Cry Baby Wah alternatives

cry baby wah

Who didn’t grow up with it? The Cry Baby Wah Wah is arguably the most famous Wah pedal ever. Notable users include Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix.

As well known as the wah pedal is at the moment, it is actually happened by chance. In 1966 Vox was developing a new amplifier and experimenting with an alternative tone circuit. This circuit was mounted in a volume pedal to test one of the potentiometers. Initially it was intended as an effect for a saxophone, but one of the engineers present suggested connecting a guitar. The pedal was therefore initially associated with trumpeter Clyde McCoy. Later, the circuit was modified specifically for guitar and the name Cry Baby was chosen to distinguish it from the original Clyde McCoy.

Cry Baby Wah

We are now more than 50 years later and the Cry Baby made by the Dunlop company. There are currently no fewer than 29 different versions of the pedal. In addition, there are many alternative wah wah pedals that are based on the circuit of the Cry Baby and/or its predecessor the Clyde McCoy. Below is an overview of five alternative pedals for the Cry Baby.

Fulltone Clyde McCoy Standard

Fulltone Clyde McCoy Standard

The Clyde McCoy Standard Wah was created after a thorough analysis of 25 different VOX wah pedals from Michael Fuller. The pedal is made with a lot of good components and approaches the original very accurately. Furthermore, it has an extra large footbed and the reach is slightly larger than the original.

On the inside is a trimmer with which you can adjust the gain and the low. Furthermore, the tension of the foot pedal can be adjusted as desired. The pedal is True Bypass and will not affect your signal further when it is off. The whole is housed in a very solid and heavy (1.5 kg) metal case with a steel bottom plate. Besides the standard Fulltone also has a Deluxe version with volume control, an LED light and three different voicings.

Friedman Gold-72

Friedman Gold-72

The Gold-72 Wah by Friedman is a classic pedal with a number of options. It is based on a Cry Baby and the sound is perhaps best described as Vintage. It has a three-position switch with which you can set the ‘voicing’. The switch is hidden under the foot pedal. The pedal also has a handy light, so you can see whether the wah is on or off. You can also set the tension of the foot pedal and there is the choice for true bypass or buffered bypass.

Electro Harmonix Cock Fight Plus

Electro Harmonix Cock Fight Plus

The Cock Fight Plus is a special wah wah pedal from Electro Harmonix that allows you to create both traditional and talking wah. In addition, the pedal also has a fuzz, which you can also completely remove from the signal path. The pedal is robust but not too heavy and it uses a traditional and durable mechanism. There are two different filters that you can choose from. The first filter produces a classic wah. The second filter is a formant filter with which you can make ‘vowel sounds’. You can place the fuzz both before and after the filter. Place the fuzz in front of the filter and you get a bit more wah effect. The fuzz behind the wah filter is the traditional method.

Xotic XW-1

Xotic XW-1

The wah pedal from Xotic is based on a Clyde McCoy from the 1960s. With this XW-1 you don’t get one or three sounds in a pedal, but almost unlimited possibilities with unique control knobs. This allows you to completely customize the effect and adjust it to create your own, unique sound. The pedal has 4 buttons. With the bias knob the effect becomes more transparent or warmer and with more tight basses. Use the wah q control to set the width of the effect. In addition, there are bass and treble knobs with which the corresponding frequencies are boosted or attenuated by 15 dB.

The pedal has an LED light with which you can see whether it is on or off. The size and resistance of the pedal movement can be adjusted. The pedal has true bypass and two internal controls that adjust input volume and frequency range. It’s a very versatile wah-wah of extraordinary quality, and it was Guitar Player’s editor’s pick in 2015.

Morley 20/20 Bad Horsie

Morley 20/20 Bad Horsie

The 20/20 Bad Horsie finally, is an updated version of Steve Vai’s famous pedal. The pedal is smaller than a standard Morley pedal, making it easier to fit on your pedal board. Furthermore, the pedal has a new buffer circuit that guarantees your precious tone is preserved, even when the pedal is turned off. The pedal has an optical design that means you don’t run the risk of mechanical failure. Furthermore, the pedal has silent switching, so no popping in the audio signal when you turn it on. By the way, the pedal turns on when you put your foot on the pedal and off when you take your foot off. This wah has a Contour mode with which you can set the frequency yourself. It takes 9V battery as a 9V power supply and has an LED indicator on it.

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