Chances are, you’ve heard of the infamous Whammy WH-1 Pitch Shifter pedal if you play guitar. Made popular by such guitar gurus as Tom Morello, The Edge, Steve Vai and more, it’s a staple of many famous guitar rigs, and capable of creating some of the most unique tones ever played, live or in the studio. The Whammy II was next generation pedal that followed the WH-1, and although it boasts the same internal chip and similar circuitry, it never quite got the respect its older brother had. Well, it should have.
First off, the Whammy II is tiny for any pedal that also has a pedal, if you know what I mean. The foot controller is only about 6 inches long, almost 3 full inches shorter than a standard wah pedal (or any of the other Whammy pedals), making it ideal to still keep your pedalboard neat and tidy. Second, it features a Select Button that you just tap with your foot to change settings. The other Whammy pedals have a knob that you have to bend down and futz with in the middle of your rippin’ good solo, and nobody wants to get caught doing that, do they? In addition, you can choose 2 of your favorite settings and set the Select switch to toggle back and forth between just those two – pretty ingenious, if you ask me. The Detune option offers up some nice ambient, almost reverb-type, echo-ish sounds, providing another layer of texture to this fantastic pitch shifting wonder.
You can even control the Level of Input coming into the pedal, to help avoid signal overloads and frequency spikes. Plus, with Wet and Dry options for output, you can manipulate exactly where the affected sound goes once it leaves the Whammy II. I’ve heard some folks complain about the tracking on this pedal, and how it isn’t up to the standards of the WH-1, but I think it sounds great, and haven’t experienced any issues with it at all. Noise and power supply failure are 2 other frequent complaints, but I have not encountered those, either. Maybe I just got a great model (at a steal of a price, too, compared to what a WH-1 will cost you), but I think overall, the Whammy II is up to par with the original, and has a couple of options that the famous one lacks. For my money and how I use a pitch shifter, gimmie the Whammy II anyday.
Submitted by Mike B, Website
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