DigiTech Whammy Pedal

Updated Reissue of Real Time Pitch Shifter

by Emile Menasché
June 28, 2000

With this latest reissue of the Whammy, DigiTech hasn't attempted to build the end-all, be-all of virtual whammy technology. At the top of the wish list: onboard balance control, an intelligent pitch shifting mode, and something more ambitious than its limited MIDI functionality.

Then again, try to find an actual bolt-on whammy bar with a MIDI port. For us, the DigiTech Whammy does the job: It's ruggedly built, the operation is intuitive, the sound is transparent, and you get a nice variety of effects -- without a single broken string.

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly ten years since DigiTech introduced the first Whammy pedal. Back then, shred was king, and the kind of radical pitch effects associated with a guitar’s whammy (or vibrato) bar were part of the well-rounded shredder’s oeuvre. Ironically, the pedal -- dismissed as a gimmicky toy by purists -- anticipated the grind-'em-out styles that would replace shred, and in some ways is more relevant to today’s heavy guitar scene than the mechanical bar it was designed to emulate.

DigiTech has updated the original design several times and has included some form of the Whammy Pedal technology in many of their guitar preamps and effects boxes. Today's Whammy is an enhanced reissue of the original design that adds some new features (improved 24-bit sound; MIDI) while retaining the original’s vibe. By offering a well-rounded palette of sounds -- both experimental and more pedestrian -- this rugged unit breaks the genre barrier associated with the original, and should appeal to players of many styles.

Simple Setup

A single input accommodates your guitar. Outputs include Wet Added (a mix of both dry and affected signals) and Dry Out, which bypasses the Whammy effect. DigiTech recommends placing the Whammy pedal first in the signal chain, before your distortion box, and in my tests that arrangement worked quite well.

One thing I missed was an onboard mix control: Although I found the preset balance between original and affected signal worked most of the time, there were cases where I would have liked to tweak the level of the effect without resorting to a two-amp setup.

Operation is completely intuitive: Select a preset with the knob, use the pedal to interact with the sound (the result of pedal action depends on the preset selected), use the separate switch to bypass the effect. I especially liked the way the Whammy's big LEDs and clear labeling made it obvious which program was active at any given time. Pedal action was smooth and linear, so it was easy to get a feel for the sound.

In addition to selecting sounds manually, you can use MIDI program changes to select presets. MIDI continuous controllers can also be used to adjust treadle position. However, the Whammy does not transmit MIDI messages.

Next page: Modes Of Operation