Ibanez DFL

The Ibanez DFL Digital Flanger is a vintage flanger pedal made by Ibanez in Japan. It holds a specific place in flanger history: it was Ibanez's first digital flanger, and Pedal of the Day's Mike B. writes that it was the first flanger of any kind to use digital processing, through Ibanez's IDPC (Ibanez Digital Processing Conversion) system¹. It was sold only from 1985 to 1986, and the reference site ToneHome rates its collectibility as high²¹.

What it does

The DFL is a flanger, an effect that sweeps a short delay against the dry signal to produce the familiar jet-like sweep. What set the DFL apart was how it got there. Mike B. of Pedal of the Day explains that the IDPC digital processing "permits wideband, brighter flanging effects that were previously available only with rackmount digital processors"¹. In other words, the DFL brought the kind of flanging players associated with rack units into a stompbox, with a brighter, wider character than the analog flangers of its day.

For a player picking one up today, the controls are the classic flanger set. The DFL carries four full sweep knobs: Width, Speed, Regen, and D-Time¹. Width sets the range of the sweep, Speed sets how fast it moves, Regen sets the intensity of the feedback, and D-Time sets the delay time of the flanged signal.

History and collectibility

Ibanez produced the DFL in 1985², and Pedal of the Day notes that "The DFL was sold from 1985-1986"¹. That short production run is part of why the pedal is sought after: ToneHome lists its collectibility as high². It belongs to Ibanez's Master Series L, and ToneHome records it under the name "Ibanez DFL Digital Flanger"².

The DFL sits alongside Ibanez's other flangers, such as the analog Ibanez FL9 and the Ibanez FL-303 Flanger, as part of the company's wider run of flanger designs covered on the Flanger Pedals page.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Questions