The Dunlop SC95 Cry Baby Classic Slash Signature Wah is a wah pedal from Dunlop, built with input from Slash and voiced around a custom-wound resonance inductor. Dunlop describes it as having a warm, throaty sound with a huge dynamic range and a wide sweep1. Where the earlier Slash Signature Cry Baby carried an onboard distortion preamp, the SC95 drops it entirely: MusicRadar's Simon Bradley noted that the "superfluous onboard distortion that hardly anyone, least of all Slash, actually really made use of" is gone, leaving a straight wah2. The pedal wears a distressed hot-rod finish with Slash's trademark Slash-and-crossbones logo3.
A Cry Baby wah with three voices
Guitar World's reviewer found the SC95 "capable of producing three distinct wah voices," which the review describes as baritone, soprano and treble wah effects3. Those voices come from where you park the treadle, not from a selector switch, and the pedal itself has no knobs: it is a rocker with a footswitch, finished in the distressed hot-rod paint and the Slash-and-crossbones logo3.
Dunlop's own buying guide credits the pedal's character to a custom-wound resonance inductor, along with a huge dynamic range and a wide sweep, and includes LEDs that indicate effect on/off status1. MusicRadar adds that the circuit is tuned to a lower frequency than a standard wah, which in Simon Bradley's words lets it "cut a tonal swathe through a cl[uttered mix]"2.
How the treadle position changes the tone
The manual puts it simply: by rocking your foot back and forth on the pedal, you change the effect the SC95 has on your instrument's tone instantaneously4. Guitar World mapped the travel to the three voices3:
| Treadle position | What you hear |
|---|---|
| Rocked forward slightly | A taut and warm bass-centered wah |
| Midway through the travel | Traditional midrange wah tones |
| Fully forward, right before the switch activates | Upper-midrange and treble wah effects |
The sweep range runs from 340 Hz to 1.7 kHz, so the full travel carries the filter from low-mid territory up through the presence region where wah accents live4.
Power and connections
Setup is conventional Cry Baby: a shielded instrument cable from your guitar into the SC95's Instrument jack, then another shielded cable from the Amplifier jack into your amplifier input4. The manual highlights top-quality input and output jacks4.
Power comes from one 9-volt battery, accessed through the bottom of the pedal, or from an external supply4. The requirements are +9 VDC at less than 3 mA through a 5.5mm x 2.1mm barrel with positive barrel and negative center4. For an adapter, Dunlop specifies a 9-volt AC adapter such as the Dunlop ECB003 or ECB003EU, or a DC Brick power supply4.
The barrel is positive on the outside and negative in the center, the standard 9V pedal convention. The current draw of less than 3 mA is low enough that a battery lasts a long time, but the LEDs only tell you the effect status, not the battery level.
Bypass: two descriptions
Dunlop's owner's manual lists the bypass as a hardwire DPDT bypass4. Guitar World's review states the pedal features true-bypass circuitry3, and Vintage Guitar likewise reports a true-bypass switch5. The maker's own specification is the hardwire DPDT bypass; the press reviews describe it as true bypass. Players comparing it against, say, the Dunlop 95Q Cry Baby or the Dunlop Slash Cry Baby Wah should note the discrepancy and go by the manual's wording.
What reviewers said
Guitar World's reviewer found the most detailed overtones when the pedal is paired with single-coil pickups or light-to-medium output humbuckers, and reported that its "multipersonality nuances are as balanced with a clean amp as with a dirty one"3. MusicRadar's Simon Bradley summed up the SC95 as "Cool look; good performance; nice price."2 Vintage Guitar noted the pedal was conceived with input from Slash himself26.
"The finely tuned Dunlop SC95 Cry Baby Classic Slash signature wah is capable of producing three distinct wah voices"
Videos
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Questions
Is the Dunlop SC95 true bypass?
Dunlop's owner's manual lists a hardwire DPDT bypass, while Guitar World and Vintage Guitar both describe the pedal as true bypass. In practice the pedal passes your dry signal when switched off, but the maker's own specification is the hardwire DPDT bypass.
Does the Slash Cry Baby wah take a battery?
Yes. The SC95 is powered by one 9-volt battery, accessed through the bottom of the pedal. Dunlop's manual also allows an external adapter, so you can run it either way.
What adapter does the SC95 wah use?
Dunlop specifies a 9-volt AC adapter such as the Dunlop ECB003 or ECB003EU, or a DC Brick power supply. The jack is a 5.5mm x 2.1mm barrel with positive barrel and negative center, and the pedal draws less than 3 mA.
What is the difference between the baritone, soprano and treble wah settings?
They are voices created by treadle position rather than separate switches. Rocking forward slightly gives a taut, warm bass-centered wah, the middle of the travel gives traditional midrange wah tones, and the rocker fully forward, right before the switch activates, gives upper-midrange and treble effects. Guitar World called these the baritone, soprano and treble voices.
Does the SC95 have an LED?
Yes. Dunlop's buying guide lists LEDs that indicate effect on/off status, so you can see at a glance whether the wah is engaged on a dark stage.
What pickups work best with the Slash Cry Baby wah?
Guitar World's reviewer found the most detailed overtones when the pedal is paired with single-coil pickups or light-to-medium output humbuckers. Higher output pickups will still work, but the overtone detail the reviewer praised shows up most with those pickup types.
Sources (6)
- RANGE OF EXPRESSION: FIND YOUR CRY BABY® WAH, Dunlop (lifestyle.jimdunlop.com), 2021-10-08
- Dunlop SC95 Slash Cry Baby Classic review, MusicRadar, 2012-07-14
- Review: Dunlop SC95 Cry Baby Classic Slash Signature Wah and MXR SF01 Slash Signature Octave Fuzz, Guitar World, 2013-05-01
- SC95, Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc., 2019
- MXR Slash Octave Fuzz SF01/Slash Cry Baby Classic SC-95, Vintage Guitar magazine, 2013-12-09
- MXR Slash Octave Fuzz SF01 and Slash Cry Baby Classic SC-95, Vintage Guitar magazine, 2014-01-27
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