DigiTech WH1 Whammy

Easy as pie (assuming you are literate and can read the knob's descriptions). I wish that the expression pedal was a smidge longer, as I hate it when my boot's heel slips on this thing (and screwing up your pitch mid-song is a big problem).

Great sound and sensitivity. I picked this up "used" along with the Xp-100 for a mere $50 each from a guy that wanted to get the new "reissue" with the MIDI. Laughed myself silly when I started seeing this thing going for $400 in the used markets. It's worth the $400 compared to the lame Xp-100. The WH-1 doesn't have the note lag like the Xp series effects (though I do notice a slight lag, but hardly one worth worrying about). Much smoother and more natural/analog sounding compared to the digital/sterile Xp-100. It's construction is also ten times sturdier than the Xp-100.

Every so often when it fires up, it won't respond. I simply unplug it for a second, then try again and it works just fine. Nothing major. Wish it had a genuine internal power supply or else a "normal" 9volt wart so I could power it from my Valvulator supply.

Had to order an extra power supply (the guy I bought both Whammys from only had one power supply between them (still not bad for $50 a piece). They were prompt on the order. No dealings with them otherwise.

This effect is soon to be as indispensible as overdrive and the wha. Not due to new-metal, but just for it's sheer expressive capabilities. I also picked up the Xp-300 which has some "auto-whammy" effects (like an auto-wha) and the ideas just keep coming out of nowhere. I play many varied styles with nice amps/guitars, and this pedal fits in with everything else very nicely. Very creative and unique. A must have.

Sort of like if you merfed a phase 90 with a Wah Pedal- pretty simple stuff here. One knob for choosing the preset, one switch, and the expression pedal for manipulating that preset. LED for on/off two outputs and thats it.

Very good compared to the other Whammies. Not noisy, using it with modified Strat and Marshall AVT50 head with 4X12 Cab. Yes, if you want a Whammy sound it is all in here. Tom Morello, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Dimebag Darrell, Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, Tool,
Jennifer Batten, Robert Fripp, Korn, and others use the pedal. It has pitch bending, harmony, and detune settings. The main difference between this and the other whammies is the harmony and detune which is far superior on this pedal.

Solid metal that shouldn't need a backup.

never dealt with

I play Prog/Art metal and that suits it just fine. I own eight other pedals including the Whammy II and XP-100 which this pedal blows away. If it was stolen or lost, I would be extremel sad and pissed seeing as though these are hard to find but then I would either get another or see if the Reissue is ok. I like the ease of use and the effects in general. I guess I wish it had dual harmony and tracking for chords but thats ok cuz I also like he lo-fi weirdness of the pedal. It inspires me to right weird tripped out stuff. The pedal improved my tone overall because I didn't have to mess with the stupid Input Level control. I'll just sum it up like this: The difference between this and the Whammy II, Xp-100, RI, and BOSS pedals like this one is like the difference between a DOD Flanger and an MXR Flanger or a Boss Phaser and a MXR Phase 90(2 other effects I own and love). In other words similar effects, just one is more natural sounding and has better sound quality overall. Little pricey though.

1 knob, 1 expression pedal, 1 on/off switch.... can it get any simpler?

Play about with the knob till you get the setting you want. Sounds depend on the expression pedal up/down... its explained on the pedal's red case

fender USA FAT tele>WH1>shredmaster>Mesa boogie 2x12 tremoverb (ive just started my pedal collection)

Ok the sounds on this pedal are brilliant.. I have fallen in love with the harmony settings mostly, but the quality and feel of the pedal is so great overall.

The octave and detune settings are spot on also if you feel like being a little wild and different.

Bought this secondhand for a good price... If this thing broke I would cry.. and try and get it repaired v quickly or find another one.

Not dealt with them yet *touch wood*

If you see this pedal (MAKE SURE ITS NOT THE REISSUE) buy it! You will not be returning it, unless pitchshifting and harmony stuff is not your thing.

The worst pedal I ever owned
Ive wasted a fair share of money on gimmicks and effects but this was the worst,pretty easy to use,but the pitch shifts are garbled nonsense,
Basically unusable

Pithc shifting sounds like Im playing through a clock radio ,all the highs go bye bye,and try to play a chord ,it turns to mush,very unusable,The harmonizer functions worksBut will not follow a simple major scale,I owned it for 7 years ,Never was happy with the tones]
The other digitech products like the rp7 valve have a much more realistic shifter that lets you play full chords tuneddown 1/2 step without retuning your guitar,this one just turns to mush

The paint chipped off in the first year ,lousy paint job,never needed a backup,never liked it,impossible to use for much anything musical

never needed em

I bought this new,and I just sold it,bye bye good riddance,seems alot of you are buying them used just because your favorite player has one,Id rather build my own tone.This was on my pedalboard for years ,and I think I used it live once ,for a guitar solo,just to be different,I hate the fact the pitch shift doesnt work with chords,but its 7 yearold technology,todays units are much better

The WH1 is easy peasy lemon squeezy to use. Unlike the Whammy pedals that followed the original, there are no LED screens or patch number readouts here, just a simple knob to select your preset, a bypass switch and the expression pedal.
Patches are non-editable but that is not a problem as all the pitchshifting/harmonies your ever likely to require are catered for.
This is an easy pedal to get along with and if your the sort of person who likes to plug in and play straight from the box, I can't imagine that you'll be reaching for the manual to help you get started.

The setup I'm using with the WH1 is this :Fenix Telecaster>WH1>Boss GE7 EQ>Boss TW1 T-Wah>Army Green BigMuff>DOD BuzzBox>Guyatone Exciter>Ibanez CS9 Chorus>MXR phase 90>Aria Digital Delay > Carlsboro top and Groove Tubes 1x12 cab.

The sound quality is magnificent. This pedal is the best. If you wonder why the pros like Morello,Satriani,Vai,Radiohead and the rest all insist on the original it all becomes clear once you plug in. The WH1 has a much more analog,lo-fi feel and look than the other Whammys and it really is in a class of its own.
The Whammy section offers some of the best sounding and potentially mind bending tones available on a guitar and the harmonys are spot on too. The chorusing available is very good too and certainly a nice addition.
Overall this pedal kicks the sorry arse of every one of its imitators. The Whammy pedal is the king.

Very reliable - much more so than its descendants the Whammy II and the XP100.

Don't know. I contacted DOD by email once before but they didn't get back to me.

This pedal is causing a stir right now as everyone scours the used market for one before they dissapear completely. As an example of the WH1s demand, I emailed a guy who was selling one and asked him how much he wanted for it. His initial starting price was #350! I simply don't have the money so I passed. I got mine the fortnight after for less than a third of his price and I'm happy as can be about the pedal I've bought.
Its simply one of the coolest looking,best sounding,genuinely inovative pedals of all time and you gotta have one if your a pedal collector. Believe the hype, forget about the other cheaper whammys (they're cheap for a reason-they don't use the original software) and try and get yourself one of these - and do it soon cos they'll be gone before you know it. You'll not regret it I promise. This is one of those rare pedals that can help you create music of all styles and I can't praise it enough. Truly outstanding.

JUST TO CLARIFY, THIS HERE REVIEW LIST IS FOR THE ORIGINAL WHAMMY WH-1 WHICH IS DISCONTINUED. ALL THE GUYS WHO POSTED BELOW WHO WROTE ABOUT THE MIDI CONTROL AND PAYED UNDER $300, THEIR REVIEWS MOST LIKELY BELONG UNER WHAMMY WH-1 *REISSUE*, NOT THE ORIGINAL. THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN THE GOING PRICE SINCE THE REISSUE IS JUST NOT AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL.

Easy to use. Plug in click on and go. Same as a wahwah but pitch, harmonies, and detune chorus effects instead. You do have to bend over to adjust the knob. Lots of people comment on this. Ultimately, I don't usually have to adjust it much. If it's used it's usally one setting per song. But anyway.

This pedal is awesome. It's applications are crazy and endless. I mostly use it to accentuate notate the end of solos (something more traditional for an otherwise unorthadox pedal) but it does great wild stuff really. The sound is full and very nice. The harmonies aren't the best in the world but I'd rather use intelligent rackstyle harmonizers anyway. I played with this one and then a reissue. The reissue was thinner and crackly in comparison. The reissue I fooled around with also cut out the whammy effect every now and again: you'd just hear the regular note. I was hooked on the original. Midi is cool on the reissue but all in all the dive bomb effect is pretty unnecessary. The chorus on the Whammy is excellent. I own a stereo polychorus for my main chorus effects but this makes an excellent (and much simpler) stand in. The other insanle out of tune chorus (deep detune) is also very cool. The dive bomb effect on the reissue is unneeded in light of the Deep Detune and 2 octaves down settings. I'd still like to test a Whammy-Wah and a Whammy2 but I'm more than happy with my original, and I haven't heard the best things about any other Whammy.

I can definitely depend on it. It's been around since 82, not too long in comparison to some vintage stuff but it is tough as hell and supports all my weight (175 lbs). One thing though that is odd. Maybe this goes under Ease of Use but it's a knob issue. Occasionally, when I turn the knob around, the pedal gets some of the settings mixed up, especially one octave up and 2 octaves up. I dunno, has anyone else had this problem? Anyway it's easily solved, switching it off and then back on again or usually just turning the knob around again solves the problem. No crisis. I would like to try out the whammy2 and whammy wah and if they offered something extra I'd gig with them, too. Other than that I would gig without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

I got mine for $280 which is a hell of deal in comparison with some online shops. Playing 5 years. If something happened to it I would suffer through getting the money to get another one. It is very cool. You can use it for just about anything. It has tube-like sound in comparison to the reissue brittle digitalia. It's a fun pedal to fool around with.

This is about as easy as it comes... plug it in and play. There is no way to edit the settings, so all you have to do is turn the knob to the desired setting, and wail.

Unlike the Whammy effect that comes with the RP-7 or XP-100, this pedal offers Whammy with no delay between the time you pluck the string and the time you hear it processed. It has a much better response time, and a great "analog" quality to it. If you want a realtime pitch-shifter or harmonizer, this is the way to go. The only problem is the reduced sound quality when a chord is strummed (I, personally, am fond of that wierd distortion that is heard when two or more strings are sounding).

One word: TANK
Two more words: NO BACKUP

I, unlike some other people who posted reviews, am very fond of Tom Morello's playing, and am grateful for his contribution to rock music. I am not saying that there aren't more creative guitarists out there, but I am saying that he helped me spawn a new style of playing, and thanks to his "experimentation", I began to experiment on my own. I no longer try to play Metallica licks, but I have started creating my own songs that fit no genre but the one I made up. This pedal is just an addition to my collection, but holds a priceless value to my different playing style. In a nutshell, any blooming or growing guitarist should get one of these. Any experienced player should get one to regain that feeling that you get when you accidently find a new sound, or stumble upon a neat little trick that can help define your playing.

It is extremely easy to use. Even a monkey could use it. You find what setting you want and twist a knob. This is for the true Rock and Roller

The sound quality is great. I use a Crate GFX 212 and it sounds great with the flextone distortion buit into the amp and a Metal Zone distortion that I use also.

The thing is obviously a tank and very durable, but the only thing i don't like is the power supply that lasts for one session at the most and will still work afterward but with poor tone so that is why I am not ranking this catagory as highly as the others.

The people at Digitech have been the most intovated and prestigious effects companys in years and will remain.

I like to use the product a lot when writing new music to broaden my horizen to all that it has to offer. Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine has trademarked some of his synth mimicking guitar solos using nothing but this effect and that should tell you something.

Simple, plug in and out. The midi part of the pedal is something Im not using but it's nice to have. Manual is important to have for calibrating the unit from time to time.

I use a Gibon Les Paul Studio in to a Peavy 5150 head. I use a few boss pedals but I line the Whammy 1st to the guitar. I was thinking about geting one these for years when I first heard to solo in the Pumpkins Zero. Then my band was covering a Rage song, Killing.......
I wanted the solo to sound the same and it does. I uses it for it's up and down octave settings and it has some other cool sounds on it.

I think its built well and will hold up for years. I don't know to many people can buy two of each type of gear, but yes I would gig without a back up like I do on all my other gear.
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The web site is the only contact I have had with Digitech. Its a cool site.

I bought it for Rage and its a very good match. I wish I could compare it the the 1st Whammy WH1 due to the fact that people say they dont sound the same. I read the reissue is thinner sounding. I don't know if thats true. I don not hear any change in tone when the effect is on. Other wise I would never spend that much on it. Over all I would replace it if something happened to it.