Deciding between two wah pedals

[Open lane]

Hi. I may be getting a new wah pedal in a few weeks. Honestly, after owning an ibanez weeping demon, buffers scare the hell out of me (that thing was a total tone sucker when not deployed), which is why I posting on here, inquiring about these two pedals that apparently are not true bypass

Does anyone here have experience witg the dunlop hendrix and/or the dunlop crybaby from hell?

Are either of these particularly bad or good? i like what jimi got out of his wah and also what dime got out of his. I generally play shred, myself.

Yay or nay to either?


Thanks!

[PFDarkside]

The Jimi is the standard with an altered sweep cap to give a deeper tone. Zakk Wylde has always used one, and his signature is based on it. If you like his tone, the Jimi is a decent option. The Dimebag is the ultimate tweakers wah. Like a 535Q with additional options. The Dime heads will correct me if I’m wrong, but I think 99% of the time he was using the 535Q and the sig wah came pretty late.

If you like tweaking, try the Dime. If you don’t want to tweak, the Jimi might be decent, but my favorite “simple” way is the Jerry Cantrell. Check out some demos of it online....

[Open lane]

Thank you!

[Open lane]

How do both of these fare in terms of tone loss when not deployed?

[PFDarkside]

Well, you have two groups of people. One group swears that bypassed wahs don’t affect your tone, the other group says they absolutely can. I’m in the later camp. There are three major types of bypass for wahs (someone will come and detail another one or two that are rare, but these are the ones I’ve seen)

-“Hardwire Bypass” The Jimi wah, standard Crybaby, Vox wahs, etc. use this. This one is the most susceptible to issues. I think they are impedance sensitive and it comes down to your pickups/electronics, cable in/out and the next item you are plugging into. You can even be plugged into a true bypass effect that gets wonky when it’s turned on. I have an old Vox that sucks tone with my stuff for some reason and I never use it.

-“True Hardwire Bypass” or True Bypass. This actually bypasses the whole circuit. You will have the typical issues with True Bypass, but overall when it’s disengaged it should be like having any other true bypass pedal in the chain. Quite a few of the Dunlops and a lot of boutiques are true bypass. I use a Teese, and have no issues of tone suck.

-“Buffered” The Dimebag is buffered. A lot is going to come down to the specific buffer and pedal. The Ibanez is buffered, Morleys are buffered, many without the traditional stomp toe switch will be buffered. I assume the 95Q with instant on is as well. I also have a Morley and don’t have any issues with tone suck.

Both wahs you have chosen could have an issue with your setup, but you’ll have to try both to see. If a standard Crybaby has affected your tone in bypass, the Hendrix one might as well. The Dime is a different ballgame being buffered. I’d suspect it would be ok, but you’ll need to try. The other option is a 535Q which will give you the 6 way for deeper tone like the Dime/Cantrell/Hendrix, a Q to tweak and is True Bypass.

Good luck on your wah hunt.

[Securb]

I also have a Morley and don’t have any issues with tone suck.

I have to second that

[Open lane]

Thank you so much, for all of the info, man. Yeah, buffers scare the hell out of me ever since using the ibanez. Sound amazing when on but was such a turd when off.

Do you know anything about the dunlop slash (the one with just wah not od)?

[Lewguitar]

I liked the Teese and the Fulltone. But it's been a while since I've tried anything newer than those.

[Open lane]

You will have the typical issues with True Bypass, but overall when it’s disengaged it should be like having any other

What are "the typical issues"?

[PFDarkside]

What are "the typical issues"?

“Typical” probably isn’t the correct word, more like “rare but known”? It’s not from being a wah, just from being a true bypass pedal.

If it’s the only pedal, you go from an unbuffered length of cable being guitar-wah and wah-amp to just guitar-wah, this makes it seem like the pedal is really bright when really it’s not. Also, the impedance your guitar drives changes and the impedance driven to your amp is different.

Most times these aren’t problems, but in the few cases where there’s an issue they are good to remember. I prefer wah first and for it to be true bypass, that’s worked best for my rig.

[Open lane]

Ah ok. Thank you!

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

The crybaby from hell is a masterpiece. It has more adjustment then you could ever want. Can't go wrong with that one.