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DigiTech Whammy Ricochet Pedal

DigiTech unveils the Whammy Ricochet, a pedal version of their popular pitch shifting effect with no foot treadle.

DigiTech Whammy Ricochet

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Instead of giving you realtime foot control, this compact version of the Whammy pedal automatically bends the pitch of the notes you’re playing, based on what you have set on the pedal.

In the hands of virtuosos like Joe Satriani, there’s no doubt that the Whammy pedal has changed the landscape of electric guitar music. It allowed for expanded playing expression that would simply be impossible via conventional technique, and as such, rather than just being an effect pedal, it has become an extension of the instrument itself.

Because of its success, DigiTech has been making multiple variations of the pedal, to ensure that it can cater to the needs of more guitarists based on their playing style, skill level and pedalboard space. The Whammy Ricochet is the latest in this line of releases, this time streamlining the whammy pedal and turning it into more of an effect that you add to your sound rather than something you control. This is designed for musicians who are looking for a more simple to use pitch bender, and for guitarists who want a more effect-based or experimental use of the whammy.

DigiTech Marketing Manager Tom Cram said, “I’ve been calling the Whammy Ricochet the ‘riff machine,’ because cool riffs just start pouring out every time I use it. From subtle country-ish bends, and quick nuanced octave jumps, to big lumbering polyphonic chordal dive-bombs, the Ricochet can do it all. And of course, the guitar stays in tune, there’s no breaking of strings, and you don’t need to have a heavy tremolo bridge and cumbersome string lock system on your guitar to get these distinctive Whammy sounds.”

There are seven pitch selections available in this pedal: 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, Octave, Double Octave, and Octave+Dry, as well as a toggle to select up or down for the selected pitch. There’s also a latching footswitch feature where you can setup how much the note can rise or fall and even make the pitch stay in position. You can monitor the pitch shift trajectory via the LED ladder display which responds to the pitch shift direction and rate accordingly. This gives you both sonic and visual cues as to where the pith shifting is and where it is headed be it going down or up.

You can use the DigiTech Whammy Ricochet in two different ways, first of which is the classic mode for single note soloing, and the second one is the polyphonic chord algorithm for pitch shifting chords.

Using the Ricochet pedal is easy, just select the desired pitch shifting interval with the pitch control then select the pitch direction with the range switch. You can have the pitch shift effect engaged in two ways, latched or momentary (by holding your foot down on the footswitch), and this is selected via the momentary switch.

The new DigiTech Whammy Ricochet is set for release next month with an MSRP of $187.44. For more information, you can visit DigiTech.

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