It feels good to be back, and it feels good to be back with one of these.
Tonight’s “Things That Are Older Than Me” is about modulation.
This is about a Flanger.
Quick update, life has been wild. I got to visit a excellent friend in Asheville, NC in the spring and to snag a beautiful black label OC-2 (which is another story for another day). Work has been rocking, life has been rocking, band has been really rocking!
As you may have surmised, I believe there is something to be said about vintage pedals. I also believe there is something to be said about new and improved counterparts. That OC-2 is something special. But in a live situation I appreciate the dependability, accessibility and improvements (top jacks yo) on modern variants of storied pedals.
However, components and design are great reasons why vintage pedals have a place in my heart, even if they don’t have a place on the pedalboards that I take out. They may not see certain gigging/jamming situations, but for recording and making music they can be magical. Which takes us to the point of this….
The MXR M-117.
So I like flangers, I really do. It’s such a fun effect. Quite by chance, I stumbled upon this M117. I wasn’t too sure of the year, I was semi familiar with the modern repro with side mounted jacks. So it was bye to the eq pedal I wasn’t using and hello to the flanger that has been a ton of fun to play.
It turns out this thing is (at least to my dating) a very late 70’s- early 80’s variant. The first thing I thought of when I saw this pedal was Van Halen. “Unchained” and it’s flanger usage is so rad and inspirational to me. This, to my research, would be the variant that would get me closest to that era and sound. I mean, flange is just a cool effect all around. It’s perfect for someone that loves filters, hates chorus, but still needs that modulated sound. It goes deeper and is more emotive as a way to enhance a tone, in my humble opinion. So with a flange I get my chorus vibes covered without a chorus pedal, sometimes (depending on the flanger) I have my funky vibes covered too. It’s the perfect modulation pedal for me.
This M-117 has the AC power vs a now standard 9v (or similar DC) connection. And those side jacks..for both input and output! Solderless cables are a godsend for runs like this, because very few companies make a patch cable that would work in this setup.
And now the sound. This thing can go from warm and funky to jet plane and everywhere in between. On bass it just adds this nice little dimension that I can slip into. It is a deep flanger, or at least it can be if you want it to. Lay it back and it does subtle like it invented the word.
I have flangers that can be great flangers. I have flangers that can go through zero, I haven’t been able to push this one past zero yet, but I’ve gotten really close.
Remember when I was talking about modern improvements? I make exceptions to lack of LED indications for the noise this thing puts out. What a rad Flanger.
