Digitech whammy pedal for bass

[bengolding]

Hi, I posted vaguely about this before. I'm 15 years old, my birthday is next month and I'm looking for a new pedal to use with my bass. I really love tool, and I want to achieve the sounds Justin does with his bass. I want a whammy pedal but I feel the new (and old) whammy pedals are out of my price range. I want to know whether the digitech whammy 4th gen would be capable of handling bass, because if it is, that seems like a more economical option. Opinions please

 

[bengolding]

And by the way, when I said the new and old whammy pedals are out of my price range I was referring to the bass versions of said pedals

 

[giglawyer]

If you want to achieve the sounds Justin does, you are going to need a heck of a lot more than the Bass Whammy. Check these out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLPA0L0hCUw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWYHdOR6TvU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kat6WNUS-k

You are much better off at your age taking lessons, getting down the fundamentals and really developing your own tone. I am not telling you its a bad idea to get a Whammy - I just think you need to be realistic about what you can do with it once you get it. You would be much better off getting a good fuzz or OD to start with.

 

[bengolding]

I dont mean the exact tone, I just enjoy covering tool songs, and there are some parts that are impossible to do without the whammy. Such as schism, lateralus, the pot. I've played guitar for 3 years and switched over to bass about a year ago

 

[skulletwhip]

Brian Cook of Russian Circles uses the Whammy 4 on bass.

Hell, I do too. Its not the best tracking device for bass, but I like the glitchy weirdness of it.

You may want to wait for the new Bass Whammy to come out as the 4 doesn't have some of the settings that the Tool fella uses.

 

[LSMFT6]

The only setting you need the Bass Whammy for is the 5th^1oct^ for Disposition, everything else Justin uses is on the IV.

 

[skulletwhip]

The only setting you need the Bass Whammy for is the 5th^1oct^ for Disposition, everything else Justin uses is on the IV.

Word.

I hear he uses the 5th/6th as well. That's on the 4 too.

 

[MSUsousaphone]

You are much better off at your age taking lessons, getting down the fundamentals and really developing your own tone.

 

[bigchiefbc]

I dont mean the exact tone, I just enjoy covering tool songs, and there are some parts that are impossible to do without the whammy. Such as schism, lateralus, the pot. I've played guitar for 3 years and switched over to bass about a year ago

Honestly, if you want to be able to nail Tool songs cheaply, you're best off getting an old XP-100. It has all of the whammy and harmony modes from all of the Whammy's, including the bass one. My covers band does a handful of Tool songs, and that's the one I use.

 

[russpurdy]

The Line 6 M5 with an expression pedal does a whammy mode that tracks really well and will do any interval and mix that you need.

 

[grunge_freak]

if you wana nail Justin's sound, go buy a musicman stingray, tech21 sansamp, boss bf-2, and the whammy and that would just be a start.

nah but it all seriousness, you don't need his exact gear. me and my bud cover tool all the time and we have managed to get in the same ballpark as their tone using our own gear and just spending time meticulously tweaking it all to figure it out. alot of the time, you don't need the exact gear to get a certain band's sound down- you just need to figure out WHY they sound the way they do, and emulate it with what you have to get to the point where your sound is the same type of sound.

 

[bengolding]

Thank you for the input! I was wondering, how do you go about replicating the parts in lateralus and schism (the parts that use the octave up setting) without the whammy?

 

[Nephilymbass]

why not get the new bass whammy? I ordered mine from sweetwater music not going to get it till April but I'm excited.

 

[bengolding]

It just seems too much for me, I don't have a high budget because of my age

 

[gregmon79]

It just seems too much for me, I don't have a high budget because of my age

Well, after reading through the thread so far, this is going to be your most difficult adversary. If you cant even afford a $200 bass whammy, then you may be out of luck. BUT, if you shop used, you should be able to find a used whammy between $100-$150. I wish you the best of luck man, sounds like your lack of funds is really going to limit you in the pedal realm unfortunately. But if I were you, and I wanted to play some of those few songs that JC uses the whammy on, get a whammy. All the other stuff can come in time, a flanger, distortion, vibrato/trem, envelope filter....... All these are things he uses and spreads throughout all their songs. But I would say a whammy is a great place to start. Here you go:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/331153174368?lpid=82

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digitech-Whammy-IV-Guitar-Effect-Pedal-/201052702198?_trksid=p2054897.l4276

 

[Aidenn7]

here's a couple of alternatives Danelectro pitch daddy used from guitar center or a slammi from eh, or a Mooer pitchshifter.. I'm getting a bass whammy.

 

[giglawyer]

Haha...does that make me the grumpy old man?

 

[bengolding]

Thanks guys & probably not, probably the most sensible xD I think im too far in to start having lessons now, I've been playing guitar for around 5 years now

 

[fheliojr]

off-topic: holy cow, this buddy really needs some bass classes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWYHdOR6TvU

 

[DannyBob]

If you like tool but can't afford a whammy, just use a wah. It's easy to get pretty convincing sounds (schism) with some OD, delay and a wah. Doesn't even need to be a bass wah...