Best Budget Wah Pedals Under $100
A wah pedal creates a vowel-like sweep through the midrange frequencies — rocking the pedal forward boosts upper midrange, rocking back scoops it. The resulting "wah wah" sound is one of the most iconic guitar effects ever made.
Best Budget Wah Pedals
Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 — £75 | Best Overall
The most famous wah pedal ever made — on the market since 1966, used by Jimi Hendrix, Slash, Kirk Hammett, Eric Clapton, John Frusciante. The GCB95 uses a Fasel inductor that defines the vintage wah sweep character.
Tone: A pronounced, slightly vocal wah sweep — pronounced enough to be clearly audible in a band context. The sweep is relatively fast and dramatic compared to more subtle wah designs.
Limitation: The GCB95's inductor and resistor values can cause volume drop when engaged (a known characteristic of the original Cry Baby circuit). Many players replace the internal resistors with a simple mod (€2 in parts) to correct this.
Best for: Rock, metal, blues, Hendrix-style playing. The reference wah pedal.
Vox V847A — £75 | Best Vox Character
The Vox wah — used on the original recordings that defined the wah pedal sound (Hendrix at Woodstock used a Vox wah, not a Cry Baby). The V847A has a slightly different frequency sweep — narrower and more vocal than the GCB95.
Tone: More restrained and vocal than the Cry Baby — the sweep is more subtle and musical. Some blues players prefer it for this reason.
Best for: Players who want a more subtle, musical wah character.
Morley Bad Horsie 2 — £85 | Best Optical Wah
An optical wah (no inductor — uses light sensor to control frequency) with a switchless design — the effect activates automatically when you step on the pedal, deactivates when you step off.
Advantage: No clicking or switching noise on/off. The switchless operation is musically cleaner — engage without the audible click of a mechanical switch.
Steve Vai signature: Designed with Steve Vai — the Bad Horsie wah has a more dramatic, high-gain-voiced sweep than the Cry Baby.
Best for: Metal, high-gain playing, players who prefer switchless operation.
JOYO WAH-01 — £35 | Budget Option
A functional wah at the lowest price in this guide. Less character than the Cry Baby or Vox; adequate for practice and experimentation.
Wah Placement in Signal Chain
Place wah before overdrive/distortion in the signal chain. Wah → Overdrive → Amp.
When wah is placed before distortion, the frequency sweep is more dramatic — the distortion amplifies the wah's character. When placed after distortion, the wah effect is duller and less expressive.
Choosing Between These Four
Want the most widely proven, do-everything option? The Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 is the reference point for a reason — its broader, more dramatic sweep works across rock, metal, blues, and funk without needing to be genre-matched carefully.
Prefer a more restrained, musical sweep? The Vox V847A's narrower frequency range suits blues and more subtle rhythm-wah playing better than the Cry Baby's more pronounced character — the right choice if the GCB95 feels too aggressive for your style.
Play high-gain music and want switchless convenience? The Morley Bad Horsie 2's optical, no-click engagement and more dramatic sweep voicing suit metal and high-gain rock specifically — designed with Steve Vai for exactly that context.
On the tightest possible budget? The JOYO WAH-01 delivers a functional wah for practice and experimentation, though with noticeably less character than the three reference pedals above.
Common Mistakes
Placing the wah after distortion in the signal chain. As the guide's placement section explains, a wah placed before overdrive produces a more dramatic, amplified sweep — placed after, the effect becomes duller and less expressive. This is one of the most common wah setup mistakes.
Ignoring the GCB95's known volume-drop characteristic. The original Cry Baby circuit's inductor and resistor values can cause a volume dip when engaged — a well-known quirk, not a defect, and a simple, inexpensive resistor mod corrects it if it bothers you.
Assuming all wah pedals sound the same. As the Cry Baby vs Vox comparison shows, sweep width and vocal character vary meaningfully between models — a pedal chosen purely by price or brand recognition might not suit the specific expressive quality you're after.
Using wah exclusively as a fixed tone-shaping EQ rather than a dynamic effect. While parking a wah at a fixed position for a set tonal color is a legitimate technique (used by many players for solos), it undersells the pedal's actual expressive range — worth exploring genuine rocking motion technique even if fixed positions become part of your vocabulary too.
ToneStakr's Take
The Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 remains the right default first wah — it's the reference point every other wah on this list gets compared against, and its broad, dramatic sweep works across more genres than the more specialized Vox or Morley options. Reach for the Vox V847A specifically if the Cry Baby's character feels too aggressive for blues or subtle rhythm work, or the Morley Bad Horsie 2 if switchless operation and a metal-voiced sweep matter more to you than broad genre versatility.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best budget wah pedal?
The Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 (£75) — the standard against which all other wah pedals are compared, and used by more professional guitarists than any other wah design.
Where should a wah pedal go in my signal chain?
Before overdrive and distortion: Guitar → Wah → Overdrive → Delay → Reverb → Amp. Placing it after distortion significantly dulls the sweep's expressive character.
What's the difference between Dunlop Cry Baby and Vox wah?
The Cry Baby has a broader, more dramatic sweep with a louder, more pronounced character. The Vox has a narrower, more vocal, subtler sweep. Both are excellent — the choice comes down to how dramatic you want the effect to read.
Do I need to modify a Cry Baby GCB95 to fix the volume drop?
Not necessarily — many players never notice or mind the mild volume dip when the pedal is engaged. If it bothers you, the resistor mod is inexpensive and widely documented, but it's an optional refinement, not a required fix.
Is an optical wah like the Morley Bad Horsie better than an inductor-based wah?
Not objectively better, just different — optical wahs like the Morley avoid mechanical switch noise and offer a distinct sweep character, while inductor-based wahs (Cry Baby, Vox) have the vintage, widely-referenced tone most classic wah recordings were made with. Preference depends on your priorities.
Can a budget wah pedal like the JOYO WAH-01 be a long-term solution?
For casual or practice use, yes — it's functional and inexpensive. For gigging or recording where tonal character matters more, the Cry Baby, Vox, or Morley options deliver a more distinctive, professional-grade sweep worth the modest price increase.