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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
 Posted - 02/03/2010 : 17:57:13
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Not looking for mods or anything, Just when I have it in the heel down position with the effect turned in its slightly higher pitched than the note it should be unless I press my heal down into it and then it'll play the right pitch. But I wanna be able to move my foot away and not worry about it being all over the place. If I was to guess the difference would be somewhere between a quater and a half of a semitone.
I dont think its a callibration issue cause toe down it pitch perfect, I just dont wanna have to break my heel to put it in pitch  |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 18:03:51
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Dirk is your man for this question..he had the whammy and had some of the issues your talking about.... |
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Ollie
Gold Member
United Kingdom
729 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 18:37:45
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I hear you mate, I have the same issue. When I click down (with heel up) theres an obvious change in pitch, but if I push back with it, it hits the right pitch. Would like to be able to turn it on and the pitch stay the same.
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Dirk
Platinum Member
Netherlands
1309 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 18:53:48
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Yeah, mine had that too as have many others.
Calibrating didn't help, I even had the guitar store send it back to Digitech but they send it back with the message that they calibrated it and it worked fine, which it obviously didn't do 
Mind you, Digitech are somewhere in the US, and I live in Holland.
It didn't cost me anyting, cause it was under warranty except that I missed it for 6 weeks with no resolution as the outcome.
I gladly sold it, no more Digicrap for me, I'm sorry.  |
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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 19:10:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Dirk
Yeah, mine had that too as have many others.
Calibrating didn't help, I even had the guitar store send it back to Digitech but they send it back with the message that they calibrated it and it worked fine, which it obviously didn't do
Mind you, Digitech are somewhere in the US, and I live in Holland.
It didn't cost me anyting, cause it was under warranty except that I missed it for 6 weeks with no resolution as the outcome.
I gladly sold it, no more Digicrap for me, I'm sorry.
I enjoy the effect to much to sell it but that sounds like pretty lousy customer service to me. Sounds pretty much like a design fault. My foot starts to ache after a few minutes of pushing my heel down to compensate for this fault and I paid £180 for the privilege
Also, I treat my pedals with utmost respect. My Boss pedals barely look like they've left the box. However the Whammy seems incredibly flimsy in comparison... If Boss did a Whammy pedal using the PS-5 as a starting point that was an all-in-one package like the W4 that didnt require an expression pedal, My whammy would be out the window
I dont have the heelstrength to hold it down forever. |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 19:31:32
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| Just thinking out loud but would putting a weight on the end of the pedal keep it down to the right pitch for you...? maybe a piece of lead or something heavy like that since you like the effect and want to keep it... or maybe supergluing a small magnet to the end of the pedal so it sticks to the body to keep it in pitch..or maybe using it in a bypass loop off an LS-2 or something like that so that it's not in your direct chain when not in use..i never had a Whammy so i'm not 100% ..like i said just thinking out loud.... |
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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 19:58:26
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quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
Just thinking out loud but would putting a weight on the end of the pedal keep it down to the right pitch for you...? maybe a piece of lead or something heavy like that since you like the effect and want to keep it... or maybe supergluing a small magnet to the end of the pedal so it sticks to the body to keep it in pitch..or maybe using it in a bypass loop off an LS-2 or something like that so that it's not in your direct chain when not in use..i never had a Whammy so i'm not 100% ..like i said just thinking out loud....
I cant really describe how much pressure my heel has to put down in order to keep the thing in pitch... But the only substance I know size and weight wise that would have the slightest chance of working would be solid gold |
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nosi0
Gold Member
Netherlands
511 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 20:08:24
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| i'm not sure if the Whammy has this but on Wah pedals you can always adjust how easily the pedal moves. maybe you can adjust that and make it a little more stiff that might help. it's worth a try anyway |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 21:29:09
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| I wonder is this is common to all whammys..i think Laurie has an original so it would be interesting to find out as i thought the mk 4 was a replica of the original whammy....i know Gilmour and a few other players keep their ones in a bypass loop until needed maybe because of this and the tone suck problem.... |
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Dirk
Platinum Member
Netherlands
1309 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2010 : 22:13:27
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Kirk Hammett has one in a loop cause it makes so much noise.
It's switched on by his guitar tech everytime Kirk comes near it, cause he mainly uses it for on the fly stuff and his tech never knows when that's going to happen. 
But you're right Franzoni, putting something like a brick on it would hold the pedal down.
The throttle is secured using two allen wrenches of some weird size which I didn't have so I couldn't get it any faster, and believe me I tried with some small pliers and stuff but it didn't work.
It also didn't track very well. On some settings you'd hear all these crazy wobbly sounds.
But I guess the original whammy is just as bad in that respect, cause Kirk has a couple of original ones and I heard a version of "Memory remains" where he uses it to shift up an octave during the outro of the song and he got those same wobbly, bad tracking sounds.
But you've got to love what he does with it on the solo of "Devil's Dance" from Reload.  |
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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 00:32:26
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quote:
Originally posted by Dirk
Kirk Hammett has one in a loop cause it makes so much noise.
It's switched on by his guitar tech everytime Kirk comes near it, cause he mainly uses it for on the fly stuff and his tech never knows when that's going to happen.
But you're right Franzoni, putting something like a brick on it would hold the pedal down.
The throttle is secured using two allen wrenches of some weird size which I didn't have so I couldn't get it any faster, and believe me I tried with some small pliers and stuff but it didn't work.
It also didn't track very well. On some settings you'd hear all these crazy wobbly sounds.
But I guess the original whammy is just as bad in that respect, cause Kirk has a couple of original ones and I heard a version of "Memory remains" where he uses it to shift up an octave during the outro of the song and he got those same wobbly, bad tracking sounds.
But you've got to love what he does with it on the solo of "Devil's Dance" from Reload.
Any suggestions for a weight? If it requires something heavy then I'll hurt my ankle going toe down  I kinda like the bad tracking sometimes (My iron lung intro with the original Whammy <3)
God BOSS MAKE ONE NOW 
quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
I wonder is this is common to all whammys..i think Laurie has an original so it would be interesting to find out as i thought the mk 4 was a replica of the original whammy....i know Gilmour and a few other players keep their ones in a bypass loop until needed maybe because of this and the tone suck problem....
I know original whammys could be modified to reduce the suckage, but it isnt really my main concern. Like you say I can just throw it into a bypass loop but I still would rather not break my ankle when playing |
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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 00:46:16
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| Oh, and sometimes now (After idk... 5 hours of use max) it pops when you engage/disengage it. Definately something I'd suggest avoiding... Go go get yourself a POG or HOG or something idk I know I am. |
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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 09:18:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Ollie
I hear you mate, I have the same issue. When I click down (with heel up) theres an obvious change in pitch, but if I push back with it, it hits the right pitch. Would like to be able to turn it on and the pitch stay the same.
I sort of semi-solved this this morning. I put some paper (8~ sheets) under the expression pedal and then recalibrated. The paper is there so the exp ped doesnt go down as far. It now stays in pitch heel down whilst engaged however theres slightly (SLIGHTLY - Barely noticable) less movement in the pedal-pitch shifting possibilities. Say if it could go 20 degrees all pitch shifts before, it more like 19.5 degrees now. Makes it slightly harder to slowly ascend the whammy but thats a small price to pay for having something actually stay intune.
Would still like to solve the popping issue though. I can turn the threshold on my NS-2 up to pretty much max and the pop will go through. I know I could have it in the bypass loop and just have it on all the time but still it shouldnt go pop anyway |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 09:47:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Dirk
But you're right Franzoni, putting something like a brick on it would hold the pedal down.
The throttle is secured using two allen wrenches of some weird size which I didn't have so I couldn't get it any faster, and believe me I tried with some small pliers and stuff but it didn't work.
Whammys are made by Digitech so i would imagine the allen bolts are an imperial measurement rather than metric probably why you couldn't get your allen keys to fit...AFAIK they still use feet and inches in the U.S. and in the U.K..... here in Ireland as we used to use Imperial sizes up to about 20 years ago you can still get a kit with two sets of allen keys which come to fit both......
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Edited by - FRANZONI on 02/04/2010 09:49:11 |
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Radioheading
Silver Member
United Kingdom
494 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 16:22:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Radioheading
quote:
Originally posted by Ollie
I hear you mate, I have the same issue. When I click down (with heel up) theres an obvious change in pitch, but if I push back with it, it hits the right pitch. Would like to be able to turn it on and the pitch stay the same.
I sort of semi-solved this this morning. I put some paper (8~ sheets) under the expression pedal and then recalibrated. The paper is there so the exp ped doesnt go down as far. It now stays in pitch heel down whilst engaged however theres slightly (SLIGHTLY - Barely noticable) less movement in the pedal-pitch shifting possibilities. Say if it could go 20 degrees all pitch shifts before, it more like 19.5 degrees now. Makes it slightly harder to slowly ascend the whammy but thats a small price to pay for having something actually stay intune.
Would still like to solve the popping issue though. I can turn the threshold on my NS-2 up to pretty much max and the pop will go through. I know I could have it in the bypass loop and just have it on all the time but still it shouldnt go pop anyway
This worked for the best part of half an hour then it started to do the same thing |
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bside2234
Copper Member
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 17:07:42
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| A few things come to mind to try. First would be to open it up and see if moving the LED for the treadle helps. Second would be to file/sand down the rubber stops on the heel a little at a time until you get the right pitch you need. |
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Whammy IV
