January 7th, 2009 by Andres Gallo

$130

Design

Dunlop is one of those brands that people know for the great designs that have placed across time throughout the years. Amongst their most popular line of products is their crybaby line. When guitarists think of wah pedals, the name crybaby is the one I am sure crosses the mind of most, most of the time.
Visually the crybaby 535Q looks like a simple pedal, and seems no different than the other wahs. Up close, however, one finds a design that is both cleverer and more versatile, while simultaneously staying true to the classics. The pedal functions and for the most part looks like their classic wah relatives. It even includes the fasel inductor that gave the vintage wahs that tone of theirs. The advantage however is in the tone controls it includes that give it virtually the sound of a variety of wah pedals, all in one package. One knob allows you to control the frequency center, and another controls the range available for the pedal. To top it all, it even has a boost button on the side that provides a volume boost for those wailing wah solos rock music is famous for.
The design is great, maintaining a conservative classic look, adding modern versatility, and putting it all into a tough casing.

Sound

It is hard to write any negatives on the sound quality of this wah, as there are nothing but good tones all across the possibilities.You can have all sorts of wah sounds. The other great thing is these sounds have lots of body when they should, and the range can be incredible in both its modern and vintage tones. Although a modern wah, this thing can pull off those vintage tones without much trouble, and sounds splendid in all cases. Although one of the best wahs for the price out there, it isn’t perfect. It does not have true bypass, and as such it can eat your signal, although I never noticed any signal loss from it. With that in mind, this wah should be added to everyones wah list.

Reliability

From its feel and appearance this pedal is built to last a really long time. However, I feel I have to include in this review, that my own crybaby 535q stopped working out of nowhere. I think these pedals will last most people, and perhaps I just got one of the rare delicate productions. The pedal still turns on, but the potentiometer that controls the rocking pedal part of it is defective, which is a simple and cheap fix. Don’t be intimidated by this, however. This is still a great wah pedal in the “affordable market,” and is used by many greats like Joe Satriani.

Customer Support

Their customer support is great.  They offered to help me very quickly.