Dunlop Kirk Hammett Collection Cry Baby Wah

The Dunlop Kirk Hammett Collection Cry Baby Wah is a signature wah pedal from Dunlop, built to put Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett's own rack wah sound into a standard Cry Baby enclosure. It was released in a special edition purple sparkle finish and announced in May 2022 at a list price of $199.99¹. Dunlop now lists it as a legacy product that is no longer in production².

The pedal is based on the EQ, volume and tone settings Kirk Hammett dials in on tour with his Cry Baby Rack Wah, so a player stepping on it gets the voicing he uses rather than a generic Cry Baby sweep²³.

What it does: an even sweep with a midrange wail

Dunlop describes the response as even from heel to toe, with an arresting midrange wail and a thick top end, aimed at fast melodic runs over hard-charging riffs². Premier Guitar carried the same description when the pedal launched, adding that it delivers a thick top end with a full dynamic range¹.

Gearnews characterized the sound as having an extended midrange and a full wah sweep³. In Dunlop's own Cry Baby buying guide, the Kirk Hammett model is summed up by its pronounced midrange wail, which is the quality that separates it from other signature wahs in the range, such as the wide sweep and aggressive midrange of the Eddie Van Halen model or the tight sweep of the Gary Clark Jr. model⁶.

The KH95 manual gives one measured figure for that voicing: a maximum gain of +17 dB at 300 Hz to 380 Hz with the pedal heel down⁴.

Built from Kirk Hammett's Cry Baby Rack Wah settings

The circuit is not a stock Cry Baby. Dunlop's engineers took Kirk Hammett's EQ, volume and tone settings from his Cry Baby Rack Wah, the rack unit he uses on tour, and reproduced them in pedal form⁷. Dunlop's product page for the signature model calls it the legendary tone that Kirk dials in on tour, developed in close collaboration with the guitarist himself⁷.

Gearnews notes that the settings embody the aggressive and melodic style Hammett is known for⁸. For a player, that means the pedal's voicing comes from a working professional's actual rig rather than a from-scratch signature design.

Power and connections

The pedal runs at 9 volts DC and draws only 4 mA, which is light enough for any pedalboard power supply⁴. Dunlop's manual recommends a 9-volt AC adapter such as the Dunlop ECB003 or ECB003E, or an MXR Brick Series power supply⁵. It can also run on a single 9-volt battery accessed through the bottom plate, and Dunlop sells that bottom plate as a spare part⁵⁴⁹.

Hookup is simple: an instrument cable runs from the guitar to the pedal's INSTRUMENT jack⁵.

The bypass is hardwire rather than true bypass, so the signal passes through the circuit even with the pedal off, unlike Dunlop's Joe Bonamassa signature wah, which MusicRadar reported uses a true-bypass switch¹⁰.

Versions and finishes

The Kirk Hammett Collection Cry Baby Wah (KH95X) is the purple sparkle special edition announced in May 2022²⁹. Gearnews reported that apart from the new aesthetics, the model is the same as the previously released Dunlop KH95 Kirk Hammett Signature Cry Baby Wah, which carried a list price of $209.99³⁹. Gearnews also listed the KH95X at €249 at Thomann at launch³.

There is also a KH95Y Kirk Hammett Cry Baby Wah Yellow Sparkle Edition, a limited edition version of the same pedal in a yellow sparkle finish, built on the same Rack Wah settings¹¹.

All three share the same circuit based on Kirk Hammett's Rack Wah settings, the same hardwire bypass and the same 9-volt, 4 mA power requirement⁴⁵¹¹.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions