duhvoodooman
May 29th, 2007, 08:09 PM
After reading about the expanded feature set of this wah pedal vs. the base model Cry Baby that I've owned for a year, I started GAS'ing for one. After all, the regulars here know how much I love to be able to tweak and twiddle! So after watching several up for auction on eBay, I jumped in and bought one about two weeks ago. Used versions of this model in excellent to "as new" condition typically sell in the $70 - $90 range, and I got mine for $80. With new ones going for $120 - $130 at the big online music resellers, this is a fairly typical eBay price point, percentage-wise.
The basic construction of the pedal is essentially identical to the Cry Baby GCB-95, but includes some nice added features/upgrades. These include:
A Fasel inductor, made by the Italian outfit that produced the inductors for the original Thomas Organ wah pedal from which the entire Cry Baby line evolved.
A boost volume control knob along with a "kick" switch at the right rear of the pedal to turn the boost mode on and off. Up to +16dB of boost available.
Dunlop's "Q control", which lets you alter the wah frequency sweep width to your liking using a small knob on the left side of the pedal.
A 6-position range control knob on the right side (the one that looks like a Tele volume or tone knob) that lets you shift the sweep range mid-point up or down.
I got a chance to play with my "new" 535Q some over the Memorial Day weekend, and these are my impressions:
The Fasel inductor makes quite a noticeable difference. The pedal definitely has a warmer, richer sound than my GCB-95 model did. Very nice!
The boost function with the kick switch works very nicely. Now you can play a wah rhythm part in the background and then instantly boost the volume for those "screaming solos".
The wah range selector works exactly as advertised. I must admit that it spans a bit less of a tonal range than I thought it would, though the range from high to low is still fairly broad. One feature that I like but some people may not is that there is an audible tone (kind of a subtle beep) each time you change the position of the 6-way selector switch. So you don't have to remember if turning the knob clockwise raises or lowers the sweep range--you can hear which direction you're going as you rotate the switch. There are sound samples of the various ranges posted on Musiciansfriend.com (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dunlop-Crybaby-535Q-MultiWah-Pedal?sku=151016), if you want an idea of what the various ranges sound like.
The Q control is pretty cool, letting you adjust from a narrow, subtle sweep to a very wide, dramatic one. This seems to work exactly as I thought it would. I tend to stay at the medium-to-high width range, but I can see where the narrow range could be useful for some purposes. In any case, in combination with the range selector, you get a tremendous amount of control over the character of the pedal's output.
Mechanically, the footpedal of the 535Q works the same as my GCB-95 did. The pedal is activated and deactivated by pushing down the toe until the footswitch clicks. And both are built to withstand heavy (ab)use, critically important in an expression foot pedal. There's also a chrome-finished version of the 535Q that costs about $25 or so more, if you're heavily into shininess.
The early 535Q pedals required a special 18V AC adapter or two 9V batteries, but these newer ones use a standard 9V adapter, which lets them join your multi-pedal signal chain with much less hassle and inconvenience. The pedal is very quiet when activated--though naturally you'll get more background noise with the boost volume cranked up--and doesn't suck tone to any noticeable degree, even though it's not "true bypass".
All in all, I find the 535Q to be an outstanding sounding wah pedal with a tremendous degree of tonal flexibility. Dunlop refers to this model as "the Swiss Army knife of wah pedals", and my experience shows that it's not just the usual marketing hype. So often, it seems that "premium" models in a product line cost a lot more money for just a bit more functionality. This is clearly not the case with the 535Q, which offers a heap more in features and flexibility over the base model Cry Baby for a very reasonable $50 - $60 upcharge.
The basic construction of the pedal is essentially identical to the Cry Baby GCB-95, but includes some nice added features/upgrades. These include:
A Fasel inductor, made by the Italian outfit that produced the inductors for the original Thomas Organ wah pedal from which the entire Cry Baby line evolved.
A boost volume control knob along with a "kick" switch at the right rear of the pedal to turn the boost mode on and off. Up to +16dB of boost available.
Dunlop's "Q control", which lets you alter the wah frequency sweep width to your liking using a small knob on the left side of the pedal.
A 6-position range control knob on the right side (the one that looks like a Tele volume or tone knob) that lets you shift the sweep range mid-point up or down.
I got a chance to play with my "new" 535Q some over the Memorial Day weekend, and these are my impressions:
The Fasel inductor makes quite a noticeable difference. The pedal definitely has a warmer, richer sound than my GCB-95 model did. Very nice!
The boost function with the kick switch works very nicely. Now you can play a wah rhythm part in the background and then instantly boost the volume for those "screaming solos".
The wah range selector works exactly as advertised. I must admit that it spans a bit less of a tonal range than I thought it would, though the range from high to low is still fairly broad. One feature that I like but some people may not is that there is an audible tone (kind of a subtle beep) each time you change the position of the 6-way selector switch. So you don't have to remember if turning the knob clockwise raises or lowers the sweep range--you can hear which direction you're going as you rotate the switch. There are sound samples of the various ranges posted on Musiciansfriend.com (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dunlop-Crybaby-535Q-MultiWah-Pedal?sku=151016), if you want an idea of what the various ranges sound like.
The Q control is pretty cool, letting you adjust from a narrow, subtle sweep to a very wide, dramatic one. This seems to work exactly as I thought it would. I tend to stay at the medium-to-high width range, but I can see where the narrow range could be useful for some purposes. In any case, in combination with the range selector, you get a tremendous amount of control over the character of the pedal's output.
Mechanically, the footpedal of the 535Q works the same as my GCB-95 did. The pedal is activated and deactivated by pushing down the toe until the footswitch clicks. And both are built to withstand heavy (ab)use, critically important in an expression foot pedal. There's also a chrome-finished version of the 535Q that costs about $25 or so more, if you're heavily into shininess.
The early 535Q pedals required a special 18V AC adapter or two 9V batteries, but these newer ones use a standard 9V adapter, which lets them join your multi-pedal signal chain with much less hassle and inconvenience. The pedal is very quiet when activated--though naturally you'll get more background noise with the boost volume cranked up--and doesn't suck tone to any noticeable degree, even though it's not "true bypass".
All in all, I find the 535Q to be an outstanding sounding wah pedal with a tremendous degree of tonal flexibility. Dunlop refers to this model as "the Swiss Army knife of wah pedals", and my experience shows that it's not just the usual marketing hype. So often, it seems that "premium" models in a product line cost a lot more money for just a bit more functionality. This is clearly not the case with the 535Q, which offers a heap more in features and flexibility over the base model Cry Baby for a very reasonable $50 - $60 upcharge.