digitech whammy

[aperfecttool]

hi all. im new to talk bass, but i really like this site. has tonnes of info! i recently , as in yesterday, recieved my digitech whammy from ebay. other than a few minor scratches its fine. there are two lil problems tho. when the pedal is rocked back i have to push down really hard with my heel to get the sound 'right' if u will. same with pushing the pedal forward, but more back then forward. i have done the resetting thing where u hold the button , etc. also when i use any effect it cuts out for a split second from time to time. so its not a constant note, it cuts out, and it bothers me. im guessing something is wrong with the interior? mabye dust particles? sorry for the lengthy thread, but i would like this problem, or problems fixed. thanks!

 

[Lokkenjawnz]

I've got the whammy too, and mine has very smooth action on the treadle, perhaps your just needs to be cleaned out or oiled or something. When you say you reset it, are you referring to calibrating it? As for the signal cutting in and out, is it a complete loss of signal, or is it more of a stutter? I'm not sure if I'm really wording that clearly, but I know that the whammy, as with any other pitch shifter, can sometimes stutter if it's having trouble with a note, whether the note is too low, or if too many notes are being hit, etc.

Well good luck with the whammy, hopefully some other people who are a bit more knowledgable than me can come give you some extra help if you need it. The whammy pedal is quite the fun little device, and once you've got it working smoothly it's going to take up a lot of your practice time .

And of course welcome to TB!

-Lokkenjawnz

 

[markjazzbassist]

the pedal action problem is cause it needs to get oiled or the mechanism for the rocking motion is jammed or broken. See if you can look under the pedal and see if the mechanism works correctly. Rock the pedal up and down and see if anythings obstructing the mechanism.

As for it cutting out on you when you combine it with other effects. First, check and make sure all your cables are fine. Then check and make sure your power sources (or batteries) are all okay. If the problem still persists, take it to a local tech/electrician and it should be a cheap fix.

 

[aperfecttool]

thanks guys. and it is more of a stutter than cutting out. and it is when im playing like power cords for example. as for the pedal itself, it is very smooth, but when its all the way back or forward , its like i have to push it a bit more for it to be actually all the way forward. you know what i mean?? sorry if i didnt make sense, its hard to explain unless ur sitting irght here wit me!

 

[Lokkenjawnz]

Well the reason why it's stuttering is because it's not a polyphonic device. It's only made to track individual notes, and so if you play a chord, it'll jump around between the notes you're playing. That's not to say you should never do chords through it though, because it can sound pretty cool if you're into the experimental stuff.

And it sounds like you just need to calibrate the treadle. To do this, you hold down the footswitch while plugging the power cable in, which will make one of the LEDs blink, then you rock the treadle all the way to the toe down position, and all the way to the toe up position, then you just tap the footswitch and it'll be in regular whammy mode, and I think that just might solve your problem!

Hope that helps.

-Lokkenjawnz

 

[aperfecttool]

ive done that twice now, and it does nothing.

 

[syciprider]

There are two fixes for this:

You can:

Trim the little rubber bumper pad under the treadle so it can have more travel to bring the Whammy back to correct pitch.

Or:

You can send it back to Digitech. They are very easy to deal with.