Vox V846-HW
There’ll be no tears before bedtime
for Dunlop’s famous wah
£169
Classic by name: this unit
boasts the Fasel inductor
Features
sound quality
Value For money
Build quality
usaBility
oVerall rating
an eye over
the roster of
Cry Baby signature pedals and
you’ll soon get the subtext. This
is the wocka-chacka of choice
for hairy maniacs (and Buddy
Guy). Endless variants exist,
and a couple are cheaper, but
we’ve picked out the Classic
GCB-95F for one factor: the Fasel
inductor that everybody bangs
on about. Produced
in Italy in the 60s,
then supposedly
unavailable, the
so-called “legendary”
inductor is now back
under the bonnet,
and Dunlop is playing
this innocuous red
nubbin as its trump
card, dangling the
“vocal sweep and lush
harmonics” that we’ll
get from it.
There’s a slice
off the Vox wah’s
price for this one,
and features-wise,
the Cry Baby is a little more
user-friendly. This pedal is
true hardwire, so it shouldn’t
compromise your raw tone
unless you’ve got a long daisy-
chain of pedals, and it scores
big-time by allowing either the
use of batteries or Dunlop’s ECB03
AC adaptor. Physically, it’s solid
as a housebrick, and there’s a real
‘plunge’ to the pedal action that
bodes well for smooth tone curve.
When it comes to tone, though,
this clash of the titans is tight
as they come. We wouldn’t say
the Cry Baby is quite as good at
the clean singlecoil funk stuff,
although it does have a lovely
old-school quack that’s
arguably the ‘textbook’
wah sound. Where this
unit really impresses
is on the gain channel
with humbuckers. It’s
hard to describe in
scientific terms, but
when you’re riffing on
powerchords, there’s a
real muscle and attitude
to the sound that’s
arguably better-suited
to metal, and when
you’re playing speedy
legato solos, it’s just a bit
fruitier and more vocal,
Sandman-style. It also
works a treat when you employ
the wah technique much-loved
by hard-rock punters like Michael
Schenker, and set the rocker
halfway for a really scything
midrange boost.
They’re both legends, of course,
and the gap between these wah
pedals is as thin as a plectrum, but
for its lower price and marginally
better performance at harder
styles, we’re going to stick our
neck out and hand the trophy
to the Dunlop Cry Baby. Now, if
you’ll excuse us, we’re off to write
a porn soundtrack.
at a glance
type: Wah pedal
controls: N/A
sockets: Input/output,
power
power: 9V battery or
Dunlop ECB03 adaptor
true bypass: Yes
dimensions: [HxWxD]
64 x 102 x 280 mm
weight: 1.7kg
contact: John Hornby
Skewes 01132 865381
www.jhs.co.uk
V s
“ Where this
unit really
impresses is
on the gain
channel with
humbuckers”
GEAR HEAD TO HEAD
TGR225.gear_hd2hd.indd 155 2/6/12 2:21:44 PM