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Old 06-09-2015, 11:04 AM   #159
soniclovenoize
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Location: Minneapolis, MN
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Originally Posted by Disco King View Post
I see. Now I suppose I need one of those, too. G.A.S. has been bad these days.

I tend to find pitch-shifting kind of cheesy and too artificial sounding in general, but I do like octave effects. So I guess if I get a Whammy, I probably won't use the other sorts of harmonies too often. Seems like a lot of money to spend on something I'll only have a limited use for.

How does the Whammy compare to pedals like the EHX Pitchfork or Boss Pitch Shifters/Harmonizers?
OK well first off, the "unnatural sound" of the Whammy is a part of it's charm, something I really liked about it. Check out the song "Waited a Light Year" by Tripping Daisy, there's this simple lead melody played on a shifted-up Whammy. And it's slightly-out-of-pitch-ness really gives it a unique character. Also listen to the end of the solo on "Just" by Radiohead... Johnny is using a Whammy to hit the higher unnatural notes, and the final note is digitally squelching, like it can't quite make it--I love that! Gives the song an extra edge and paranoia.

But with that said, there are several generations of Whammy. Those parts mentioned above were played with either a first or second generation Whammy that did have pitch imperfections. By now, we are on a 5th generation whammy (I just sold my 2nd gen for a 5th) and it is WAY more precise, and doesn't have that out of tune quality as much. So if you are looking for more precision, then the newer models are quite good. That is why I upgraded, because when you though on a really weird delay then the notes really go out of whack, and sounds bad; I needed something more precise.

Also this pedal is useful for playing harmony lines. You can switch to like the "/\5th \/7th" setting and it'll add the high 5th and a lower 7th to your melody, immediately creating a three-part guitar harmony! All at the ease of a foot switch! One of my bands recently played with a sort of early 00s revival emo band and their guitarist was doing this the whole time, it was cool. It's not really what I am interested in, but it's what you can do with the Whammy. I swear I hear it all over Francis The Mute.

In contrast the EHX MicroPog and the delux POG more dials in whatever weird pitch undertones you want and you let it fly (think of Johnny's main riff in "My Iron Lung", it soudns like either a POG or something similar). It's more versatile and WAY MORE ACCURATE but it doesn't have the footwsitch and bending capability as the Whammy. So I would say the are just simply different beasts altogether, which is why I have both! When is more active, the other is more a stand-alone stomp box.

The Boss Pitchshifter is very cool, and I think is less precise than either a whammy or a POG, but it is somewhere in between the spectrum of the two as an active bender and harmonizer, and a box to create standalone pitch undertones. It's like the middle ground.

Quote:
Speaking of G.A.S., I'm also hankering for a phaser. From the videos I've listened to, I like the MXR Phase 90 the best, because it seems to be the most transparent, whereas the Modtone Atomic colors the sound a bit and sort of washes out the tone. The Small Stone isn't bad, but it sounds like it sweeps through the lower frequencies more, whereas the 90 sounds a bit broader.

However, I'm kind of wondering if I'll end up wanting more than one knob, to control the rate and depth independently, which is why I haven't completely ruled out the Modtone yet. Do you guys like having more control over the parameters, or does one knob do enough for all your phasing needs?
Good question! Yeah, the Phase 90 is great! But just recently I wanted to do something a bit different (a jet airplane phase) and it couldn't do it. It's REALLY good at doing what it does, but you can't really get anything different out of it.

Quote:
Those are just some of the pedals I'm constantly browsing online. I really need to stop. Maybe I should just block any gear site and focus on actually practicing my instrument for the next little while.
Ha! Very true... Remember that an effect is useless unless you 1) know how to use the effect and 2) have the musical know-how to back it up.

Last edited by soniclovenoize : 06-09-2015 at 11:12 AM.

 
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