Tone Report Weekly Issue 118 | Page 63

Dream Theater, the sweep is reminiscent of the range Clapton worked in when he was with Cream. A boost at 800 Hz offered a gnarly, aggressive voicing that was reminiscent of Mick Ronson, and bringing up the pot at 400 Hz I found I took the base plate off the traditional Cry Baby and was greeted with six trimpots affecting EQ bands midrange. Restoring the at 3.2 KHz, 1.6 KHz, 800 Hz, trimpots to their original 400 Hz, 200 Hz and 100 Hz, positions and then rolling as well as a pot to adjust the back 200 Hz, I found myself able to approximate the pedal’s output. I cranked classic Cry Baby sweep up the 3.2 KHz pot and while avoiding the extremes was immediately greeted that Petrucci dialed out of with the more extreme top his own rig. Bottom line: end I know and love from whatever you play, if you the stock Cry Baby model. need a wah pedal, John Interestingly, the leap to that point in the sweep was Petrucci’s signature Cry Baby has something to more dramatic than what offer you. one finds in a traditional Cry Baby. Playing lead, I was able to get the highend response I expect when playing a Cry Baby, but when sweeping the pedal quickly while playing chords, the effect was almost like a staccato tremolo due to the crossover where the high end dipped and then suddenly peaked again. Cool! Boosting at 1.6 KHz evened out the sweep, but it was clear that the JP95 can be dialed in to offer a lot more than classic Cry Baby tones. WHAT WE LIKE A variety of customizable wah tones in a bomb-proof enclosure. CONCERNS The inevitable rubber feet—when will someone invent a wah pedal that’s pedalboard-friendly?! ToneReport.com 63