DigiTech Whammy 4

Just one knob that controls that controls. You make your selection based on witch LED light is next to the setting.

It is perfect for people for me who like digital effects. But for the people who like the organic sounding effects, this is probobaly not for you.

This thing is built like a ****** tank. I would definitely gig with it without a backup.

Never had to deal with them. Hope I never have to either.

This was the second pedal I ever got and it is by far my favorite. I am a big fan of Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Muse, and the White Stripes and this is the pedal you can recreate their sounds with. It does sound kind of digital but that does not matter to me. I think it is a lot better than the Boss PS-5 Super Shifter. It is also cool because in the Detune settings you can get a Chorus-like sound. So kudos to Digitech for making this pedal. I recommend it to everyone.

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.

Just like tom morrello said, this thing doesn't have flashy lights that blink or huge thick manuals. It tells you what it does right on the front of the box. Plug it in and play.

This thing can do anything from Satriani to Rage. The whammy and harmony effects can't really handle chords so well but the Detune effects add thick and lush sound to any guitar.

If this thing breaks, shame on me. It's built as rugged as possible, the casing and treadle are all metal. The only thing I could possibly see being a problem are the LED's but they rarely burn out so I think this thing could probably be stomped on for years and I won't have a problem.

I wanted this pedal for two reasons. One, it will open my playing style to a whole new spectrum of sound possibilities. After Guitar World put out the DVD with Tom Morrello explaining his rig and how he creates those amazing sounds, I've looked at the guitar in a completely different light. Two, I'm in a RATM tribute band and there's no way I could play without using a Whammy.

manuals alright. its a little confusing at first but after 20 minutes, you know almost everything there is to need to know about it.

i would rate this a 10, but nothings perfect and this is no exception. first off, its monophonic and not polyphonic which means for the unit to be 100% (or close) you can only pluck one string (but in most cases, why would you want to pluck two?). Also,there is some debate about a time delay between string plucking and the noise from the amp. THERE IS A VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY SLIGHT DELAY. not that it matters to me, if you cant adapt to this minor technicallity, then you honestly shouldn't have forked out so much money for this because you probably just arent skilled enough to you one. other then that, its a gift from god (or mecca or satan or buhdda, who ever you worship...thank them for this wonderful unit)

even comes with a power supply! built like a tank (boss still are the most solid, but this is close). i bet you could drop it off a building, but if you threw it, it might blow up. i got mine today, but ive heard the paint can come off over time...whatever

never had to deal with them yet...hopefully never will

if there was an 11, id rate it that. i never had the honor of playing an original, but im honestly quite content with this baby. i even kissed it when i took it out of the box!

deadset easy, just select a setting, then wiggle ya foot.I havent got a MIDI switch yet because I dont want to rackmount it.Manual is good.

For the price I was expecting a little more flexibility, but instead I got this "you can only play one note at a time guitar effect",and if you dont,it sounds like its having a stroke in its arse.That said, most FX require a certain amount of adjutment to, and this has some nice quirks to it.It may not be a virtual whammy bar compared to a cheap zoom 5052, but it has a HUGE punch to its volume.Users include: Sunk Loto, White Stripes, Deftones, Yeh Yeh Yehs, Ed O'Brien(RADIOHEAD)....and LOTS of other SUCCESSFUL modern musicians.
I use it with a crybaby and a Pro Amp GA106 for overdrive. I have some other effects, but I wont brag.

I bought a good one, but Ive heard the misfortunes of other guitarists.

Not Yet

I play Steve Vai sort of stuff, anything really, so its a close match.
I bouhgt it for a hi-fi transparent whammy bar sound, but I keep it cause its lovably quirky, makes people jealous, looks red hot and is now part of my tone.
I give it a 5 only for its high price and lack of true bypass, up/down footswitches.sorry bub

Its pretty simple.Like a wah pedal, just move it up and down.Led lights let you know what preset your on, so there goes anything that could have confused you.

I was disapointed at first because my range on the "gas pedal" was very limited, it onyl started shifting when near the top.I read the manual and low and behold theres a way to fix it, and now I have a steady pitch shift throughout the pedals sweep.excellent.
Most of the harmonys are very digital, a few sound better then others, but its a step above a regular pitch shifter.they come out sounding very clean compared to other shifters I have used.
The whammy setting is amazingly fun to mess with.The divebomb, however, sounds very fake to me.Its neat to use as a slow down effect, like an old tape about to completly eat it.Other then that I think that setting is worthless.
The problem is that when its before your distortion, the whammy setting dont kill your tone when switched on, but at the same time your harmonys now sound like junk.If you put it after distortion your harmony parts are awesome but switching to the whammy kills your tone as soon as you switch.aarrgh.Its like you have to choose what your using it for before a gig.

This is honestly the most fun pedal you could buy.I use it more as a toy then an actual pedal, allthough it does some things that im probably going to use down the line in a few songs. there really is nothing like it on the market, if you want this pedal you pretty much have to buy it.Allthough 199 is a lot for any pedal, Im not gonna yell about it.Go try one and see if you like it.

Simple, plug in the included power supply, turn the knob to desired setting, and play!

I use a Cort G290 (EMG SA and 89 pickups) with a variety of effects through a Marshall MG100DFX amp. There is no tone loss at all, if the Whammy is placed before your distortion effects. Great noises, although annoyingly the harmonies sound much better after the distortion.

Built like a brick. After nearly two years of gigging, all that's happened is a few chips of paint have come off. Although once, the pitch was being raised when the treadle was fully down, I solved this by recalibrating the pedal. READ THE MANUAL! The power supply seems pretty sturdy too.

N/A

I love this pedal. I use it in a lot of my own compositions as well as when covering Rage Against The Machine or Muse, and sometimes for emulating keyboards and synthesisors! Overall, great pedal.

Yep, it's pretty simple. I don't know squat about theory, but I can still have tons of fun with the harmonisor. The whammy feature is the best, if you want the crazy sounds then this is the way to go. I bought it because Jonny Greenwood and Kevin Shields use the WH-1, I've never used the orginal, but if you're a radiohead or shoegaze fan, this is the pedal for you. This pedal was everything I expected it to be. I run it at the very start of my effects chain, sometimes I switch it up and put some distortion before it. The MIDI capability is cool too, I hooked up my ART X-11 foot controller to it, works great, I can flip through the 17 different settings just by selecting the channel on my controller. There's a bit of a click when doing this, so don't expect to do it in the middle of a chord, it's more for transitions in a song.

Let's see, it's definitely a digital sound, but when you hit it just right (that's where the music theory comes in) it sounds like pure gold. If you like artists who use one of these things, you will love this pedal. I give it a ten, it's seriously everything I wanted.

I pulled it apart for the first time yesterday as I thought it was broke, turned out to be my power supply had come unsoldered. It's built like a light weight tank, it's not indestructable but it's pretty damn tough. I've not gigged with it but I will be doing so soon and without a backup, I don't have another $150 to drop for a back up.

lol, customer support, I would rather shoot myself than sit on hold so I could have someone who knows nothing about what I'm doing read some pre-selected text to me

I play post-shoegaze, in the vein of Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Bardo Pond, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. This pedal helps me achieve a multi-layered sound quite easy. It seems everyone else uses the harmonisor for single notes, but it can do some decent things to chords as well. I've been playing for a couple years, my gear is nothing impressive, but I've got this setup with 3 different distortions, a phaser, a tremolo, and a Boss RV-3 reverb/delay. This pedal is one of my absolute favorites, it is an integral part of my playing. I'm a very needy person so there's tons of things I think that could be added to it, but it does everything I expected it to and at a decent price.

Pretty Easy on the up and down shifting, just step on the ferrari gas pedal and go. I Would suggest learning your scales on the harmonic modes.

This is it, for at least the next couple of years it won't get any better... use a slide for clean chords :)

I have to say the box is a brick indeed, nothing wrong there!
But this thing does have some sloppy enginering on board!.
The Expression pedal works like a charm in the beginning.
The pedals' hinge mechanism however nearly broke on my whammy and i've seen the same happening with at least two others.
I think its no use to continue whining about it so here's the solution if you come across the same issue:
- replace the metal rings for nylon ones (the metal ones eat the nylon ones allready installed)
- grease them properly
- recalibrate the pedal

(only do this when you know what you're doing and when you have the right tools to do it!!!)

never dealt with them.. getting the pedal repared the regular way would leave me without the whammy too long

Currently I play in an altenative rock / new wave band, I've been playing for about ten years now. I use a Les Paul and Telecaster on a JCM200 TSL. DD6 delay, PH3 phaser, 535Q wah, CS3 Compression Sustainer.
If my whammy were stolen or lost, I would definately buy it again!
Along with The TC Gmajor this is the best pitch shifter I heard sound wise, certainly better than the boss PS5. What functionality is concearned this definately is the most versatile one!

Its very easy to use. Just find your setting adjust the pedal if needed then enjoy.

I use a Line 6 210 spider 2 amp with a samick avion guitar. No lag, no distruption of any sort, no bad involved. Create famous tones from tom morello from audioslave/rage against the machines or jonny greenwood from radiohead.

Im pretty sure this thing could survive a tank dropping on it. No back up required. you may need a ney paintjob though.

They were friendly and immediatly knew what i was talking about. They told me how to fix it myself.

200$ retail was kinda steep for me but despite the price I would still buy for that much. This is a great product and if you can find it with a good price on it take it.

About fifteen minutes of playing this for the first time I was producing sounds that I have often wished of producing. Beautiful digital harmonies that can be swept with the pedal.
There are no patches to 'edit', it's just a pedal and what you see is what you get, settings for about 10 harmonies, and various divebombs, detunes and of course, the soaring and scary 2 octave pitch shifting effect.

I'm using a Washburn BT6 with seymour duncan invaders, and it sounds lush - but that's my opinion. People say it sounds scratchy, it sounds digital, and ruins your sound, but that's what it's for, that's part of the charm. A computer processor will always be behind slightly; I think it sounds awesome - what is your loss through misadventure, is my gain.
There is more to guitar sound than million pound production and Steve Vai.

It's made from 16 grade steel and is very very tough.
However, the pedal does have slight problems with settling due to the rubbers under it. It's best to switch off when not in use.

I think it would survive being thrown off a house.

Never used.

I love this pedal, I have been looking for a nice pitch shifter for a while, but found they're too narrow in their abilities, and it's a case of bending down to mess with the knobs. With this, the pedal controls the parameters, and there is one knob which can be swivelled with the foot (after a bit of practice - or put a CD over it, and you can swivel it properly).

Very simple, you know the setup, one pedal, one button and a knob to select the effect.

Ok so this website seems to be filled with arrogant "guitarists" thinking theyre better than everyone else, so this pedal is not good enough for them.

Lets set this straight.

I am a tone freak like normal, but anyone who says it colours their tone horribly are overreacting. Yes it does take out a small amount of tone, but its nothing that a bit of twiddling with the EQ wont stop. I have a behringer Ultra-Curve DSP8024 and a couple of tiny changes made it fine. For the person that said below "EXPERIENCED guitarists wont be able to use this" is full of himself. Experienced guitarists will be able to use this just fine.

The only other problem I faced was the fact that when you click it on the pitch moved up a bit or down a bit depending on the option. However I sliced the rubber feet off and it works perfectly now.

Im not a fan of any of the effects apart from the octaver. I bought it as a substitute for a whammy bar, as I dont use them, and it works fine for the quick pitch shifts.

My setups large, but basically a custom Schecter through a pedalboard of boss, vox and ibanez pedals, then into a rack with a Behringer EQ, DI boxes for my cabs to monitors, A Marshall Pre amp then a Mesa boogie Rectifier Power Amp out to 2 4x12 mesa's for dirty and 2 4x12 orange cabs for clean. Simple?

This thing isnt going to let you down. its a brick.

Horrible. I bought this pedal while on tour in america, and getting it back to the UK needed a UK power supply. Took them 6 months to get me one.

Its an amazing pedal if you have the correct knowledge to set it up properly. By no means a plug in a perfect pedal though.

Oh and finally I place it second in my chain, after my tuner (for obvious resons, leaving it on once, and re-tuning for a different song led to some horrible sounds!)

Maybe you need the manual if you intend to the midi option, but I would not know. Otherwise you dont need the manual. Straightforward.

I used to own a Wh-1, so I know what that sounds like. Usually I think its a lot of hype about old musicequipment being better, but I`m afraid that in my opinion the Wh-1 was a totally different sounding pedal, and much cooler. I can not get anything close to the sound from the Wh-1 with this pedal.
But, it is also true that my Wh-1 was getting very worn, and nothing lasts forever. I was forced to sell due to a lasting lack of money, but still I regret it.
I will however still stick with this Wh-4 since it is ok, and I dont use whammy a hole lot. A Wh-1 will not make you a better player, and the Wh-4 has what you need unless you`re a real fineschmekker in tone.

Have no reason to doubt it.

would not know.

You plug the guitar in, turn a knob, rock ur foot...even your drummer could figure this one out!

First off...I use this thing in front of a Line6 PODxt Live, into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, 1X12 amp. I play with a heavily modded Mexican Fender Strat, a Gibson Les Paul Studio, and an Ibanez RG 170 (my first guitar which I will never sell). This pedal is one of those toys that, as a guitar player, you don't NEED, but you definitely want. Sounds good. However when the effect is on, but you have the pedal heel down (therefore no pitch changes) it will colour your sound quite a bit. I was kinda on the fence about this issue, and then it dawned on me...who cares? you can have a hugely expensive set up, and if you have ONE of your pedals colouring your sound, it'll be different, yes, maybe a little tiny bit less attack, but if you're a good player you can make it up. Most venues don't have a good enough sound system to do your kick ass guitar tone justice.
I might as well add, this thing is GREAT at cutting through your mix. Once you bring up the octave and scream out some kind of doo hickey, people WILL hear it, even if you haven't changed your volume. It's like the kid in the school choir who's voice is cracking...he's not neccessarily singing louder, but when he cracks, EVERYONE hears it. This is the same thing...in a good way. I'm impressed.

This thing is probably the most solid Digitech anything....every seen the RP series of multi effects?? I'm scared to sneeze on those. cheap plastic junk. This is a tank.

You will read in other reviews about the issue of when you have the effect on, and heel down, it will bounce up a little bit putting the guitar sound out of tune with the rest of the band...the first thing I reccomment is getting a steak knife and cutting the little rubber pads off....leave a little bit so you don't chip off the red paint finish entirely....but that's all they're there for...cosmetic. you'll thank me later...you might eventually chip some paint there....but who looks at pedals?? I want to HEAR them.

n/a

this pedal is the balls. very cool. if you're on the fence about getting one, do what I did at first....buy one and return it a week or two later and complain that it just coloured the tone of the guitar too much. Only do this if you know it's a store that will give you a refund....you just rented a pedal for free. Then...you can decide for yourself....reading reviews will just give you cold feet....always positive and negetive. I say enough pros I respect use this thing...it's good enough for me. I give this pedal a 10 because it's really cool, and everyone thinks you rock if you have one of these on the floor....just use it right man...if you're a hack....don't buy it....that'll just give the pedal a bad name...

First things first:

#1--I don't like Tom Morello at all.
#2--I don't like Rage or Audioslave at all.

Now that the skeptics are back in neutral, this pedal is very easy to use. All of the options are very self explanatory, and it only has three controls to begin with: knob to select your effect, pedal to manipulate your note(s), and on/off switch. If you choose to buy one, I would definetly recommend calibrating it as soon as you take it out of the box; that way, you know it's correct before you even plug in and form an opinion.

I use an Ibanez S470 guitar, a Crybaby standard way, a Bad Horsie wah, and a Boss DS-1. I run everything through a TSL100 head and a 1960Lead angled cabinet with Celestion GT75 Watt speakers.

Contrary to what appears to be popular opinion among most other postings on here, I do not have any kind of problem with tone sucking(and I am truly a tone FREAK), and I run my whammy DEAD LAST in my effects chain! After everything else! Mine is one of the newer units though, so that could make a major difference...

I bought it because of how I have heard Satch, Vai, and a Florida guy named Bill Peck use it for.

The only time that I think the sound quality lacks is when your way up on the neck, shredding away, and have the whammy in the toe up position. This tends to create a VERY ear pierceing sound, and a very interesting (though not necessarily good) reaction from audience members...

Very reliable, I've only had two problems with it:

#1--one time I tried to tune and it needed recalibrated, thus throwing my pitches WAY OUT--very inconvenient, especially if you have a floyd rose type trem system.

#2--had the rubber foot pegs under the expression pedal come off minutes before a gig. If this happens, DONT PANIC--just recalibrate, and you're ready to rip.

Never had to deal with them.

I play rock, hard rock, instrumental rock, and metal, and the actual whammy function is very useful for all of these applications, especially the standard one octave setting. Would recommend it for any lead guys in these arenas of music.

Wouldn't advise using it with chords, though. The harmonizer and de-tuning options aren't very useful for me, though it could just be how it sounds to my ear--other people may have better luck.

Not sure if I would replace it if it were stolen or lost, as I haven't had it long enough to make it an integral part of my sound. However, I will say that it does give you a nice additional soloing option, besides just standard hi-gain and wah.

This pedal is increadably easy to use. I couldn't afford an optional midi pedal to change presets by foot, but I got this item on ebay called the Whammy Wheel for 6 bucks and it is just as good. I wish there was an equalizing feature on the pedal because when im using it as a bass, I hate the clucking that it makes when its trying to pitch shift the twang and buzz of the guitar strings. If you use this as a bass guitar emulator, then your allways going to have to use your neck pickup plus pick using your thumb. Otherwise the crappy cluck buzz of the strings ruins your sound. Also when using it as a bass emulator, the voulume drops significantly, so it would be a good idea to have a volume boost or something of the like placed right after the pedal.

Sound quality is surprisingly good. Once again I wish there was some eq on it because the high octave up sound is much too shrill and hurts my ears, but it does sound awsome if you use some sort of frequency weighted compression or if you just play quiet. But this thing will hurt your ears in the higher octave regions if you play loud. Playing two notes or more at once creates a garbling digital sound which is much more noticeable in the higher and lower settings. But if you use it to just shift down like 2 or 4 steps or up 1 or 2 steps, it sounds pretty good, allthough the garbling is allways somewhat noticable. Some people like this sound like Radioheads "my iron lung", but it doesn't sound so good when your trying to sound like a baritone guitar or a ukilele. A trick I use to smooth out the garbling digital sound is to use reverb after the pedal. This makes all the notes its trying to produce at once sound more in conjunction with one another because they will all be sounding off at any given time due to the nature of reverb. Its not noisy, allthough if you have the pedal on, and have it shifted to normal pitch, it noticably effects the sound by making it chorusy and thin. If your not using it, its not recommended that you shift to normal pitch and leave it there because it just doesn't sound right, like there is a doubling in the backround or something. Its best to bypass when not in use.

It is very reliable. I can't imagine being able to break this thing unless I got it wet on stage or something. I don't use backups of anything, but I don't perform, so I can't really say. Ive never had any pedal fail on me exept my tube distortion pedal, which it just needed it potentiometers cleaned with that spray you get at radio shakc.

Ive never used customer support for any pedal ever. I guess im just lucky or something.

Ive been playing music (drums, bass, guitar, singing,) for about 15 years. I play nine inch nails, pixies, the cure, beck, guns n roses type of music. I use this first in the chain of a multitude of pedals and through a Fender Blues Deluxe amplifier. I use a stratocaster with a hot rails bridge pickup and a vintage rails neck pickup (seymour duncan). I love how this pedal can imitate baritone, bass and hammer dulcimer sounds. I hate how it doesn't perfectly replicate two or more notes played at once. Im starting to wonder if it is even possible to make a pedal that perfectly does this. I also don't like how there is like a 1 milisecond delay before the sound comes out, but this is very minor complaint. Its much easier than having to clean my strings off, pick up my bass guitar, plug it in, then clean the strings off, etc.