Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

[SirBlaketh]

I've been looking at wah pedals recently and have seen a lot of references to both the Crybaby and the Weeping Demon wah pedals. What kind of quality are they in terms of sound and build? I'd like to be able to pick one up to be able to do some crazy Mike Amott-style solos, but I want to have a good pedal.

[johnthomas]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

hi SirBlaketh,
I just watched Mike Amott. Higain kinda guy...I own a Weeping Demon wah and it can definitely give your signal a boost if you want it. It also has a huge range of sounds hiding in it, including the basic Cry Baby sound. It is also built like a tank ( most wahs are heavy built...the weak point is they tend to get noise in the gear mechanism after a few years) I have only had my Ibanez for a year but so far so good.
The basic sound of an Ibanez wah is beefier than a Cry Baby when set at 12noon on all the dials...Check the manual and you will see they recommend turning the Q dial to like 7a.m. rather than 12 noon if you want classic wah...Also to turn the signal to 11a.m. because classic wahs are generally weaker signal.
I use mine that way and it sounds like unity gain to me. Just putting gain on the default 12noon is already into boost territory.
Hope this helps.

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[Mincer]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

I have an early 80s Crybaby, and it is noisy as hell. I would imagine any modern wah would be a better choice. I've heard good things about the Demon, as well as the Parachute (what Tony Iommi uses- it is way over the top).

[Aceman]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

My Demon is having issues. When I step on the pedal I lose gain....not cool!

Don't know if it is a loose connection or what. That said - I'd get another to replace it.

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

Sound like maybe it's ignoring the volume control?

[Chickenwings]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

have a look at morleys

[Coma]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

I sprung on a cheap used Weeping Demon Jr just today, solely because I'm sick to death of scratches and squeaks from my CryBaby.

[Coma]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

Pedal arrived in the mail today. Tried it at home for three minutes or so. Seems to have a much cleaner signal-to-noise ratio than my old CryBaby. It actually sounds like it's processing the audio signal as opposed to jsut sweeping white noise. Will have try it out with my rig and see how it handles heavy distortion and a noise gate.

[Coma]

Re: Crybaby vs Weeping Demon wah

Hooked everything up and tried it in clean, crunch and distortion mode. Fortunately, the ground hum I got at home was gone (running everything through amp sim and the house has some seriously old wiring, so not surprised).

The sweep of this pedal is really weird. Tons of soft end, really sharp high end and a quite abrupt shift between them. But it has tons of play where nothing much really seems to happen. Wah effect is as expected much more noticable when playing clean. There are to mini trim screws located inside the pedal that someone obviously has fiddled with before. Will play it for a bit longer so I know what I'm dealing with before attempting any tweaks.

Level knob is plastic-y and feels rather flimsy, but is also spring loaded and recesses, so not much of a concern. Overall, it doesn't feel as sturdy as my old, beat-up crybaby, but then again, that's basically like comparing a Volvo 240 to a T-34. One is built "like" a tank, the other is literally a tank. Doubt I'll be able to kill this one, in other words. So that's good.

Auto-off delay is not what I expected. Thought it would slowly fade out the wah effect, but it really is just literally a delay. Remove your foot from the pedal and it turns off abruptly, just not immediately. Nevertheless, auto-off is frickin' awesome. Not having to press down on a clicky footswitch is awesome. And level setting - which, BTW is not a dry/wet mix knob, it's literally a volume knob - is handy dandy.

Not sure I like the sound, TBH. But I remain hopeful. Will try it out a bit more and then go to town on the setting screws. And the lower signal-to-noise ratio (in no small part due to photosensor rather than pot) means I'd still rather use this than the Crybaby. Considering price paid ($21/€22) I'm pretty happy.

I can see why this model didn't remain on the market for as long as its clunky big brother, though. Honestly, if they had chosen the middle road - control knobs from the larger one but without the clunky battery compartment or operation mode switch - that would've probably made for a much more appealing pedal.