The Dunlop ZW-45 Wylde Wah is a wah pedal developed as a signature model between guitarist Zakk Wylde and Dunlop, described as a "Modern Cry Baby Master"1. Dunlop's own description, quoted in an independent teardown, says "this wah is specially voiced to deliver an extra thick and cutting tone"1. It carries a "heavy-duty raw-metal casing and road worthy components"1. For players of wah pedals, it sits in the long line of Dunlop Cry Baby signature models alongside pedals like the Dunlop Cry Baby GCB-95.
What is inside
A technical analysis published by Guitar FX Layouts in March 2017 opened the pedal up and found the circuit is built on the standard Cry Baby board: the inside of the board is marked "GCB-95 Rev H" on the bottom right, while the top right also carries the marking "ZW-45 Rev A"1.
The same analysis reported that word among builders is that the ZW-45 differs from the Dunlop GCB-95 by only one capacitor, C51. That makes the Wylde Wah, in circuit terms, a close variant of the standard Cry Baby rather than a fundamentally different design, with its character coming from that single change and the voicing Dunlop describes.
"while it says ZW-45 Rev A on the top right, it ALSO says 'GCB-95 Rev H' on the bottom right"
For DIY builders
The Guitar FX Layouts page includes a verified layout for building the circuit yourself. One builder reported a fix for a switch-clicking issue on a second build: "on the second one i had to use a 620 ohm emitter resister to stop it clicking"1. That tip comes from a DIY context and concerns hand-built copies of the circuit, not necessarily the factory pedal.
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Sources (1)
- Guitar FX Layouts: Dunlop ZW-45 Wylde Wah Crybaby, Guitar FX Layouts (tagboardeffects.blogspot.com), 2017-03-03
