Digitech Whammy, who else is a fan?

Guitarjon

Fractal Fanatic
Oh man I'm a nerd, I knew that already but since a while I started collecting Whammy pedals...
Let me start off right away by saying that the Axe Fx does a great job at emulating Whammies but I just have an addiction when it comes to that magic red digitech Whammy.

I remember when I first got one about 19-ish years ago.
I had to sell my complete Star Wars action figure collection to be able to order a Digitech Whammy IV at my local music shop 'Just Music' (@yek knows what I mean...)
It must have taken like 2 to 3 months for the pedal to get there because back then they just weren't in stock anywhere in the Netherlands.
I was super happy with it but for some reason I sold it years later but got one again soon after.
Then when the V came out I sold my IV and just used the V.

Until I was bitten by the Whammy bug and I decided that I wanted them all!
So I now have in my collection:

Whammy 1 WH-1 (in pretty good condition, no box, would love one with a box.... famously used by Dimebag, Vai and Tom Morello etc.)
Whammy II (amazing shape, with box and manual)
XP100 Whammy Wah (amazing shape, also with box and manual. Famously used by Korn and John Scofield)
Whammy IV (red one just like my old one, probably every one has owned one of these at some time)
Whammy IV Chrome Edition (looks sick! sounds the same as the IV)
Whammy DT with FS3X switch (very cool and innovative)
Whammy V (a very cool reissue with the chords/classic switch, new intervals and true bypass)
Bass Whammy (same chassis as the V but different intervals and more headroom)
Whammy Ricochet (great little pedal, check it out if you haven't heard of it)

I also have an IPS33B on the way, used of course.
Those have the same chips as the I and II so they have that old sound going on but with even more options.

Then all I'll need is the old 90s bass whammy, if anyone has one for sale please let me know!

Now that I got that out of my system, any other Whammy fans here? :)
 
I Have one in storage somewhere. It was the second version the black one? Man that thing is beat to death but still works. Don't know how many times I fixed the volume output knob on that band boy, singer kept stomping on it. finally had to replace the potentiometer with a screw driver type one. Its even in the box however no idea if I have the paperwork with it. Kinda miss the extra gain boost I would get from that in front of my Marshall JMP1. Good times I tell ya.
 
I Have one in storage somewhere. It was the second version the black one? Man that thing is beat to death but still works. Don't know how many times I fixed the volume output knob on that band boy, singer kept stomping on it. finally had to replace the potentiometer with a screw driver type one. Its even in the box however no idea if I have the paperwork with it. Kinda miss the extra gain boost I would get from that in front of my Marshall JMP1. Good times I tell ya.

Yeah man, awesome!
Apparently that black one didn't sell well because it looks kinda like an answering machine but I really love how quirky it is and it does have the same sounds as the WH-1.
The input gain control however, some people claim that if you don't set it just right, it won't track as good.
I haven't noticed anything strange though.
 
Tom Morello got me hooked on the Red Box 'o' Crazy. When Rage hit the scene when I learned what he was using for his pterodactyl noises I wanted one. Alas the shop I visited did not have the WH-1, but the XP-100. At the time I didn't know any better. And the XP-100 is awesome in its own right, being able to do a lot of other things as well, like double as a wah.

Around 2005 I joined a Radiohead tribute band and the XP-100 saw a lot of use. But it had developed a nasty habit of occasionally needing a reset. So I wanted something else, and the WH-4 was the then current model. I was out of work at the time so a new one was out of the question. I think I managed to find one used for €130. Which at that time was cheap. It served me well for the next couple of years. Over time I got a 2nd used WH-4 for even less as the new whammies came out, and one of the limited edition chrome ones. Which looks pure awesome sauce. Chrome makes pedals, and guitars too for that matter, look awesome. I modded both regular WH-4's to true bypass, as everybody kept saying the WH-4's regular bypass sounded like crap. Then again they all kept saying the WH-4 sounded like crap too, compared to the WH-1, but to me it always sounded fine. But then again I also love to solder. :cool:

Fast forward another year and I ran into a sweet deal for a used WH-1. Now I never subscribed to the WH-4 sounds like crap myth, but the deal was too good to pass, €450, so I got one. The seller said it was the WH-1 used for demos when the unit got first introduced in the Netherlands. Who knows, it might even be true. So I could now compare my WH-1 with my WH-4 and the XP-100 in a shootout, and yes, I had to admit, the WH-1 does sound better. But enough to pay 3x as much for it? I don't think so, Tim! Still, it did manage to kick my WH-4 off my pedal board. But at the time that was more a case of A: I had one anyway, and B: it has a smaller footprint, so less taking up pedal board real estate, allowing for another pedal to be squeezed in. Later, when I joined another band playing original music I discovered another plus of the WH-1 over the WH4. When you change presets on the WH-1 the changeover are immediate, creating a very musical effect with a sustained sound. With the WH-4 there's an audible glitch when you turn the preset knob, and not the good kind of glitch. Because I wrote a song using that changeover on the WH-1, when I began to build another pedal board controlling a large MIDI rack, and which later became the board that I use with my Axe FX, now I had to get a 2nd WH-1.

For the Radiohead tribute band I got the Whammy DT around 2012, as the drop function seemed like a good investment, eliminating the need to take another guitar with me on the road. I think I used it for Good Morning Mr. Magpie, as it's in drop C. It was definitely better then the WH-4. And later, much later, I discovered it could now also do the seamless transition thing with the preset knob that only the WH-1 could do. As I wanted to get a 2nd Axe FX I sold the 2nd WH-1 on my Axe control board. The DT could do the job replacing the WH-1, but it was so damn wide that I couldn't making it fit. So I got the WH-5 in the end. Leaving me now with almost every version the Red Box o' Crazy except for the WH-2, the Ricochet and the bass versions. Just not by design. I wouldn't mind getting the Ricochet, I just could never ever conceive that I would use it on a pedal board, as I still have a regular WH-4, the chrome one, and the DT lying about. And the XP-100 of course.

Oh, and I also got a IPS33B in my old MIDI rack, that I wanted to use at some point. Before I got the Axe. I got the IPS33B because it was said to be one of the best rack units capable of doing shimmer, short of the AMS SDMX digital stereo delay. And those cost you at least your first born. I later learned it could also do custom scales, which was icing on the cake. As I do like to use Middle Eastern scales, which your average harmonizer doesn't seem to stack.
 
Tom Morello got me hooked on the Red Box 'o' Crazy. When Rage hit the scene when I learned what he was using for his pterodactyl noises I wanted one. Alas the shop I visited did not have the WH-1, but the XP-100. At the time I didn't know any better. And the XP-100 is awesome in its own right, being able to do a lot of other things as well, like double as a wah.

Around 2005 I joined a Radiohead tribute band and the XP-100 saw a lot of use. But it had developed a nasty habit of occasionally needing a reset. So I wanted something else, and the WH-4 was the then current model. I was out of work at the time so a new one was out of the question. I think I managed to find one used for €130. Which at that time was cheap. It served me well for the next couple of years. Over time I got a 2nd used WH-4 for even less as the new whammies came out, and one of the limited edition chrome ones. Which looks pure awesome sauce. Chrome makes pedals, and guitars too for that matter, look awesome. I modded both regular WH-4's to true bypass, as everybody kept saying the WH-4's regular bypass sounded like crap. Then again they all kept saying the WH-4 sounded like crap too, compared to the WH-1, but to me it always sounded fine. But then again I also love to solder. :cool:

Fast forward another year and I ran into a sweet deal for a used WH-1. Now I never subscribed to the WH-4 sounds like crap myth, but the deal was too good to pass, €450, so I got one. The seller said it was the WH-1 used for demos when the unit got first introduced in the Netherlands. Who knows, it might even be true. So I could now compare my WH-1 with my WH-4 and the XP-100 in a shootout, and yes, I had to admit, the WH-1 does sound better. But enough to pay 3x as much for it? I don't think so, Tim! Still, it did manage to kick my WH-4 off my pedal board. But at the time that was more a case of A: I had one anyway, and B: it has a smaller footprint, so less taking up pedal board real estate, allowing for another pedal to be squeezed in. Later, when I joined another band playing original music I discovered another plus of the WH-1 over the WH4. When you change presets on the WH-1 the changeover are immediate, creating a very musical effect with a sustained sound. With the WH-4 there's an audible glitch when you turn the preset knob, and not the good kind of glitch. Because I wrote a song using that changeover on the WH-1, when I began to build another pedal board controlling a large MIDI rack, and which later became the board that I use with my Axe FX, now I had to get a 2nd WH-1.

For the Radiohead tribute band I got the Whammy DT around 2012, as the drop function seemed like a good investment, eliminating the need to take another guitar with me on the road. I think I used it for Good Morning Mr. Magpie, as it's in drop C. It was definitely better then the WH-4. And later, much later, I discovered it could now also do the seamless transition thing with the preset knob that only the WH-1 could do. As I wanted to get a 2nd Axe FX I sold the 2nd WH-1 on my Axe control board. The DT could do the job replacing the WH-1, but it was so damn wide that I couldn't making it fit. So I got the WH-5 in the end. Leaving me now with almost every version the Red Box o' Crazy except for the WH-2, the Ricochet and the bass versions. Just not by design. I wouldn't mind getting the Ricochet, I just could never ever conceive that I would use it on a pedal board, as I still have a regular WH-4, the chrome one, and the DT lying about. And the XP-100 of course.

Oh, and I also got a IPS33B in my old MIDI rack, that I wanted to use at some point. Before I got the Axe. I got the IPS33B because it was said to be one of the best rack units capable of doing shimmer, short of the AMS SDMX digital stereo delay. And those cost you at least your first born. I later learned it could also do custom scales, which was icing on the cake. As I do like to use Middle Eastern scales, which your average harmonizer doesn't seem to stack.

Awesome, Thanks for sharing that!
I agree about the IV.
It's somehow underrated but at the same time everyone (Vai, Hammett and Morrello to name a few) used a IV eventually anyway.
Tom Morrello tends to stick with the WH-1 but I've seen a few pics of his pedal board with a IV.
Anyway, it's just a fine whammy pedal.
 
Of course the Edge and David Gilmour have heavily uswd the whammy

On Gilmours last tour his WH-1 broke so he used the V for the rest of the tour and still using it in latest studio pics.

The Edge must be a die hard WH-1 user as he always has it in his tour rig despite the other versions
 
Got a black Whammy II new when I was a teenager (because radiohead and rage) as maybe the third or 4th pedal I ever bought. One of my favorite things to do with it was put it in the harmony mode, use an E-bow, and then step through the harmony settings with my foot creating ugly little angular melodies over the drone as the harmonizer changed (feed that into my Deluxe Memory Man with max delay time and repeats bordering on runaway and it was even more hours of perverse fun for any kid who just loved to make an awful noise). I’ve still got the thing sitting on my old pedal board in the closet — it’s beat to shit, one of the side plastic panels likes to come off as the glue let got forever ago, and the rubber treads on the bottom always seem to make gripping pedal board tape for very long an exercise in futility — doesn’t see much use since I’ve gone Fractal (you’ll never go backtal), but I’ll also not part with it all the same. :)
 
Of course the Edge and David Gilmour have heavily uswd the whammy

On Gilmours last tour his WH-1 broke so he used the V for the rest of the tour and still using it in latest studio pics.

The Edge must be a die hard WH-1 user as he always has it in his tour rig despite the other versions

The Edge probably has Dallas scour the internet for any old WH-1 that comes along. DIdn't Dallas in that rig rundown vid say that he's found a dozen 76 issue Gibson Explorers for his boss? With such an old unit it pays to have backups. Then again mine never broke down. Then again again I never toured with mine for several years across the globe, come rain, wind or weather.

Got a black Whammy II new when I was a teenager (because radiohead and rage) as maybe the third or 4th pedal I ever bought. One of my favorite things to do with it was put it in the harmony mode, use an E-bow, and then step through the harmony settings with my foot creating ugly little angular melodies over the drone as the harmonizer changed (feed that into my Deluxe Memory Man with max delay time and repeats bordering on runaway and it was even more hours of perverse fun for any kid who just loved to make an awful noise). I’ve still got the thing sitting on my old pedal board in the closet — it’s beat to shit, one of the side plastic panels likes to come off as the glue let got forever ago, and the rubber treads on the bottom always seem to make gripping pedal board tape for very long an exercise in futility — doesn’t see much use since I’ve gone Fractal (you’ll never go backtal), but I’ll also not part with it all the same. :)

I did the same with my WH-1, instead of using a e-bow I use a Boss DF-2. If you use the feedback mode you can generate a constant feedback tone in the last note you hit. Nothing like real feedback, but for this purpose quite useful. Hold that DF-2 with one hand, turn the preset knob with another. Looks cool doing so on stage as well. I must have three DF-2's in my pedal collection just for that, and its the only dirt pedal I still use with the Axe FX, and certainly not because of its 'cool distortion'.
 
Sweet!

Perfect in size for a pedal board, as they are the smallest of the whammy's. Except for the Ricochet of course. Now if only it would have top mounted jacks, and the ability to be fed regular 9 volts power, like the DT and V, then you would have the perfect whammy. Not to mention the preset LED's of the IV and later versions. And the ability to do multi tone shifting, like the V has. Does that make me greedy? Digitech? Please take notice. At some point IVL's patent for the WH-1's software has got to expire.
 
Sweet!

Perfect in size for a pedal board, as they are the smallest of the whammy's. Except for the Ricochet of course. Now if only it would have top mounted jacks, and the ability to be fed regular 9 volts power, like the DT and V, then you would have the perfect whammy. Not to mention the preset LED's of the IV and later versions. And the ability to do multi tone shifting, like the V has. Does that make me greedy? Digitech? Please take notice. At some point IVL's patent for the WH-1's software has got to expire.

The old ones are pretty perfect in their own right.
I love them as collectors pieces!
The looks are great, and like you said small, but the sound is great too although it's pretty glitchy compared to the newer ones.
I really like where Digitech took it with the 'Chords' option with the DT and V.
It is the next logical step up but the fact that the V also has the 'Classic' switch makes it the perfect whammy.

The glitchyness definitely isn't the same as with the old ones.
With the IV and V (in classic mode) if you play chords they glitch but still stay 'together'.
The WH-1 has more trouble in that area but at the same time, that's the charm ;)
I guess that's why I want them all because they do sound different, each and everyone of them.

Just got the IPS33b too in the mail.
It's in decent shape and works fine.
It's a little noisy though, I'm currently running it in the loop of my Axe FX III, not yet sure how to reduce the noise.
The pots are quite scratchy so I'll have those cleaned!

Tried the Whammy settings, sounds pretty much like the WH-1!
It doesn't look as cool though ;)
Still, great piece for the Whammy collection.
Now if I could only find an old Bass Whammy not too far from my home.....

btw, since I'm really collecting all the whammies hard-core I decided to also get the Luxe, Drop and Mosaic!
Cool pieces! Can't wait to get them!
 
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