's at least 3 times the pedal

Very easy to use, A nice versatile wah wah. You control the speed and the size. The Manual explains it all.

Superb wah wah, before I bought, I tried out a shit load of wah wahs, Morleys, Boss, Digitech, Different Dunlops, and the classic cry baby wah sound beautiful, couldnt ask for anything more.

Hell yeah I can depend on it, I always use live when I play.

I havent had any problems with this pedal at all.

I play metal. With my Marshall, my boss metal zone and different distortion peadals it sounds incredible. I also play funk, reggae, soul, r & b, and that "pimp" style music just to mess around with it... lol

Simple as ever,very easy

Does what its supposed would give it 10 out of 10 but i would prefer a great wah range or spectrum as the sound could be more dramatic for my liking

havent had any problems

dont know

A good standard wah pedal but i would prefer an LED on it like on the Snarling Dogs or Boss wahs,also i feel the sound could be more wide and exagarated.
never the less a good wah padel and now the industry standard