Digitech Whammy 5

This is without question the most fun I've ever had with a pedal—just pure, unadulterated fun.

Ever since I first heard Tom Morello's solo on Killing In The Name back in the mid-'90es, I've wanted to have a Whammy. Since then I've seen numerous others, including MonoNeon and Thundercat, use it, so the desire to have one blushed back up now and again.

Now, some 25 years after first encountering the pedal I finally realized that it's perfectly alright to buy a pedal just because it's fun, so I did... Even if you're not necessarily producing anything useful with it, just fooling around doing wonky stuff is absolutely worth the price. Not to mention finally living out the dream of playing the solo from Killing In The Name correctly. My 14-year-old self would have been absolutely awestruck. Money can totally buy happiness.

Only minor annoyance is its pretty aggressive power consumption (1300 mA). It's not likely that your existing power supply on your pedal board will be able to power it. But apart from that, the build quality is top notch, the pedal feels very robust and it doesn't feel like they've skimped on anything building it.

You'll need to use your hands to change program on the program dial (unless you set up midi to control it), so unless you stick to one setting, then you'll be reaching down pretty often.

Other than that, it's smooth sailing. Obviously, since it's a modulation pedal, it has a few tracking issues now and then, but I figure that's impossible to avoid when modulating in real time.

This pedal is great upgrade from Whammy 4. Finally the pedal is true bypass and when it's on, it doesn't suck your tone. There are also now two modes for single notes (classic) and other for chords. In chord mode the pitch shifted chords are relatively well in tune as where as on Whammy 4 you got weird wobbly effect. In single mode (classic) you have the Whammy 4 wobbles and single note tracking should be faster. The difference is quite small. Another improvement is that finally this pedal works with typical 9V adapter.

In addition to most used octave up and down pitch shift this pedal many interesting interval combination for you to try.

The option to control the pitch interval and amount by MIDI is really great in recording process as you can program the movement of the expression pedal in your DAW and send it to Whammy. It will save you from many takes as you need to only concentrate on your playing.

I think this is the best version yet, in future I would like to see even more thoughtout MIDI possibilites with thru and out options.

My first contact with this pedal was when I first listen to Radiohead's OK Computer and U2's Achtung Baby - I instantly got curious about that mesmerizing pitch-shifting effect that made guitars scream in the mix of the album. Curiously the effect sounded really crude (when I first heard it alone), due to the phase shifting latency, like a guitar trough a broken chorus pedal - but thats the nature of the effect.

This unit you see here it's the latest (fifth) version. It has two main effects - Harmony and Whammy - the first one creates a note on the interval that's selected in the pedal along with the original one you're playing. Whammy simply "slides" your note up or down in the interval. You have a detune effect too which is a kind of chorus. You even have a MIDI input if you want to control your effects via and external device. You can choose between chords and classic mode, too. It defines if you sound is pitch-shifted together when playing harmony or solo - I first used it to help me change between tunings at the moment I was pleaying so I choosed chords mode. But it depends the way you want to use it.

The cherry at the top of the cake? True bypass, zero colour to your sound!

One of the most versatile and unique effects out there in the market, this is a must-have top-quality pedal that has some history. The box itself is really surdy, it does seem that you could pass a car on the top of the pedal and it would stay intact.

Even comes with an adapter for the power, as the machine is US power only. If your board's power brick has an AC input, make sure you use that input for this pedal, but if you're going straight into the wall, via the power pack, Thomann kindly supplies a converter plug for you. Classy from Thomann customer service, Thank You !

Put it early on in your chain preferably, so that other fx don't muddy the signal.

Loads of options, even unlisted or unofficial user made effects from this wizard of a machine. Check youtube for crazy players' great ideas to get even more out of the machine than is listed in the manual.

Sturdy as a tank. Everything super solid and STRONG. For what it does, the price is kinda fantastic. Just remember to put it into an AC input on your power brick !

Having been a Digitech Whammy IV user for years, I wasn't sure whether I could justify replacing that with the five, but I'm very glad I did. The upgrades on this latest version are subtle, but definite improvements.

The first thing to note is that the footprint is considerably smaller than that of the four, and more of a nod to the first generation, which was satisfyingly compact. The aesthetic in general is far closer, with th return of the rubber surround and large logo on the expression pedal.

There is also the addition of a new switching mode that effects the tracking of the whammy, especially on chords. Traditionally, the whammy would break up and distort on chords, but when set to the new "chord mode", the tracking is immaculate. Pleasingly, you can still elect to keep the 8-bit craziness of previous Whammys with the "classic mode".

Finally, and perhaps most importantly for me, the Whammy 5 is the first in the series that is easy to power on pedal boards / with daisy chains. Whilst it still has a relatively high ma draw, you no longer NEED a designated individual PSU for it (though one is included). This version is now compatible with GigRig and other popular industry standard means of power. Previous incarnations were noisy affairs, this is also a thing of the past.

In short, a worthwhile upgrade to one of the most iconic and creative pedals of all time.

I originally wanted to purchase EHX HOG from the reason to have an octaver and some more analog sounds.. But it is really expensive effect, I read a lot about, and last comment on youtube from an experienced guitarplayer was:" anytime I am looking for a new sound in my EHX HOG 2, ends at the organ sound; I purchased Whammy - and this is the right for me, octavers, fluent octave,2nd octave, intervals, almost You can play anything with this(Joe Satriani and Stevie Vai have Whammy and they know :-) ), also the choruses are beautiful".... So I decided to purchase this Whammy, and was really looking forward to play.... my expectations was absolutely defeated - the effect is absolutely several times more better and has a significant space in my pedalboard forever!!! And the whole sound is like analog, no negative changes, also octaves are well-tempered;You don't loose anything from Your dynamics and feeling. It is absolutely FANTASTIC!!!
Thank You Mr.Thoman!!!

As I don't have a tremolo on my guitar and I'm too lazy to deal with setting it up, I decided many years ago to buy a pedal for my divebombs and stuff. Yeah, I know, it's not the same compared to the real whammy bar, but the benefits outweigh the costs for me. Also, when played with a higher gain distortion, it becomes more difficult to notice the difference. And yeah, I don't have to worry about getting out of tune! The tracking is also pretty good, but if you miss those bubbling sounds the older versions make, your needs are covered as well, as there's a classic mode included.
To be honest, I haven't used the pedal for many years, as I kind of grow out of the divebombing and the heavy use of the whammy. Also the pedal is quite bulky, but that doesn't retract anything from the pedal it self and is clearly a problem of mine. :)