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In 1991 a legend was born. A new era in guitar effects began with the introduction of the Digitech Whammy. This pedal was (and still is) THE guitar pitch shifter and harmonizer. Packaged in a large, red metal case with a built-in expression pedal, the Digitech Whammy brought about new guitar effects and sounds never before dreamed of by guitarists. At last guitarists could bend notes without going out of tune. Pristine octave up and down effects was now just a footswitch away and the amount of pitch-shift could be controlled in real-time. Not only did the Digitech Whammy offer great sounding harmonies, but using the expression pedal, you could bend between two harmonies with your foot! Nothing like this had ever been seen for electric guitarists and it immediately made its way into the rigs of influential guitarists and onto the albums of top bands of the time. Artists like Tom Morello and Dimebag Darrell made extensive use of the Whammy’s amazing tones and introduced aspiring guitarists to the true potential of this powerful pedal.

Due to the huge success of the Digitech Whammy another pedal was soon to follow, the Whammy II. This version featured a black chassis with an expression pedal and a select footswitch for toggling settings. The Whammy II, while not as popular as the original Digitech Whammy, it featured fewer harmonies and only one Detune mode but had the ability to store a setting giving the guitarist the ability to toggle between two different settings with the footswitch. This was an invaluable tool for live performance. The Digitech Whammy II was heard being used by such artists as Herman Li, Trey Anastasio, and Buckethead.

The next incarnation of the Digitech Whammy came in the form of the XP-100 Whammy/Wah. This creation incorporated wah pedal effects along with the Whammy. Now guitarists could use the unit as a Whammy, Wah, Volume, or Harmonizer. The different effects were available via a footswitch and there were 29 presets available for added versatility. The XP-100 did not enjoy as much success as the original Digitech Whammy due to its larger size and lower sound quality. It still was used by popular artists such as John Scofield and Munky.

Then we had the Digitech Bass Whammy. This unit was blue and voiced specifically for bass guitar. The harmony options were different, incorporating harmony intervals that were more suited for the bass and caused less dissonance in the deep timbres it was made to effect. This was the first time bass players had a chance to enjoy the Digitech Whammy and a world of sounds was opened up for the four-string maestros. The 4th down/5th up harmony is one of the most memorable harmony effects for the Digitech Bass Whammy creating speaker shaking dissonance that could be swept all the way up to a thunderous power chord blast of low end.

The most recent version of the Digitech Whammy is the Whammy IV. This is a return to form of the original Whammy pedal with some modern upgrades to make it more versatile and usable. The Digitech Whammy IV features the addition of a divebomb feature allowing non-tremolo guitarists to achieve rocketing whammy bar effects without routing their guitars, buying new ones, or going out of tune. The Whammy IV also incorporates MIDI control of all expression pedal functions for external control or synching of the Whammy effects.

Depending on signal chain placement the Digitech Whammy can yield different effects and sounds. Placed after a few overdrive and fuzz pedals, the tracking gets a little slower and the output gets more lo-fi for vintage squeak and squawk. When placed in the effects loop or first, the tracking is spot on even at the highest speeds and the affected signal is sent to your effects pedals letting them do the work. One of the cooler tones yielded by the Digitech Whammy is running a dry output into one amp and a wet output into another amp. This setup is super sweet for running thunderous harmony down effects adding a wide-open sound and (depending on what kind of amp the affected signal is run through) major synthesis addition to your guitar.

Specifications

6 Whammy modes including famous 2 Octave Up as heard on 100’s of songs!

10 Harmony Bend modes including 2nd Up to 3rd Up simulating pedal steel bends!

Expression pedal controls dive bombs and bends

Cutting–edge pitch detection engine designed specifically for guitar delivers fast accurate shifting!

MIDI In & Out/Thru to control pitch bends via cc’s

Manual

Download Manual

Download Calibration Guide