Review | Dunlop GCB – 95 Cry Baby Wah

Author’s note: my reviews are written for novice guitarists and pedal users. I’m no expert and I don’t claim to be. If you’re a true pedal expert, mine isn’t the review you should be reading. But if you’re an amateur just looking for an idea how this product works, stick around. This one’s for you!

Dunlop’s GCB-95 Cry Baby Wah is a pedal famously used and adapted by guitarists all over the world, as well as being mimicked by pedal manufacturers far and wide.

That being said, I do also have this to say: I get most of my pedals from eBay and it is frequently apparent that there are loads of Dunlop’s GCB-95s for sale on there. I don’t know whether this is indicative of the fact that lots of people have them and just don’t use them, or whether it is indicative of lots of people trying this Wah pedal and getting rid. After spending some time with the pedal, I still have no solid answer to that particular point of pondering.

In terms of build, the GCB-95 has a solid body feels reliable and in the hand it feels weighty enough to kill a shark with one blow. It feels prestigious just in its presence – the GCB-95 I tested for this review is currently sat next to a Behringer UO300 on my desk as I write, and the contrast in build is remarkable.

In terms of performance, however, I am left confused. The GCB-95 works fine as a Wah pedal, and even with my limited experience with this effect, I was able to affect my guitar with that class ‘Wah-Wah’ sound. However, I found that, when engaged, the pedal left my tone stripped of all low-end, leaving behind a tinny, almost abrasive tone, compared to the balance I was achieving before including the GCB-95 in my line-up.

I’m going to be putting the poor sound down to a lack of experience on my part – these pedals are very popular, so it must be me, right? Regardless, the question at the beginning of this review still lingers – with lots for sale, are lots of people finding these pedals unsuitable but cannot bring themselves to challenge a name as solidly engrained into pedal culture at Dunlop?

Overall, this is a fine pedal, I’m sure, just as I am sure it works perfectly fine for many guitarists around the world. However, it is not for me, and I will be selling mine on eBay to raise funds for something slightly more useful to me.