In a Nutshell – Flangers

The world of effects is a vast and complex one, a world that remains a mystery to many but that we guitarists must master if we are to find our own sound. From wah to reverb, from boost to delay... the possibilities are endless, and this complexity is compounded with each additional link in the chain. Effects are available in many guises today, with rack-mounted devices and software on our computers; however, we will concentrate on good old fashioned pedals.

This time we'll look at flangers. Belonging to the modulation family of effects they tend to be used more sparingly than some of the more familiar suspects on a pedalboard, but their use is widespread and distinctive.

The Science

We already touched on flanger effects in the article on phasers some months ago. To create the effect, the signal is duplicated and then one of the pair is delayed by a small and variable amount usually less than 20ms producing a swept comb filter effect. Just like a phaser, peaks and notches appear in the resultant sound wave. Part of the output is generally fed back to the input adding to the intensity of the effect. The term ‘flange’ derives from the original method of achieving this effect where a sound engineer would press on the flange or edge of one tape during playback to alter the speed, whilst allowing the other to continue as normal. When the two were recorded on to a third the resulting mismatch between tapes produced the sound. Now, all this is done electronically and the name is credited to John Lennon, who coined it when confronted with the technical explanation of the effect during the recording of ‘Revolver’.

In Use

The first recorded use of a dedicated flanger was in 1966 by Ken Townsend during the recording of ‘Revolver’ with his then revolutionary ADT or ‘Artificial Double Track’ used originally to double track vocals without the need to re-record. There is some debate however on the first recorded use of the effect with it being attributed to the BBC and Gold Star Studios – both in 1959/60. The first recorded use of a flanger in stereo is credited to Eddie Kramer as engineer on Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Bold as Love’ in 1967. Kramer has stated in interview that he got the idea from BBC journals which may bolster their claim to be the originators of the effect.

Products

As always, all the manufacturers of pedal effects have a flanger in the range. Here are some of my favourites:

The BOSS BF-3 builds on the successful BF-2 that has been the company’s standard flanger offering for over 20 years. The updated version promises “The thickest stereo flanging sounds ever” and delivers with two new modes - Ultra and Gate/Pan giving the player the tools to create immersive, swirling flange effects straight out of the box. I’ll admit I never really liked the BF-2, but the BF-3 is a definite improvement and is bomb proof as we have learned to expect from BOSS.

The Ibanez FL9 is a reissue of a pedal I had very early on, and it’s still a classic. At $129 or £99 RRP it isn’t cheap but it gives you more control over the variables of the effect and allows the player to dial in a huge variety of sounds from mild to extreme. Like the other reissue pedals from Ibanez, the FL9 is solidly constructed and intelligently laid out – highly recommended.

The MXR M117-R retails at $169 or £129 and offers in my opinion the most versatile performance of any flanger I have tested to date... at a price. The M117-R give you complete control of the filter so you can sculpt the sound you want. You can create short delays, vibrato and chorus effects in addition to flange but the real joy of this pedal is in the granularity of control. By disengaging the auto-sweep you can use the controls to place the effect anywhere in the frequency spectrum and for any multi-instrumentalists out there the pedal can also be used with a bass or keyboard.

The manual says it also works on vocals, but I’ve personally never used that element. The pedal comes with a footswitch to engage or bypass the unit so probably the only negative here aside from the price is the additional space it will take up on your pedal board, which my opinion it more than earns in performance.


So that’s flangers in a nutshell... they have helped shape some of the classic sounds we all know and love, and the classics on the pedalboards of your heroes have never been so available. Check out the recommended products and if you find any other interesting effects on your travels, post a review in the guitartricks forum.