phil_104
Cheesesteakologist
Dunlop 535Q Wah pedal – With Fasel inductor
So, after a long time searching for a wah pedal that fit me, my quest is in fact over. My first wah, sadly, was attached to my Boss ME-50 pedal, and was anything but spectacular. Next, I moved on to a standard crybaby, that I bought not knowing anything about wahs, thinking it was the logical wah to own. When that one sounded to shrill to my ears, I went with a salesman recommendation to try Vox. Although it did cure the shrillness problem, it did not produce what I wanted, specially with heavier gain. I sold all of them, and had been wah-less for about a year.
So after some research, I walked into a store last week with the intension of getting a Weeping Demon. After playing it through a mesa stiletto ace and a PRS CU24, I knew this was not the wah for me. The salesman then recommended that I try the 535Q. After explaining the controls, I plugged it in, and tried to for agood little while. The main controls are the ‘wah type’ selector, the volume boost adjustement knob, the Q control, and the boost switch.
My first impression was that this pedal was very, very vocal sounding. This is pretty much what I was looking for. I heard that this is due to the fasel inductor (the red one), that gives it this property. The problem I had with the original crybaby was gone with this one, as the big chrome knob on the side that selects different voicing will have different sweeps, making it either really piercing or really smooth. Add the Q knob to that, and you can dial in any sound you want. Another thing I noticed right away was that the sweep was smoother, with less of a ‘drop off’ than the crybaby I had.
The Q knob and the voicing knob are what makes this wah. The large chrome one is the voicing. If you turn it up, your entire sweep range goes higher, giving you that more defined in your face high-mids heavy sound. As you progress down, the range changes, up to a very low-mid heavy sound. Out of the 6 positions, the middle 2 are my favorite, with a really throaty vocal midrange, specially with a bit of distortion, or a muff. You owe it to yourself to try this this with a EHX Big Muff Pi. Also, a nice feature of this wah, is that with all the adjustements, you can find a setting where distortion doesn't completely kill you sound. I had a lot of trouble with the vox under heavy gain.
After getting it home, and playing with it for about a week, I can say that I am sticking with this wah. The bottom line is this : This wah can’t really be resumed in a review online, as the sounds that can come from this wah are very, very varied. That is the beauty of it. If you like the crybaby, but wish you could tweek it, this is the one. When off, it is dead quiet and doesn’t affect my tone to a point where I notice, and the boost is real nice to have when you want to drive that amp a little (up to +10db). The build is like any other crybaby, which makes it a tank. The little manual that comes with it has instructions on how to set it for different sounds (clean, crunch, distortion, etc.) according to artist wah sounds, and it pretty much nails all of them.
Pros :
- Very versatile, odds are you can find ''your'' wah sound in there
- Built like a tank
- Boost is very usefull
- Great sound. Very vocal, nice sweep, great overall sounding wah.
Cons :
- The 9v adapter is still behind the output jack, like all crybaby pedals
- The volume and the Q knob are small and dark, making on the fly adjustments in a live situation impossible.
- No LED indicator
If you are a fan of the crybaby, but wish you had that classic wah sound, but with a massive ammount of flexibility, check this pedal out. It’s hard for me to cover every sound from this pedal, or answer all questions, so if you have any, please ask, and I will do my best to answer. I know a few of you must have tried this wah, please post your opinions.
So, after a long time searching for a wah pedal that fit me, my quest is in fact over. My first wah, sadly, was attached to my Boss ME-50 pedal, and was anything but spectacular. Next, I moved on to a standard crybaby, that I bought not knowing anything about wahs, thinking it was the logical wah to own. When that one sounded to shrill to my ears, I went with a salesman recommendation to try Vox. Although it did cure the shrillness problem, it did not produce what I wanted, specially with heavier gain. I sold all of them, and had been wah-less for about a year.
So after some research, I walked into a store last week with the intension of getting a Weeping Demon. After playing it through a mesa stiletto ace and a PRS CU24, I knew this was not the wah for me. The salesman then recommended that I try the 535Q. After explaining the controls, I plugged it in, and tried to for agood little while. The main controls are the ‘wah type’ selector, the volume boost adjustement knob, the Q control, and the boost switch.
My first impression was that this pedal was very, very vocal sounding. This is pretty much what I was looking for. I heard that this is due to the fasel inductor (the red one), that gives it this property. The problem I had with the original crybaby was gone with this one, as the big chrome knob on the side that selects different voicing will have different sweeps, making it either really piercing or really smooth. Add the Q knob to that, and you can dial in any sound you want. Another thing I noticed right away was that the sweep was smoother, with less of a ‘drop off’ than the crybaby I had.
The Q knob and the voicing knob are what makes this wah. The large chrome one is the voicing. If you turn it up, your entire sweep range goes higher, giving you that more defined in your face high-mids heavy sound. As you progress down, the range changes, up to a very low-mid heavy sound. Out of the 6 positions, the middle 2 are my favorite, with a really throaty vocal midrange, specially with a bit of distortion, or a muff. You owe it to yourself to try this this with a EHX Big Muff Pi. Also, a nice feature of this wah, is that with all the adjustements, you can find a setting where distortion doesn't completely kill you sound. I had a lot of trouble with the vox under heavy gain.
After getting it home, and playing with it for about a week, I can say that I am sticking with this wah. The bottom line is this : This wah can’t really be resumed in a review online, as the sounds that can come from this wah are very, very varied. That is the beauty of it. If you like the crybaby, but wish you could tweek it, this is the one. When off, it is dead quiet and doesn’t affect my tone to a point where I notice, and the boost is real nice to have when you want to drive that amp a little (up to +10db). The build is like any other crybaby, which makes it a tank. The little manual that comes with it has instructions on how to set it for different sounds (clean, crunch, distortion, etc.) according to artist wah sounds, and it pretty much nails all of them.
Pros :
- Very versatile, odds are you can find ''your'' wah sound in there
- Built like a tank
- Boost is very usefull
- Great sound. Very vocal, nice sweep, great overall sounding wah.
Cons :
- The 9v adapter is still behind the output jack, like all crybaby pedals
- The volume and the Q knob are small and dark, making on the fly adjustments in a live situation impossible.
- No LED indicator
If you are a fan of the crybaby, but wish you had that classic wah sound, but with a massive ammount of flexibility, check this pedal out. It’s hard for me to cover every sound from this pedal, or answer all questions, so if you have any, please ask, and I will do my best to answer. I know a few of you must have tried this wah, please post your opinions.
