Dunlop Cry Baby CBM105Q Mini Bass Wah

The Dunlop Cry Baby CBM105Q Mini Bass Wah is a wah pedal built for bass, and it exists to solve a space problem. Dunlop describes it as the same low-end-loving sound as the full-size 105Q Cry Baby Bass Wah with half the footprint, packaged in a lightweight aluminum housing¹. Guitar World, reviewing it in 2016, put it more strongly: a mini version of the venerable 105Q that is less than half the size but delivers identical performance².

For a bassist, the point of the design is that the wah sweeps without eating the low frequencies that a bass needs. Guitar World's reviewer found it delivers expressive, vocal-like wah effects that never sacrifice crucial bottom end frequencies². The pedal is about half the size of a conventional Cry Baby³, and Guitar World describes it as just slightly larger than a small MXR-style pedal such as a Phase 90 or Dyna Comp².

How it works: no footswitch, just the rocker

The Mini Bass Wah has no footswitch at all. Operation is automatic: you engage the effect by sweeping the toe of the rocker downward, and the effect bypasses when you take your foot off². Under the hood there is a spring-loaded rocker pedal with silent auto-return switching, and an internal switch at the front of the unit that the depressed rocker presses³⁵. Premier Guitar describes the result plainly:

There is also an internal rotary control under the bottom plate, the auto-return delay control, which determines how long the wah effect rings out after being disengaged, allowing near-seamless transitions from the effected sound back to your clean signal³. Dunlop's manual lists the delay factory preset as 290ms⁴.

The switching takes some adjustment. Premier Guitar's reviewer found the auto-return switching a little touchy, briefly interrupting the signal with a split second of silence³. Guitar World's reviewer, by contrast, found the pedal just as easy to use as the standard version despite its smaller size, and thought some players may actually find the smaller profile easier and more accurate to manipulate².

Controls

Two controls sit on the outside of the pedal, and one inside.

The Q control is the one to spend time with. It adjusts the width of the wah frequencies: higher settings deliver dramatic sweeps with brighter frequencies and vocal-like qualities, while lower settings are darker with more subtle filtering³. Guitar.com's reviewer put it simply, "the higher the Q level, the brighter the effected sound," and called the Q control "the real key to getting the most out of this pedal"⁵.

The Volume control balances the sound level when the effect is engaged³. Dunlop's manual gives the VOL control a range of 0dB to -21 dB⁴, and Guitar World notes the externally mounted Volume knob doubles as a Boost switch providing up to 20dB of boost, which can restore levels lost when using fuzz or distortion or provide a significant boost for solos².

Circuit and how it relates to the 105Q

Premier Guitar reports that the Mini Bass Wah contains similar circuitry to the 105Q³, and Dunlop's own buying guide describes it as the same low-end-loving sound as the 105Q with half the footprint¹. One circuit difference is documented: the CBM105Q uses an envelope filter circuit in place of the inductor found in a traditional Cry Baby wah¹.

The wah's frequency range, from Dunlop's manual, runs from 180 Hz with the rocker heel down to 1800 Hz with it toe down⁴. That range is tuned for bass, which is what separates this pedal from a guitar wah: the sweep stays in territory where a bass guitar's fundamentals live.

Other specifications from the manual:

• Maximum level: +7.5 dBV⁴
• Heel down gain: +22 dB / +8.5 dB⁴

Powering it

The pedal has no external power details to set up beyond what any standard wah needs, and its operation is automatic rather than footswitch based: you engage the effect by sweeping the toe downwards and bypass it by taking your foot off². The one internal control, an auto-return delay rotary under the bottom plate, sets how long the wah effect rings out after being disengaged, allowing near-seamless transitions from effected to native signal³. It ships from the factory with the delay preset to 290ms⁴.

Where it came from

The Mini Bass Wah is part of Dunlop's Cry Baby family, which the company's manual bills as "THE ORIGINAL SINCE 1967"⁴. Dunlop's own history of the wah line records that after the release of the Cry Baby Mini Wah (the guitar version, the CBM95), the line was joined by the Cry Baby 105Q Mini Bass Wah and the Jimi Hendrix Cry Baby Mini Wah⁶. Premier Guitar called it the latest addition to Dunlop's Cry Baby family³.

It sits in a wider family of Dunlop bass wahs. The full-size 105Q came first, and Dunlop has since added signature models including the Geezer Butler Cry Baby and the Justin Chancellor Cry Baby Wah. Guitar.com's review notes the Mini's family resemblance to its forebear, right down to the grippy rubber on the treadle section⁵.

What reviewers said

Guitar World gave the pedal its Gold Award in 2016, at a street price of $119.99, concluding that although the CBM105Q is much smaller than the standard version, it is just as easy to use, and some players may find the smaller profile easier and more accurate to manipulate². Premier Guitar's 2021 verdict was similarly positive on the pedal's features and size:

The same review flagged the auto-return switching as the pedal's one quirk, finding it a little touchy and noting it briefly interrupted the signal with a split second of silence³. Guitar.com's review called it a fun, compact solution for bassists wanting a wah on a crowded pedalboard, with the Q control as the key to getting the most from it⁵.

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