Jim Dunlop Cry Baby 535Q Multi Wah

The Jim Dunlop Cry Baby 535Q Multi Wah is a full-size wah pedal from Dunlop that takes the standard Cry Baby circuit and puts its most important parameters under the player's foot-side controls. Where a basic Cry Baby gives you one fixed sweep, the 535Q adds a six-position Range Selector for the frequency sweep, a Variable Q control for the shape of the peak, and a switchable boost circuit with a Volume knob¹.

Dunlop describes the 535Q as providing "control over the most important wah parameters so you can create your ultimate wah tone," and its Chrome product page calls it "the Swiss Army knife of wah pedals"². MusicRadar called it "the first major evolution of the Cry Baby circuit," noting that it moves controls to the outside of the chassis that were previously internal tweaks³.

What it does: a Cry Baby with adjustable range, Q and boost

A wah pedal is a bandpass filter whose center frequency moves as you rock the treadle. On the 535Q, three things a standard Cry Baby fixes internally are adjustable. The Range Selector moves the whole sweep up or down the frequency spectrum, so the same treadle motion can sit dark and subtle or bright and aggressive. The Variable Q control changes how sharp the filter peak is, from, in Dunlop's words, "narrow and sharp to broad and subtle"¹. And the boost circuit raises the output when you switch it in, which Dunlop says can push the wah signal to the front of the mix⁵¹.

Dunlop says its engineers worked with top players to design the pedal, and that the design was based on feedback CEO Jimmy Dunlop received from numerous artists⁶. Since its release, the company has called the 535Q its flagship Cry Baby pedal⁴.

The boost figures differ between Dunlop's own documents. The current product page says the boost is adjustable up to +18dB⁴⁵; the 535Q manual says the Volume control sets the boost up to 16dB and lists the boost control range as 0.1 dB to 17 dB⁵.

The controls

The 535Q's controls, from the maker's manual and product pages⁵⁷:

The Q control is worth a word for anyone new to wah. "Q" describes how narrow and tall the filter peak is. A high Q gives a pronounced, vocal, almost honking peak; a low Q gives a smoother, less exaggerated sweep. On the 535Q it is a Variable Q control on the outside of the chassis, so you can set it per song rather than with an internal trimmer¹⁷.

Wah range selector: six frequency sweeps

The Range Selector is a six-position control, and Dunlop says each position is based on the tonal characteristics of its most prized wah specimens². The manual gives the sweep for each position⁵:

Dunlop's buying guide describes the six ranges as running "from bright & aggressive to dark & subtle"⁷. Gearnews's buying guide put the same idea from a player's angle: six selectable ranges let you "dial in everything from sharp, focused peaks to wide, vocal-like sweeps."

Power and connections

The 535Q runs on DC 9 volts and draws 2.5 mA⁵. Dunlop says it can be powered by a 9-volt battery (accessed via the bottom of the pedal), a Dunlop ECB003 9-volt adapter, or the DC Brick, Iso-Brick and Mini Iso-Brick power supplies¹⁵. Connections are simple: an instrument cable from the guitar into the pedal's input jack, and another from its amplifier jack into the amp's input, with 1 MΩ input impedance and 1 kΩ output impedance⁵.

History and versions

MusicRadar's history of the Cry Baby traces the 535Q as the first major evolution of the circuit, adding external controls for boost level and a rotary filter-range selector, and notes that its hardwire bypass "attempts to solve the Achilles heel of the original: its somewhat tone-sucking bypassed state"³. Dunlop's own history article says the 535Q has a switchable boost that can add up to +18dB with its Volume control⁴.

The 535Q has spawned several related pedals:

• Cry Baby 535Q Multi-Wah Chrome: the same pedal in a chrome finish, at the same $179.99 list price².
• Cry Baby Mini 535Q: half the size of a standard Cry Baby, with the Q control, the boost (up to +16dB per its manual) and a Range Selector offering the standard 535Q's four most popular sweep ranges instead of six. Listed at $179.99⁸⁷²⁹.
• Cry Baby Q Mini 535Q Auto-Return Wah: the Mini 535Q with auto-return switching, listed at $189.99¹⁰¹¹.
• Dimebag Cry Baby From Hell Wah: a signature pedal that Dunlop says starts with the 535Q, carrying over its Q control, 6-way range selector and adjustable kick-in boost¹².
• Cry Baby BB535 reissue: announced in Dunlop's NAMM 2026 lineup, a reissue of the 1999 Cry Baby BB535 Wah, with a six-position Wah Range Selector (for example, 173 to 847 Hz in its 6th position) and a buffered bypass rather than the 535Q's True Hardwire^1314152.

In a Sweetwater demo video, Brian Quito of Dunlop Manufacturing walked through the Mini 535Q, calling it "a mini pedal, pedal board friendly" and noting "there's also 16db of boost in this little fella"¹⁶.

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Guitar World's 2026 wah buying guide sums up the family's appeal: "If you like the voicing of the Dunlop Cry Baby but want extra control, then the 535Q is the answer," listing its controls as Volume, Range and Q, with true bypass and a switchable boost for extra output¹⁷.

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