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King Loudness « Bring on the Black Label »
Published on 12/29/11 at 12:33The Dunlop ZW45 is a variation on the classic GCB95 Crybaby that was made for many years. Zakk Wylde has been a huge proponent of the wah in his live rig and eventually Dunlop offered to make him a signature model based on the Crybabies he was using, but with some subtle tweaks to make it stand out a bit from the crowd. The most obvious change is cosmetic, with a very cool brushed metal exterior in dark silver. It also has a battery door on the bottom for easier access. The general construction is identical to the Crybaby in its standard form otherwise. It has the same plugins and metal switch features of the typical Crybaby, though the voicing of the pedal is definitely more suited to ZW's heavier tones.
UTILIZATION
Setting up this pedal is very simple. Like most other Crybabies, it has just an on/off switch and two jacks for your input and output. As a result, it's almost painless to set this pedal up in a rig. I find it to be less noisy than the standard model as well which is a plus. The pedal has a nice sweep to it that's less dramatic than the typical model. It centers more on the low end to get that nice chunky tone with high gain sounds. I dig it in the context of rock or metal as the tones are more catered to that environment.
SOUND QUALITY
I find that I prefer the sound of this Crybaby to the standard one. It's much thicker and punchier to my ears. The low end is much more prominent, and the high end is biting, yet it isn't nearly as out of control as a standard unit. That being said though, the pedal can be noisy at high gain settings. I gather it might just be a standard thing with the Dunlop design, so I don't pay a whole lot of mind to it. It's definitely more suited to tones with distortion that are thick and bassy on their own a-la what ZW uses rather than using it for say, clean funk tones.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the ZW45 wah is a decent buy for someone looking for a thicker and heavier sounding take on the typical Crybaby. It's got a great rugged look, is very durable and has wonderful tones for rock and metal music. It's a little more controlled sounding than a typical Crybaby which is great too. Definitely worth checking out if you get the chance!
UTILIZATION
Setting up this pedal is very simple. Like most other Crybabies, it has just an on/off switch and two jacks for your input and output. As a result, it's almost painless to set this pedal up in a rig. I find it to be less noisy than the standard model as well which is a plus. The pedal has a nice sweep to it that's less dramatic than the typical model. It centers more on the low end to get that nice chunky tone with high gain sounds. I dig it in the context of rock or metal as the tones are more catered to that environment.
SOUND QUALITY
I find that I prefer the sound of this Crybaby to the standard one. It's much thicker and punchier to my ears. The low end is much more prominent, and the high end is biting, yet it isn't nearly as out of control as a standard unit. That being said though, the pedal can be noisy at high gain settings. I gather it might just be a standard thing with the Dunlop design, so I don't pay a whole lot of mind to it. It's definitely more suited to tones with distortion that are thick and bassy on their own a-la what ZW uses rather than using it for say, clean funk tones.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the ZW45 wah is a decent buy for someone looking for a thicker and heavier sounding take on the typical Crybaby. It's got a great rugged look, is very durable and has wonderful tones for rock and metal music. It's a little more controlled sounding than a typical Crybaby which is great too. Definitely worth checking out if you get the chance!