Members Mr Ten Posted April 8, 2004 Members Share Posted April 8, 2004 DISCLAIMER: The following contains my opinions and mine only. I am not telling you to buy or sell anything based on the information hereon. Use your own judgment. the unit I have did not come with a manual either. With that said, here we go... I took a bunch of pictures, some clean, some blurred, all located at a friend's website. Some are just of the new rack wah, front and back, close and far, some are of both rack wahs in the rack, close and far, and a couple of my rig that's under construction. The head is resting in an un-filled cabinet case, usually sits in the dual-head case. Here's the link: http://www.karllarsen.com/dunlop/ So I received the new Dunlop Rack Wah from a friend of a friend () and put it up against the one I already own. After a day of playing, listening, testing, everything, I'll say that I feel both these rack wahs offer something different. I'll try and divide this comparison into whatever sections I can to best describe their differences to you. [CONSTRUCTION] The following examines the exterior only; I have not opened these units up: The previous model is much heavier and tougher built. Thicker chassis, heavier/slower knobs, thicker/bigger buttons, feels like a tank (I'll equate it to an Ernie Ball volume pedal). The new rack wah is solid but with a much lighter housing, fast and lesser-grade knobs, smaller plastic buttons, however, nothing feels like it will break so I'm not concerned here either. All-recessed LEDs are nice as well. The input jacks on the rear panel of the older model are easier slide in/out than the new model. Not sure if they are cheap/tight or solid/tight. Hard to say after a day. Either one can take a tour beating, but if both were thrown off a building, the previous model has my vote. [FEATURES] The few differences are: The ability to kick on/off either the wah or volume sections can be selected/activated via two front-panel switches. Imagine these switches being the "power" switch for your amp, and the footcontroller's button acting as the "standby" function for the effect. Not sure why they did that, no tonal/noise notice while testing. The new model has a Q-knob (continuous) which is not tremendously drastic but drastic enough that the complete range is useful. The boost knob is like the previous model's volume knob but when turned down, the effect does not duck completely. Again, nothing is 100% without the manual here, not sure if Dunlop has finished it yet, will ask tomorrow. The EQ section is now 6-knobs covering different frequency portions. The ranges of the old and new are... OLD (5): 150hz / 300 hz / 600 hz / 1.3 khz / 2.8 khz NEW (6): 100 hz / 200 hz / 400 hz / 800 hz / 1.6 khz / 3.2 khz There are six selectable wah ranges as well (clicks into place), like the previous model, not sure if they cover different territories or not. The volume feature is a simple on/off swell function which I have not been able to use yet since I loaned out my volume pedal (maybe it wouldn't work anyway?). You cannot use the regular controller since depressing the button works like a MIDI-temporary switch. Perhaps if I used a mono cable, we'll see. The new model accepts up to six controllers. The controllers have not changed (and I don't believe I received an old-stock controller, talked to the Dunlop guy and he said they're the same, we'll see). The rear panel also has a on/off remote port switch (for those of us who will use a CV converter with a gate to on/off the effect). The wah and volume sections are separate, the wah provides in / thru / out jacks (no visual description of a buffer) while the volume section carries in / out jacks next to its own controller port; rear LEDs for each as well. As well, another ground lift switch. The power-jack is also a smaller pedal-style connector terminating at a smaller wall-wart poewr supply, not like the 5-pin power plug as before. The barrel connector fits very tight and snug, no worries of it being pulled in movement. [TONAL OBSERVATIONS] A/B'd against one another via an Axess RX-1 with the previous model in position 1 and the new model in position 2, then later swapped positions (just in case): The new model has a more modern edge to it with a smoother and silkier taper. It is much more transparent than before when clicking between on and off. The effect envelopes more of the range of the guitar's frequencies but does not grossly consume it. Against the new model, I define the previous model as having a more vintage-like brown or muffle to it and not covering as much depth. That comment is obviously pulled into the range of how these wahs compare; the previous model is obviously not vintage, in my opinion. The new model is not at all harsh nor does it borderline, it really carries more headroom and comfort, being less compressed and more open all-around. The EQ range is more effective than before. Setting everything to zero, like the old model, the EQ's effect is minimal when activated. Upon turning knobs, lots can happen. Doesn't affect the tone in much of a fattening manner but does influenc the body. The new rack wah is quieter than the previous model. Clicking them on and off with a high gain amplifier turned up to stage volume, the previous model has that all-too-familiar white noise especially prevalent in the upper/mid frequencies. The new model still has some of that, but it is greatly squashed to a noticeably more appealing state. However, if you tweak the EQ section to only pay attention to the upper registers, you do ask for some noise. Setting the upper frequencies higher and ducking the lower ones on both units, the previous model gets noisy while the newer model almost reaches for feedback, slightly more microphonic. I'm not concerned about this because I'll never adjust the EQ this way but appreciate the reach to act like a noisy older wah. This only happens in extreme settings and didn't come into play when creating practical settings. Clean, dirty, and inbetween, the new model does deliver nicely, a cleaner and more modern unit, but not everything we hoped for; the wish for MIDI control did not happen. I'm not sure why they expanded it to six control ports, I've never used two even. Overall, I'll eventually sell the previous model and use the new one full time. Maybe I'll wait for the previous model to rise in price some before departing, maybe not. I can't tell you to go out and buy the new model over the old one. To you, there may be a difference, there may not. I'm not starstruck by merely having it, so no leaning there. I just feel the new model offers more enough as far as tone and accessibility to merit choosing it over the previous model (which is still a successful unit). Thanks for taking the time to read. If you have any questions or test-like requests, let me know. Have a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realkman666 Posted April 8, 2004 Members Share Posted April 8, 2004 Thanks man, i really wanted to know more about it. Did you compare single coils vs. humbuckers? Is it more suitable for one or the other, would you say? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sonik Posted April 8, 2004 Members Share Posted April 8, 2004 Great review. Doesnt sound like they really made a lot of updates. Oh well I've never played the first one and cant really afford em anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members prodrigu Posted April 8, 2004 Members Share Posted April 8, 2004 Thanks for the review. It's been a while now, since I'm looking for a rackmount crybaby (it's the only one missing in my rig now), I was very curious to hear something about how it sounds like.I'll try to get one of these soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 4nkam Posted April 8, 2004 Members Share Posted April 8, 2004 Originally posted by realkman666 Did you compare single coils vs. humbuckers? Is it more suitable for one or the other, would you say? I'm curious about this too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Search4tone Posted April 9, 2004 Members Share Posted April 9, 2004 Excellent post.. I do have one thing to say... I HATE YOU!!!!!! You lucky bastard with that Axess:mad: :mad: How do you like it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sp_spaceboy Posted April 9, 2004 Members Share Posted April 9, 2004 so when is this coming into full production? You think the old model's gonna get a bit cheaper now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 4nkam Posted April 9, 2004 Members Share Posted April 9, 2004 The custom shop said in May Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr Ten Posted April 9, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 9, 2004 Originally posted by Search4tone Excellent post.. I do have one thing to say... I HATE YOU!!!!!! You lucky bastard with that Axess:mad: :mad: How do you like it? The axess is an incredibly simple and tonally superior unit. No coloration at all, easy to operate. I almost feel cheated in that it wasn't harder to operate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr Ten Posted April 9, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 9, 2004 Originally posted by sp_spaceboy so when is this coming into full production? You think the old model's gonna get a bit cheaper now? the old model has been discontinued, thus no longer in production. it was going for about 350-400 US. i estimate the new model to go for 450 US. i'm going to play both side-by-side for a little longer until i REALLY finalize my decision to sell one or not (most likely the old one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ed2brute Posted April 9, 2004 Members Share Posted April 9, 2004 The best new price I ever saw on an old version was ~$400 for the rack unit and ~$90 for the controller pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Silent Heart Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 I know this is an ancient thread, but I just wanted to say thanks to Mr Ten. This is exactly the sort of thing that HC (and the search function) is good for: real-life user reviews that you can't get anywhere else. By the way, how is everyone getting the DCR-2SRs for so cheap? The only place I can find them is the Dunlop custom shop, which charges $600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members prodrigu Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 I got the new one DCR-2SR about one and a half year ago and the price was $600 from Dunlop. It is worth the money (for me anyways). They did not have the manual at that time. Two weeks ago I sent them an email requesting for it and got it at my hone a few days latter. I am very happy with Dunlop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karloff Posted February 16, 2006 Members Share Posted February 16, 2006 Hey Prodrigu,have u tried to bypass the DCR2-SR wah with the Triaxis switch jack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny Cortese Posted September 10, 2020 Members Share Posted September 10, 2020 Hi I have a rack wah DSR 2R , works great got a important questions had a foot controller the one that is for it and the red light when operative went out a and when pushing in red button for battery just goes to a straight bass sound , so I bought a new one and it worked red light came on and when pushing red button battery went on and off , but I use a adapter that cane with it and power pedal with a 9 volt lead with correct milliamperes , now both do the same and it works fine with button disengaged and red light doesn’t matter , does anyone know what’s wrong or what I am doing wrong as can they both Nobel bad? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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