DigiTech Whammy 5 Settings Guide
The DigiTech Whammy uses a pitch-shifting algorithm controlled by an expression treadle to shift pitch up or down in real-time. It covers 1 and 2 octave up/down pitch shifts plus harmony interval settings. Famous for Tom Morello's signature Rage Against the Machine dive-bomb and scraping effects, Jack White's blues-influenced pitch bends, and Joe Satriani's guitar synthesis passages. The Whammy 5 added true bypass and additional modes to the classic circuit.
Used by: Tom Morello (RATM), Jack White
The best DigiTech Whammy 5 settings start with: Treadle at 0/10. Adjust from there based on your amp, guitar, and room volume. For Alternative Metal: Treadle 10/10.
⚡ Start Here — Recommended Settings
| Control | Starting Position | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Treadle | 0/10 | Heel → Toe |
These are universal starting points. Adjust based on your amp, guitar, and room. Scroll down for genre-specific settings and artist-documented positions.
What Each Control Does
Recommended Starting Settings
Safe starting positions for any style. Adjust from here based on your amp and room.
All values on a 0–10 scale. These are starting points — fine-tune by ear.
Settings by Genre
Whammy mode (1 octave up) with treadle fully forward — the Morello application. Rapid treadle movement produces instant pitch sweeps from unison to one octave up. Slow treadle movement creates controlled bends. Combined with a noise gate and distortion, this produces the robot-voice, dive-bomb textures in RATM's Killing in the Name and Bombtrack.
Detune mode at half-treadle — using the Whammy in Detune mode produces subtle pitch variation rather than an octave shift. At moderate treadle depth, this creates wide vibrato-like pitch bending that's faster and more extreme than fret-bending allows. A technique Jack White uses for blues expressiveness beyond what the guitar neck permits.
Whammy mode (2 octaves down) with treadle fully forward — the classic divebomb from octave above to two octaves below. Starting treadle heel-back (unison) and sweeping to toe-forward (two octaves down) produces a divebomb effect that mimics a Floyd Rose tremolo without the hardware. Used by heavy rock and metal players without fixed-bridge guitars.
Harmony mode with a third interval selected — the treadle controls mix between dry and harmony voice in Harmony mode, not pitch. At heel-back the harmony is minimal; at toe-forward the harmony is full volume. Used for harmonized lead lines where a second guitar harmony note follows the melody at a fixed interval.
Artist Settings
Documented settings used by professional guitarists on this unit.
Morello's Whammy technique is the most influential in rock guitar — he uses the treadle as a real-time pitch manipulation tool rather than a static pitch shifter. Rapid back-and-forth treadle movement produces the "scratching" and "robot voice" effects on Killing in the Name. He also uses the Whammy for precise octave soloing where the harmonizer produces a second voice one octave up.
White uses the Whammy for blues-influenced pitch manipulation — wide vibratos and pitch sweeps that extend his guitar's expressive range. His application is generally more musical and less aggressive than Morello's, using the Whammy as a pitch control tool rather than an effects device.
Tips & Common Mistakes
- The Whammy 5 added true bypass — earlier Whammy models had a well-documented high-pass filter in bypass mode that affected tone even when the pedal was off. True bypass eliminates this entirely.
- The Whammy tracks pitch from input signal — lower notes (bass strings, low fret positions) track more accurately than higher, faster passages. Very fast runs or chord playing can produce tracking artifacts, particularly in 2-octave modes.
- Running the Whammy after fuzz pedals can produce unusual tracking behavior — the fuzz's harmonics confuse the pitch detection algorithm. Most players run the Whammy before fuzz and distortion in the signal chain for cleaner tracking.
FAQ
DigiTech Whammy 5 — Common Questions
Best starting settings for DigiTech Whammy 5: Treadle at 0/10. Adjust from there based on your guitar, room, and playing style.
For Alternative Metal: Treadle 10/10. Whammy mode (1 octave up) with treadle fully forward — the Morello application. Rapid treadle movement produces instant pitch sweeps from unison to one octave up. Slow treadle movement creates controlled bends. Combined with a noise gate and distortion, this produces the robot-voice, dive-bomb textures in RATM's Killing in the Name and Bombtrack.
For Blues (pitch bends): Treadle 5/10. Detune mode at half-treadle — using the Whammy in Detune mode produces subtle pitch variation rather than an octave shift. At moderate treadle depth, this creates wide vibrato-like pitch bending that's faster and more extreme than fret-bending allows. A technique Jack White uses for blues expressiveness beyond what the guitar neck permits.
Treadle: Expression treadle position (Heel to Toe)
The Whammy 5 added true bypass — earlier Whammy models had a well-documented high-pass filter in bypass mode that affected tone even when the pedal was off. True bypass eliminates this entirely. The Whammy tracks pitch from input signal — lower notes (bass strings, low fret positions) track more accurately than higher, faster passages. Very fast runs or chord playing can produce tracking artifacts, particularly in 2-octave modes. Running the Whammy after fuzz pedals can produce unusual tracking behavior — the fuzz's harmonics confuse the pitch detection algorithm. Most players run the Whammy before fuzz and distortion in the signal chain for cleaner tracking.
Tom Morello (RATM) settings: Treadle 10/10. Morello's Whammy technique is the most influential in rock guitar — he uses the treadle as a real-time pitch manipulation tool rather than a static pitch shifter. Rapid back-and-forth treadle movement produces the "scratching" and "robot voice" effects on Killing in the Name. He also uses the Whammy for precise octave soloing where the harmonizer produces a second voice one octave up.
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