Dunlop ZW-45 Zakk Wylde Signature Wah

this wylde wah is the best wah wah out there in my impression nothing extra,no buttons and no knobs.It doesn't need them less is much more in this wah's case.

Iv'e use many wah-wah pedals and this is defintivly is the one(for me)Ive used 4 different dunlop wahs the original jim hendrex,the 535? q wah,original cry baby and the dime bag wah,an old dod wah/vol pedal wah-wah,digitech wah and an old 90's boss wah but none could fill this wahs place.this is the wah i've been waiting for for 20 years from full fat tone to screaming high and a huge sweeping of the tones in between.some say this is a one trick pony? yea but who needs more than this it has so much variation in the sweep you get alot more than normal sweep zone in many whas could provide.this has some great thick bass tones and some great sweet mid tones and the screaming high peeks!zakk put his name on a true beast and many other artist like kerry king agree this pedal kills with it's tone!

it's made of high grade steel and like all other top line dunlop wah-wahs it's sturdy as hell and built to take the beating they often get!

i have not had to contact this company for this poedal,and don't think i will!

this wah is the most intense wah around and the most versitile with the greatest tone range.are you fimilar with zakks work with any of his bands or ozzy this pedal can do all that and more.well worth 3 times the cost.simple effective and brutal tone to sweet cries.buy it !!

Very easy to use - no additional tone of push in buttons. The actual on/off button is taught and you need to stomp it hard but that's ok. I do like the EVH wah's ease of switching on nthough for live work.

Im playing this mainly with Ibanez guitars and an Elmwood modena90 amp. The modena90 has a thick articulate lower mids tone and sounds incedible with the fat Zakk Wylde wah. Very easy to get Wylde's tone if you need to but I bought this because of its sweep range which allows one to play clean funk to rock solo's. Sometimes with distortion it's not as pure as other wah's I have including the EVH, a keeley modded crybaby and a dimebag CFH wah. It gives it an older style solo sound. Its also quite throaty but its a deeper timbre and I like it.

Ive only ever had 1 problem with dunlop wahs and that is the switch going after several years. I expect this to be reliable - im gigging every week with it but I have no idea how long the switch will last...especially as crybaby's pick up heaps of dust over time.

Never dealt with them.

I play in a cover band - mainly classic rock. Ive been playing 20 odd years and own a ton of gear. I can only compare this to other dunlop wahs but I think its one of the better ones. The Slash wah is also good. I currently own an 80's crybaby with original faser, a dimebag crybaby from hell, a keeley modded crybaby and an EVH wah. All crybaby's! I personally found the dime and keeley wahs had too many buttons and tweaks and I could never find the right sweet spots. Its like they are TOO versatile. Now Im using the EVH and this. I take each one alternatively to gigs and I still dont know which one I like better (which is why I bought both in the end). The EVH has more clarity and more mids...it has a good bottom end sweep, but the wylde wah has a better sweet spot for doing funk. There's something about the EVH midrange - its both good and bad. Its kinda tricky buying a dunlop wah these days with so many signature models.

Like others I wish it had a light and the button was less stiff in pressing down.

Similar to other dunlop wah's it has a very cool finish. It could be cheaper but you're paying for Wylde's beer drinking and hey you do get the funky brushed metal and logo. It would have been cool to have the bullseye graphic more pronounced...like maybe black and white rings on the rubber footpad.

Ok, first off, i got this cos i wanted a wah, and a regular crybaby didnt sound "thick" enough.
Its a wah. its easy to get a good sound out of it. the button to click it on is a bit tough (uve gotta STOMP on it), but is livable.

I use this with a modified les paul through a randall rh100.
its not noisy (true bypass!!!), but once i had the amp CRANKED with treble and gain, and the wah all the way up with gain, and i could faintly pick up radio!!! i was using 2 MASSIVE leads tho. very Spinal Tap!!!
as there are no knobs on it, the sound is constant. nice thick tone. i often just click it on and leave it on the treble end for tapping solos. its a very "vocal" wah. listen to some black label society stuff and you'll get the idea.

Ive used this at gigs without a backup. one of the main reasons i got it was "if zakk can use it without breaking it, then itll be hard for me to!".
the brushed steel body gives a nice solid feel too.

havent needed to contact them

I mainly play hard rock and heavy metal.
Ive been playing for about 10 years. i mainly use a modified les paul through a randall rig.
if it were stolen, id punch whoever stole it, and buy another one.

The loves:
the thick "vocal" tone (FAVE FEATURE)
easy to use
the look (brushed steel, with bullseyes hidden in the rubber, the underside, and the crybaby logo) i often get asked "what was that silver wah you were using??"
how solid it feels.

the hates:
the on button is sometimes hard to know if its on or not.

I compared this to a vox wah and a regular crybaby. this was closer to the vox in terms of sound, but won out on looks, solidness, and tone.

i REALLY WISH it had a blue led (i like blue) at the BACK of the wah, that lit up when in use. sometimes i like to click it on an leave it, and it would be nice to see from the back of the stage whether or not it was on.

i find it helps me write solos. adds a whole new dimension to solo writing. wah users will know what i mean.

I love this wah. if i didnt, i wouldnt have bought it.

Push your toes down to turn it on/off, move your foot to change the tone. There is an ajustment below the foot plate to adjust how stiff it feels when you 'rock' the foot plate.

i must admit i'm a Zakk Wylde fan and i'm a fan of his wah tone, hence why i bought this pedal. My current setup is as follows; Epiphone Zakk Wylde Bullseye-Zakk Wah-Mxr Phase 90-Mxr Wylde Overdrive-Marshall Supervibe Chorus-Line 6 Pod X3 on a JCM 800(come on whatelse!). This wah really does the sounds from the records, All For You, Lost My Better Half, the solo of Bleed For Me etc. I've not tried it with clean tones, but for dirty it's one of the best for such appications.

I've not had a single problem with it since I bought it 15 months ago. The one thing I will mention though is the problem I had with the rubber pads under the toe section, they were far too long and caused me a bit of difficulty when I turned the wah on. I prefer to turn wahs off pretty easily so i removed the feet and it has improved it remarkably. I dont gig at the moment but I have total faith in this unit and trust it wont break.

Never had to bother them so cant say.

I've been playing for 9 years now and have managed to collect a few wah pedals on my travels, but of all of them this has to be my favourite. If I somehow lost this pedal I would buy another one straight away, I love it too much to be without it. The only problem with it has been mentioned already so read the above section and all we be explained.

Simple. Pedal full forward to turn on, full forward again to turn off.

I thought this sounded pretty good in just about every rig I used it with, from little Pro Juniors and Telecasters to big Peavey amps and Gibsons. It's a unique, throaty sort of sound that's something of a departure from the creamy, smooth sounds that come out of the original Crybaby. It's useful and unique -- a good pedal.

This is where my problem with the pedal comes in. I've had it for just over a year and have had three failures, two major and one minor. Keep in mind that I've only gigged with this pedal a handful of times, and that I'm generally very careful with my gear. This pedal has not been abused at all. Anyway, here goes:

1) The first thing to happen was a simple break in the battery cover. It's cheaply made and one of the bits that holds the 9V battery by the sides broke off when I levered the battery out. It wasn't a huge deal, and a piece of tape made it usable again, but still a pain.

2) The first major problem occurred before I'd had the opportunity to play a gig with this unit. One day it seemed that the action on the pedal was extremely loose when I turned it on. My first thought was that the set screw that controls pedal tension -- which is a nice feature -- had slipped, but a quick test revealed it to be solid. I opened up the pedal to immediately discover that the plastic piece that pushed the rocker arm against the pot's gear had slipped. It wasn't a huge deal to fix, just a realignment and a couple of twists with a screwdriver, but it could have been disastrous if I'd been playing live.

3) The latest problem with this pedal occurred just a few days ago. When I turned the unit on, the rocker felt very loose. The pedal would turn on, but it did not "wah." It seemed permanently set on the heel-back sound. When I opened the pedal up, it appeared that the gear attached to the pot had slipped from its mounting bracket. I assume that the pot was wrecked and I'm unwilling to change it -- I'll just buy a Vox or a Clyde Wah.

In short, this pedal is NOT dependable, nor would I EVER gig with it even if I do manage to fix it. It's unreliable, poorly made, and a disappointment especially considering its marketing slogan as "toughest wah pedal ever," or some such...

None, warranty expired.

It sounds good and is easy to use, but I'm not willing to put up with multiple breakdowns and poor build quality. I will not buy another, nor would I gig with it again.

It's easy to use in theory because it simply works as a rocker based wah pedal. However, it is not easy to use in the sense that you have to compensate for the huge tonal gap between the heel down and the toe down. More on that later.

I am using a ton of gear that is always changing but at its core I am using a Les Paul Classic, USA Strat, USA Tele, Gretsch 6120 into a midi rig which includes a Marshall JMP1 and a Boogie Triaxis powered by a Boogie 2:90. I control the whole rig with 2 GCX Switchers and a Ground Control with ever changing pedals which count as many as 9 or 10 and as little as 1 or 2. This wah presents the best and worst of worlds I suppose. I have had it for a bit over a year now and used it in many situations. It serves a much better tonal control as opposed to a wah pedal in my opinion. It is certainly perfect for metal guys and I am sometimes a metal guy but not always and THAT is where the problem lies. There is a gap between heel down and toe down that literally does NOTHING...it's a dead zone. If you want to get that sort of crybaby spank i.e. a 70s porno flick, you just won't get it with this wah. So I give it some low scores for lack of pallet. However, if you are doing metal or trying to replicate those crazy muffled tones, its GREAT! If you are doing a solo where you want to get that Hendrix sort of vocal wah..you wont find it here. I wound up switching back to my original Crybaby lately but will still hang on to the Zakk for the occasion where I may want to use it as more of a tone shaper.

It's tank! You could wear steel Kiss boots and still not kick this thing apart.

I have never dealt with them. No idea

I play a long list of rock styles including blues, metal, hard rock, modern rock, R&B, Funk, Rockabilly even an occasional country lick or two. Been playing for over 30 years. I own a TON of gear and am always trying new things. What I love about this pedal is the tone shaping that you can do with it however as a wah, it's just not bendable. It's a one trick pony. Its even WORSE on clean settings. But for high gain noise making it's perfect. With the type of band that I play in, I need more of a work horse than what this will give. I think it's over prices for being nothing more than a standard wah with a different curve. It comes with a wrench to readjust the rocker. From what I can gather it has no implact on the performance of what you hear but more so on what you feel while using it. Since I have owned a Vox Clyde and currently have my old trusty original crybaby from way back in the day, I was able to do a fair compare with it. I wish it had the ability to take that crazy dead zone out. you know something that will allow you to define the Q. It is very musical for what it does and very non-musical for what I wish it did and that is to get that expressive vocal wah and that spanky porn movie wah which it does neither. When I am playing over the top metal, it's a great wah. When I am playing Tower of Power, it is a door jam at best. So it's off my main board and in my studio now.

Very Easy
backwards ... forwards Wah wah wah...

Right lets get straight to it! This wah is one of the richest and warmest I have tried, I am using it for clean stuff, mainly funk with the odd bluesy bit thrown in , so I'not really shredding with it which is why I thought I'd write this review. It's great for funk as it doesn't get all thin or push your sound into a higher gain, a great warm clean tone but while retaining lots of body, very full sonic spectrum, the way it sounds and behaves is very Hendrixy so I guess it retains something of the original crybaby but not nearly as harsh. It gets a 9 as there may be something better out there , but I have tried most of the best, I have a Jeff Teese RMC3, a vox, and a crybaby in my Wah collection/graveyard

Seems solid enough, it's a wah something always goes wrong with them after a few years!

Haven't needed to contact them

this is a great wah and I get the impression it is good for clean or nasty ( given whose sinature is on the thing!!) I've only just got it so I would really appreciate someone not stealing it just yet! but yes would consider getting this one again out of all the wahs I've used, it has a simple and great sound/action
As above I have an RMC3, a Vox and a dean crybaby and this easily sits up the top of these, the RMC3 is great but you get lost in tweaking all the options and it seems to distort your sound a bit which is not good if your trying to do clean funk!

It's a wah pedal, simple enough you rock it back and forth to increase and decrease frequency and thats all you need to know!

This one has one subtle difference and thats a Torque bar so you can increase the movement of the pedal, which is so simple yet such a clever idea.

This is of the crybaby type of pedal, so it's not really a midi electronic type of sound its a full valvey big sound, which is great.

It has one advantage compared to the crybaby and thats that its got a wider frequency so more high end, which is no bad thing, as long as you have a steady foot

Dunplop stuff is always good, but I havnt had it long enough to tell you

Never used them, but then again I've never had to, dude to never having a problem with a dunlop pedal

Cool bit of kit.

Sounds like a Rock/Metal/Blues Wah Wah pedal should, Full and sweet sound.
The torque bar is just such a clever addition to a wah pedal.
Finally it looks great, nice chrome look and sturdy build.

Like any Crybaby - Plug N' Play. Manual is almost unessecry, though the part about
the Rocker Torque is quite helpful. Bought it a month ago, never updated or modded anything. The bypass switch, unlike one guy here said, is VERY EASY to switch.

I'm using this wah with a Marshall MG100DFX and a Les Paul Classic. Like every wah,
you have to know how to use it. Not so complicated, but require a bit of thought.
This is my first wah pedal, though I have played a lot of wha's and Crybabys.
This one is just so beautifal, and sound is very throaty (I know I sound a little like the catalog) and clean. In that range of prices, I believe its one of the best choices (indeed).
It almost can't get noisy - though it did after playing a little bit with the Humbuckers
settings and the overdrive FROM THE AMP. Overall, I can't say it sounds specifically
sounds like Zakk - to me, every Crybaby that is simply a Crybaby, without the Fuzz stuff,
is pretty much the same. (Though! I do know there are a lot of bugs and glitches in the
classic Crybaby, and even the GCB-95! The sound can get to trebely and such, from personal experience - beside some technical problems).
Sounds great with my Big Muff. Great with distortion. Nothing Else.

I had one problem - when you switch On / Off there is a little Click sound from the amp.
Pretty bothering, but while playing it can bearly be heard.

This wah is strong, heavy and MEAN. I dont own so long, so its hard to tell
what will happen in years to come - but sometimes I just bet the crap out of it
going crazy with shreds and it's still working perfect. Not any flaw.
(Crybaby's are known for this, I can say)

Never dealed with 'em.

I play a large range of genres - from funk, reggae, jazz and such to classic rock, blues, hard rock and metal. Works perfect in any of those. I used to play it on a friend of mine
Fender Blues Junior with some Ibanez (don't remember which), sounds great either.
I loved the idea of the Rocker Torque - some pedals are awful when it comes to this... to easy to push or to hard - it ain't the case here, but the torque does almost nothing...
I compared to several Crybabys, the Ibanez Wippin' Demon, Rocktrons and more and as I said - for its price it awesome. Its stable, it sounds great, and very simple. not full
of meaningless knobs. If it were stolen or lost I would definitely buy another one.
Lots of sounds and tones can be unlocked here - not a matter of a specific wah -
with just any wah. Thats why I thought about buying one in the first place.

SERVES ME AND MY GEAR WELL. AWESOME PEACE OF HARDWARE.

ive used cry babys for years, and this model switches into action straight and easy unlike some of the standard wahs that jim dunlop do!

the range and warm tone on this thing is amazing soon as you plug in you will notice a massive difference but in is very sensitive so could get a lil used too but if needs you can tighten the pedal!

only had it a short while but it looks like it can take a good beating,
but judging on my other wahs with j dunlop ill rate it,

n/a

takes a time 2 get used 2 but now i cant stop using it and when you use loads of gain this mother ***** shines like no other