ModTone Vintage Wah Vs. Dunlop Original Cry Baby

So if you are a fan of the Wah then you probably know all about the dunlop wahs. They range from the simple Original that will cost you $70 to the rack-mounted unit setting you back 600 bucks. They have all sorts of signature wahs and ones that make you sound like Jimi Hindrix, but what about the good old original.

I like to kick it old school. I am not a fan of modular this or signature that, so when I look at pedals I like analog and true by-pass. A wah can "funk" up you sound really well, but when its off I want it to stop funking around with my tone. Fans of the original Dunlop wah have often complained about the lack of true by-pass. There are lots of places to find kits and direction on how the mod your original wah, but why buy something that you have to mod. Price? well lets see...

The Modtone. I like Modtone, I'm just going to lay that out there. They make good pedals, of which I own three. Chorus, Volume, and Wah. The Modtone wah is almost identical to the dunlop. Save for one thing, the LED. The LED is one of the major complaints about the Dunlop Wah. You don't know if it is on or off unless you play through it. This can be kind of impractical in a live situation. When it comes to features, the Modtone Wah wins.

Lets break it down and see which pedal is better:

Features: Modtone

The LED and True-bypass are wonderful additions to the classic wah effect.

 Tone: Modtone

This tends to be somewhat objective, but I'm going to give it to Modtone, The sweep is more vocal right out of the box. In a live setting it sound musical and full. The Dunlop seems to get very thin with the toe down

 Sweep: Modtone

(The Dunlop wah almost jumps to one side or the other. This doesn't produce a good sweeping wah sound. The Modtone gives you a pronounced wah, almost like someone saying "wah" huh, go figure.)


Price Tag
Years ago when I bought my Modtone it was the same price as the Orignal Cry Baby, Both Pedals have gone up in price and now the Modtone is nearly $90 where as the Dunlop is right at $80


Conclusion:
 As you can see, the Modtone takes the cake for the exception of price. Modtone makes up for that difference and then some. Keeping the vintage sound and then adding great features is a smart move. I have to give it to Modtone. But what about the Cry Baby Mini...?