Dunlop DB-01 Cry Baby From Hell (Dimebag)

[Dave Sloven]

I ordered the Dimebag wah from an ebay seller in the USA with the $200 someone gave me for my last birthday.  I'm not a Pantera or Damage Plan fan per se and not overly excited about the camo or the skateboard tape but seems like besides being a great guitarist Dimebag laid down some great specs that he wanted in his signature wah.

I found this video of Dimebag demonstrating the prototype:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ENh6F2q6Y

Warning: he tends to cuss.

A wah pedal is something I've not got any real experience with because you have to buy one in order to learn to play it ... in that sense it's almost an instrument in itself .... anyway like the harmonica I bought recently I want to learn so I just went and paid for what I thought might be a good one.

[ericsabbath]

he used to have a 535q before they come up with his signature version
I had the 535q for a while it was the most versatile wah I ever played
it's easy to dial a great tone, but also easy to screw things up too
sometimes you can dial a great wah tone for something specific that won't work for other stuff
I ended up with a cantrell wah years later, as I prefer keeping things simple and it seems to work well for everything
also owned the classic crybaby and a hendrix, but I like the balanced and vocal voicing of the cantrell
the 535q was still the best when it comes to variety
I miss the boost switch a lot

never played the crybaby from hell, but looking at the schematics, it looks exactly like the 535q
the only differences are the leds and the extra fine tuning minipot (a subtle brightness control, similar to the cantrell's)
no actual voicing revisions
I think they also changed to surface mounting boards instead of regular "big" components

[Dave Sloven]

he used to have a 535q before they come up with his signature version
I had the 535q for a while it was the most versatile wah I ever played
it's easy to dial a great tone, but also easy to screw things up too
sometimes you can dial a great wah tone for something specific that won't work for other stuff

Yeah, I did look at some reviews (e.g., on UG) and the most common comment besides the 'oh wow, best wah I've ever owned' reviews was that it could be difficult to learn all the different settings and dial-in what you want.  I basically decided to get this one as I wasn't sure what wah would suit me best and this one has the broadest range of options.  I suspect that when I've had a chance to fiddle with it I will settle on settings that with the boost switch will give me two settings that cover everything I want.

I did seriously consider the Cantrell but like a lot of the other signature wahs it seemed to be set up for a particular sound rather than being very tunable. The DB-01 on the other hand seemed to have everything the 535Q has and a little bit more, so I figured even if I wasn't happy with the settings out of the box eventually I will find a setting I like and that the range of the Cantrell would be open to me and then some.

Some of the others like the Slash wah have true bypass switching - I don't think the Dime one does.  As I am running my pedals from a power supply now instead of batteries I don't see this as being so much of an issue any more, and it does provide a buffer for the signal into the overdrives, compressors, EQs, etc that I might place after it. However if I do decide that true bypass is something I need I'm pretty sure it is a fairly simple mod (I might be wrong here though).

But I agree it might take me a while to find settings I like!  I suspect I will mainly use it for Iommi type stuff. I don't even own a guitar with a Floyd, so no Dimebag tricks, although I do plan to get one eventually as note bending in general is something that appeals to me  :)

[Dave Sloven]

I received the Dunlop Crybaby from Hell (DB-01) from ebay seller The Mad Ape today, no problems at all.  Now I just have to work out how to connect it to the ISP Decimator G-String II (which I got from the same seller a while back) and the TC Electronics Polytune, and then I can start learning how to use (this is my first wah pedal) and adjust (it has a ton of adjustable features, see pics below) this pedal.

I figure that given that the G-String is intended to read the raw signal from guitar in order to compare it with the signal coming out of the pre-amp that my guitar should go straight to the 'guitar in' jack on that pedal, making it the first in the loop.  It would also seem sensible to put the tuner before the wah, so I'm figuring that should be second, and from there into the input on the left side of the wah (there is an input on each side, the left one can be switched between an output (for stereo?) and an alternative input.  With the boost switch on the right side it would seem that this wah is really intended to go on the far right of the pedal board.

I'm thinking of getting a compressor to go after the wah and before the overdrives, distortions, and the MXR 6-band EQ that I'm fixing up to use as a boost.

[Alex]

Had one of these, good wah.

[Dave Sloven]

Had my first try of the pedal tonight, no idea what the settings currently are, I was just making sure it worked.  I tried it a few ways around.  Seems like it might introduce some noise into the signal chain, or that might just be daisy chain from the power supply?  Anyway it's pretty late now so I am done with experimenting for today, but I also received the PT-2 Pedaltrain and thus was trying to work out exactly how it's all going to fit together on that.  I experimented with the placement of the distortion and overdrive.  I don't like the EHX Metal Muff through my Peavey very much, it's got too much gain for that amp, but I experimented with placing it between the tuner and the wah and the Maxon OD9 after the wah.  This allowed me to get some different sounds out of it, but above 3 on the distortion on the MM it was too noisy.  I got a bit of a Hendrix wah sound with the MM in front of the wah, very quacky.  Anyway I will keep experimenting with it.  It's a bit of fun really for me at the moment, because I have very little idea how to use it, but I'm finding it's kind of instinctive, a bit like the harmonica, very much a feel instrument.  I don't have much feel for it just yet but it seems that's the way I will have to learn it, there's no way to learn it from a book besides getting a better idea of likely outcomes of an increase or decrease of this or that.

I think it will be a great wah once I have learned how to use it!  It's very adjustable.

[Alex]

Hm I think the little knobs gave me a bit of a headache. As I remember I had them about half way only.

[Dave Sloven]

I found out how to switch the input from right to left - I think I have to take the bottom off and move a micro switch.  I'm going to take the feet off today and fit velcro to the bottom for my new Pedaltrain anyway, so I'll open the bottom cover (and remove its plastic film) off today when I remove the feet.

I had a read of the instructions.  Half way seems safe, but I might tweak those knobs a bit once I'm happy with the other adjustments.