
The Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah taps into the vibrant, melodic character of one of rock ’n’ roll’s most gifted songwriters.
The Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah taps into the vibrant, melodic character of one of rock ’n’ roll’s most gifted songwriters. Few guitar players have been able to combine a keen musical instinct with a profound grasp of composition like Mick Ronson. Laden with expressive resonance, his arrangements layered deliberately chosen tones and textures to build exquisite melodies and powerful riffs. The Cry Baby Wah, set in a fixed position to serve as a filter, was key to the tone-shaping vision that Ronson used to transform the face of popular music through his work with David Bowie and many others as both an artist and a producer.
We wanted to make that incredible Cry Baby Wah sound available to all players, and legendary producer Bob Rock—a friend and collaborator of Ronson’s—was there to help. He generously loaned us Ronson’s own Cry Baby Wah pedal, an early Italian-made model whose vintage components imbue it with a truly singular sound. Ronson recorded many tracks with this pedal, and Rock would go on to use it when recording numerous other artists. With matched specs, tightened tolerances, and a custom inductor, our engineers have recreated this truly special sound. “You place the wah, and leave it there, and that's the tone,” Rock says. “It's all over every record he ever made, and I’ve used it on every record since I got it. Dunlop’s engineers spent the time and sent me the prototypes, and we nailed that sound.”
To capture all of the nuance and detail responsible for Ronson’s unique wah sound, our engineers created a custom inductor that replicates the higher frequency response and subtler peak of the original pedal. The resulting sound offers an exquisitely balanced sonic profile that’s bright and clear with peaks that stay musically smooth. We want every player to get that same experience, so we tightened the inductor tolerance to ensure the closest possible representation of Ronson’s Cry Baby Wah. We have likewise reproduced the fast initial sweep of the potentiometer, which offers an instant reactivity that’s like nothing from the modern era. And it didn’t stop there—the engineering team even included period-accurate low-gain transistors and value-matched resistors that contribute to a truly distinctive EQ curve. This is a pedal that is literally tailor-made for Mr. Ronson’s signature fixed-wah tones.Capping it all off, we’ve adorned the Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah with a special finish inspired by his work. Dig into the signature tones of one of the greatest to ever pick upthe guitar. Get the Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah.
AVAILABLE 4/1/25
$249.99 street.
You're not visiting Gibson and not checking out Les Pauls, and were lucky enough to see two fresh faces with the Warren Haynes signature that has a chunky mahogany neck, a pair of growly P-90s, and most notably, a small switch that ignites a clean boost for an angrier purr.
These might look like old Gibson friends (and that's the point), but these are fresh out of the factory in Bozeman, Montana. Under the watchful eye of Tom Murphy, the relic rage has fully sunk deeper into their acoustic operation as they're now offering heavy-aged options for their flattops like the 1960 Hummingbird and 1939 SJ-100, which hasn't been made in nearly 90 years!
Vega-Trem brought a new tool to the trade show with the introduction of the VT1 Evolution that works for all the Floyd-Rose freaks to give you all the dive-bomb debauchery, but with a flick of a switch, you had a blocked trem that lets you easily slide into drop-D tuning or open tunings for slide. It's a piece of machined metal, but the ingenious design will help gigging guitarists cover a lot of ground on any given set without any guitar changes.