Jerry Cantrell wah has arrived...

XSSIVE

Well-known member
i guess i should note before i go into detail with this wah that i collect wahs and mod them and have owned or at least played most of the wahs from boutique and big companies that are out there now. so i'm a bit of a wah junkie to say the least.

i've been following this wah since i first heard a rumor of it way back when and i had an order placed for it as soon as i possibly could and today it arrived. i've always been a big AiC and Cantrell fan and had a feeling he'd come up with something good when given the chance to do a signature wah and i think he did just that. when it comes to aesthetics it's very cool aged copper finish with a bit of factory relicing and wear which looks great IMO. the tread pad is a nice touch and not too over the top or tacky looking.

as for the circuit it much simpler than i thought it would be, it's based on the standard GCB95 with Jerry's own twists to achieve the tone he was looking for. those changes are simple but effective in changing its voice from the standard GCB95. the sweep cap value is increased giving it a deeper voice (not as deep as the wylde which can be a bit muddy in some cases) and connected to the main pot is an external pot which alters the sweep in a different way than normally associated with external knobs. it's not a typical notched switch that changes the sweep cap value thus changing the wahs vocal range like the 535Q or DB01. it's instead a smooth turning pot where you can adjust the toe down bite from full on which cuts great or real mellow if you don't want the top end to be as bright. similar to one of the features on the DB01 wah but the range seems to be a bit greater making it a bit more tweakable. this feature i found very handy depending on the playing style i was going for. for a high gain metal lead with it all the way up you can really get notes to cut through and scream. on a clean tone though roll it back and you don't get that real spikey top end that can be downright painful and harsh to your ears from some wahs out there.

all in all i'm happy with it and it's a nice change on a classic wah circuit with enough of a twist to give it its own character in the line of Dunlop wahs. to compare it to two others when it comes to its vocal range i'd say it sits vocally between the GCB95 and the Wylde wah in terms of how deep it can get which IMO is perfect since the Wylde wah as i mentioned can be a bit muddy and dark in some cases and the GCB95 a bit too bright and lacking that nice chewy tone. then factor in the addition of the adjustable toe down top end via the external knob and that too sets it apart and lets you fine tune the part of the wah i've often heard people complain about as either not cutting enough or being too bright and harsh...so now you can fix that.

unfortunately i don't have any way to record good quality clips and i won't do the wah a disservice by doing clips with poor sound quality or anything like that. so for now you'll just have to make due with some pics as you wait for some audio/video reviews from others....sorry.

so here's some pics...

jcwah1.jpg


jcwah2.jpg


jcwah3.jpg


jcwah4.jpg


-Mike
 
Good review.

Can you compare it to other popular, currently-available wahs (i.e. Budda)?

I am very interested in this wah.
 
They really need to stop putting out these sig wahs. I dont even know how much $$ I spent last year on just wahs alone :D
 
Is it true bypass, or does it have a buffer circuit? If it's using a buffer, how transparent is it when it's off? Since you're a wah junkie, any chance you've owned/own a Teese Wizard for comparison? Very interested in this wah. Thanks!
 
Does it do the "Dirt" wah tone? If so, I'll buy it the next time I'm at the store. If not, I'll keep my 535Q.
 
Oooh it's out, last estimate I heard was May. I've been looking forward to that wah since Dunlop first started making sig wahs.
 
Rayneman...unfortunately you picked a wah i have't used since they came out (Budda) and it was only for some testing and i didn't own one so my memory of it is very hazy to say the least and i wouldn't want to try and guess based on what i think i remember of the budda. however i think what i posted in my initial review that it sits vocally between the wylde wah and standard GCB95 in terms of how thick it is and it's overall voice. i think it's a step up in both directions, meaning the wylde is better than the GCB95 (to me) but a touch too dark and this is a bit brighter but thicker than the GCB95 thus coming close to the sweet spot. plus that ability to add or remove the top end bit also makes it much more useful than either the Wylde or GCB95.

droptrd...lol tell me about it, i have a bad wah addiction i've own nearly 30 wahs (sold off a bunch of them recently) and the majority have been dunlops.

turmoil...it's nothing special in there since it's GCB95 based with component changes and an external pot wired in. most of the dunlops are based on that same circuit with a twist and this is no different. thankfully it uses the easy to mod GCB95 board with its own mods done to it so if you wanted to mod it more it's a great platform since it has a few legs up on the others in terms of the Jerry spec mods and the bonus of cool looks.

jcwah6.jpg


Erock...it's buffered bypass like most of the dunlops, i've never had a problem with this buffer and tone change when off and i've owned nearly every wah dunlop makes and has made. i know some people hear a tone change with some of them and i think some of those people are full of crap since they say they hear it on a GCB95 for example but not on a Wylde wah where they share the same damn circuit :LOL: :LOL: i guess it all depends on your rig and your ears, i hear no change. unfortunately the wizard is a teese i have no experience with, i had a picture wah but was so ho hum about it i sold it failry quick and bought and area 51 which was killer (i regret letting that one go). since it's GCB95 based it can be modded to TB in all of 10 minutes and the cost of a switch and some wire. however i see/hear no need to be honest.

SFW..."rain when i die" is one of the songs i always play when i test a new wah :rock: anyway, does it nail that...i don't think so really, it's got the chunk but it doesn't have the increased Q (wow vs wah in the voice) that is on "rain" for example. it sounds good but it's not a match to that. i think Jerry was using a 535Q at that time, although from what i've read and seen he's used loads of wahs from rack, modded, dime, 535Q, hendrix etc etc so who knows for sure but i guess 535Q or rack or modded due to that added Q the voice has. i think this is the wah he wants to hear now, the wah tone he's been chasing and not a wah trying to recreate a sound he already created with another wah.

-Mike
 
XSSIVE":1yynspbf said:
Erock...it's buffered bypass like most of the dunlops, i've never had a problem with this buffer and tone change when off and i've owned nearly every wah dunlop makes and has made. i know some people hear a tone change with some of them and i think some of those people are full of crap since they say they hear it on a GCB95 for example but not on a Wylde wah where they share the same damn circuit :LOL: :LOL: i guess it all depends on your rig and your ears, i hear no change. unfortunately the wizard is a teese i have no experience with, i had a picture wah but was so ho hum about it i sold it failry quick and bought and area 51 which was killer (i regret letting that one go). since it's GCB95 based it can be modded to TB in all of 10 minutes and the cost of a switch and some wire. however i see/hear no need to be honest.
-Mike

hehe, maybe it's just my rig, but I really heard a pretty big difference with the GCB-95 off and still in the signal chain. Honest, not full of crap, just anal about my signal chain. Hmm, that didn't sound too good. :LOL: :LOL:

I did the TB mod to it though, so that's good to hear it's just as easy. Was kind of hoping you were going to say it nailed the "Rain when I die" sound though :cry: Thanks for the info man. :thumbsup:
 
i think the fact that my signal chains (up until now where everything is in a TB loop with a road rage looper) have been so crazy long with lots of pedals that's the reason why i never heard any difference with the dunlop buffer. there was so much other stuff there i was shaping my tone around i just didn't matter. thus why i said it depends on your rig. i think if it's the only pedal or one of like 2 it wouldn't matter and if it's one of a ton it wouldn't matter but at a certain point it might. it's one of those things i guess you need to try for yourself through your rig. i did hear a big tone change when i had 5 dunlop wahs in a row though for testing the difference :LOL: :LOL: so i'm not saying there can't be a tone change and you're wrong just that thankfully for me if there is one i can't hear it or there isn't one :LOL: :LOL:

oh and a quick swap of the Q resistor and this sucker will do "rain" i think! it just needs a touch more Q, i think the chunk is good for it though and it by all means doesn't sound bad doing it now...heck Jerry's been using it on tour and sounding good.

-Mike
 
nice pic man!! i really appreciate it :thumbsup:
i was curious how similar it looks to the GCB95, which is what i've been using (and modding) for the last year or two.
thanks again!
 
Shane...i wish i was able to do demos but i have no way to do real good recordings and there's no point in 1/2 assing it and doing a poor quality recording since that won't help people decide it may just turn them off due to being inaccurate. i have loads of wahs from the EVH, KH, 535, 535Q 18v, 535Q, Wylde, GCB95, Cantrell, Dime DB01, Dime DB02, MXR/CAE, modded GCB95s and had a bunch more i sold off and wish i could do comparison clips of them all to help people decide what they're looking for.

Jimmie...see my response to SFW above about Dirt tone.

turmoil...thanks for the kind words on the pics! yeah the 95, hendrix, wylde and JC all share the same board with mods to it to change the flavor a bit. of all the ones that use this board i do like the JC best. the ability to control the toe down is a cool feature to tame or add bite to the top end.

-Mike
 
XSSIVE":23378wf8 said:
Jimmie...see my response to SFW above about Dirt tone.
-Mike

I seen the reference to rain...then I read into it closer, thanks Mike. Jerry was masterful with that wah, probably to keep up with Layne's vocal inflections. musicians like them are so far and few between...
 
you know, i was honestly going off of memory of most of dirt (the album, not song) since i play "rain when i die" often on guitar but realized it's been a while since i listened to the album version of it along with the other wah songs like the actual song "dirt". so did you guys mean the album itself or the song "dirt"? i should have clarified that :doh: that said the more vocal quality of the wah in "rain" is there but it also has the same use of talk box like "man in the box" mixed with it which of course makes it more vowel like which makes it a bit tricky to pick which is wah and what's talk box. i could be trying to achieve both in my head with just the wah thus wanting more Q to get a bit more of that vocal quality. so if you compare this wah to the song "dirt" it's much closer than i initially thought when comparing it to the version of "rain" that's been playing in my head for years :LOL: :LOL: . when people asked about dirt i automatically assumed you were talking the album itself which then my mind goes right to "rain" since it's such an iconic riff. so perhaps i was a bit too soon to dismiss it and it is a bit closer than i thought. i still feel it could use a touch more Q though really nail it so i still stand by that.

-Mike
 
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