I think I need a flanger (but I hate flangers...)

[Chankgeez]

Hate flangers?

u made?

I'm a made, made man.

[qersty]

madman made to flange man

[Chankgeez]

Try a cheap, four knob, 80s flanger.

[qersty]

is 4 the magic knob number?

[Chankgeez]

Not according to De La Soul:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZoYEr6NdmE[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZoYEr6NdmE



If you're askin' me, I think you need at least 4 knobs on a flanger. Brings out the versatility.

[friendship]

Ok so back in my filled up PT-Pro days I had a Strymon flanger to make whirly psychedelic sounds but it didn't work out. It just made my dirt sound like a mess of white noise (in a bad evh way) or made everything sound like Tool or some shit like that. So I ended up getting rid of it and using chorus instead. I guess I am weird cause I love chorus after distortion but don't like flangers.

Anyways! I just got an urge to get a flanger again just cause I love goth shit. Like I have been on a huge Cure kick and I just love the sounds they get with flangers and choruses stacked. Like the bass intro on Holy Hours is just the sickest thing ever.

I did fuck around with the bitquest flanger but felt as disappointed as always, even the batshit crazy stuff just felt like uninspiring flangy crap. I also tried to get some flangier sounds with my moog chorus also and got some ok stuff but felt still kind of wrong I have done some stuff on ye computer machine too but still just feels like a bad ocean sound effect.

Am I just feeling "I don't have this so I need it"? I am thinking I should rather just get another chorus pedal but like all chorus pedals are boring as shit overpriced mojo boxes for old SRV/Gilmour/whatever old dudes who use chorus without getting shunned by the haters.

I went through this with phasers; was listening to tons of stuff with cool phaser sounds and decided that must mean I want one. Bought one, and it does sound great, but it mostly sits unused in my effects chest. Turns out what I like to listen to and what I actually use as a musician aren't necessarily the same thing.

[dubkitty]

if you dislike the typical flanger sounds, try setting the Depth (or Width, or whatever the hell they call it) so the flanging only has a 2- or 3-note up/down frequency range, which makes it much clearer and more manageable. it seems like one could do a lot worse than the Boss unit, which James Dean Bradfield has relied on for decades now.

[ck3]

If icepickiniess is a concern, the Boss HF-2/related clone or Mooer Elady may not be ideal options. As Dowi mentioned, I'm surprised the Bitquest flanger tone control isn't able to rectify the issue to some extent. Out of all the flangers I've tried in recent years, the Subdecay Starlight has probably been the darkest/warmest and offers a vast array of waveforms, one of which will definitely nail classic Cure. Also, if you dig the Minifooger Chorus, there's a flanger in the same series that is pretty amazing IMO (it's my current favorite).

[retinal orbita]

Try a cheap, four knob, 80s flanger.

I recently bought a DOD Bass Stereo Flanger for $29 and I was really surprised how great it sounds. It has.... 4 knobs! Coincidence?

[Chankgeez]

Not.

[lordgalvar]

I like Amdek and Maxon. Love both of the early versions of these.

SAD chips are something to look for sometimes. They are a bit more subtle than MN.

And Chankgeez is right. 4 knob 80s is a good place to start (except the Yamaha I have...it kind of sounds like a frog).

The DOD jet one isn't bad..I like it. The DOD 640 SAD one is pretty noisy.

There was a Morley non-treadle one that gothy bands used.

All an excuse to post Part1 again.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kezAP-ozkxA[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kezAP-ozkxA

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eExvuKoVpo[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eExvuKoVpo

[qersty]

Gotta check out some makes, i tried looking at the boss ones but there's so much ACA bull going on with the cheaper ones. Morley stuff is always cool, Maxon stuff too and I found a cheap 3-knob one I've been eyeing.

Tho damn Part 1 is some good stuff! Cool flange tones but man that fretless is tasty. Gotta listen to more Deathrock stuff

[resincum]

well I don't think flangers are for you! you've tried some cool ones already. my personal faves are the bitquest, deco and bf-2. flanger reverb on space is ridiculous, too. I think the moogerfooger one nails that dark tone, but I hated the LFO on it.

[frigid midget]

Liked what other people did with flangers, and I was bored with chorus, but I always sounded like Prince or Tool no matter what I tried playing

I don't suppose your amp has an effects loop?
If it's a genuine love/hate thing, than I probably can't help you, but depending on your amp and on how good the fx loop is, it can help giving your flanger a nicer place in the whole mix. It might make it sound less cheesy cliché fangery and/or less noisy with dirt

I'm using delay in one form or the other about 60% of the time. So I send the flanger through the fx loop of the delay. Gives it the right amount of swirlyness, but in a more musical way, not as overbearing or annoying.

I'm using a Digitech Nautila, so I sometimes flick the switch to the chorus side to get a different shade of wobblydoo on my repeats. Hours of fun syncing the flanger with the delay, or smear out a more suble glassy slow flange thing over the repeats

By itself the nautila's flange gets its ass whooped by the Boss BF-3 though. The chorus is decent, but still not as good as what I remember from my old CE-2.
But it's enough for what I need. Cheap, stereo, compact,...

Since the nautila is now constantly hooked to the delay though, I'm now telling myself I've got a good excuse to get a nice phaser/vibe pedlol

Anyway, the bitquest's flanger was one of its weakest modes imo. The other ones were cool, but it still felt too much like a typical multi effect to me. Good at a lot of things, great at nothing in particular

[oldangelmidnight]

Take a look at the Subdecay Starlight MkII.

the Subdecay Starlight has probably been the darkest/warmest and offers a vast array of waveforms, one of which will definitely nail classic Cure.

I'll third the Starlight. It can get lots of different flange sounds. It can definitely goth. If you're not into the standard flange sounds, you can crank a trimpot and get it to self-oscillate. The Blueshift version might be even more gothy if you can get ahold of one.