I Love Whammy

Hello, I'm Tetsuro BANANA Mieno , bass player of the Hammond Organ instrumental band BANANA NEEDLE.

This time, I would like to recommend everyone's favorite Whammy.

DIGITECH / WHAMMY5 Whammy Pedal

The WHAMMY5 is a typical effect pedal that can bend pitch.

With the switch turned on, pressing down on the pedal allows you to raise and lower the pitch while including an elapsed sound, which is a different effect from pedals such as an octaver and a harmonist.

The transitional sound when ascending or descending is unique, and once you step on the pedal, you will surely get addicted to it!

DIGITECH / BASS WHAMMY

There is also a whammy for bass, which I also use.

The whammy has a distinctive sound that can be recognized by a single step, so when I use it in a live performance, people praise it and say, “Oh, you use a whammy? That's great!”

When people recognize it and praise me for having one, I get happy and step on it a lot.

Yes, yes.

The Whammy raises the octave! And it lowers it! Many people may have the image of an effects pedal, but the latest Whammy has many modes.

“HARMONY” mode allows you to set the pedal to raise or lower the octave of the original note plus a number of degrees.

If you select ↓4th↑3rd, the original note and the 4th degree are output when the pedal is fully down. When the pedal is fully down, the mix of the original note and the 3rd degree up will be output.

This is very useful for backing tracks where there are no chord instruments.

Classic and Chord settings are also available.

The response speed seems to be faster with Classic, so bassists who don't use chords very often may find it cool to attack aggressively with Classic.

There is also a DETUNE mode, but please note that it makes the pitch unstable, so if you use it too much, you may think you are out of tune.

I also love the pedal powered whammies, but they are a bit large for the chassis: ......
The one on my main board is this Ricochet.

DIGITECH / Whammy Ricochet

This is a version of Whammy without pedals.

You may wonder, “How does it work without a pedal?”
You can set it up so that when you release your foot, it goes back to the original pitch, and when you step on it again, it goes back to the original pitch.

It can be set to latch or unlatch (Only while the pedal is turned on).

The Ricochet Whammy is just a small chassis but the best part is that you can easily enjoy the whammy sound!

It does not overpower the pedalboard!

Another good thing is that when it is turned OFF, it reliably returns to the original sound.

With a whammy and a pedal, the pitch will continue to be fuzzy unless you make sure to return the pedal to its original state.

I have memories of struggling with a pedal in the past when I got a curl cord under the pedal and the pedal would return back.

I also like the fact that when the pedal is set to unlatch, there is no On / Off toggle, so when I step on the pedal, it is immediately warmy.

Although Ricochet is like that due to the nature of its function, it is not possible to stop at the pitch you want.

When you step on the switch, it's a straight one that changes the pitch straight to the target.

Hence the wiiiin! Wiiiinnn! Wiiiiiinnn! ！！！！！ (unintelligible)
It takes some getting used to make it sound like this.

Also, you have to turn a knob to change the speed of the pitch adjustment, so you have to turn it up slowly here ...... and then suddenly turn it up quickly! It is very difficult to change the speed quickly while playing.

In light of this, I think Ricochet is easy to use, so please give it a try.

Of course, there are many bend effectors available from manufacturers other than DIGITECH.

MOOER / Pitch Step

This is a small pedal-type pedal that allows you to adjust the bend speed.

It is also relatively inexpensive among bend effectors.

TC ELECTRONIC / BRAINWAVES PITCH SHIFTER

TC ELECTRONIC's TonePrint function (allows direct transporting of top artists' tones).

The design is also cute.

I've never heard of a pressure-sensitive expression pedal before!

I am very interested in this!

Gamechanger Audio / BIGSBY Pedal

It's a pedal that makes you feel good from its appearance, isn't it?

It is an excellent pedal that allows you to play arm technique with your foot!

The sound I tried was similar to that of a whammy, but the unique spring-loaded foot pedal felt great to step on.

You will definitely feel pumped when you have it on your board!

CopperSound Pedals / Triplegraph Jack White Collaboration Model

This is a pedal that inspires ideas.

The Morse code type switch is just so stylish.

It was a lot of fun to use it with distortion.

By the way, it has three switches: one to control the octave up or down, and a kill switch to go back to the original sound.

Latch and unlatch settings are also available.

Have I peaked your interest in the Whammy now?
I started using bend effect pedals in the last few years and I have become a firm fan of them.

If I could use an effects board the size of a tatami mat, I would put all the effects pedals that I have introduced here in it (lol).

I hope all of you will try pitch shifting after confirming the size of your effects board.

Stay tuned!

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