Original Cry Baby sucks?

[MettleGossett]

I've had many signature Cry Baby wah pedals (Slash, Dimebag, EVH, and Kirk Hammet) I really like all of them. Then I quit playing guitar and sold everything. Coming back 4 years later I purchased a basic Cry Baby because I assumed the others were marketing hype. Well now I feel like I was wrong because I can't get this thing to sound good at all. It's like the sweep is way too drastic instead of sweeping through the vocal mid range it goes from low to super high. Anyone else ever had this experience? Thanks! I just want to know if I'm doing something wrong.

[fiveightandten]

They are all set up different. You have to open it up and set the position of the pot where you want it. Just move the white plastic guard to the side and rotate the pot a few teeth back. It will totally change the sound.

Also, the inductors are just ok. The yellow fasel inductor is like $15. It takes 10 minutes to solder in and makes a huge improvement.

-Nick

[MettleGossett]

Thanks man, I appreciate the response. I think I'll try to crack it open and see what I can do!

[Les Paul Lover]

On the original cry baby, the bypass isn't a true bypass either, and is a pretty poor circuit. You will lose a lot of treble ignite in the chain, on or not.

A true bypass mode is reasonably simple though, lots of tutorial on the Web as it's one of their greatest fault.

[fiveightandten]

Thanks man, I appreciate the response. I think I'll try to crack it open and see what I can do!

Glad to help. If you get stumped with it, search on YouTube for a tutorial, or bump this back up and I'll take a few pictures to show you what to move. But it's pretty obvious when you get inside.

It doesn't take much, just move the pot back a few teeth so the gear hits it in a different place. Make sure it's not reaching the end of its rotation at the new setting. I set mine with it on the floor upside down, and plugged into my amp at stage volume. That's the best way, IMO. Once it's sounding good, just swing the guard back in place (it's really just a wire eyelet that they use to keep the gear in place) and you're good to go.

As Les Paul Lover mentioned, they do shave some top end off, as they're not true bypass. You can mod it for that, and it's pretty easy and cheap. There are tutorials for this on YouTube. Personally, it never really bothered me. I mainly play a Les Paul through an OR-80, which is pretty dark, so YMMV depending on your amp and guitar.

And with regard to the Fasel inductor, if you decide to mod it for true bypass, I would definitely swap the inductor out. It's not a case of which inductor you might prefer. The Fasel inductor (red or yellow, but I prefer yellow) just plain sounds better. It was a notable improvement. It's 2 solder joints and doesn't take very long at all. Worth the $15, IMO.

-Nick