Mister Whammy's Amp!?!

[DaveyT]

Hi folks, long-time Sisters fan here.

Just noticed this Hiwatt amp for sale. Looks like it actually is from Adam Pearson, AKA The Legendary Mister Whammy. Rawk! Had to share...

https://reverb.com/item/55524247-hiwatt ... -power-amp

[alanm]

checks out here: http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/tech/g ... uitars.htm

I like amps. Even though they've made my ears/brain whine permanently. To what's left of my ears, valve amps sound best at full power amp volume. Pardon? Occupational hazard. Ear plugs aren't very cool at 18. They're still not, but I don't give a f**k now. Hearing is a good thing.

Mister Whammy's live rig. Reengineered Soldano preamp and Hiwatt stereo power amp. Prowls, growls, and howls. The Hiwatt is a custom job by Steve Gibbs (of the Audio Brothers), one of Britain's finest valve amp makers and a good guy who services and mods most of my stuff. Two 50 watt Hiwatt power amps in a 4U box. My baby.

[...]

Hiwatt 50 watt 2 x 12" combo by Steve Gibbs. Loaded with Celestion speakers. A beaut.

[Pista]

Hello @DaveyT & welcome to

[Husek]

Hi folks, long-time Sisters fan here.

Just noticed this Hiwatt amp for sale. Looks like it actually is from Adam Pearson, AKA The Legendary Mister Whammy. Rawk! Had to share...

https://reverb.com/item/55524247-hiwatt ... -power-amp

What a find
If I had this kind of money I'd buy it rn, an absolute piece of history

[eastmidswhizzkid]

very nice find! trying to resist the temptation to message seller & be a nuisance

[Yggdrasil]

checks out here: http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/tech/g ... uitars.htm

I would love to know how he could go so heavy on the whammy bar yet stay in tune. I'd love to be able to do it, but any guitar with a whammy bar that I've ever played go out of tune quickly.

[Husek]

checks out here: http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/tech/g ... uitars.htm

I would love to know how he could go so heavy on the whammy bar yet stay in tune. I'd love to be able to do it, but any guitar with a whammy bar that I've ever played go out of tune quickly.

Fender's two-point Trems are very very reliable, moreover, if you combine them with locking tuners and some graphite on the nut you are golden, if memory serves me well, that's what Ben uses on his strat as well.

[czuczu]

Also, he didn't use it as much as his name suggests

[Yggdrasil]

Fender's two-point Trems are very very reliable, moreover, if you combine them with locking tuners and some graphite on the nut you are golden, if memory serves me well, that's what Ben uses on his strat as well.

Thanks for the tip! So that's not a Floyd Rose? The last guitar I had with a whammy was a Floyd Rose Schecter Demon with locking tuners, but that went out of tune just by my looking at it...

[Yggdrasil]

Also, he didn't use it as much as his name suggests

Well I'd say he did use it heavily, but mainly for intros and outros, where he really went to town with it.

I'm not complaining, I think he played brilliantly and I loved the way he used the whammy bar.

[Husek]

Fender's two-point Trems are very very reliable, moreover, if you combine them with locking tuners and some graphite on the nut you are golden, if memory serves me well, that's what Ben uses on his strat as well.

Thanks for the tip! So that's not a Floyd Rose? The last guitar I had with a whammy was a Floyd Rose Schecter Demon with locking tuners, but that went out of tune just by my looking at it...

Not a floyd rose at all, it's a standard two-point trem, found on all American fenders from mid 00s.

Now, if you really really like floyd roses (they do have a different feel when compared to fender's trem system), it is possible to keep it in tune, but it takes a lot of time and money to do so, here's the tl;dr to keep a floyd rose in tune:

1) Get rid of your OEM floyd rose, and buy a brand new one, I have nothing but bad experiences with OEM floyd roses
2) When you do get a new one, make sure to pick the `original` series, the special series and other budget-friendly options they all look similar, but you can really see why they are 60% cheaper.
3) As I said, locking tuners is a must
4) Locking nut set from Floyd Rose, those aren't expensive, and yet I find a lot of guitars being sold with floyd roses don't even have locking nut, or they just put generic ones, and those are big to keep the tuning.
5) once you have all that set, make sure you have intonation and action correct, high action usually makes it easier to go out of tune
6) get yourself a new set of strings, play with it, do some dive bombs, you know the whole Mr whammy shenanigans, for a good week, playing at least a couple of hours a day, so the strings can find their sweet spot.

From there you will be gtg.

side notes:
Tems are finicky and even the best trem system in the world will cause some detuning, 12 string guitars are also notoriously finick and can easily go out of tune, and that's way it's easier finding an unicorn in the field than a 12-stringer with a trem

[markfiend]

side notes:
Tems are finicky and even the best trem system in the world will cause some detuning, 12 string guitars are also notoriously finick and can easily go out of tune, and that's way it's easier finding an unicorn in the field than a 12-stringer with a trem

Oof. I can't imagine what a 12-string with a trem would be like! The ones without are enough of a bastard to keep in tune as it is

[Yggdrasil]

(...) From there you will be gtg.

Thank you for the great advice!

Having had nothing but bad experiences with Floyd Rose trems, I can't say I prefer or like them — I just want a functioning trem. I do like Fenders in general though. Do you know how good the Squiers are in terms of trems? They seem to be good value in all other respects (thinking of getting a new guitar — which comes with a good trem!), so I can divebomb all day (and all of the night).

[Husek]

(...) From there you will be gtg.

Thank you for the great advice!

Having had nothing but bad experiences with Floyd Rose trems, I can't say I prefer or like them — I just want a functioning trem. I do like Fenders in general though. Do you know how good the Squiers are in terms of trems? They seem to be good value in all other respects (thinking of getting a new guitar — which comes with a good trem!), so I can divebomb all day (and all of the night).

they aren't great, squiers will go out of tune for sure, if you want to dive bomb with a Squier, you will have to replace the bridge for a better one, with a beefy tremolo block, roller nuts might be a good idea too, and also get some graphitec string trees, and ofc, locking tuners.
I know, it sucks, turns out there's a massive financial gatekeeping in the land of having a guitar with reliable trems.

Alternatively you just say 'f**k it' and get yourself something with a bigsby/vibrola, afaik they are less finicky, but you can't divebomb that hard either

[Yggdrasil]

they aren't great, squiers will go out of tune for sure, if you want to dive bomb with a Squier, you will have to replace the bridge for a better one, with a beefy tremolo block, roller nuts might be a good idea too, and also get some graphitec string trees, and ofc, locking tuners.
I know, it sucks, turns out there's a massive financial gatekeeping in the land of having a guitar with reliable trems.

Alternatively you just say 'f**k it' and get yourself something with a bigsby/vibrola, afaik they are less finicky, but you can't divebomb that hard either

I knew there was a catch...

I guess I'll just have to wait until I can afford to divebomb with the big boys.

[DasPerltAber]

Fender's two-point Trems are very very reliable, moreover, if you combine them with locking tuners and some graphite on the nut you are golden, if memory serves me well, that's what Ben uses on his strat as well.

Thanks for the tip! So that's not a Floyd Rose? The last guitar I had with a whammy was a Floyd Rose Schecter Demon with locking tuners, but that went out of tune just by my looking at it...

Not a floyd rose at all, it's a standard two-point trem, found on all American fenders from mid 00s.

Now, if you really really like floyd roses (they do have a different feel when compared to fender's trem system), it is possible to keep it in tune, but it takes a lot of time and money to do so, here's the tl;dr to keep a floyd rose in tune:

1) Get rid of your OEM floyd rose, and buy a brand new one, I have nothing but bad experiences with OEM floyd roses
2) When you do get a new one, make sure to pick the `original` series, the special series and other budget-friendly options they all look similar, but you can really see why they are 60% cheaper.
3) As I said, locking tuners is a must
4) Locking nut set from Floyd Rose, those aren't expensive, and yet I find a lot of guitars being sold with floyd roses don't even have locking nut, or they just put generic ones, and those are big to keep the tuning.
5) once you have all that set, make sure you have intonation and action correct, high action usually makes it easier to go out of tune
6) get yourself a new set of strings, play with it, do some dive bombs, you know the whole Mr whammy shenanigans, for a good week, playing at least a couple of hours a day, so the strings can find their sweet spot.

From there you will be gtg.

side notes:
Tems are finicky and even the best trem system in the world will cause some detuning, 12 string guitars are also notoriously finick and can easily go out of tune, and that's way it's easier finding an unicorn in the field than a 12-stringer with a trem

Okay...there are at least 10 statements or assumptions in this post that a simply incorrect. I own a hell of a lot of guitars that are either equipped with either Floyd's/Kahlers/Ibanez systems and the statements being made here simply make no sense. Floyds take some getting used to but that's about it. I set up a floyd/equivalent system at least twice a month and this is just bollocks.

[Husek]

Thanks for the tip! So that's not a Floyd Rose? The last guitar I had with a whammy was a Floyd Rose Schecter Demon with locking tuners, but that went out of tune just by my looking at it...

Not a floyd rose at all, it's a standard two-point trem, found on all American fenders from mid 00s.

Now, if you really really like floyd roses (they do have a different feel when compared to fender's trem system), it is possible to keep it in tune, but it takes a lot of time and money to do so, here's the tl;dr to keep a floyd rose in tune:

1) Get rid of your OEM floyd rose, and buy a brand new one, I have nothing but bad experiences with OEM floyd roses
2) When you do get a new one, make sure to pick the `original` series, the special series and other budget-friendly options they all look similar, but you can really see why they are 60% cheaper.
3) As I said, locking tuners is a must
4) Locking nut set from Floyd Rose, those aren't expensive, and yet I find a lot of guitars being sold with floyd roses don't even have locking nut, or they just put generic ones, and those are big to keep the tuning.
5) once you have all that set, make sure you have intonation and action correct, high action usually makes it easier to go out of tune
6) get yourself a new set of strings, play with it, do some dive bombs, you know the whole Mr whammy shenanigans, for a good week, playing at least a couple of hours a day, so the strings can find their sweet spot.

From there you will be gtg.

side notes:
Tems are finicky and even the best trem system in the world will cause some detuning, 12 string guitars are also notoriously finick and can easily go out of tune, and that's way it's easier finding an unicorn in the field than a 12-stringer with a trem

Okay...there are at least 10 statements or assumptions in this post that a simply incorrect. I own a hell of a lot of guitars that are either equipped with either Floyd's/Kahlers/Ibanez systems and the statements being made here simply make no sense. Floyds take some getting used to but that's about it. I set up a floyd/equivalent system at least twice a month and this is just bollocks.

I do have good experiences with ibanez and kahlers, in fact my iceman originally came with a trem system, it was pretty ok.

That said all I mentioned before is my experience with Floyd roses, and how much money I had to throw at the guitar to make it hold tune

[ReptileHause]

Also, he didn't use it as much as his name suggests

Well I'd say he did use it heavily, but mainly for intros and outros, where he really went to town with it.

I'm not complaining, I think he played brilliantly and I loved the way he used the whammy bar.

I absolutely loved the live sound during Mr Whammy's tenure precisely for those howling intro/outros!

[Yggdrasil]

I absolutely loved the live sound during Mr Whammy's tenure precisely for those howling intro/outros!

Me too, it was majestic and generally awesome!

We need more whammy!