Dunlop Crybaby

10. up then down then up again. Want to leave it in one spot. go ahead.

I didn't think about it but after reading negative reviews I remembered that my Crybaby is HEAVILY modified. I bought it new in 1990 and after two weeks took the rubber button sheath off so it would be easier to press on and off. the made the button low so I sliced through the rubber feet under the rocker, and took them down halfway so there's still resistence but I can turn it on and off. Finally there was a clacking noise when the pedal hit the button so a band aid padded it enough. This was all in the first MONTH of owning it and after 12 years, I forgot they didn't come this way.

a little too trebly. Once again, it was mod time. I read recently that if you remove the saw that rocks the tone pot, you can roll it back and make it bassier. Then replace the saw and your sweep is lower than it was. Loses treble but you don't need it. Works perfectly but I have to retrain my foot to my ear.

Had it for 12 years and it's built like a TANK. The pot got scratchy after a few years but some contact cleaner makes it as good as new.

don't know em

I play heavy rock. I've run it thourgh a tele and an SG into a Marshall and it sounds great. There's a lot of debate on where to put it in your chain but when I do, it's alone. If it were stolen, I'd probably try a Vox because everybody raves about them but I wouldn't throw away my crybaby for one.

unless you weigh about 450 pounds, or have a very strong big toe, your gunna need to jump on this thing to get it to turn on. After that it's like riding a see saw

I use a gibson gothic les paul, through a mid 70's kustom head and a 4x10 cab, along with a bunch of pedals (boss ce-2, bf-2,dd-3, creamy dreamer,octavia, ibanez fuzz/distort.) and it's always sounded great. the only thing I've noticed is that it can cut, or boost your tone depending on what effects you use with it.

is it dependable? no! 1 out of 10 times the thing will just shut itself off and not make any noise besides a loud hiss. I then proceed to jump on it a few times and it kicks back into gear. Dunlap uses cheap as all get out components, besides the solid steel housing, this thing is a p.o.s.

never delt with it

I play mostly industrial/electronic grunge with this thing. three times now at shows, on the same song, this thing has cut out completely after a guitar solo. It makes me wanna throw it at my dog. I use it in almost every song, which is why it pisses me off so much. I'm selling it pretty soon and gettin a vox wah reissue. If it were stolen, I'd laugh in pity of the poor moron who took it. Dunlap isn't much use for any decent products besides their picks.

Engaging the Crybaby requires a very hard stomp. Unless I slam my foot down violently on the toe end, it's 50-50 proposition that the wah will activate. If you're gigging, your best bet is to "set and forget" between active wah parts and forego the frustration of the tempermental switch.

While the Crybaby has a nice sweep at the high end, the heel of the treadle produces a disproportionate frequency "jump." The skip is less noticable with fast passes, but on slow ones, the low end belches instead of bawls.

Even worse, the Crybaby sucks tone like a cheap groupie. Back when I had low end gear, I didn't notice the signal loss that much. But now that I've upgraded to mid-range equipment, it drives me crazy.

I'm going out to buy a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe. I don't care if it costs as much as 3 or 4 Crybabies. It has 10 times the sound and true bypass so it won't suck tone!

Great and easy to use, u gotta work at the foot switching thing , get the rocking motion

Its got nice sound when you play it through the clean channel but if you distort it its high pitched feedback really high treble noise its good for what i play tho , I play that Kirk Hammet Style Lead stuff (Off of albums Like Kill em all lots of wah and the load reload albums to), i also play blues (Clapton rules) I use some Memphis Strat Rip off and a Crate Amp

I'd Depend on it but you never know man

never need it

Its a good match for Metal style leads in my opinion and good for some Improv while jamin out with some buds to the blues good shit overall , I also own an ANJO classical guitar

This thing is easy to use. No knobs, just step on it and rock it fully toe down to turn it on. It probably won't click on the first try. If it doesn't click on by the third try reach down under the platform and push the switch in with your finger... there, it's on. Now rock it back and forth, heel to toe, and wah away. No options... I can't imagine anything easier. Well... if the switch worked I guess it would be easier. -1 point for the P.O.S. switch.

I'm playing a Stratocaster into a Maxon OD-808 into the Crybaby. My amp is a Peavey Delta Blues 210. I'll hit you with the good side of this thing first. I like the way this pedal sounds. No problems getting the classic Jimi Hendrix/SRV wah sounds... which is what I was after. Unfortunately, this thing REALLY alters your tone when you arent using it. I love it when I'm using it, and I hate it when I'm not. The tone sucking brings the sound quality rating DOWN! Matter of fact, I've found a guy who will get rid of the tone sucking and true bypass this pedal for me. I'll be shipping it to him this week and will post a review after the mods have been performed. I would probably give this thing a 8 for sound quality if it didn't suck tone so bad when turned off.

Reliability? Ha! The first one I got broke after about 10 minutes of use. It refused to wah, click, or sputter. It died. It had not been abused by any means... in fact I clicked it on and off with my finger because it is so hard to get it to click on by rocking it fully forward. Maybe it was just a fluke... the one I got to replace it is fine so far. I do baby my gear. One lesson I have learned... if you take care of your stuff you will have it for a long, long time. Just like anything else, it WILL break if you abuse it or try to break it. I'd give it an 8... but I have to deduct some points for the first one's amazingly early demise. Let's call it a 4... split the difference between 8 and 0!

I've never dealt with Dunlop, I have no idea how helpful they are. I took the first one back to the local store where I bought it and they presented me with a brand new one. No problems.

This wah sounds good, just like a good wah should. Unfortunately is sucks tone like a fool when you aren't using it. Like I said before, I'm sending it away to get it modded to true bypass, have the buffer removed, and modded for a more "vocal" sound. If I had it to do over again I would go across town and buy a Vox... or better yet I would order a Budda. That's what I would do... order a Budda wah. I'm 109.00 into this thing now though... the mods are going to cost me another 40.00... I coulda bought a Budda wah. Too late now. I'll post a review of this Crybaby after I get it modded... if any Crybaby or Vox owners are interested in similar mods email me and I will put you in touch with a guy who does them.

Plug in. Step on toe to turn on. Rock back and forth to make wah-wah sound. Got it? Good. Next question.

I bought this one second hand. It was made in either '89 or '90 and has the old Vox board design (2 transistors instead of 3). Jacks are not board mounted...pot and switch have been upgraded. The wah was re-calibrated to have less treble and more bass sweep. Jest the way I like it. I am seriously in love with this wah! A friend has a '69 Vox and is green with envy at the slightly wider tonal sweep I get. Our singer REALLY likes the Chucka-Wucka rhythms that I get out of it. I REALLY like this wah. REALLY like it. It DOES get a little hum with the toe all the way down, but that is its only fault.

Change battery or plug in to power supply. Where am I gonna find a backup?

I play blues, R&B, swing and improv. Been playing since 1976. Standard Strat with EMGs into Dyna Comp into TS-9 into this into chorus into delay into classic 50 4x10. If it is stolen, I will hunt the bastard down and beat him to death with my wah. Read above for what I love about it. I hate nothing.

What's there to say? There are no controls, just the wah itself. You have to wark it for a little while to get a feel for it, though. I bought it used, so I never got the manual, if there is one. I haven't caught on to how to do the mad Clapton/Hendrix wah thing, but hey, I couldn't ask for more in a tone filter.

I run my mexican Fender Stratocaster through an MXR Distortion + and a Boss DS-1 into it, and send it out to my Ibanez DM-1000, to my Peavey Classic 50 VT, and a Marshall Solid State. I really like the sound, but never use amp distortion with it. The wah gets drowned out when you do put the distortion after it. If the distortion gets to be too much, it makes this terrible high-pitched feedback at the bottom (all the way down). Other than that, it's perfect. My setup really wouldn't be complete without it.

It works as well as I could hope. The pot is a bit scratchy, and if I work it too much, it starts to squeak. Other than that, I can't complain.

I've never had any trouble with the pedal, so I wouldn't know.

I play "blues-metal" (some combo, huh?), and listen to Hendrix, SRV, Sabbath, Deep Purple, that sort of stuff. Life wouldn't be complete without my wah. If it was stolen, I'd buy an upscale version, like a 95Q because I love the sound of the original, but want the Q dial and 15 Db boost. Rather not lose this one either way. I like it plenty.

The only thing difficult about using a wah-wah is perfecting your foot controlling vis-a-vis what you're playing. This Crybaby doesn't have the 'Q' option, and thus there are no buttons or knobs to play with. While the 'Q' is a cool feature, in Australia pedals are expensive and so I had to 'settle' for the standard Crybaby. That said, I love this pedal. It is a reissue of the late '60s era wah, and it sounds great, but I don't know how accurate a reissue it is.

The manual is short and scant on information, but for those of us who have no idea about the technical side of guitar effects, it states that while most players prefer wah before distortion, Hendrix had wah after his Fuzz Face. Both ways are cool and have their advantages, but if you try the Hendrix method, make sure your amp can handle the volume and treble gain when the wah is depressed at the trebly end. The manual mainly contains promotional material for Dunlop's other effects.

You can really tweak your effects to get the best out of this wah, but I'll discuss this in a minute.

I am a rock/blues/metal guitarist. My favourite artists and songs to play are by Hendrix, Clapton (esp. with the Bluesbreakers), Slava Grigoryan (although he's more of an influence on my classical playing), Van Halen, Pantera, Sepultura, Neil Young, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., and most of all Led Zeppelin. I've been playing for six years and have owned and sold quite a few pedals. The Crybaby, like the MT-2, is a modern classic - at least in my opinion.

My guitar setup begins with my Squier Standard Strat or my Samick Ibanez RG copy (someday I'll be rich enough to buy a Les Paul DC Standard!!), then into the Crybaby, into a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor and then into my Fender Deluxe 85 (65W) combo amp. In my NS-2's noise suppression loop I have a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone and an FZ-3 Fuzz. Through my amp's effects loop I run a Boss OC-2 Octave and hopefully soon also a Boss or MXR Flanger.

This wah works brilliantly with the clean and overdriven channels of my amp, and it has taught me much about effects. I've heard gear boffins speak of 'transparency' in the sound of an effect. When I first tried my two Boss distortion pedals (I use either one or the other, never both simultaneously - uurrgh!) with the Crybaby before them, the wah signal was weak and barely audible (although the FZ-3 before the wah sounded great - to my ears I could approximate 'Voodoo Chile' quite closely). When I ran the two distortion pedals through the NS-2, however, I was able to clean up the pedals' signals to the point where the wah came through loud and clear! With the MT-2 I was able to get a sound closely approximating Kirk Hammett's in 'Nothing Else Matters'.

The transparency problem was more of an issue with my single-coiled Strat than with my humbuckered Samick, but then on the Strat with a clean tone you can get great 'chucka chucka', funky wah sounds that would make Barry White blush.

The wah is also useful as a filter. Some artificial harmonics are harder to produce than others, but if you tap the wah on, and depress it all the way in the treble position, you can easily get any harmonic. Also, in some of the middle and lower order positions, the wah can get some of those out-of-phase sounds that Jimmy Page made famous, such as on the song 'Houses of the Holy'.

The wah is a little more noisy when at its trebly end, but it's no big deal and is hardly perceptible. Hey, J. Mascis and Jimi Hendrix both have incredibly noisy rigs and most hacks can't play like them.

Finally, it doesn't work well with the OC-2.

Well, unfortunately I had to grow up and go to university (which I love, don't get me wrong) so I no longer play gigs. I do, occasionally, play fills and leads on my friend's recordings (he owns a studio). While his playing is more in the vein of Crowded House and the Go-Betweens, I find that with the Crybaby I can alter the tone subtly like you would if you were using subtle volume swells - just to add to the drama of the song. It comes up nicely on the recordings (digital) and there's no pot noise (I look after my pedals very meticulously, clean them after use, etc.) I never, ever, ever use batteries in pedals - for two reasons: 1) They go flat and let you down when you're aching to play; and 2) They go flat and leak and ruin your pedal. My friend ruined his DS-1 Distortion by leaving a battery in it... what a fool.

Seriously, this pedal seems tough. It's made of an alloy and has thick rubber on the foot pedal rocker and sturdy rubber feet. The only qualm I do have is that the pot is quite open to dirt and so forth, so keep this baby clean!

Never had any problem with it, but my friend owns a guitar store which is a licensed Fender, Ibanez, DOD and Dunlop dealer and repairer, so I guee he could fix it. He says Dunlop provides excellent customer support.

I really enjoy this pedal. I love the sound it can give both as an effect and as a filter. I really overused it at first because it sounded so good. Now I'm a seasoned wah-ist, I know to use it with a little more taste. This is the wah. Think about it: Crybabies are or have been used by many great guitarists - Hendrix, Van Halen, Jerry Cantrell, Dimebag Darrell, etc.

I have since tried out the Morley Bad Horsie Steve Vai signature wah. I prefer the switch on my Crybaby, although the sensor in the Horsie is cool. The Horsie is a shredder's pedal, and while I love a good shred at times, I'm more into playing songs and my tastes seem to be drifting more and more towards the late 60s and early 70s, and the Crybaby fits them like a glove.

easy to use.

marshall 50 watt, ts-9,and a marshall footswitch for clean/dirty cahnnel. I play blues, it works awesom. had it for about 7 years and it sounds abit scratchy.

a seven yr. old pedal thats been touring and beat to hell, spilled beer on it, kicked it around, dropped it out of trucks. ect. ect.

dont deal with em.

blues, great. around 10 years of playing about 7 on this pedal. had a morley before, not comparable. i would buy it again if it were lost or stolen. just to let everyone know, about the guy who said no famous guitar players were related to crybaby, there are actually several. BUDDY GUY! cmon people are you frickin stupid, buddy guy is the man.

Erm... you step on it!

Epiphone SG/Marlin Sydwinder/Squire Strat/Tanglewood Oddysey --> Zoom 505 --> Zoom 510 --> Arion Metal Master --> Dunlop Crybaby --> Marshall AVT 50W Stack

Dead as a doornail! No noise at all.
Sounds great! Especially for Chili Peppers style rhythm sections.
Recently shelled out for a Marshall ATV stack. 50W head with two 4x12 cabs. Don't know what the unit sounds like on a combo but it sounds gorgeous on my amp.
Not really for the sort of stuff my band generally plays (Manics meets U2 meets Muse) but we do sometimes have a little fun and cover old blues songs ;) Loads of wah for me to fiddle about with then.

If you attach a gun to the top people might mistake it for a tank! I was sceptical when the chap in the shop told me it would last forever, so he told me that I could jump on it as hard as I could. He told me that he would give me the money for it if I broke it. I didn't manage to break it and I weigh fourteen stone! Get the idea?

I haven't had to deal with them yet.

My band plays alt. rock and it's nice to fiddle about with a wah behind the overdrives.
I've been playing for five years. I used to have a Morley Wah, but I sold it to get this toy!
It wouldn't be a priority to replace this if it was lost or stolen as I just play about with it really, but I probably would get one at some point anyway.
I particularly like when the wah is set to low and you can get harmonic-type sounds out of it.
If it had an LED this thing would be perfect! Hense the nine...