Anyone know the story of Balilla whistles? I've had a hard time trying to find the story of the whistles (company, history, etc.) There's plenty of info on Fox40 and ACME, but I would have thought Balilla info would be plentiful. Also, I heard a rumor that Balilla as an Italian brand is disappearing and that Fox40 has bought the rights to manufacture it. Any truth to that rumor? And one last thing. Who manufactures the Devastator whistle? Any information would be appreciated.
I recently ordered a couple of Balilla whistles from Official Sports, but they had to back-order the purchase. It took about a month, but I did receive them. So apparently you can still get them. I like them for the volume they have for the amount of wind it takes, the commanding pitch, and the flexibility it provides to vary the tone.
Abu, what are you doing over here trying to stir things up on a referee board? I wish I could tell you who makes the Devastator... perhaps you can call up someone at Law 5 and find out. That's my whistle of choice, but since it's not widely available I bought several and stored them away in case I lose or break one.
Hey Benji! Funny running into you here. I'm actually trying to be serious over here. I'm not coaching this season so I decided to ref for a while. I've been buying and trying out tons of whistles ... I've gone a bit overboard. The Devestator appears to be made by (or contracted out for) Dinsport (http://norge.dinsport.dk/group.asp?group=22). It's a Danish company. Although they don't call it the Devestator. They call it the "Dinsport fløjte" (Dinsport whistle). I really like it as well. It has many advantages of a pea whistle (like control and variance) and the advantages of a pealess whistle (like the pea not getting stuck and being able to rinse it out so that the pea (pea substitute) doesn't build up with bacteria). For pea whistles, the Ballilas are very nice. Great sound. I'm not so hot on the ACME Thunderers, but they're much better than the crappy pea whistles I used when I coached. I also really like the ACME Tornado 635. It's a work of art, both funtionally and visually. See you on the "." thread. a-k
I like the Ballila as a warm weather whistle. The Fox 40 has too generic a sound and because players hear that particular pitch so often I think it runs the risk of losing its effect. Because the Ballila does not work well in cold weather, I use a Fox when it is cold. Fox does make a metal pea whistle for NHL referees. It has a very nice pitch and tone. You can find it on hockey ref websites. If you like finger whistles, it's another option.
Why don't Balillas work well in cold weather? Is it just the metal ones or the plastic ones also? Is it because it's a pea whistle? The NHL only wants refs to use pea whistles, so that should indicate that pea whistles are OK in the cold (perhaps not the extreme cold). Try the Devestator as an alternative.
Most NHL rinks are indoors so the feezing pea issue is not a problem. My Balilla A-1 froze this past Fall at a tournament when the temperature was in the upper 20's. The condensation from your breath freezes in the chamber and causes the pea to stick. I carry the Tornado 2000 as my back-up since it sounds better in the outdoors than the Fox. I have had both plastic (TIPO and Acme) and metal pea whistles freeze on me. I have not noticed that one is more or less likely to freeze, on that when the do freeze it comes at the moment you really did want to have a quick whistle. Another thing I have noticed is that they are more likely to freeze when you are wearing gloves, probably becuase your hands don't warm them, so as a rule of thumb (so to speak) when it is cold enough to wear gloves I switch to my pealess. Sherman
I have used my Devastator in pretty cold conditions and not had it freeze up on me. I suppose it could, but I think the design works to prevent it more than a plain pea whistle. But just in case, I keep a second whistle, a bright red mini-Fox, on the same lanyard. In fact, I got the good advice to keep a second whistle handy when I first started reffing. I chose the mini-Fox because of the radically different tone. Not only do I have a backup whistle should something happen to the Devastator, but several times I have switched to the mini-Fox mid-game to differentiate my whistle from a similar-sounding one on a nearby field. Plus the bright red whistle is easy to spot if I accidently drop them in the grass.
So, is there such a thing as a good American sports whistle? (American meaning U.S., not Canada). The (good and great) whistles I have are Canadian (Fox40), English (Acme), Italian (Balilla), Danish (Devastator), and German (B+D) (not in any particular order). There's a Japanese whistle that I'm trying to get a hold of (Kakuseisha) but I can't find a distributor in the U.S. I guess Storm is a quality U.S. whistle, but not what I would normally think of as a sports whistle.
Another option I use the old tubular-style ACME Tornado as my backup. It has a very, very different tone and doesn't use a pea. It's great when it's windy, and I have never seen it used at tournaments. Official Sports has it on its web page.
For a distinctive sound and freeze resistance, slice the pea out of a metal whistle and shove some fishing hook storage foam just inside the top opening on the chamber side. You can create lots of different pitches and the foam will trap the moisture of your breath.
Interesting....sounds like someone's been watching too many reruns of MacGyver! So let me get this straight. The end result is no pea, and some foam in the chamber. Do you need to secure the foam with anything?
No pea, and what I do when carving the foam is leave it just a little bit wider than the width of the whistle. Before putting it in I dunk it in water and squish it a little, then allow it to dry and expand to fill the area. This makes for a snug fit so you don't need to use anything to hold it down. However, you could pretty much just jam some in there and it would work fine, but play around with different sizes and see what will work best. Some metal whistles have a little dimple just inside the chamber and you can use that to hold in the foam as well.