Dunlop Mick Ronson Cry Baby

The Dunlop Mick Ronson Cry Baby is a limited edition wah pedal from Dunlop, built around a custom inductor that Dunlop says replicates the higher frequency response and subtler peak of the original pedal¹. It honors the early Jen-built Cry Baby that Mick Ronson used in David Bowie's Spiders from Mars, heard on early 1970s Bowie records including "Queen Bitch," "Moonage Daydream," and "Width of a Circle," and on live recordings from that period².

Ronson's original was an early Cry Baby built in Italy by Jen, and Dunlop's engineers took it apart and recreated its behavior with a custom inductor that replicates the higher frequency response and subtler peak of the vintage parts¹³. The result, in Dunlop's words, is a sound that is "bright and clear with peaks that stay musically smooth"¹.

A bright, mid-focused Cry Baby wah

What sets this Cry Baby apart from the standard models in Dunlop's line is where its filter sits and how it behaves. The wah center frequency sweeps from 500 Hz to 2.25 kHz³, and the custom inductor was voiced to copy the original pedal's higher frequency response and subtler peak¹. Dunlop describes the resulting sound as "an exquisitely balanced sonic profile that's bright and clear with peaks that stay musically smooth"¹.

Premier Guitar's reviewer found the character distinctly vocal and mid-focused, with a squawky heel-down position and many distinctly different vowel sounds available within a narrow singing range². That mid focus is the point: the reviewer wrote that it "mirrors and invites Ronno's biting phrasing, particularly in Bowie's live recordings from the time"².

The pedal is also tailored for Ronson's signature fixed-wah tones⁵, the trick of parking the rocker in one spot and leaving it there as a static filter, which is a big part of his recorded sound. Players after that approach may also want to look at Dunlop's Q-Zone fixed-wah pedals, which are built for exactly that job.

Where it came from: Ronson's pedal and Bob Rock

Mick Ronson is known for his collaborations with David Bowie, and he used a Cry Baby wah to shape his unique sound⁷. His favorite was an early Cry Baby built in Italy by Jen, and it is everywhere on early 1970s Bowie records, including "Queen Bitch," "Moonage Daydream," and "Width of a Circle," plus the live recordings from that era².

The path from that pedal to this one runs through Bob Rock. Ronson recorded many tracks with the pedal, and Rock later used it himself when recording numerous other artists⁵. Rock loaned the pedal to Dunlop, whose engineers reverse engineered it⁴¹. Rock was involved throughout, and his verdict on the finished recreation:

Rock added that the original pedal is "all over every record he ever made, and I've used it on every record since I got it"⁴.

The Mick Ronson Cry Baby was one of three new Cry Baby models Dunlop launched at the start of 2025, alongside a Kirk Hammett limited edition and a Sepultura 40th Anniversary Cry Baby⁷.

Power and connections

The pedal is straightforward to hook up and power. Run a cable from your guitar to the INSTRUMENT jack, then another cable from the AMPLIFIER jack to your amplifier³.

Power options from the manual³:

• One 9-volt battery, accessed via the underside of the pedal
• The Dunlop ECB003 9-volt adapter
• An MXR Brick Series power supply

The manual lists the bypass as Hardwire rather than true bypass³, the same approach used across much of the Cry Baby line, so the circuit remains in the signal path when the pedal is off.

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar reviewed the pedal in May 2025 and called it "Dunlop's excellent new tribute, the Mick Ronson Cry Baby," noting that it delivers many distinctly different vowel sounds within its narrow, singing sweep². The review framed it against Ronson's own taste for loud, simple rigs: Les Paul, Marshall, Tone Bender, Echoplex, and, most critically, a Cry Baby wah².

Bob Rock's assessment, quoted by MusicRadar at the NAMM 2025 announcement, was blunt: the sound is bang on, and Dunlop's engineers nailed it⁴. Gearnews described the result as a bright, clear wah that stays musically smooth and encourages the expression that makes Ronson's music distinctive⁷.

Premier Guitar's editors included the pedal in their year-end gear coverage at $265 street⁸.

Price and availability

Dunlop's current list price is $265.99⁶. At launch in April 2025 the street price was $249.99⁵, and Premier Guitar's editors later listed it at $265 street⁸. In the UK, MusicRadar reported a launch price of £249⁴. The pedal is available now⁵.

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