digitech whammy iv preset hacking made easy

[pinkjimiphoton]

hi guys,
i got a cheap used whammy iv at a pawn shop recently for 60 bux, so i figured i'd take a chance and mess with it some.

so i googled around, found how to true bypass it...and decided against it, as i don't mind the buffer, and didn't want to have to hassle with the pedal if something
went wrong...and alot of people say it seems to pick up noise, etc...

i decided it just wasn't worth it.

but i DID also find a page with someone who claimed they'd made an external switch box for the presets, and that seemed interesting.
here's his page:

http://tetsuoelectronics.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/1167/#comment-71

he has a video there of it in action...but i'd almost call bullsh*t on it, cuz as wired it didn't seem to work (tho it may be that he had momentary dpdt switches)...i don't know what he used for them, so i'll hold off...standard click on/ click off switches did NOT work as shown!! that is a definite.

i built it up as he showed in the picture, and it just didn't seem to work...but i discovered if i stomped BOTH switches, i could choose between up or down...but had to double stomp everything.

so i believe it's in need of a binary command...i'm probably wrong, and maybe someone here smarter than me can explain it, but it worked out like this:

when ya plug it in, you need to stomp BOTH switches...this is 01, seems to be start/ stop command.

step on the right switch after the both switch, and presets would cycle one way (1)

step on both, then step on the left, the presets would cycle the other way (0)

the drag was, you had to click each switch twice to get it to increment from one preset to the next. this is where i would cry bullsh*t,
but i don't know if the gent used momentary dpdt switches, which i have a feeling would only need to be pushed once.
in his video, he appears to only use one click...but i couldn't get it to work like that. again...different kind of switch is all i can figure.
the toggle switch in his design is really just to show you which switch is the one that goes clockwise...

well, never being one to not try and fsu, i looked at his design and said "phooey".

i wired up two stupid momentary n.o. pushbuttons to stereo jack, and bingo. works perfect...full control of up and down.

left button (tip) goes up (clockwise) but right button doesn't go counterclockwise...you gotta step on both of them.

then you can cycle up or down to whichever presets you desire.

here's a page where he shows how he wired the jack in the whammy..ya DO have to drill a hole in the side of it to mount the jack in.....

http://tetsuoelectronics.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/whammy-iv-true-bypass-external-settings-footswitch/#comment-69

or you could use two small switches and put them just above the pre-existing  bypass switch below the display, if you're tricky..but it may be harder to access. i opted
for a small metal box.

so anyways, if ya wanna be able to cycle thru the presets on a whammy 4 pedal, this is it...here's a diagram for how to do it..the back of the preset switch in the whammy looks like it has 5 connections. the outer 2 are just to mount it...looking at the pedal from the back, it goes left tip, middle ring, sleeve right. that's it.



let me know if it works for ya...enjoy!! 

[pinkjimiphoton]

update...if you use a dpst for switch two, and wire as shown on one half, and wire the other half in parallel with switch a, you'll get a down switch without needing to stomp both switches.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey, this had come up on another forum recently, and the last post may be inaccurate.
please see this posting for more info:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=113746.new#new

anyways, here's some video proving it does indeed work:
as life would have it some stuff came up that will prevent me from messing with this today, and i gotta gig tonite so it's gonna have to ride a little longer. 
but i DID take a crummy 15 second (all it does) video of the whammy with the hack as originallly portrayed with the crappy radio shack momentary switches... you can see it cycle thru the harmonizer, detune and whammy effects, both up/forward and down/backwards as i had originally reported.
will try and make an honest to god stupid pedal tricks video when it's all said and done...

thanks paul for the help!

stay tuned and rock on....

[armdnrdy]

Jimi,

If you can access the switch....take meter readings of when you are scrolling up...and scrolling down.

The switching may work from rising edge and falling edge "signals."

I haven't read through the whole thread...what is the mod jack connected to? The switch?

[pinkjimiphoton]

all it does is change the preset encoder so it can be used by footswitches externally instead of turning it. there's three connections to the encoder. if ya check the "headscratcher " thread it gives more info.

i don't have time to really do anything else with it right now, larry. i wouldn't really know what to look for in term of voltage. all it is is a switch... the contacts in the encoder connect center to either the tip or the tip and ring as shown. tip to sleeve cycles one direction, tip and ring to sleeve reverses it.

i tried adding a momentary dpdt to do as the second post in this thread suggests (as was suggested to me) but it doesn't work.

two crappy rat shack normally open momentarys however work great. press one and it scrolls up with each push. press the two together or hold down the second switch, and the direction reverses. it's pretty simple, but there has to be something i'm missing.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=113746.new;topicseen#new

but anyways, there's two parts to this hack... one is connecting the encoder to a trs jack isolated from the chassis ground in the whammy itself, simple... 3 wires connect the three terminals of the jack to the three terminals of the encoder...

and the other half of the hack is building the control pedal. as shown in the original graphic, it works so you can scroll thru all the presets both up and down... including the whammy/harmonizer and detune presets, which is what the guy on music-electronics asked about.

thanks for checking in bro... i will check back later if i can. lotta irons in the fire ATM and a gig tonite so no way i can do any more today... peace

[pinkjimiphoton]

ok, it's been long enough... a stupid pedal trick video of it working.
beware of f-bombs and other choice vocab if you have sensitive ears