Dunlop

(Originally written by torros/translated from Audiofanzine FR) Wah Wah with 4-way Q selector (frequency range selection), booster with +20dB switch (on the bottom side) and two LED indicators for wah on/off (green) and boost on/off (red). UTILIZATION Very easy to use. The rubber covering around the Q control allows you to set it directly with your feet. And it's the same for the boost switch which is ergonomically placed on the right side. The LED indicators give you visual control and allow you to check if the wah is on, in case you forgot to turn it off. SOUND QUALITY All four frequency ranges provide good results. I like especially the last one which creates a strong low frequency modulation. I'm a funk music fan and I play an 80's Strat... The boost is especially useful with clean sounds to add them a bit of dirt and get a typical cry Baby tone. Turning it over 3/4 of the way will allow your guitar to cut through the music (especially good for special riffs or solos). The sound is exceptional. OVERALL OPINION I've been using it for 3 years for 4 or 5 live gigs per month. It has never disappointed me and it has killer looks. I often use the boost function to stand out from the band when we play louder. The wah's frequency ranges are a great creative tool. I bought it secondhand. I previously owned several Dunlop, Morley and George Denis models, but I won't go back to them. Even with clogged up ears I'd buy it again!!!

Dunlop's Jazz III picks have become my preference after using my buddy's a couple years ago. It took me a little while to get used to the small size, pointed tip and clarified attack in my tone, but once I got used to having that precision and control, I couldn't go back to the standard sized picks I had been using. As I stated in my review of the standard Dunlop Jazz IIIs, these picks have drastically improved my playing! It seems silly that such a small part of the signal chain and gear arsenal can have such a big impact on my playing, but it's true. I had hit a wall in my playing and the scalar runs and sweep picking patterns I was attempting with my standard Tortex picks were coming out a mess! Enter the Jazz III. Smaller for less travel while alternate picking, and harder plastic that doesn't get hung up on the strings, along with a very pointy tip add up to give you fast, precision picking. The Ultex takes this one step further. This is an extra hard and "glassy" feeling pick that has even less grab than the standard red/black Jazz IIIs. The pick seems to just slide right off of the strings resulting in a very fast release. This makes shred very accurate and the extra hard and glassy material offers a bright and glassy tone. Notes seem to be more crisp and detailed than they do with standard picks. There are times when I still reach for my standard Red Jazz IIIs, like when I want the pick to have a little more stick and grab. If I'm playing chunky rhythms or layered chords, I usually grab the regular III. If I'm attempting to do some more involved speed playing, or if I just want that bright glassy tone, I use the Ultex! I bought a few of the Ultex IIIs just try out, and I'm still using the first one 6 months later! It has literally no wear at all. These things are very tough and durable! (or I play like a wimp;) I love the Ultex picks and can't see paying insane prices for some of the other high endurance picks out there. These are about the best I've used!

The Dunlop Dime Crybaby from Hell definately comes loaded with numerous tonal options. The six position selector allows you to control the frequency of the wah effect which is where a basic wah falls short. This also 3 small POTS on the side to control volume/gain, the width of the wah effect and a fine tuner. The icing on the cake is a foot accessible 15 DB boost control. The camo paint scheme is pretty wicked and makes for a nice looking piece. UTILIZATION This thing took your basic wah and literally made it everything you could ever want in a wah pedal, over the top as Dime would have loved. The ability to control the entire sweep of the wah effect is, for me, one of the best features. Nothing worse than going to add a wah effect and having it flatten out at either the top or bottom of the sweep. This lets you adjust your way to the perfect setting to hit the top and bottom perfectly. The six position switch gives you a quick way to change basic wah settings and then use the fine tuners to adjust from there. I find myself dialing in my basic favorite and leaving it be. The kick boost is also a neat feature I use now and then. SOUND QUALITY No complaints on the sound. This purchase was the result of having had several basic Dunlop wahs and wanting something that went further and this was it for sure. The only other one that has me curious is the EVH wah after seeing Eddie play this live. I might have to give that a try and see if it brings anything else to the table above and beyond this great pedal. It does suck a little bass which is my complaint about most stomp boxes. OVERALL OPINION Overall the Dime wah fits perfectly into my playing style. I gig with this and from a sound perspective, I have been very satisfied. Definately head and shoulders above your basic Dunlop pedal, both vintage and new. The tonal possibilities with this are pretty endless. While I have a built in wah on my multi-effects, I never use it as it doesn't match what this can do. My only complaint is that I wish it were a little more road worthy. Battery cover broke off shortly after taking out to play and the rubber feet have fallen off, one of which I still have not found. This is a common issue with Dunlop Wahs and I wish for such a great unit, they would have improved on these aspects.

Kirk Hammett KH95 Wah pedal, designed after his rack wah settings. Huge throaty tone like from MetallicA's Black Album. I'm a good sized fan of MetallicA but I bought this for the tone, not for who's it is. I could care less who's name is on the pedal as long as it sounds good. I did research and comparisons for a few years trying to find the right pedal. Went through like 8 different wahs and ultimately settled on this one, and this won't be leaving. The paint job is pretty cool, metallic green to black fade. The skeleton foot on the treadle isn't the most attractive, but who cares? It's a damn pedal. I looked at a few more boutique wahs like the Fulltone Clyde and the RMC picture wah and while they were great the price wasn't. I planned to get the Fulltone but for $245 I chose the KH95 and so happy I did. I've played a Fulltone since then and while it was great it was a bit overkill and the tone still wasn't quite where I wanted. So the Hammett was pretty much like a pedal designed for me, and a bonus at a killer price too. UTILIZATION Very simple pedal, no knobs or switches to mess with. Plug it in and go. Not a lot of tweakability if you like it, so that's a plus if you like it simple and the way it is, but a con if you want the options. SOUND QUALITY I bought this looking for that very thick, throaty sounding wah that most pedals I've tried couldn't get. I loved Hendrix's wah, and my favorite wah was Kirk Hammett's from MetallicA's Black Album. Very thick, throaty, and cuts through amazingly. Well supposedly he owns one of Hendrix's hundreds of wah pedals and used it on that album. Live he used a EBM rack wah to mimic his vintage studio wah. Later on he switched to the Dunlop rack wah again trying to mimic his studio wah. This pedal was designed by taking his rack wah settings and putting them into a pedal. So basically this pedal is a pedal form version of his rack wah which was tweaked to mimic a vintage VOX V846. I haven't played a vintage VOX but I have owned a Dunlop Crybaby from Hell, Original crybaby, Hendrix crybaby, VOX V847, Morley Power Wah Distortion, x2 vintage Morley Power Wah Fuzz's, and an Ibanez Weeping Demon. All were pretty different but my favorites were the KH and the CFH. Now of course this pedal won't nail the Hendrix or Hammett tone, there's so much more that goes into their tone than just the right wah pedal. But this does give you a close sound of that piece alone. My favorite example is the solo to "My Friend of Misery". Huge wah sound, everything I'd ever want from a wah. OVERALL OPINION So I'm very happy with this purchase. The absolute best wah pedal I've ever played, now for you this might not be the holy grail but for me it was perfect. I'd suggest to just try as many as possible THROUGH YOUR RIG (can't stress that enough) till you find the one that just makes you smile all day, this is that pedal for me.

I believe this model is the one I had, though it's a bit difficult to tell nowadays as they've been changing it up ever few years or so with new reivisions of which I think are pretty much the same thing, but the pictured one is the one I used to own. The characteristics of which were pretty damn similar to any regular wah out there, with no true bypass and maybe just a slightly tweaked sweep on the pot. Construction is the same as all, steel housing, heavy and sturdy. UTILIZATION Wahs are probably the 2nd or 3rd easiest pedals in the guitar world to ever use. Anybody can use it, you click it on with your foot and rock it back and forth to sweep the mid-range filter and get the crazy, and classic sounds you've heard on slight return ;) SOUND QUALITY Was this my first wah pedal? Yes. Did I get it cause it had jimi hendrix on it? Yes. Did it sound like hendrix? Not one single bit. I got it, played around with it and kept it around for a bit and eventually stopped using it. I eventually sold it only to try different wahs and of course never found the perfect one. I'm at the point where I know now that it doesn't matter what it sounds like, since all it really is, is just a midrange sweep! And every other wah out there is the same thing with a different sweep range. So this is a review in hindsight, which of course is better since I now have the knowledge and experience to back up my encounter with the pedal. I think if I still had it now I would've kept it for the rest of my guitar playing life and use it rightfully so without worry for reliability or tone as it sounds just as good as any other wah out there methinks. It's noisy too when engaged, which can be VERY usable by the way... OVERALL OPINION Your average wah, with Jimi's name on it. Nothing spectacular, and doesn't sound like anything from hendrix's records. I originally got it to try to emulate hendrix and eventually grew up and realized I will never sound like hendrix and so there's no point in trying and it's better to be myself and be my own player. Aside from all this, I did like the wah when I had it, didn't love it but didn't hate it. I find that most of the gear I have, if I have that type of feeling towards it, I end up keeping it longer than i do with gear I completely love. Weird...

There are very few rack wahs out there. Off of the top of my head, I can think of maybe 3 or so, and very few of them come close to the versatility that this one has. Dunlop used to have an older rack wah that was real popular, but they decided to step it up and release this model, which I find to be a better sounding and more versatile wah pedal than the other one. One thing worth noting is that it's harder to modify as all the components are SMD. If you're into tinkering, you're better off buying the older one. The unit features range, q, boost and all kinds of EQ knobs to shape the wah to where you want it to be. UTILIZATION The unit is crazy versatile for what it is. It's also laid out nicely to where it's easy to understand what everything does. However, just for the sake of safety, it is worth looking at the manual to fully understand how this device works and all the other little intricacies of the unit. It only takes up one rack space, so it's very compact. You also have different styles of wah pedals you can choose from. They have the common one with the switch, and they also have the switchless which is activated when you step on it, like the Morley style wah pedals. SOUND QUALITY The sound is where the magic is, and this is where it easily destroys pretty much every single wah pedal out there. It's so versatile with how you can dial it in that it's ridiculous. Honestly, all of the controls at like noon sound awesome. However, if you need that special wah pedal sound, this can do it for you. It can also handle multiple wah pedals, so you can have tons on the stage. That means you don't have to run to the same spot every time you want to use a wah pedal. It sounds like a Dunlop wah, but the extra versatility really lends itself to giving you something extra special. OVERALL OPINION The biggest issue with this is that it's housed in a rack space. If you don't have a rack, it can be a bit cumbersome. However, since I have a rack, I happen to think this is the #1 wah device on the market, and nothing can beat it, in my opinion. This is one of the few things I rated a perfect 10 all around. Buy used as you can get some real good deals on these.

Slash has almost always used a wah pedal, and I'm surprised it took him this long to get one. Along with Kirk, he's one of the more iconic guitarists of this era to use a wah pedal. This one is super versatile, too. In fact, I think it's the most versatile out of all the wah pedals that Dunlop offers at the moment, rack wahs excluded. Not only does this have a wah feature, but there's actually a built-in distortion to go along with it. UTILIZATION These pedals are built like tanks. They can withstand nearly anything you throw at them, short of spilling your beer all over them. The casing is extremely durable, and you can chuck it across the room without much of an issue. About the only thing that occurs is dust and grime getting inside the pot, but you can just spray some contact cleaner in there to fix them, most of the time. The wah is extremely easy to setup, and everything is laid out in an easy to understand matter. This has a few knobs on it, so there might be a quick learning curve, but it's nothing bad. Just turn the knobs until you get the sound you want. The manual explains everything in clear detail, anyway. SOUND QUALITY The most unique feature about this is that the distortion circuit. Given that I'm a heavy metal player, I generally shy away from things like this. This distortion circuit is extremely aggressive, after all. However, it actually added some sweetness to my overall sound when I set the pots pretty low and let most of the wah take over. When I tried it with a Marshall set to mostly clean, it sent it into a world of chaos that sounded pretty awesome. It can get a bit buzzy, so be sure not to max it out. OVERALL OPINION I think this is the first Dunlop wah with a built-in distortion circuit. It's not that bad of a sound, and it's extremely versatile. For those that are playing high gain amps, you might want to lower the gain real low on the wah simply because it's so powerful. Those playing with clean or slightly dirty amps will most likely love the extra boost and oomph it gives to your overall sound. The worst part is that this thing requires either a special adaptor or two 9v batteries.

Dunlop Original Crybaby Wah Pedal Features at a Glance: * The original Dunlop Crybaby Wah effects pedal * Used by greats — from Hendrix to Clapton to Gilmour and beyond * Heavy-duty diecast construction for years of reliability * 100K ohm Hot Potz potentiometer that allows for that quick, abrupt wah sound * Powered by the optional Dunlop ECB-003 AC Adapter and/or 9 volt battery UTILIZATION Very simple, plug in to the in out jacks, step on it and rock back and forth. SOUND QUALITY well, its a wah, back is "wwww" and forward is "aahhh" . As far as wah's go it definitely is not the cream of the crop, infact I'd say this is one of the worst production wahs on the market, especially for the price, it sucks tone like a mother and really doesn't sound that good. The sweep of it is OK at best and really is just very mediocre. now...the only reason I see to buy this is to mod it. now, modded. this thing is amazing, infact i'd take it over many many wahs, it sounds great, and you have total control over it and how you want it to sound. Now given that this is only if you have some experience modding pedals, but if you do, pick one of these up for 15 - 30 dollars USD new and mod the heck out of it, its totally worth it then. By it self I'd give it a 3, modded it gets and 8, I'll give it a 7 overall in this catagory OVERALL OPINION overall, its a really junky wah even for the price, but if you have the intention of modding it I suggest you get it and as soon as you get it, open it up, find some schems and have at it, you'll be impressed, I promise!

Well let us start out by stating I am not the biggest user of slides. I have very limited need for them and they maybe come out a few times per year. With that being said this was my third attempt at finding one that I actually wanted to ply with. I did not get this because I am an Aerosmith fan but I do like them and I happen to like Joe Perry's slide sound. I figured since I did not like my glass or metal one because of the excessive brightness I might give this one a whirl. My first impression of this slide was how heavy it felt compared to other slides I owned. I really liked the way it felt on my finger as well. Kind of a powdery feel inside and it seemed to fell more in place on my hand where the metal and glass types kind of moved around. Almost felt as if they were always a step out of my control. I used two guitars to test the slide out. I employed my 335 copy and my American deluxe Telecaster to see how it would fair under a thick and thin sounding guitar. Wow I was impressed at the tone I received from both of them. Unlike the metal and glass varieties this produced a very thick and full sound, very warm in the center, very different from the shrill nature of the other varieties. The Joe Perry model is made from porcelain that is unfinished on the inside and highly polished on the outside, kind of explains why it felt so secure on my finger. It moves over the string as effortlessly as any other slide but I felt as if I had a more in tune feel when using it. Probably due to the fact it felt snug and secure on my finger. If I were a big slide guy I would probably get the smaller one as the large one does seem a touch too big for me length wise but for the amount I use it this is not an issue at all. If you have ever wanted a slide with more oomph, hutspha, well lets face it balls then this is the slide for you. I love mine.

It's a pretty cool Fuzz Face pedal. I got a chance to sit with one for a while and mess with it. I've never played a vintage arbiter so I can't comment on how similar they are but this pedal is great in it's own right. We all know how much of a tone/gear geek Eric Johnson is so his signature pedals definitely should be to his standards. It has a silicone transistor instead of the normal germanium that most fuzz faces have. Basic setup, fuzz control and volume control. Fuzz controls the amount of fuzz and volume obviously controls the output of the pedal. UTILIZATION My only real complaint on the design is you have to take the entire bottom cover off to replace the 9v battery. It's only 1 screw so it's no big deal, but that's the only negative thing I can say about it. SOUND QUALITY I wanted to see how close to the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon tone I could get. I was VERY happy to find out it came very close. The silicone transistor is more aggressive and brighter compared to the warmer, smoother germanium. David Gilmour used silicone for DSOTM so that would make sense why it's closer. I had the fuzz cranked and the volume around 2 oclock, playing a strat through a mesa mark V on the clean channel. It just sounded amazing, very gritty but controlled. Wasn't over the top, wasn't muddy or anything. Just nailed the tone. OVERALL OPINION It's a great pedal, for $200 there's a lot of options out there but this one is definitely in the running for best fuzz for me. I'm still to try the Skreddy Lunar Module and the Analogman Sunface but this EJ Fuzz Face will for sure be a piece of interest. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting Eric Johnson, David Gilmour tone as well as any great fuzz tone.

Original Fasel inductor Heavy-duty die-cast construction 100kOhm Hot Pot potentiometer This is pretty much, like all wah pedals, solid in terms of construction. But this one sounds especially killer thanks to the fasel inductor. Apparently one of it not the original inductors used in the crybaby's beginning stages of production in the 60s that made it sound oh so sweet. Not true bypass, most dunlop wahs are not. UTILIZATION Quite easy, just like every other wah, you click it on with your foot and rock'er back and forth to sweep through the sounds. SOUND QUALITY I haven't owned this pedal for a long time but have recently reviewed a few wahs and distinctly remember the classic sounding very very good. Why? It's probably the inductor that gives it the sound that it has. Again I can't tell you what it sounds like without comparing it to something as a reference, that seems to be what guitar players do almost all the time, it's gotta be a/b'ed. The classic screams! It's almost as if it's got more gain or adds some sort of boost to your guitar signal (on distortion of course) and it's got this killer top end that is JUST a level below being too shrill but cuts through like a knife. The background noise is also increased in the classic, which I actually like. It's got a sort of familiar feel to it when the background noise is there. To me, wahs are meant to add noise so you can go on and do crazy stuff, the less noise the less crazy sounds you can pull out in my opinion. There just seems to be more presence and it's as if, for example if there was a mix knob of how much of the wah effect you want put into your guitar signal, compared to the regular crybaby, the mix on the classic would be at 100% while the mix for a regular GCB-95 would be maybe 60% or so. Just when you sweep it, the actual WAH sound is so big and present! Love it! OVERALL OPINION Overall great wah. I like the classic it's very effective and seems to be a lot bigger sounding with more sizzle and presence. It just seems to be more of a wah than the original crybaby. If you've got the extra dough to spend it's definitely worth looking into. I'm not saying that the original isn't good but just that the classic is better if you have the option. I like'em both for what they are, but if I had a choice, the classic would get my attention.

Before discovering the jazztone 208 this was my main go-to-pick for acoustic guitar. I was so sick of hearing guitar players using such thin picks on acoustic for strumming and picking etc and thick metal guitar player shredder picks never sounded right either. And then I discovered these black beauties, the jazztone series picks. It doesn't say what thickness these are but they are definitely on the thicker side, they seem to be even thicker than 3mm. Anyway the tone I was looking for was something similar to how I would play an acoustic with my thumb when finger picking or light strumming but I wanted to be able to project that and only the jazztones so far have been able to properly project that thick woody tone that I love in a pick! Keeps me happy and keeps my martin played! The one beef I had with the 207s and thus moved on to the 208s was the tip, the rounded tip sounds like a good idea and keeps the tone round and warm however, it just kept slipping between my fingers if i tried to strike with anything more than a slightly medium attack, there's no grip and after it strikes it just kind of gets everything off balance and the pick moves. I tried the 208 with the sharp tip I get a bit more presence and the pick is stationery.