Jim Dunlop has honoured Eric Clapton with a gold-plated signature Cry Baby wah pedal that looks like it came straight off Auric Goldfinger’s pedalboard.
Heck, the EC95G Eric Clapton looks like it has been made out of the shin of C3-PO, the sort of thing you should stockpile in case of economic collapse (hey, it is a limited edition, and you know how these pedals tend to accrue value). It is also that rarest of things: a wah pedal of great aesthetic beauty.
But let’s face it, Clapton is worth it. If anyone can rock a gold-plated Cry Baby it’s Slowhand. As Dunlop notes, Clapton was one of the the first players to inaugurate the wah pedal on record.
This was a time when guitar effects pedal culture was in its infancy. Players such as Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend and Keith Richards helped draw a new generation of players’ attention to the floor show.
Ironically, Richards’ use of the Maestro FZ-1 fuzz pedal on (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction was one of the few occasions in his career where he found looked to the floor for a new sound. But in one riff he helped popularise the effect.
Clapton and Hendrix did something similar for wah. There is a strange magic with seminal recordings, for those moments where we hear these electric guitar sounds for the very first time.
Even now, early Cream classic and wah-workout White Room retains its Promethean power. For many, it’s a toss-up between White Room and Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) for the title of greatest wah track ever recorded.
Clapton famously used a Vox V846 on White Room. But he has long been a champion of Dunlop’s Cry Baby, and has a long-standing relationship with the company dating back to the mid ‘80s.
“In 1986, Mr. Clapton first started working with the late Jim Dunlop Sr., and he became one of our first and most important Cry Baby artists,” says Dunlop. “We are honoured that our company’s relationship with the legendary guitar player continues to this day. With this special limited edition Eric Clapton Cry Baby Wah, we’re paying tribute to Mr Clapton’s 60-year legacy.”
Longtime Clapton fans will recognise this era well. Back then he was rocking the Miami Vice look on the cover of August. Appropriately so. Hey, when in Miami, do as the Miamians; he tracked the album right there in the Sunshine State, with Tom Down and Phil Collins in the control room.
And longtime Cry Baby fans will recognise the sounds of this new Clapton signature model. The gold-playing and “EC” on the rubber treadle is something different to look at, but the circuit is based on the GCB95 Cry Baby Standard Wah.
Now, you can pick up a GCB95 for £/$99 and Eric Clapton wah is not a cheap date at £349/$299. But this is A) Gold and B) supports Clapton’s Crossroads addiction recovery centre. And it's a limited edition.
For more details, head over to Jim Dunlop.
