The Sioux Guitars Flood of '53 Flanger is a flanger pedal from Sioux City, Iowa, named after a huge rainfall that hit and flooded the town many decades ago1. Pedal of the Day, reviewing it in December 2018, described it as a pedal that "will wash your tone and cover your amp with a sonic blanket", and its bright red enclosure houses the four controls players expect from this type of effect1.
The controls: Regen, Rate, Depth and Manual
The Flood of '53 carries the control set one would expect from a flanger, and each knob does a distinct job1.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Depth (Width) | Determines how much modulation will occur |
| Rate (Speed) | Sets the speed of the Low Frequency Oscillator |
| Manual | Adjusts the region of the delay times offered up, about 1 to 10 ms, and sweeps across the entire range the flanger has to use |
| Regen | Acts as a sort of feedback control, setting how much of the effect output gets fed back into the input |
Depth and Rate work together in the usual way: Depth sets how far the sweep travels, while Rate sets how quickly the Low Frequency Oscillator drives it back and forth1. Manual is the knob that positions the sweep itself. The delay times it covers sit at about 1 to 10 ms, the short window a flanger works in, and turning it sweeps across the entire range the pedal has available1. Regen is the intensity control: the more of the effected signal fed back into the input, the more pronounced the flanging becomes, which Pedal of the Day described as producing "gorgeous washes of sound"1.
What reviewers said
Pedal of the Day's verdict, from its 13 December 2018 review, was that the Flood of '53 is a beast of a modulator, one that would fit well on an experimenter's post rock, shoegaze or ambient pedalboard, while also adding flavor and texture to any guitarist or bassist who wants to flat out rock1.
For players comparing it with other flangers on the site, the four-knob layout places it alongside conventional analog-style designs such as the MXR Flanger or the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress, rather than the preset-heavy digital units like the EarthQuaker Devices Pyramids1.
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Questions
What delay times does the Sioux Guitars Flood of '53 cover?
The Manual knob adjusts the region of the delay times the pedal offers, which Pedal of the Day put at about 1 to 10 ms. Turning Manual sweeps across the entire range the flanger has available, so it sets where in that window the modulated delay sits.
What does the Manual knob do on a flanger?
On the Flood of '53, Manual adjusts the region of the delay times offered up, about 1 to 10 ms, and will sweep across the entire range that the flanger has to use. In plain terms, it positions the base delay that the Rate and Depth controls then modulate, which shapes the character of the sweep.
What does the Regen control do on the Flood of '53?
Regen acts as a sort of feedback control, setting how much of the effect that is output gets fed back into the input. Pedal of the Day described this as producing gorgeous washes of sound, so higher Regen settings push the flanging into more intense, sustained territory.
Why is it called the Flood of '53?
The pedal is named after a huge rainfall that hit and flooded Sioux City, Iowa, the town the maker comes from, many decades ago. Pedal of the Day called the name apt for that reason.
Who makes the Flood of '53 Flanger?
The Flood of '53 Flanger comes from Sioux Guitars, a maker based in Sioux City, Iowa, according to Pedal of the Day's 2018 review of the pedal.
Sources (1)
- Sioux Guitars Flood of '53 Flanger Effect, Pedal of the Day, 2018-12-13
