Digitech Whammy

The Digitech Whammy is a pitch-shifter effects pedal manufactured by Digitech. It gives musicians the ability to shift the pitch of their electric guitar up or down in real time by rocking a treadle pedal up and down with their foot, similar to how a wah pedal affects the tone of a guitar based on the position of the treadle.

Overview

A Digitech WH-1 Whammy with power adapter

The WH-1 Whammy pedal, the original whammy, first manufactured in 1991, remains the most sought-after. The late Dimebag Darrell of Pantera and Damageplan became one the first "big name" guitarists to use the whammy pedal. Another artist famous for using the effect is Tom Morello of the rock band Rage Against the Machine.

Controls

It is controlled by a rocker and a single rotary knob, from which 16 presets could be selected; five "Whammy" effects, nine "Harmony" effects, and two "Detune" effects.

Notable users

Notable musicians who have used the WH-1 Whammy include:

• Brendon Small on various Dethklok tracks from show Metalocalypse.
• Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave (used on virtually every album from RATM and Audioslave. Morello was a pioneer in bringing the effect into mainstream popularity)
• Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead (can be heard on "Just", "My Iron Lung", and "Subterranean Homesick Alien")
• Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine
• Dimebag Darrell of Pantera (can be heard on the song "Becoming" and "The Great Southern Trendkill")
• Kirk Hammett of Metallica
  
• Steve Vai (can be heard on Fire Garden's "The Mysterious Murder of Christian Tierra's Lover" and "The Murder", Alien Love Secrets' "Kill the Guy with the Ball", and Ultra Zone's "Blood & Tears" among others)
• Eddie Van Halen
  
• Scott Ian of Anthrax
  
• Joe Satriani(Can be heard on the songs, Raspberry Jam Delta VCool No.9 and Searching among others.).
• David Gilmour (first used on "Marooned" and "Wearing the Inside Out" from Pink Floyd's The Division Bell, also used on "The Blue" from his solo album, On an Island)
  
• Tak Matsumoto of B'z
  
• David Bryant of Godspeed You! Black Emporer
• The Edge of U2 (can be heard in the beginning of "Even Better Than the Real Thing", the intro to Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me, "Mofo", and the chorus and ending of "Gone")
  
• Nels Cline
  
• T.M.Stevens
  
• Vernon Reid of Living Colour
  
• Doug Wimbish of Living Colour
  
• Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
  
• Herman Li and Sam Totman of Dragonforce
  
• Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden used on A Matter of Life and Death
• Adam Franklin of Swervedriver
  
• John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
  
• Agata of Melt Banana
  
• Aaron Colbourne of 83 Floating Cubes
  
• Larry LaLonde of Primus (can be heard on "Pilcher's Squad")
• Toni Wirtanen of Apulanta
  
• Richard Z. Kruspe of Rammstein (can be heard in in "Stein um Stein")
  
• Mick Thompson of Slipknot
  
• Jamie Willcox of Pure Reason Revolution
  
• Nergal of Behemoth
  
• Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead (notably in 1990s)
• Buckethead
• Matthew Bellamy of Muse
• Justin Chancellor of TOOL

info:wikipedia