Whammy Pedal - How effective?

I have been having this dilemma for a bit of time...
Since many of the forum veterans are keen on the fact that the whammy on any guitar under ~35k WILL screw up its job, I toyed around with the idea of *replacing* it with a whammy pedal. A simple, sustain-giving string-thru guitar, and a whammy pedal for the works.
So please tell me...will this setup work? As in, can the whammy bar be replaced by the whammy pedal? (I dunno, I've never used the whammy bar :think: )

 

a whammy pedal isn't much a choice to buy ..
i'll rather settle in using the floyd rose ..

 

well, the digitech whammy is quite a crazy pedal, can do tons of stuff besides usual whammying, and used by lot of artists too eg. Jack White(white stripes, raconteurs), John Frusciante(RHCP), Tom Morello(RATM) etc etc

 

Well, its what I do. I have sold my last Floyd guitar for an Michael Kelly LP and use the whammy on my processor. Obviously its not great and it lacks that expression, but advantages are far too great.

1. Change guitar tuning like clothes w/o waiting to set the FR up.
2. No string breakage
3. No detuning on crappy FRs
4. Oodles of sustain
5. I am obsessed with multiples of five. Hence.

 

Technically a good whammy pedal(I reiterate good, as in most cheap non-digitech ones have tracking problems or sound like crap) will do the job. The only problem is, you're stuck with pitch up or pitch down. You can't alternate unless the pedal lets you set the zero point.

Secondly, they screw up your tone. Not in a bad way, but a whammy bar sounds natural whereas a pedal sound...different.

The pedal however is very useful for harmonizing, extreme pitch shifts etc..

 

HA! Life_Sans_Death, thats the same frickin logic I used to think of that setup!!!! Though I didnt exactly understand point 5. And yeah, I use the whammy on my Digitech RP300A. Yep, Digitech. Ting ting tiding.
@DagMX - The aforementioned processor doesnt allow setting up of a 0 point...but still, it gives the following different whammy modes-
(I still dont know what the ones marked '?' mean...)

Code:

Whammy (no dry signal)
1OCTUP (1 octave above)
2OCTUP (2 octaves above)
2NDDWN (a second below) ?
REV2ND (a second below reversed pedal action) ?
4THDWN (a fourth below) ?
1OCTDN (an octave below)
2OCTDN (2 octaves below)
DIVBOM (Dive Bomb )? - How's this done on a guitar with a FR?

Harmony Bends (Dry Signal Added)
M3>MA3 (a minor third to a Major third)?
2NDMA3 (a second above to a Major third above)?
3RD4TH (a third above to a fourth above)?
4TH5TH (a fourth above to a fifth above)?
5THOCT (a fifth above to an octave above)?
HOCTUP (one octave above)
HOCTDN (one octave down)

Would that make it a good whammy pedal except for the obvious flaw of being able to go only either up or down the pitch?

 

Well you can't beat a Floyd Rose for it's organic-ness and versatility, but if you only want to dive bomb or something the pedal will do.

If you want to make her squeal Dimebag style you'll need that bridge.

 

Which processor is it? I didn't find mention of it. Must be going a bit blind...:|

Anyway, most processors that have a pitch shifter support the above, the differenceis usally in how they affect the sound and how good thetracking is. generally, digitech are almost perfect for tracking and the sound is decent.

 

^
1. Pitch shifter...hell yeah this one has it. EDIT - Btw, is the pitch shifter what you call a 'harmonizer'?
2. Digitech RP300A
Bajaao price - 9k, sticker price - 13.5k, price I paid - 11k

 

point 5 illustrates my eccentricity

 

Oh...I thought it meant power chords XD
@DagMX - Your point about whammy pedals ruining your tone is slightly correct...except it just ruins your tone for the better...It makes such a cool yeowling sound...You feel like saying, "Tune and tone be damned."

 

1)It's overlapping terms. A pitch shifter can just shift the pitch of your note, like a whammy, or it can shift the pitch a certain amount and add it to your note, which is called harmonizing.
2)I dunno how good the 300 is, but I have a 350 and the whammy is excellent. The 350 is based on the newer processors than the older 300 etc...

 

hmm ..but using whammy pedals ..you'll have a buzzy sound upon which the effect takes shape ..
i prefer using floyd rose ..although i just have tremolo guitar ..i try out various floyd rose guitars ..and some with good range ..are good ...they sound even better on high pitch wah wah ..

 

a floyd will never have the range of a whammy.

Anyway to thread poster: It's upto you. Both the floyds and the whammy pedal appear to do similiar things but do it differently enough that it's a choice. If your fine with a whammy pedal, then thats okay, but a floyd is a floyd and nothign beats it for versatility

 

@DagMX - It's the harmonizer in the 300, then.
@ReBoRn - I just thought this would make for a better and cheaper alternative...I guess its a little lacking in the sound department, but is definitely the cheapest and most convenient idea

 

Well, the trouble is on a sub 40K range In India(below the Ibanez Prestige series) you won't get a good floyd. So why waste your money on crap? Get the best thing you can!

Note: This is not 'emo' me. So arguments with feelings will not work. Its all logic.

 

Maybe you could route a Floyd Rose into one of your current guitars if that suits you.

 

From experience, most kramers have very good licensed trems. You can get a striker for very cheap.
Also, you can import an edwards here for cheap with an OFR for cheap too.

You can get and install a floyd for between 4-10k, depending on the floyd and where and how you get it

 

hmm ..this topic is interesting ..
but on whammy pedals ..its not easy getting the control over the sound..

 

Have you seen that G3 footage where Joe Sat does something amazing with the whammy? It's the tour with Malmsteen.