DigiTech Whammy 4

After you bought the WH4 you have to calibrate it. That means that you should set the starting positoin of the expression pedal so if the exp. pedal is fully heeled up the pinch and everything else of your tone should not change if you turn off/on the pedal. This process could be a little bit hard, but it takes only a few minutes. After the calibration it's very easy to use the pedal. You have to learn some heel/toe tricks with it, but not as much as you should with a wah pedal. The manual for the product is good, you can learn everything from it, check it to know how to calibrate the pedal. The rotating knob for setting the function is good too, but I would be more happy, if I could plug an extension pedal to the Whammy so I could change the functions with my leg even while I play.

I'm using a Hamer Californian with an EMG81 at the bridge position and a Line6 HD147 amp with the Line6 412S cabinet and the Line6 FBV Shortboard. It's a little bit noisy, but nothing serious, the noise gate of the HD147 solve the problem. If you want to buy this effect for Tom Morello Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave style music and you don't want to pay too much, this stuff is for you. It's digital, but I love digital guitar gears, of course only if they are good, but the WH4 is good. Some people say that it's manipulate your tone and it's losing, but I never experienced such this. Unfortunately I never had a chance to try the ultimate WH1 original Whammy pedal, which i analog and for sure it's better than this pedal, but it also 5 times more expensive than the WH4.

I used this pedal on rehersals gigs and only one bad thing happened: The cementation released the rubber leg of the pedal so the concrete scared off the paintwork badly. Fortunately this injury is on the back of the pedal so it doesn't shows normally, only if you check the back of it. I could replace the rubber leg with some tape and it didn't felt off after the repair. Anyway it's fully metal so usually you can only hurt the paintwork, you have to do some serious damage to cause worse problems than a scratched paintwork. You can even step on the exp. pedal with both legs and it won't collapse, this thing is really well built.

Never dealt with them.

It's good for anyone who like this typical Whammy effect, the harmonizer stuff and the detuning features, but can't afford to buy a WH1 Whammy. Digitech made a good job with this pedal for those who like good digital stuff, this is for you go buy it, you won't regret it.

Well its pretty easy to be fair.
One expression pedal, one rotory dial to pick the setting, one input, two outputs (wet and dry) and a on/off switch.

This pedal definately has its own sound. You can get the same sounds as Morello, Satriani and Vai etc very easily.

This pedal does suck tone in bypass though. I place it in a true bypass loop; problem solved.

It sounds great when on though in front of amp or in its effects loop.

Very reliable I would say, never had any issues.

Dont know never needed them.

Well its a easy pedal to use and good fun as well.

If it was true bypass it would be perfect. But nothing is perfect I guess. Well as long as you put it in a loop so you can take it in and out its fine. And because of that I can not give it a 10.

Pretty simple really... Choose your setting and move the pedal/treadle to your hearts desire.

The manual pretty much explains how to use it, and what to do very well. This pedal does best what it's designed to do... pitch shift and harmonize.

I'm a wah whore, and you really don't want to be using this thing like a wah all the time, but I found it very easy to get used to it.

If your favorite guitarist uses the whammy, unless you have a messed up unit, you'll pretty much nail the sound.

Handles fuzz, dirt, and overdrive very well. The lack of perfect tracking adds a nice random break up here and here, which I really like.

I'm running this beast through a Srat and SG. Here's my set up:

GGG = General Guitar Gadgets TP = TonePad.

GGG wah > whammy > TP muff > TP TS9 > GGG octavia > GGG germanium fuzz > GGG silicon fuzz > TP phase 90 > TP CE2 > GGG EA tremolo > TP Rebote delay > modded Fender Blues Jr.

It sounds really good through any combination I put it through.

Haven't noticed any noise issues.

The only thing I can think of that people might not like is the tracking. Like I said it's not perfect, and sounds best with break up/dirt/fuzz/OD, but it can get a little annoying with the cleans.

Built like a tank.

Don't gig... but I would trust it without a back up.

I actually had problem with calibration. I couldn't dial it in properly with the method in the manual. It wouldn't change pitch for a full 3/4 of the sweep from the heel position. I e-mailed digitech, and on the same day got a reply telling me to "move the pedal almost all the way forward and almost all the way back, but leave a little bit of space in both directions." I tried that a few times, and ended with the pitch shifting only working on the first 1/4 of the sweep from the heel position. Then I tried the method from the manual again, and it was working perfect. To me, getting a helpful e-mail the SAME DAY, is perfect CS.

I don't really have a certain style of music, but it's mainly based around blues, funk, rock, psychedelic, spacey, and lots of 60's rock type stuff. Matches all those and more.

I've been playing for about 8yrs now.

If it were lost/stolen I MIGHT buy another one... MIGHT because I decided to buy an EHX HOG. I'm still keeping the whammy when I get the HOG though... I just don't know if I'd replace it if lost/stolen.

I love the crazy sounds I can get from it. I hate that I didn't buy it sooner. My favorite features are the +1 octave, and +2 octave.

I couldn't find any other pedals to compare it to.

Definitely adds a lot more variety to my tunes.

For the price it's well worth it, and I can't see anything in the price range that's better.

It takes some getting used to but after an hour or so you will get the hang out of it and it makes some really cool sounds

Because it is not true-bypass this pedal sucks a lot of your tone!
It sucks the life out of your tone worse than a CryBaby Wah pedal that is not true-bypass.
When it is on and you have it set so the signal is untouched it wrecks your tone completely. May not be noticeable on a solid state amp but on a good tube amp it removes all the warmth and punch and you are left with a thin stale sound.
When it is bypassed (turned off) it is better but still thins out your tone removing the low mids and adding a bit of highs.
This really pisses me off because it is a cool pedal but when it is turned off it should be true-bypassed or close to it so it does not mess with your tone that you spent so much money on by buying an expensive tube amp!

Also the cool sounds that you get out of this in regards to octaves and harmonies are very robotic and low-fi digital sounding. Similar but not the same as the sounds Tom Morello gets on RATM and Audioslave records. His octave and harmony sounds are more analog and real sounding so I don't know if the original whammy is better in this regard or he has done some wizardry in the studio to make it sound better.

Not sure only owned it for a couple of weeks

Not sure

I have been playing guitar for over 25 years and have had many different types of pedals, guitars, amps in my search for the holy grail of tone.
This is a cool pedal for the sounds and possibilities it gives you. I especially like the step down so that you can drop your tuning down a whole step or even a half step to jam along with artists who tune to Eflat.
But the low-fi digital robotic sounds are not so pleasing, they should be made better to sound more realistic and analog sounding.
And Digitech should really work on the tone sucking problem that this pedal has, it is terrible!

A very straight forward pedal. The effects are changed by turning just one knob, which is easy, however not if you intend to change effects during a show - however i have seen a wheel which can be placed over the knob making it easy to change with yor foot. The manual is easy, you don't really need it to be honest.

The sound quality is excellent, however it kills your tone. If you are tone freak then i suggest you get a bypass between it. It is digital so only a few notes can be played at once, this has made no difference to me. Harmonies are ok, a few sound good, i dont really go there though.
The midi input thing on this is awesome. I connect to it my laptop and write midi scores on cubase, allowing me to play songs like map of the problematique by muse. Not alot of people use this option, however i think it is one of the best features of the pedal.

The pedal has screwed up a few times. Once it exploded during a practice with my band, and smoke came out of it! weird thing is i came back to it an hour later and it worked perfectly. The treadle has messed up a few times but this can be fixed by a certain way of recalibrating the pedal.
I do gig with this pedal without a backup, purely cos i cant afford two! I keep it on my pedalboard towards my guitar with an Ibanez SM7 before it as a boost with a Boss-OS2, Behringer NR100, Boss-DD3 and Danelectro Octave fuzz on the other side of it.

Great. Emailed them and got a reply within the hour.

It is a good pedal, if you wanna make new sounds and show off then this the pedal to buy. It's pretty much one of a kind - well worth the cash.

I've only used the thing for an hour or two tops, but I know for a fact that i knew what I had to do as soon as I opened the box- simple as anything. No use for the manual, unless you need to recalibrate.

Let me start by saying

1.) I play an American Fender Strat with non-humbucking single-coils
2.) I do have a soild state amp (Fender Frontman DSP or whatever), but it sounds amazing. And I know tone
3.) The only way I can describe this awesome sound is if a computer was attacked by a cat that was in the process of killing a guitar- and I just love it.
With that out of the way, I'm a huge White Stripes fan, so this think is like a god to my tastes. It is obviously digital sounding, reminicent of a snythesizer, but in the best possible way. The 1 Octive down setting does sound almost exactly like a bass, though. Natuarlly, because I use a vintage distortion pedal my dad found in a dumptser (Still nice though) and single-coils, there is some noise, but much less than my Snarling Dog wah (from the same dumpster). It isn't to distracting though, and I've heard no tone loss whatsoever. my complete setup usually is Custom Strat (Single Coils)>Whammy>Cheap tuner in dry output>Vintage DOD Overdrive>Fender Frontman SS amp. Overall, sounds great and sounds wicked.

I've got no reason not to depend on it, but I wouldn't know since I dont gig. Its solid steel, but the LEDs do worry me for some reason. My only beef with the thing is once it switched from 2 Octives Up to Deep Detune on me once with no help from me.

I don't think I've ever called anyone for customer support for anything, and I dont think I need to. This thig could beat up Shwartzenegger.

Since only Jesus and my Stat are perfect, I'll have to give it a 9, just due to the once occurence where it switched on me. I've been playing seriously since around November 2006, but messed just for kicks since I was 7 (I'm 15 now). I have my Strat that I call Lou, my dad's Les Paul Classic, My sister's bass, My Ibanez acoustic, My dad's Washburn acoustic, and an old Vester that I need to fix up at home, so I could probably get any sound I want out of the Whammy. Because I dont have a job, or any money, I'd have to say I wouldn't buy another if something happened unless I had the money. But, I wouldn't ever go with anything else. This beutiful peice of equiptment has opened doors for me that I thought were locked. But if it had a built in microwave and came with a free Hooters Waitress, it would be perfect.

Really simple. Just stomp and roll the knob round till you find the settings you want. The manual is relatively helpful, but you don't even need it.

I can easily get Radiohead, Muse and Rage against the machine sounds out of this, it's actually such a great pedal! I love how you can switch the harmony's with the exp pedal so it means that you aren't just playing all your notes with a 5th above.

The octave shift effects are great! crusces, the guy below me, states how it sounds digital and crap and shouldn't be bothered with. Which is bullshit! because it all depends on your set up and positioning of gear. Besides why would such great guitarists like Matt Bellamy, Jack White, Ed O' brien, Nick Zinner etc. use it?

I would use it it a gig without a backup, even though i'm sure its not true bypass. which is a tad worrying.

Never had to deal with anyone

I do allot of experimenting in my music and this is a great way of defeating writers block. If you don't like that kind of music then it can still be useful for metal, rock and pop because of harmony settings etc. If it were stolen or lost, i'd buy it again. I love the octave 1 and 2 features. Divebomb seems a bit pointless but it's nice to have all the trimmings.

MIDI feature is excellent, it means you can use all of the great sounds during a gig without bending over.

Ease of use? No need to study on this one. Select a mode with the selector know, engage, and work the expression pedal. Ta-da!
Well, the next thing is: How do I integrate this in my own playing style? That's where you've got to be creative. This isn't a pedal that's going to suit every song you write. It's capable of doing craaaazy stuff, but you've got to learn how to use it.
It's got a number of interesting settings that you can get dirty with instantly. You'll find that it can do a lot of things, and if you're a creative player, you'll create some unique effects and sounds over time.

Unfortunately, this is where things get a little sloppy. Whenever the pedal is engaged, and it's shifting your sound up an octave or 2, there are distinct digital artifacts that can be noted in the sound. Don't know if it's caused by dodgy A/D convertors or another component that's unstable, it's undenyingly there.
You can put this to good use of course. Shift your sound up, play low on the neck, bit of chorus over it, and you get a distinctively digital sound. Or throw in a good amount of distortion, and you get a really snarling sound. (Yes people, the shifter changes the overall harmonic characteristic of your guitarsound as well).

Long story short: If you're looking for the purest tone out there, leave this one alone. If you're the type of player who likes a challenge and isn't scared of sounding unlike the rest of us out there, this might enable you to have tons of fun. But that's the only thing it'll do for you, therefore it gets only 6 points.

Ah, here finally the whammy scores points. It's made out of metal, it weighs 1.6 kilos, it comes with its own power supply, but that can be replaced as well. All in all it looks and feels like a sturdy product.
I've had some issues from time to time with the rocker pedal being 'off' somehow. This can be calibrated, which requires the pedal to be switched on and off. Of course, this is no good to you on a gig, and I've played practice sessions where halfway through it I noticed that the Whammy was sounding out-of-tune. Especially since this was an intermittent thing it's hard to depend on it, and I never used it on a gig. And I sure as hell ain't paying 200+ euros for an effects pedal to buy a second one as backup. Which might have the same flaws.

Didn't deal with it. But the shop I bought it from takes care of it's customers, so I'd just go to them, let them take care of my problem.

I'm a guy who's willing to go the extra mile to create a unique sound here and there in his music. That's why I bought the Whammy, to enable me to generate unique sounds.
But, basically, the Whammy was a bit of a dissapointment for me. The thing is, it doesn't feel to me like a quality product. Yes, it looks and feels sturdy enough, but there's something missing in it, maybe "love" or "passion". I haven't had the option to play with the original whammy, but if I read people's reactions, that was the real deal. This however, is milking it for all it's worth. Build a digital version around cheap components, add a few functions. Sure it all looks very nice from the catalog, but in the real world, it isn't all that great.

I can fully imagine people loving this pedal, and for very good reasons. It can deliver a lot of different tones and effects, and it allows for crazy sounds. But alas, not for me. I liked what I could do with it, but I didn't like it enough to live with its flaws, so I sold it, and got a reasonable price back for it. (Courtesy of me keeping it in mint condition, there's a tip for you!).

Very easy to use. I bought this thing on Ebay called the Whammy Wheel for 8 bucks, and it has made the pedal hands free so I don't have to bend over to change the presets. Because of this I explore the other presets much more often.

Sound quality sounds pretty close if not just like Rage and Radiohead. People who dispute this are very picky and probably have too much time on thier hands. I use this Whammy Wheel that I bought on Ebay and it enables me to make up my own sounds by just switching the presets with my foot, so im not too interested in "imitating" rockstars.

The main reason Im writing this review is that I needed to replace the rubber pads that go under the treadle. I called Digitech and the guy I talked to was so increadably cool and easy to talk too. The replacement rubbers on the front and the back of the treadle are 20 cents a piece if I recall correctly. The knob on the top to control the presets is kind of expensive, I think it was 1.50 a piece. It arrived in about 4 days and this was during peak Christmas season. I was very impressed and happy with thier parts/support department!

Very personable and professional. Like you are the only customer they care about.

I can't afford to fangle a hardwire bypass when not in use. I think it sounds different when on but not shifted (if you know what i mean). If you aren't using the pedal, then don't turn it on and have it shifted to normal tuning, because it won't sound normal. It sounds slightly phased or something. Also you really have to make sure you calibrate it correctly. If your using it for bass lines, this is especially important because the slightest millimeter of miscallibration and your note will be like a half step off. Im actually starting to consider taking the rubber stoppers off of the back position of the pedal, because it allows for a much more precise 1 octave down position, where as the rubber stopper has a "give" of about 1 fourth tone up and down.

Pedal is fairly simple to use. Stomp on it for a few hours and you'll be able to accomplish what the pedal was intended for.

Of course this sucker is a staple for RATM and some cool Satch sounds. However, be warned that Tom Morello and JS don't use the Whammy 4. They of course have the Original Whammy pedal which is quite different than the Whammy reissues. The circuitry is different, there is a slight delay time, some components are mounted differently. See Analogman.com for mor info on how this stacks up vs the Original Whammy.

My biggest gripe is that this pedal will suck the mojo right out of your tone. It is a bigger tone killer than your Boss Tuner. I am forced to use this pedal on 2 songs in a cover band and I keep it off my pedal board and quickly plug it in only for the 2 songs I need it on. The pedal is not true bypass and cannot be made true bypass by the way it is wired ( see analogman.com again!). The original whammy can be made true bypass. I wish I had dished out the bucks on e-bay for an expensive but better Original Whammy.

My setup is Gibson Les Paul Custom ( or PRS Singlecut, Peavey Wolfgang, Ernie Ball Axis SuperSport and Cort Neil Zaza signature model) into Vox Clyde Mcoy Wah> Boss Noise Suppressor ( With Analogman TS9, MXR Zakk Wylde overdrive and MXR EVH Phase in the loop of the Boss NS) > Analogman modified Boss TR2 tremolo pedal > Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. In the FX loop I have a Boss DD-20 Delay Pedal into a Analogman Mini Chorus pedal.

Bottom line : This thing sucks compared to the Original Whammy.

Constructed solidly. Don't see it breaking down too easily. Also a bit large and expensive for a backup.

Tried to have True Bypass installed but it is not possible. Albeit I have had no reason to contact the manufacturer.

This thing is a toy in my opinion. I love RATM, Vai, etc but in excess this thing is a real noise maker and not very musical in my lowly opinion. Of course to each his own and this pedal can be used creatively in some instances even though I do not care for it. My biggest gripe is how this pedal sucks the tone right out of your rig. I would never leave this item in my signal path for a whole evening.

I have been playing for over 20 years and play 3 to 4 weekends a month.