Whammy DT short circuited?

[l1ll1]

Plugged in my trusty Whammy DT yesterday in my studio (stock power supply+regulated power), the thing started buzzing and crackling and before I could unplug it, I smelled the toasted electronics.
The Whammy is six years old and I used the hell out of it, but mostly in the studio or during performances for voices, so no touring and barely any "foot abuse" apart from the expression pedal.

Since I just put a lot of money into guitars, I'm bummed that I have to replace this key piece of equipment for me and I was wondering:

a) anybody else experienced this and any experience with repairs? I can solder my own guitar electronics and put together mic pre kits, but I'm in no way an electronics engineer.

b) are there any newer alternatives for pitch shifting that do what the Digitech does? I think I already know the answer (the Whammy is just so easy+"unique"), but was hoping for an alternative...

Thanks in advance, powpow

 

[bostjan]

Plugged in my trusty Whammy DT yesterday in my studio (stock power supply+regulated power), the thing started buzzing and crackling and before I could unplug it, I smelled the toasted electronics.
The Whammy is six years old and I used the hell out of it, but mostly in the studio or during performances for voices, so no touring and barely any "foot abuse" apart from the expression pedal.

Since I just put a lot of money into guitars, I'm bummed that I have to replace this key piece of equipment for me and I was wondering:

a) anybody else experienced this and any experience with repairs? I can solder my own guitar electronics and put together mic pre kits, but I'm in no way an electronics engineer.

b) are there any newer alternatives for pitch shifting that do what the Digitech does? I think I already know the answer (the Whammy is just so easy+"unique"), but was hoping for an alternative...

Thanks in advance, powpow

Yeah, very likely not going to be an easy repair. Have you taken a peek inside yet?

It'd be much easier to take a shot at the second question if we knew what you were using the Whammy for. There was a Whammy II for a while, then the Whammy+Drop. You can probably get the same effect with most decent modelers these days. Or, if you want to go one step more than analogue, you could install a trem. It really depends on why you were using the Whammy pedal in the first place.

 

[olejason]

There's a small chance you just burnt up the protection diode, which would be fixable. Regardless, it's impossible to say without seeing inside.

There isn't anything on the market unequivocally better than the final generation of the DigiTech pitch shifting algorithm. The same algo, or variations thereof, was used in all the final products (Whammy, Bass Whammy, Drop, etc.) so they'll all have similar performance. The top tier modelers have good pitch shifting capabilities nowadays as well.

 

[l1ll1]

Yeah, very likely not going to be an easy repair. Have you taken a peek inside yet?

It'd be much easier to take a shot at the second question if we knew what you were using the Whammy for. There was a Whammy II for a while, then the Whammy+Drop. You can probably get the same effect with most decent modelers these days. Or, if you want to go one step more than analogue, you could install a trem. It really depends on why you were using the Whammy pedal in the first place.

Thanks for the direction...

Have taken a peak inside, didn't see anything weird or obviously burnt, but the two upper PCBs are connected to the lower ones by soldered on (!) multi-conductor-cable and not by the clip on ones... so I really have to take it apart...

I used it as a stationary pitcher (turning gits into BassVIs), messed up high pitch ornaments, long glissandi with defined end pitch, quickly trying out harmonies on vocals and building multi-pitched drones with vocs / gits / delays. I loved the grainy texture of the Whammy. My usual workflow is either analog source into a halfstack or source straight into DAW and there I already have my fav pitch shifters...

I'm gonna receive a guitar with a trem shortly, so some of the tasks are gonna be taken care of, but not all of them.

 

[l1ll1]

There's a small chance you just burnt up the protection diode, which would be fixable. Regardless, it's impossible to say without seeing inside.

There isn't anything on the market unequivocally better than the final generation of the DigiTech pitch shifting algorithm. The same algo, or variations thereof, was used in all the final products (Whammy, Bass Whammy, Drop, etc.) so they'll all have similar performance. The top tier modelers have good pitch shifting capabilities nowadays as well.

Yeah, didn't find the diode at all when I looked inside, but thanks for the input!

 

[l1ll1]

OK the weirdest thing happened. After I opened it again to see if I missed the diode (the diode can have different looks, google tells me) I put the Whammy back together and thought: Maybe it'll make one last interesting sound if I try it again – it didn't produce sounds anymore yesterday, there where sparks + fume and everything.
So I plugged it into my SS Traynor... and it works like normal.
How the.... What? Uhm.
I'm confused and a bit happy.

 

[bostjan]

the two upper PCBs are connected to the lower ones by soldered on (!) multi-conductor-cable and not by the clip on ones

Hurm?! That doesn't sound feasible. Maybe there is some sort of hidden connector. I suppose they could do this, but it would be a pain for them to manufacture that way. Who knows, though. Guess that'd make it essentially non-servicable.

I used it as a stationary pitcher (turning gits into BassVIs), messed up high pitch ornaments, long glissandi with defined end pitch, quickly trying out harmonies on vocals and building multi-pitched drones with vocs / gits / delays. I loved the grainy texture of the Whammy.

Use #1 is the easiest, since there are tons of octave-down effects, even 100% analogue. Use #4 might be easier with a smart harmony effect that stays in key. Uses #2 and #3, though, as well as the grainy texture, well, I just don't think you can achieve that without either a whammy pedal or a multieffects unit that emulates a whammy pedal. And since Digitech is no more, you might want to baby that pedal since you got it working again.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

b) are there any newer alternatives for pitch shifting that do what the Digitech does? I think I already know the answer (the Whammy is just so easy+"unique"), but was hoping for an alternative...

Thanks in advance, powpow

I just don't think you can achieve that without either a whammy pedal or a multieffects unit that emulates a whammy pedal. And since Digitech is no more, you might want to baby that pedal since you got it working again.

The Digitech GSP1101 and RP360 both have Whammy pedal models. No idea how well they emulate the actual pedal, but both are available used pretty cheap.

 

[op1e]

I can say as a die hard 1101 user to this day, the whammy in those is top notch. Even though I have an HX Stomp I still run my 1101 in the loop of it. My Tampa buddy who gigs for a living has been through 6 or so Whammy's and he's sick of buying them. I told him to go the 1101/RP route or buy a Ricochet. Those pedals seem to flex and the boards short out, had it happen with one of ours.