Flanger Question....What's up with the HUGE volume bump ?

[bernardo gui]

I've been playing since 1977 & I LOVE FLANGERS !

Flangers are my favorite effect & I love them dearly.

In the 1980's I was using a Boss BF-2 & it was really nice.

3 years ago I bought a Hartman Flanger. Nice with a HUGE volume bump.

I sent it back to Hartman, they claimed they fixed it, still loud as hell.

2 years ago I bought a ADA Flanger. Interesting pedal with a HUGE volume bump.

I used this pedal for a year & shelved it for a Ibanez FL99 Classic Flanger.

This pedal was soooo much better than The ADA Flanger.Still loud as hell.

I used this pedal for 6 months & switched it out for a vintage DOD 575 Flanger.

This vintage Flanger sounds killer, it only has 3 knobs & is still loud.

I use a 2006 100 watt Fender Twin Amp. Super loud. Super clean. Super heavy.

My signal chain is as follows:

 

Boss TU-2 Tuner, Dunlop Wah, Keeley Comp, Hermida Zendrive, Digitech Hardwire SC-2 Distortion....into the front of the amp.

Boss DD-7 Delay, MXR Phase 100, Retrosonic Chorus, DOD 575 Flanger.....into the effects loop.

 

 

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH FLANGERS ???

ARE THEY ALL LOUD AS HELL ???

DOES ANYBODY MAKE A FLANGER WITH A VOLUME KNOB ???

 

 

Thanks!

[bieke]

TRex Twister 2 has a level control

[Phil O'Keefe]

Or you can put the flanger and a inexpensive graphic EQ (such as the Danelectro Fish & Chips) into a true-bypass loop together; feed the flanger into the EQ, click both of them on, and set the master level fader on the graphic EQ to whatever level you want - that way, when you click the switch on the TB looper pedal, both pedals are activated simultaneously and you won't get the volume boost.

 

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/danelectro-dj14-fish-and-chips-7-band-eq-pedal

 

https://reverb.com/item/23818-saturnworks-compact-true-bypass-looper-loop-pedal?_aid=pla&pla=1&gclid=CK7dko_iwcQCFU6VfgodHigAyQ

[WRGKMC]

It wouldn't be that hard to add a volume to just about any flanger that has the space to mount a pot, or you can add a resistor to cut the level down. I have noticed this effect on flangers I've owned myself. The first I owned was an Electro Harmonix, and the second a DOD. Both had a certain amount of boost. Some of it does depend on your amp settings, but a good deal comes from the resonant feedback added to the dry signal, kind of like an echo plex with its repeat turned up. Maybe some flangers have hot preamps but they mainly sound louder then they actually are.

 

When used in a mix with other live instruments that flanging can be masked by them as it drifts in and out of phase with their frequencies into a white noise wash so you do need some bump there to get it to stand out. If you add other gain boxes with focused mids the resonant beaks can become even more prominent and the bypassed tones sound much more plain and less noticeable in comparison. The only true way of knowing what's an illusion or not is to put a DB meter in front of the speaker and see how many DB's it reads. Chances are the increased mids makes it seem allot louder then it actually is and the rotational phase just cuts through the mix better.

 

The fix could be a loop as Phil and others suggested. If you run gain boxes before it, turning those down a tad may help. Modifying the pedal can work too. Personally I'd use a loop if needed. Otherwise I'd just hang ten and use that volume. It is an effect and its designed to be noticed.

 

Maybe get a chorus pedal for the more subtle stuff. Chorus is very similar to a flanger, it just uses a longer echo resonance, whereas the Flanger uses a very short slap back for a more tubular tone. A phaser is of course in the family too with practically no resonance there. I have one of each I can use and all can be cool for different songs.

[1001gear]

I like flange on prerecorded material. They should ad it to boom boxes and media players.

[t_e_l_e]

the thing with flangers (and choruses) is, they are built with a feedback loop, this loop feeds output signal back to the input and adds it there up.

there is a short delay time (<15ms) which prevents it from oscillating and the feedback knob...

 

the shorter the delay and the bigger the feedback the more of the signal is routed back and adds "almost" to the original signal -> volume bump

 

so turning the knobs might make the volume bump less drastic, but i guess the flange sound will also not sound soo "cool" like you like it

less feedback or like phil recommended having it in a tp-loop with some volume control pedal, could solve your volume problem but also yur flange sound could get lost...

[bernardo gui]

Thanks for ALL the suggestions.

I love swooshy-watery Flange sounds.

I ALSO like having volume control over all my pedals.

Mr. O'keefe, I'm gonna use your suggestion....hope it works!

Thanks again guys for ALL the cool suggestions.

[runbeerrun]

You can use a laptop in your rig, build your own software or just automate it to be how you want things. Hardware is ok, but it's a market, there's no suggestion box for us.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Thanks for ALL the suggestions.

I love swooshy-watery Flange sounds.

I ALSO like having volume control over all my pedals.

Mr. O'keefe, I'm gonna use your suggestion....hope it works!

Thanks again guys for ALL the cool suggestions.

 

Cool - please let us know how it works out for you!

 

[Tech21NYC]

I'm assuming you're using "The Twin" that has the effects loop and not the reissue 65 Twin. Have you tried plugging your guitar directly into the front of the amp with nothing else and then trying the flanger to see if there is a volume jump? Also that amp has a gain adjustment for the efx loop. I would also try using the flanger in the loop with nothing else and see if there is a volume issue. My guess is that your Retro Sonic Chorus in the loop may be part of the problem,as your Hartman Flanger was. True bypass effects don't work well when combined with buffered effects as your impedance will keep changing every time the effects are engaged. An effect that has a buffer like your Boss DD-7 won't create problems and level jumps when you switch it in and out of the circuit. By contrast a true bypass effect will be fine when off as it is a straight through signal but when the pedal is engaged if there is no output buffer on the effect your impedance will shift which can cause a level as well as a tonal change.

 

It's possible to work around these issues by changing the placement of the effects. I usually try to place a buffered effect after a TB pedal so that pedal "sees" the same 1MegOhm input as it would directly into an amp. The Boss DD-7 has a 1 MegOhm input and 1K output. There is usually no problem when going low Z output to high Z input except for a few germanium fuzz and booster pedals.