Rough and ready pitch manipulator...

[John Egerton]

Hey guys...

Let me talk you through what I'm proposing...

In my setup I had a tuner pedal running into a looper, running into a whammy pedal...

I'd play a note, turn the looper on and turn the tuner on... This would cut out my guitar, looping what i played, allowing me to tune my guitar...

I would then get on my hands and knees and manipulate the loop with the whammy....

However I believe that the whammy is best used in front of the effects chain and I want to use it for more than just playing around with a loop...

So I was wondering, would it be possible to build a quick and dirty box with a toggle switch for on and off, and a pot that would control the pitch? Like i said, it doesn't have to track very well... Just give the noticable pitch increase or decrease... or even both...


Thanks

John

[niftydog]

quick and dirty? No way. Unless you're some kind of DSP programming genius. Those whammys are full of VLSI digital chips aren't they??

[ryanscissorhands]

As nifty said, sorry dude. That's like looking for a nice car under $20. You're not likely to find a shifter that's "quick and dirty." Especially one with a pot that controls bend.

The best thing I can think of though is the DH Pitch Shifter from GGG. (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=87&Itemid=115)

PCB's available from GGG, other obscure parts from smallbear, except for the SP7T rotary switch. It doesn't have pot-controlled pitch bend either. It's all I can suggest, though.

What exactly are you looking for, just a droney, pitch-controlled-by-a-pot" sound? If so, build an uglyface, and drop the threshold below the volume of the oscillator, and, if I recall correctly, the frequency knob just controls an oscillator. And you won't need a loop pedal. Again, I'm not exactly sure what it is you're looking for.

I must say, though, that I enjoy my whammy. I just got it about a month ago. Very fun. It seems like it has a lot of potential, but I know that it's potential is far greater than its practical usefulness. The coolest thing I've managed to do with it is use an e-bow, set it on Major 3rd/Minor 3rd mode, and run it into my amp which has an octave down effect. I then get (with an ebow) the principal note, the appropriate 3rd above it, and the octaves below the first two. Kind of like an organ, but not quite. Interesting, though.

[chokeyou]

why not create a true bypass box with a stomp switch that flips where the whammy is in the chain? cheaper, then you actually get to use your whammy wherever you want it.

[Johnny G]

well its not as cheap as making your own but my standard response to people looking for a whammy a like for alot less money is to get a boss PS-3 or PS-2 pitch shifter delay and use it with an expression pedal.

i think you can pick them up for around 60 to 100 USD and the expression pedal you could build yourself since its just a CV control.