Flanger Pedals

A flanger is a modulation effect that mixes a very short, constantly changing delay back with your dry signal. Because the delay is so short, the copy interferes with the original and carves a set of moving notches into the frequency response, which the ear hears as a sweeping, jet-plane whoosh. It is the most aggressive member of the modulation family that also includes chorus and phaser pedals, and it sits alongside delay and reverb as one of the time-based effects on a pedalboard.

Flangers come in every shape and price class. Behringer's Ultra Flanger UF100 is a compact flanger effects pedal designed for electric guitar¹, Old Blood Noise Endeavors describes its Flat Light as "a flanger unlike any other"², and the Rowin LN-312 packs two switchable flanger effects into a mini enclosure³. What they all share is the same underlying trick: a delayed copy of your signal, swept up and down in time.

How a flanger works

Every flanger splits your signal into two paths. The dry path passes through untouched. The wet path goes through a short delay whose time is constantly changed by a low-frequency oscillator, or LFO. When the two paths are summed, frequencies where the peaks and dips line up reinforce each other and frequencies where they oppose cancel, producing a comb of notches that slides up and down as the delay time changes. That sliding comb is the flanger sound.

The depth of the LFO, meaning how far the delay time swings, controls how pronounced the sweep is. Feedback, sometimes called regeneration or resonance, feeds part of the delayed signal back through the delay to sharpen the notches, which is what makes a flanger go from a gentle shimmer to a full jet takeoff.

The delay element itself is what separates analog from digital flangers. Analog designs use a bucket-brigade device, or BBD chip, which passes the signal along a chain of capacitors, and the number of stages in the chip sets the character of the modulation. Digital flangers model the same process in software, which allows delay times and control schemes an analog circuit cannot reach.

History and landmark flangers

Flanging began as a studio trick, achieved by hand-drifting the speed of two tape machines playing the same material, before it was packed into pedals. The pedal era arrived in the 1970s and early 1980s, and much of today's market is still built on those circuits⁴⁵.

The BOSS BF-2 Flanger, appearing in 1981 and remaining a catalog fixture for over two decades, earned a reputation as one of the company's enduring modulation designs⁶. The Pearl FG-01 was a lesser known contemporary of some of the 1980's compact flanger pedals like the Boss BF-2 or DOD FX-75⁷. Morley's history page notes that its Pro Flanger "is regarded today as one of the best Flangers of all time by Andy Martin"⁸.

Other landmarks come from the pedal era. The BOSS BF-2 Flanger appeared in 1981 and remained a catalog fixture for over two decades, earning a reputation as one of the standouts of its type⁶. The A/DA Flanger, the first product developed by engineer Dave Tarnowski, began shipping in 1980⁹, and the original A/DA Flanger "may be the most legendary pedal flanger ever built"¹⁰.

The vintage recreation scene is active. PastFx builds its 80/A Flanger "based upon a venerable late 70's, early 80's discontinued analog flanger pedal famously utilised by numerous musicians"¹¹. Its Reticon Flanger is "a faithful recreation and expansion of perhaps the most notorious and controversial" vintage flanger¹².

Alexander Pedals states that its F.13 and F.13N pedals "are benchmarks for flanging excellence"¹³¹⁴, with the company's roots firmly planted in flanging concepts, and its current Dynaflanger Model 213 continues that line as a Leap series flanger pedal¹⁵.

Styles of flanger

Not every flanger aims for the same sound, and knowing the styles helps you read a product page.

• Classic analog flangers recreate the BBD circuits of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Retro-Sonic Classic Analog Flanger sits here⁵⁹, and Nady's FL-10, a classic-style flanger pedal with four controls, offers dynamic flanging¹⁶.
• Digital flangers replace the BBD with digital circuitry. Ibanez's DFL Digital Flanger is one example¹⁷.
• Compact pedals shrink the format. The Pearl FG-01 was a lesser known contemporary of 1980's compact flanger pedals like the Boss BF-2 or DOD FX-75⁷, and Mr. Black's Mini Flanger offers three controls: width, recycle (regeneration) and more in a small enclosure¹⁸.

New entries keep arriving. Fender's Hammertone Flanger and Behringer's Pedal Flanger are both current flanger pedals¹⁹²⁰, and MXR's M117R Flanger, "a staple of funky '70s sounds, from jet plane to space effects," remains in the lineup²¹.

The usual controls

Most flanger control panels are variations on the same few knobs. Here is what each one does, using makers' own descriptions.

Some designs add their own twists. The Mu-Tron Flanger's pedal switches between the LFO wave and the pedal itself as the control source of the delay time, so you can perform the sweep by foot²⁶. ThorpyFX's CAMOFLANGE offers very interactive controls plus a wet and dry output²⁷. Strymon's Cloudburst accepts a standard TRS expression pedal for continuous control over the knobs of the pedal²⁸. Zander Circuitry's Junipero adds a CTRL knob that introduces feedback for a more intense, vocal-like effect¹⁷.

Signal chain placement and power

A widely shared ordering for the pedalboard, from guitar to amp, runs: tuner first, before all other pedals, then wah directly after the tuner and before the drive section, compression close to the guitar because those units work best with an even-volume signal, then the drives, then modulation, then delay, then reverb, with an amp or cab simulator most commonly at the end of the chain, routed to a PA system, audio interface or headphones³⁰. Modulation effects stand out in the mix when placed after the drive section, though positioning is not set in stone³⁰. A looper should come before the delay, with the exact spot depending on how looped phrases should be effected³⁰.

Two caveats from other makers are worth knowing. Origin Effects notes that any pedals that don't work with buffers, meaning certain vintage fuzz and wah pedals, should go before buffered tuners and before the compressor³¹. And Strymon advises positioning its Canoga flanger as the first pedal in the signal chain to maximize interaction with the instrument's pickups and volume knob³², a reminder that a flanger placed early responds to your playing dynamics in a way one placed late does not.

For power, check each pedal's requirements before buying: analog BBD flangers and digital designs draw different currents, and a pedal needing more current than a daisy chain supplies will misbehave. Fender's Hammertone Flanger uses pedalboard-friendly top-mounted input and output jacks and a true bypass footswitch, which RockBoard's PedalPedia says means it will integrate seamlessly into your rig³³.

Questions to ask when choosing a flanger

• Analog or digital? Analog BBD circuits, like the PastFx 80/A¹¹ or the MXR M226³⁴, carry the vintage character and noise profile of their chips. Digital designs offer presets, stereo routing and control options such as expression inputs²⁸.
• How much feedback do you want? If the jet-plane roar is the point, look for a wide feedback range, including the MM-8's ability to reach an oscillator noise tone²³. If you want a subtler texture, a centered feedback control like the Supro's gives you a clean off position²².
• Do you need through-zero? The dip-through-zero effect is a distinct sound, available from pedals like the Junipero¹⁷ and the Zero Point Flanger¹⁷, but not from every flanger.
• Mono or stereo? The Supro Flanger is full-stereo with a Dimension switch that crossfeeds the two channels²²; many compact flangers are mono only.
• Do you want flanging combined with other effects? The Twister II covers chorus and flanger in one pedal³⁵, and multi-mode units like the Echoflanger reissue add chorus, slap back and filter matrix modes¹⁵.
• Is it for a small board? Mini pedals like the Rowin LN-312³ and compact units like the Behringer UF100¹ trade control count for space.

Questions