Suede·Social·Issue No. 19
The Internet Has Thoughts·2026 · JUN
The Internet Has Thoughts
·MusicRadar·May 20, 2026

The Internet Has Thoughts About MusicRadar's Dunlop Cry Baby BB535 Reissue Review.

MusicRadar found the wah. The forum found the receipt from the last time.

J
Words by
Johnny Suede
4 min read

Source

MusicRadar — “"If you're after a pedal that delivers classic Cry Baby attitude with plenty of versatility, this is the one": Dunlop Cry Baby BB535 Reissue review
If you're after a pedal that delivers classic Cry Baby attitude with plenty of versatility, this is the one.

What the internet actually said

  • I had one of these back in the 90's. A different voice than the 535q.

    Rig-Talk · s.s.

  • The 535 has way less quack and feels more like you're moving the slider of a filter vs the chicka wah wah thing.

    Rig-Talk · b.

  • Price on the reissue is $230…think I paid $125 for the real deal.

    Rig-Talk · b.

The Suede Read

MusicRadar reviewed the Dunlop Cry Baby BB535 reissue and declared it the one. Not one of the good ones. The one. Classic Cry Baby attitude, plenty of versatility. That is a clean close to a gear review.

The Rig-Talk forum had a more complicated morning. Players who owned the original BB535 in the nineties showed up immediately. Their first note: this is not the 535Q. It never was. The voice is different. The inductor is different. The quack is different. One member described it as feeling less like a wah and more like sliding a filter — less chicka, more sweep. That distinction matters to the people who bought the original on purpose.

Then came the receipts. Someone noted they paid $125 for the original. The reissue lists at $230. That is not an outrage, but it is a sentence the review did not write.

We are not here to call MusicRadar wrong. If the BB535R brings back what made the original a touring staple by the end of the nineties, $230 is a reasonable ask. But the community is telling us something that "classic Cry Baby attitude" does not quite capture: there are players who know exactly which wah this is supposed to be, and they are watching closely to see if it actually got there.

The press gave it the headline. The forum came with the context. We are here for both.

Spotted something the press fluffed?