Unchained Flange effect-Studio version.

[TheWhiteShadow]

Is he doing pick scrapes along with the flange?
It's very hard to replicate, I have a boss flanger and tried it both in the effect loop and before the amp.
It could've also been enhanced with studio gear during the mix/post production or whatever.
Just curious with your opinions.

All he is doing is is chugging the palm-muted drop-d - no pick scraping or anything else. The only Flanger I've heard really get it 100% right is the MXR Flanger with the Regen set correctly. Out front, of course.

Steve

^^^ This!!!

My band plays Unchained often. I use an MXR Flanger into the front end of a Bogner XTC blue channel. Sounds perfect...

What I was missing with the Boss was the flange effect was too low in the mix, hence 2 knobs on 10. So now that the flange is dripping wet it was easier to dial in the appropriate sweep/depth/width. What didn't work was taking the MXR settings and substituting them with the Boss settings, i.e. width=depth, speed=rate. They are the same theoretically but they don't translate well.

 

[CP5150]

Is he doing pick scrapes along with the flange?
It's very hard to replicate, I have a boss flanger and tried it both in the effect loop and before the amp.
It could've also been enhanced with studio gear during the mix/post production or whatever.
Just curious with your opinions.

All he is doing is is chugging the palm-muted drop-d - no pick scraping or anything else. The only Flanger I've heard really get it 100% right is the MXR Flanger with the Regen set correctly. Out front, of course.

Steve

What he said. I'll add you need gain. Into a cleanish amp it won't sound the same.

Ed's MXR signature striped flanger has an Unchained switch. Flip it for perfect Unchained sweep. And Ed has said he never changed his flanger settings. So that switch should work for all VH flanger tunes. I have the reissue MXR and it works perfectly for me.

 

[chumbucket]

Here's the iso track fwiw.

 

[psychodave]

I'd like to add that all of those old MXR flangers are different. There are a few different versions, and the second version has a cut trace on the board from a design defect. They vary from unit to unit. The boxes are also thinner in earlier years and slightly thicker in later years. Then later on they added an LED. I've had a bunch of MXR flangers and the one I kept does the unchained in spades if you get the sweep timing right with your playing.

The same goes for the MXR phase 90. The older road paint orange from 1974 sound different from some of the others. Yeah, I've had a bunch of them too. Sadly my very first original 74 phase 90 doesn't phase anymore. It had "that" VH sound in it too.

 

[lll]

Here's an older version of my own (w/ backing; no eq) manually adding flanger (turn on/off during copy-tracking) in the DAW with an old Kjaerhus Audio Flanger VST:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12826218

 

[shredhead7]

I had a tab that said pick up the string towards the neck on the flanged parts. I thought it sounded like a flanger, but those were the notes. I started scrapping the low e string starting over the middle pickup and bounced it up the neck, scraping it as I went. It wasn't exactly the sound, but pretty damned close. Once I bought the EVH flanger, set to Eddie's settings, not the button settings, and played it the same way, it's spot on.

 

[TheWhiteShadow]

I'd like to add that all of those old MXR flangers are different. There are a few different versions, and the second version has a cut trace on the board from a design defect. They vary from unit to unit. The boxes are also thinner in earlier years and slightly thicker in later years. Then later on they added an LED. I've had a bunch of MXR flangers and the one I kept does the unchained in spades if you get the sweep timing right with your playing.

The same goes for the MXR phase 90. The older road paint orange from 1974 sound different from some of the others. Yeah, I've had a bunch of them too. Sadly my very first original 74 phase 90 doesn't phase anymore. It had "that" VH sound in it too.

That's fascinating. Do you know how do these pedals work in terms of where the sweep is when it's off?

 

[TheWhiteShadow]

Here's an older version of my own (w/ backing; no eq) manually adding flanger (turn on/off during copy-tracking) in the DAW with an old Kjaerhus Audio Flanger VST:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12826218

That's excellent. Does the job!

 

[311boogieman]

That's fascinating. Do you know how do these pedals work in terms of where the sweep is when it's off?

I really want to know how this works too. The EVH MXR 117 Flanger. As you turn the pedal on and off - how does it know where you are at in the oscillation? For a song like Unchained.



I have been combing the internet, like 20-30 websites, and I can't find an answer. I made a little diagram to help explain myself.

The sine wave is obvious. This represents, generically, the flanger's frequency response. I know. I know. It doesn't exactly work like that but it was the only way I knew how to show this. The dots are notes. The red parts are the 'muted' parts at the peak and trough of the wave (that we don't hear - as the pedal is turned on and off).

 

[psychodave]

I'd like to add that all of those old MXR flangers are different. There are a few different versions, and the second version has a cut trace on the board from a design defect. They vary from unit to unit. The boxes are also thinner in earlier years and slightly thicker in later years. Then later on they added an LED. I've had a bunch of MXR flangers and the one I kept does the unchained in spades if you get the sweep timing right with your playing.

The same goes for the MXR phase 90. The older road paint orange from 1974 sound different from some of the others. Yeah, I've had a bunch of them too. Sadly my very first original 74 phase 90 doesn't phase anymore. It had "that" VH sound in it too.

That's fascinating. Do you know how do these pedals work in terms of where the sweep is when it's off?

When it's off, it is still sweeping on the pedal. You can't match the sweep unless your song follows the sweep of the pedal. lol

 

[psychodave]

Here is a pic of two of my old flangers. Versions 103 and 104. 103 sound better and has the cut Trace above the blue filter cap.

 

[Anonymous]

Here's my old 101. Sounds like the records to me...

Steve

 

[Stradazone]

I use a MXR 90's reissue flanger with my rig (dimed Marshall SLP with variac) it sounded better than the original '70's MXR and the EVH Signature model to me, here's a little excerpt from my band's promo video..

 

[311boogieman]

When it's off, it is still sweeping on the pedal.

How long does it do that for? The continuous sweeping part?


Edit: I guess it can still detect that there is a guitar signal going through it, mutes the flanging, bypasses your signal on through and shuts down the flanging after it no longer detects a guitar signal after 'x' amount of time.

 

[rcm78]

When it's off, it is still sweeping on the pedal.

How long does it do that for? The continuous sweeping part?


Edit: I guess it can still detect that there is a guitar signal going through it, mutes the flanging, bypasses your signal on through and shuts down the flanging after it no longer detects a guitar signal after 'x' amount of time.

I just assumed the flanger is continuous as long as the unit is powered and a cable is plugged into the input.
The Strymon Möbius can perfectly replicate the EVH flanger (Pete Thorn posted the settings in the Mobius thread) but since it's a digital modeler the sweep starts over every time you turn the effect on. Totally ruins it for me. I guess it would work if I used a midi pedal controller like the Boss ES8, left the pedal on and turned the loop on and off with midi. The MXR unit is easier.

 

[SpiderWars]

Al (or anybody), is the 90s reissue true bypass? I noticed the LED is a slightly different color and it says 'PWR' instead of 'POWER' vs the new reissues. I've got a 90s version on the way so I'll know soon enough. Just curious.

 

[Purerock7]

Doug Rappoport does a great version during a demo (Unchained at 2:07). He's just tapping the EVH flanger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iThOQL2YA8w

 

[Stradazone]

Al (or anybody), is the 90s reissue true bypass? I noticed the LED is a slightly different color and it says 'PWR' instead of 'POWER' vs the new reissues. I've got a 90s version on the way so I'll know soon enough. Just curious.

As far as I know none of the MXR flangers are true bypass, not really a issue if you run a buffer in the beginning of your chain or you can put it in a true bypass looper/switcher if it bothers you

 

[SpiderWars]

Al (or anybody), is the 90s reissue true bypass? I noticed the LED is a slightly different color and it says 'PWR' instead of 'POWER' vs the new reissues. I've got a 90s version on the way so I'll know soon enough. Just curious.

As far as I know none of the MXR flangers are true bypass, not really a issue if you run a buffer in the beginning of your chain or you can put it in a true bypass looper/switcher if it bothers you

Thanks. The MXR website says the new reissue is Hardwire Bypass but I don't know about the earlier reissue. I was trying to figure out the best spot for it in the chain and it's looking like it will be first.

EDIT: Upon further review, Hardwire Bypass is not True Bypass and is how the old MXR effects were done. Sounded like a type of true bypass at first. Same as my EVH Phase 90.