whammy pedal?

[Alex003]

I'm looking into buying one of these for some fun effects. Do you think it'll be worth the money?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yndk3zMMomo


starts getting fun around 2:00

[GuitarSlinger]

I think it could be worth it if you think you'll get some use from it. Tom Morello and Buckethead use them. Not a must have effect in my opinion. I could see it getting old if overdone.

[JouniL]

Ok, I totally need this! How does it work, should the whammy pedal be placed between my guitar and my TonePort?

[ShredRex]

I had one once.......and they are a lot of fun. Very cool little box, I am thinking about getting one again........if your guitar is whammy less, this is a great tool to have.

[Alex003]

I think i am for sure going to pick me up one of these. Def. going to have to be used with moderation though so i don't drive everyone in my house crazy haha

[beauzeau]

Satriani uses the Digitech whammy on alot of his stuff, starting with the Joe Satriani self titled thing from back in the mid nineties (the one after Time Machine I think).

HOWEVER, from what I've heard, you should look around and try to score one of the originals (WH1). The WH4 and the Whammy/Wahs were inferior according to a lot of people. The WH1 is in a metal chassis and is practically bulletproof.

It's like comparing the old battleship steel Ibanez TS-808 tube screamers from the early 80s (which, for the most part, are still in operation today) to the "re-issue" plastic TS5 tube screamers that were released by Ibanez as "sound tank" pedals, that were made out of plastic and had inferior electronics. Most of those, I would imagine, are broken at this point.

I've never owned any of the Digitech Whammy Pedals. However, I did, for a time, own a Digitech 2101 (which I wish I still had today, because it was awesome). Anyway, the 2101 came with a harmonizer built in, which you could control in real time via external midi pedal. I've heard mixed reviews on the whammy capabilities of the 2101 as compared to the WH1, but at least two people AT digitech assured me that the circuitry and algorithms for the harmonizer in the 2101 were identical to those found in the WH1 Whammy Pedal. I know that it worked great for me! I was really hoping that the "bender" effect in my pod would suffice for this sort of thing when connected to a real time controller, but not even close.

So in theory, if you get yourself a Digitech 2101 and an external midi wah controller, you can get all the same benefits of the WH1, but with plenty of other effects to boot. And the effects that were in the 2101 were fantastic. I had several similar units back in the day, like the ART SGX 2000 for instance, and the digitech blew them all away (with the obvious exception of the Eventide H3000, which was MUUUUCH more expensive, but on a different level completely from other multi-effect units).

Beau

PS. Very important. I think the 2101 required a "2nd processor" chip in order to run real time whammy with an external pedal. PPC201 I think it was called. Anyway, I doubt Digitech still makes these, so if you decide to go the route of the 2101, make sure that it has the 2nd chip installed. There was also a firmware upgrade chip available that converted the unit from a 2101 into a 2101 "artist". This basically just added a bunch of artist presets. Last time I looked, you could only get these chips off ebay, and they were more expensive than they were when you could buy them directly from Digitech. Your best bet is to buy a 2101 that already has at least the 2nd processor installed, and preferably the artist chip (called the 3.0 chip) as well.