JIM DUNLOP Mini Wah Pedal (CBM95)

I’ve been looking for a lighter-weight alternative to my vintage Dunlop wah for years, and this appears to be it. The tone is great; it’s nice to have the three sound wave options available. However, the instructions are abysmal and the design could definitely use improvement.
There are two hard pieces of rubber mounted on the bottom of the top pedal piece (below where your foot rests), above the metal piece that activates the wah sound. Long time users will be familiar with the “click” sound the metal piece makes when the wah is activated or de-activated during use. This is almost, for me, like the sound of a Harley in its significance. However, apparently Dunlop had complaints that it was “too loud”, so they did two things:
1. They put the two hard pieces of rubber on the lower part of the top pedal portion, which effectively block the metal piece from being pressed down hard enough to activate the wah unless you really stomp hard;
2. They added a silly little felt piece above the metal “clicker”, which supposedly stops the noise of the metal hitting the bottom of the top pedal piece.
Here are the problems:
– The felt piece deteriorates, really quickly. So quickly that replacement felt pieces are for sale all over the place. (Why someone would purchase that when a small piece of Velcro would do is beyond me.)
– If you don’t want to stomp really hard on the pedal to activate, the two hard rubber pieces make it impossible to use.
I was on tour with Livingstone Taylor, a gear-head who carries a panapoly of tools with him at all times. After two long discussions with Dunlop (who were surprised to hear that the pedal was essentially non-functional unless I weighed a lot more and had a lot harder step, and shocked to hear that the felt piece on a new pedal was practically non-existent_, Liv came up with a fix. He took a small knife, sheared off about 1/3 of each rubber piece, and the pedal now works perfectly.
Yes, there’s a “click” sound when I turn it on or off. But realistically, in a concert or club situation, when someone is about to kick in the wah for a solo or song, it doesn’t matter.
So, my suggestion is to shave down the rubber pieces and make the whole thing easier to use. That’s the only reason for a four star. Otherwise I’d give it a five.

If you’re like me and you don’t use a wah pedal a whole lot but you still want the sound at your disposal, this is definitely the pedal for you. Initially I was worried that the small size of this pedal would limit the amount of sweep but it was actually quite the contrary. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of sweep that I had to work with. The pedal was even smaller than I had expected which further contributed to how surprised I was. It gets better too. The internal three-way switch makes this pedal even more versatile. It sounds great and it can be an awesome addition to your pedalboard. I highly recommend checking this out.

So, my old cry baby started losing some of us tone, leaving me with mostly just the bright and harsh tone. I decided to try a much more expensive boutique style way, thinking I’d treat myself. I got it and used it twice but it just lacked range, so I decided I’d go back to the tried and true Cry Baby.

Also being concerned with pedal size, I thought I’d be adventurous and try this smaller sized wah. I had my first rehearsal today and man, let me tell you… this pedal delivers. Same (if not better) than my old wah, and single pedal sized. I highly recommend this little guy.

Note: if you play sitting down, you might not like the smaller pedal. While standing, however, it felt very easy to use.

Sarebbe bello poter suonare tutto con chitarra e amplificatore come quelli che hanno i suoni nelle dita e non hanno bisogno di pedali, ma non è possibile. Puoi però lasciare un po’ di palco anche alla tua band e non occuparlo con la tua pedaliera che manco Frusciante si porta dietro (e lui c’ha i roadies….).
Quindi se cerchi un wha che stia comodamente in una pedaliera minimale, ecco quello che fa per te. Piccolo, robusto come suo fratello maggiore, con lo stesso suono. Si perché il Cry baby ha quel suono li, punto. Poi ci sono tutte le versioni e declinazioni, io ho anche quella di Jimi Hendrix ma il suono è più o meno lo stesso, ma alla fine se lo usi in due pezzi, questo va benissimo, ha quel suono li, nessun led quindi devi controllare con il suono se è attivo o spento. Svitando il coperchio interno, trovi un comando per modificare qualche paramtero.
È true bypass, mi ricordo invece che sul mio vecchio cry baby dovetti fare una modifica, quando ci fu la grande febbre del true baypass.
Molto positivo il fondo del pedale, si può attaccare il velcro dato che tutto il fondo è gommoso antiscivolo, sul cry baby grande invece i piedini incorporano la vite per aprire il fondo e inserire la pila 9 v, se vuoi togliere i piedini per metterlo su una pedaliera board devi considerare di mettere delle rondelle al loro posto in modo che il fondo si chiuda bene. Qui no, ci schiaffi il velcro ed è a posto.
Riguardo al vano batteria, ok se vuoi mettere e sostituire la 9v devi avere un cacciavite. Che problema c’è? Non dite che non vi portate dietro il mondo quando andate a suonare. E poi questo è fatto per stare su una Pedalboard e Pedalboard = alimentatore e quindi ciao 9v.
Io l’ho messo su una pedaltrain nano, perfetto prima di un fuzz o di un Tube screamer.
Il suono è quello li, preciso, escursione giusta, graduale. Si attiva senza sforzo, tenetelo attaccato a metà per un suono money for nothing. È piccolo, ma alla fine non è così scomodo. Ovvio, non indossate i texani per suonare che poi vi si incastra il tacco, non suonate con le infradito perché fa schifo.

Solide, versatile avec le commutateur mais j’ aurais apprécié qu’ il soit accessible de l’ extérieur. Je suis tout de même satisfait de cet achat.

I recommend it! I play mostly blues and use wah in few musics. I was tired of carrying a heavy wah in my stomp box case. I use few pedals and the size and weight of a regular cry baby was kind of unproportional to the set-up. I am very happy with the sound and size of the mini wah. No lost of sound quality and equalization programing in the size of a regular boss box.

I love the compact design for my crowded pedalboard. The sound? Hey, it’s a Dunlop. The only drawbacks? It could use some shimming on the heel side to make it easier on the calf muscles when used on the lower tier of a Pedaltrain board. The switch is SO quiet that I initially thought it was defective. Overall – it’s metal, it does what it’s supposed to do with a smooth sweep from top to bottom range.