This is for anyone interested in the Digitech Whammy IV and wants to hear how it tracks and how each setting sounds. I'll give comments after each and what I think of them.
Here is my set up:
Ibanez GSR190 Fretless with Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups and Bad Ass bridge going into my pedalboard which goes:
Whammy IV>Ibanez AW7 Autowah>Big Muff Pi Reissue>Boss DD3 Delay>Boss CS3 Compressor/sustainer.
Going into a Peavey TNT160. I am recording via the preamp out into my computers line-in and Recording with Cool Edit Pro 2. My bass' action is way to low and the lower notes (5th fret and below) don't ring out to well when playing hard. Finger board isn't epoxied and is uneven in spots, but anyway... enough excuses. On to the clips...
A picture of the Whammy IV's Settings.
Here We Go!
Detune Shallow - Link Removed
A subtle chorus effect. Unheard in a band setting, and I don't use it at all because of it. The "intensity" is controlled by the pedal. You can't really notice it in the recording, but I rock the pedal forward at one point. It's more noticeable in person. I find the deep setting more versatile and better sounding, however.
Detune Deep - Link Removed
I use this a lot, it sounds great with the auto-wah and much, much better in person along with the Big Muff. I find it quite useful. The "intensity of it is controlled via the pedal just like the shallow setting.
Next are the Whammy settings:
2 Oct Up - Link Removed
-What it does: Takes your note and bends it up as you rock the pedal forward a whole two octaves.
-My thoughts: I can see it being useful in some settings with bass. However it gets really bad with tracking, distortion has some trouble covering it up, usually it does fine. I don't use this with my band and IMO think it's useless on bass UNLESS running a clean signal from the dry out, then it might have a cool sound. Otherwise, no, not for me.
1 Oct Up - Link Removed
- Link Removed
- Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it up one whole Octave as you rock it forward.
My Thoughts: My favourite setting of them all. I use this all the time and cant get enough. The clips I posted are from the Tool songs Lateralus, The Pot and Schism, all utilizing this setting. Justin is a whore and uses this damn near exclusively.
I find this to be one of the most, if not THE most useful setting on this pedal! The tracking is decent and surprisingly handles chords good, but it really shines through with distortion/overdrive and can sound really ****ing badass.
1 Oct Down - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bend it down a whole octave as you rock the pedal forward.
My Thoughts: Not bad, but not useful to me. I tried playing what I remembered of KoRn's "here to Stay" on the dropped down A and D string. If your running a heavily distorted rig and dont use the E string, its useful and might sound ok in a band setting in substitute of a 5 string bass.
All in all, I never use it with my band or when playing by myself.
2 Oct Down - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it down TWO whole octaves as you rock the pedal forward.
My thought: - Waste of space, a HUGE one IMO. No good uses on a bass IMO. Crap.
Dive Bomb - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it down FOUR Octaves.
My Thoughts:
:scowl: 
(That good enough?
)
At this point I needed to recalibrate the pedal as the note was sharper with the pedal rocked back and effect on.
Drop Tune - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it down one whole step.
My thoughts: Better used with OD/Distortion but useful when wanting to playing things in D-standard from E standard without tuning down manually. I don't use it however as I have no need to.
-Now the Harmony Settings.-
Harmony settings explained: It takes a copy of the note your playing, bends it, and plays it over the unaffected "clean" note. Before the "/" its toe up, after the slash it's Toe Down.
OctDown/OctUp - Link Removed
-This is basically an octaver. except it works both ways. It tracks pretty good and sounds great with the Muff and AW7. I use it often and is my fav of the harmony settings.
5th Down/4th Down - Link Removed
-I don't use this one, tracks good, like most of the harmony settings but I don't find it very useful, especially in toe down.
4th Down/3rd Down - Link Removed
-Never tried it until I did this review. It's pointless to me, and I can't see any good uses, on a bass at least.
5th Up/7th Up - Link Removed
-I've used it once or twice in my band. it's interesting and can be fun in spacey slowed-down riffs with delay.
5th Up/6th Up - Link Removed
-Another useful one. I played part of Tools "Right in Two" in the intro. It's a cool sounding effect and if used the way Justin Chancellor does, you can get some cool effects. I haven't really used this in my band, but I can se myself doing so in the future.
4th Up/5th Up - Link Removed
-Polar opposite of 5th Down/4th Down. Never use it, don't see myself doing so, but you never know.
3rd Up/4th Up - Link Removed
-Useless to me. Waste of space, could have been filled with the 5th/Oct Up setting...
Flat-3rd Up/3rd Up - Link Removed
-Even more useless, IMO. Could have been filled with something else.
2nd Up/3rd Up - Link Removed
- I don't see the point or usefulness of this either. Another waste of space, IMO.
And thats it.
I've had the Whammy IV for about 6 months now. I like it a lot and wont be selling it anytime soon. It tracks well and honestly in a band setting, even the settings that track not to well aren't noticeable, especially if your not looking for it. I bought it used from TBer Beyondhairy. Would I have bought it new? No, since they can be had used for $100-150 easily in good condition.
Do I want a bass Whammy? Yes, but I am not willing to spend $500 on one and will not. I think no more than $350 including shipping should be payed for one. If anything, I'll grab an XP100 for the 5th/Oct up setting, cause thats the only reason why I'd like a bass whammy. Tracking doesn't make a difference to me since I run a clean signal as well.
I hope you guys found this useful and maybe this will make it to the TB FAQ/Wiki or be stickied or something.
Here is my set up:
Ibanez GSR190 Fretless with Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups and Bad Ass bridge going into my pedalboard which goes:
Whammy IV>Ibanez AW7 Autowah>Big Muff Pi Reissue>Boss DD3 Delay>Boss CS3 Compressor/sustainer.
Going into a Peavey TNT160. I am recording via the preamp out into my computers line-in and Recording with Cool Edit Pro 2. My bass' action is way to low and the lower notes (5th fret and below) don't ring out to well when playing hard. Finger board isn't epoxied and is uneven in spots, but anyway... enough excuses. On to the clips...
A picture of the Whammy IV's Settings.
Here We Go!
Detune Shallow - Link Removed
A subtle chorus effect. Unheard in a band setting, and I don't use it at all because of it. The "intensity" is controlled by the pedal. You can't really notice it in the recording, but I rock the pedal forward at one point. It's more noticeable in person. I find the deep setting more versatile and better sounding, however.
Detune Deep - Link Removed
I use this a lot, it sounds great with the auto-wah and much, much better in person along with the Big Muff. I find it quite useful. The "intensity of it is controlled via the pedal just like the shallow setting.
Next are the Whammy settings:
2 Oct Up - Link Removed
-What it does: Takes your note and bends it up as you rock the pedal forward a whole two octaves.
-My thoughts: I can see it being useful in some settings with bass. However it gets really bad with tracking, distortion has some trouble covering it up, usually it does fine. I don't use this with my band and IMO think it's useless on bass UNLESS running a clean signal from the dry out, then it might have a cool sound. Otherwise, no, not for me.
1 Oct Up - Link Removed
- Link Removed
- Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it up one whole Octave as you rock it forward.
My Thoughts: My favourite setting of them all. I use this all the time and cant get enough. The clips I posted are from the Tool songs Lateralus, The Pot and Schism, all utilizing this setting. Justin is a whore and uses this damn near exclusively.
I find this to be one of the most, if not THE most useful setting on this pedal! The tracking is decent and surprisingly handles chords good, but it really shines through with distortion/overdrive and can sound really ****ing badass.
1 Oct Down - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bend it down a whole octave as you rock the pedal forward.
My Thoughts: Not bad, but not useful to me. I tried playing what I remembered of KoRn's "here to Stay" on the dropped down A and D string. If your running a heavily distorted rig and dont use the E string, its useful and might sound ok in a band setting in substitute of a 5 string bass.
All in all, I never use it with my band or when playing by myself.
2 Oct Down - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it down TWO whole octaves as you rock the pedal forward.
My thought: - Waste of space, a HUGE one IMO. No good uses on a bass IMO. Crap.
Dive Bomb - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it down FOUR Octaves.
My Thoughts:
:scowl: (That good enough?
)At this point I needed to recalibrate the pedal as the note was sharper with the pedal rocked back and effect on.
Drop Tune - Link Removed
What it does: Takes your note and bends it down one whole step.
My thoughts: Better used with OD/Distortion but useful when wanting to playing things in D-standard from E standard without tuning down manually. I don't use it however as I have no need to.
-Now the Harmony Settings.-
Harmony settings explained: It takes a copy of the note your playing, bends it, and plays it over the unaffected "clean" note. Before the "/" its toe up, after the slash it's Toe Down.
OctDown/OctUp - Link Removed
-This is basically an octaver. except it works both ways. It tracks pretty good and sounds great with the Muff and AW7. I use it often and is my fav of the harmony settings.
5th Down/4th Down - Link Removed
-I don't use this one, tracks good, like most of the harmony settings but I don't find it very useful, especially in toe down.
4th Down/3rd Down - Link Removed
-Never tried it until I did this review. It's pointless to me, and I can't see any good uses, on a bass at least.
5th Up/7th Up - Link Removed
-I've used it once or twice in my band. it's interesting and can be fun in spacey slowed-down riffs with delay.
5th Up/6th Up - Link Removed
-Another useful one. I played part of Tools "Right in Two" in the intro. It's a cool sounding effect and if used the way Justin Chancellor does, you can get some cool effects. I haven't really used this in my band, but I can se myself doing so in the future.
4th Up/5th Up - Link Removed
-Polar opposite of 5th Down/4th Down. Never use it, don't see myself doing so, but you never know.
3rd Up/4th Up - Link Removed
-Useless to me. Waste of space, could have been filled with the 5th/Oct Up setting...
Flat-3rd Up/3rd Up - Link Removed
-Even more useless, IMO. Could have been filled with something else.
2nd Up/3rd Up - Link Removed
- I don't see the point or usefulness of this either. Another waste of space, IMO.
And thats it.
I've had the Whammy IV for about 6 months now. I like it a lot and wont be selling it anytime soon. It tracks well and honestly in a band setting, even the settings that track not to well aren't noticeable, especially if your not looking for it. I bought it used from TBer Beyondhairy. Would I have bought it new? No, since they can be had used for $100-150 easily in good condition.
Do I want a bass Whammy? Yes, but I am not willing to spend $500 on one and will not. I think no more than $350 including shipping should be payed for one. If anything, I'll grab an XP100 for the 5th/Oct up setting, cause thats the only reason why I'd like a bass whammy. Tracking doesn't make a difference to me since I run a clean signal as well.
I hope you guys found this useful and maybe this will make it to the TB FAQ/Wiki or be stickied or something.
