Dunlop Crybaby 535q Wah Review

Current revision

General Information

Original Author: Ivan Milenkovic

Weapon: WahWah pedal

Model: CRYBABY 535Q

Price paid: ~140$ +-30$ (eBay reference)

Make: Dunlop

Jim Dunlop 535q Wah

FEATURES

- six new guitar wah ranges available from a single pot
- switchable variable boost from 0 to +16 dB
- hard wire on/off switch
- runs on 9V power
- Q filter for adjusting the character of the wah
- true bypass (well not a true, but close enough, the sound will come out undamaged if the pedal has no power and is turned off, but if you turn on the pedal with no power it will mute the signal)

EASE OF USE

Well why 2 you might ask? Because for me at least, the wahwah pedal is something that has to be learned for years to really get things going. It is fairly simple to setup, couple of pots here an there, but not a regular stompbox, at least not for me.

REAL EASE OF USE

Now for the use of the pedal alone.. This pedal has three pots and a switch besides expression pedal, and you do need some time to get a grasp of it. The main pot is the big chromed pot to the right. It controls the wahs range, going from bassy to screaming trebly. I mainly keep it on high treble settings, but it is nice to have the other settings in case you ever need them. Down from the chromed pot, there is a little red switch that it used for a treble boost. It is conveniently putted there, and at a leg grasp, but I would like it to be a little bigger. I would also like for a range pot to be a little smaller, since I'm not using it too often, but that's just me.

Now for the left side: Here we have two small black pots on the front part of the left side of the pedal. The first pot controls the volume boost that is switched by the little red switch. The second one is a great little thingy at this one is what gives this pedal so much versatility. It's a Q filter. Basically what it does it alters the sweeping stepping range, from mild to sharp. This is what can give this pedal gently weep or wild scream. I would put this pot to be a little bigger, because I use it much more often then the big frequency range pot to the right.

The 9V battery is fed at the bottom, and the power input jack is on the left. I use the power input - no buzzing or anything - just that great wah sound. Also, sometimes it can be tricky to push the pedal down, since they've made the switch very hard to push. But that's not a big deal. Also, sometimes it has happened to me that the sound gets muted when I turn on the wah. I don't know why, and it happens rarely, but it does. My guess is that it has something to do with the wah switch.

SOUND

I use this baby for home practicing and for gigging. Using it with HSS pickup configuration, and it works best when playing with my bridge hum, or at least middle single. Not very well for bassy guitars, as it needs a trebly sound to get things going. First one in line, I have SD1 and a Marshall distortion after, and they all give a good sound. It is not so defined when I press both the SD1 and the Marshall gain channel because of the compression involved.

I usually play with treble range full on on the pedal, and q filter at max for screaming and bitty sound. I keep the volume pot at about 5 (around +8dB boost), and switch on the boost when necessary. This unit acts very excellent as long as you put it on good equipment and with a good player. It is not made for playing games - it is made for one purpose - good playing. You can easily work with it in a studio as on gig. A must have really.

VERSATILITY

535q wah pedal

The versatility of the unit is excellent - If you put your Q filter to 1 you can get very mild wah wah effect, on the 10 it is getting pretty screaming, and when the expression pedal is on middle way, you can really fell the sound breaking. Put it on 10 and sweep fast, and you'll get some serious biting sound. Seriously good. Also you can adjust the effect to almost any guitar or equipment by dialing in the wah range, you want little deeper wah - no problem. Boosting is just icing on the cake really - when no boost, wah is truly at the same level as without, and when you engage boost, it gets pretty loud. If you wanna make some feedback and don't wanna booster separate, here you have all in one, and it sounds great. The booster works very good. Some people have used this baby as a booster alone, put the Q filter on 1, and volume on - say +15dB, switch on the boost button, dial in the range, for the trebly, or more bassy sound, and just step on it. Excellent..
Dunlop company advertise this baby as a "swiss army knife" among wahs. And I agree with them.

DURABILITY

Built like a tank, but it is very heavy - no falling from the first floor here - it would make a hole in the floor

OVERALL RATING

Been playing for some 9 years now, 2 of that live, used some crazy vintage wah before, but this one is a jewel really. I was not very pleased when I bought the pedal, because it was very difficult to control at first, but when I practiced a little I got enchanted by the thing. Also when I heard how it sounds on gigs I knew that this is the one. Maybe I can say again - this is a swiss army knife of wahs. Maybe you can get an ultra rambo jungle knife ( and for a price ), but you certainly can't do the half the things this baby does. So to sum up:

+1 for a price\performance ratio
+1 for versatility
+1 for great sound
+1 for being built like a tank
- 1 for not having a q pot and boost switch a little bigger, and a range pot a little smaller
- 1 for going mute sometimes when switched on

REVIEWED BY IVAN MILENKOVIC