Digitech

Is this Whammy alternative even
better than the real thing?
MORPheUS
BOmBER
£239
iF YOU
don’t try to do
the revving
dragster thing with the Bomber’s
Dive Bomb setting when you
first plug it in, you’re taking life
too seriously. Coaxing extreme
string dives from a hardtail
Telecaster or Les Paul is fantastic.
Push the Bomber’s treadle all
the way down and it sounds as
if your strings are lying on the
fingerboard like wet spaghetti.
Even once you’ve exhausted this
effect, the Bomber is so easy to
navigate that you’ll
be pulling off other
familiar pitch shift
sounds in seconds.
For instance, the
two-octave upshift
setting (displayed as
2 Oct) is perfect for
Tom Morello-style
squeals and The
Edge’s octave stabs
in the intro of U2’s
Even Better Than The
Real Thing.
In addition to the
aforementioned
Dive Bomb and two-
octaves-up effects,
five down-shift
modes are packed
inside that tough steel case: one
and two octaves, a fifth, fourth
and second. There are also three
more up modes: an octave, a
second and a fifth. Going an
octave down transforms your
guitar into a bass; while an octave
up produces a Nashville (or high-
strung) tuning vibe for a great
12-string effect when combined
with a regular six-string, either
on a recording or played by a
bandmate (you can’t blend the
dry and processed sounds).
Speaking of country music, if
you hit a note with the Bomber’s
2nd Up mode selected then push
the treadle forward to raise its
pitch by two semitones you’ll get
a pretty convincing pedal steel
The Bomber gives you a
diverse mix of effects
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USEABILITY
OVERALL RATING
S U M M A R Y
POLYPHONIC PITCH SHIFTERS
HEAD TO HEAD
V S
guitar effect. Like DigiTech’s
Whammy DT, the Bomber is
polyphonic. This means that you
can play more than one note at
the same time and it won’t sound
weird. Lower the pitch of the
strings with the foot treadle and
all your notes will still be in tune
with each other. That’s great if
you decide to dump the pitch to
play heavy bottom-string riffs or
fat-sounding chords.
It doesn’t just have to be
about wild bends either: choose
the two-octaves-up
setting for a sound
that’s probably best
described as a helium-
doped mouse having
an orgasm. Run it
through a phaser or
rotating speaker effect,
chop out some chords
and doublestops,
and it mutates into a
brilliantly squeaky 60s
organ sound. Add the
‘mouse organ’ to the
fake bass and 12-string
sounds, and the
Bomber reveals itself
to be a versatile pedal.
Of course, the DigiTech
Whammy DT can do
all those tricks too.
If you are looking for a gig-
proof, easy-to-use, polyphonic
pitchshifter pedal, the Morpheus
Bomber certainly fits the bill.
But wait – with the Whammy
DT already selling for as little as
£235 online, we reckon dealers
will have to sweeten the Bomber’s
price tag to tempt you away from
the spec sheet, brand heritage
and pricing of the DigiTech pedal.
at a glance
type: Polyphonic
pitch shifter
effects: Pitch shifting,
dive bombing
patches: N/A
controls: Effect on/off,
pitch interval select,
expression pedal, trim level
sockets: Guitar in, line out,
USB out, mains adaptor
power: 12V DC adaptor
(supplied)
contact: Sonic 8 03302
020160 morpheusefx.com
166 OCTOBER 2011
TGR219.gear_hd2hd.indd 166 8/15/11 2:10:49 PM