Jim Dunlop Cry Baby GCB-95

The Dunlop Cry Baby GCB-95 is the standard, full-size Cry Baby wah pedal: a treadle you rock with your foot to sweep a bandpass filter across your guitar's frequency range, producing the vocal "wah" effect. Dunlop describes it as "a modern interpretation of that sound," meaning the original 1966 Cry Baby wah voicing, and positions it as a straight-up, no-frills wah for players who want a sound that cuts through the mix¹. Premier Guitar has called it "the benchmark sound of the GCB95 Cry Baby Standard Wah"².

Dunlop introduced the GCB95 in 1982, its first Cry Baby after buying rights to the pedal, and the model has been in production ever since³. When people talk about wah-wah pedals, this is the design they usually mean: as one circuit analyst put it, "When people talk about wah-wah pedals, they're talking about the Cry Baby Wahs"⁴.

The standard Cry Baby wah and its sound

The GCB-95 is an analog pedal built around three cascaded transistor stages (an MPSA13 input transistor and two MPSA18s) with passive components and an inductor forming the swept filter⁶. The inductor is the part wah players argue about most, and this one carries the red Fasel inductor, the same type found in various vintage wahs. Dunlop used its own custom inductor until 2004, when it switched to the classic red Fasel, a change MusicRadar credited with "a sweeter sweep"³⁹. Circuit analyses list the inductor at 500 mH⁶.

Dunlop's manual gives the pedal's measured performance:

⁸

A circuit analysis of the active filter stage calculates a raw voltage gain of 56.4, about 35 dB, which the feedback network reduces to roughly 19 dB in practice, matching the manual's figures⁶. In use, that means the pedal boosts as it sweeps, which is part of why a wah sits out in front of a mix.

The design has evolved quietly over the decades. Before 1990 the jacks were wired to the board with short cables; from mid-1990 the jacks were mounted directly on the PCB; and from mid-1991 (PCB "Rev F" or higher) Dunlop added a buffer circuit before the wah circuit itself. The current revision is much like the models built since mid-1992⁶. That input buffer filters some of the bass content, which is why the Cry Baby has slightly less low end than the VOX V847⁶.

Power and battery

The GCB-95 runs on one 9-volt battery accessed via the bottom of the pedal⁸⁶. Since the 2016 revision it has an easy-access battery door, so you no longer have to remove the rubber feet to change the battery⁷. For pedalboard use, it takes a Dunlop ECB003 9-volt adapter (ECB003E in Europe), or Dunlop's DC Brick, Iso-Brick and Mini Iso-Brick power supplies¹⁸. MusicRadar noted in its review that "if you want to go with a PSU, the power jack is standardised"⁷. At 900 µA of current draw⁸, it draws very little power, so it is easy to run alongside other pedals.

How it differs from other Cry Babies

Dunlop sells the GCB-95 as the baseline of a wide range, and several models are variations on it¹⁰:

• Cry Baby Mini (CBM95): a compact version of the Cry Baby, smaller than the standard GCB-95 housing.
• Cry Baby Classic (GCB95F): a variant in the standard Cry Baby line, listed at $139.99³¹¹.
• Signature models: the GCB-95's circuit has been the basis for several artist wahs, including the Joe Bonamassa Cry Baby (JB95)¹²⁶¹³. The Gary Clark Jr. Cry Baby (GCJ95) measures 252 x 119 x 71 mm with the treadle down, the same footprint as the standard GCB-95¹⁴¹⁵⁶.

Dunlop's own buying guide frames the choice simply: the Standard Wah is for players who want the classic Cry Baby sound without extra features³.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar reviewed the GCB-95 and titled its verdict "Some welcome tweaks for this classic wah," calling it "the wah pedal that's graced a million pedal boards." On tone: "Tonally, the Cry Baby is the same classic tone it's always been. It does get a little piercing at the top of its range"⁷.

MusicRadar's wah buying guide summed up the pedal's strengths and weaknesses in a pros-and-cons list¹⁰:

• Classic wah sound¹⁰
• Used by countless artists¹⁰
• Can cause "tone suck"¹⁰
• Harsh in the treble¹⁰

¹⁰

Gearnews's wah guide highlighted the hardware: "The Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 comes quipped with the legendary red Fasel inductor and a 100 kOhm Hot Potz potentiometer"¹⁶. Vintage Guitar's history of the pedal noted that "Jim Dunlop astutely bought rights to the pedal and began offering his GCB-95 Original Cry Baby, soon followed by upgrades"¹⁷.

On price, the pedal has stayed in the same bracket for years: MusicRadar listed it at $89.99 in 2021¹⁰, gave its launch price as $79⁹, and reported in late 2024 that "you can pick up a GCB95 for £/$99"¹⁸. Dunlop's current list price is $99.99⁵.

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