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 !