Top 10 Modern Flanger Effect Pedals
What is a Flanger? This is the first question I needed to define before I started testing flangers for this article.
I own a few of them, but never stopped to see how they actually where developed. A flanger effect is a simple modulation delay that fits between a shorter vibrato, and a longer phaser effect. Simply defined, the effect splits the signal and brings back the secondary signal a short time later, creating a harmonic sound. Kind of the Boys II Men of effects.
It was first created by having two tape identical recordings, pressing play on one of them, and then shortly after, pressing play on the second one. You get that “jet airplane” whoooooshing sound.
The knobs on each flanger pedal vary, but mostly you have a knob to choose the “Depth” (How much/many peaks and valleys we will be using) and the “Rate” (How quickly we will sweep across the depth from high to low).
For this article, I am choosing ten guitar effect pedals that I have played or listened to, and I feel created the best flanging sound. I chose ten pedals that only did flanging. There are a slew of other pedals that do multiple effects: Flange, Chorus, Phase, etc.. I just wanted the straight-up flanger pedal, and I only chose one per manufacturer.
I would love to read your comments on others that I may have missed, or opinions on these flanger pedals as well. Quickly register and add a comment. As always, we add our registered users into our monthly pedal giveaways. Great comments get additional names in the drawings.
A/DA Retail Price: $179.00
EHX Retail Price: $153.00
Strymon Retail Price: $299.00
MXR Retail Price: $189.00
Alexander Retail Price $199.00
Boss Retail Price: $153.00
TC Electronic Retail Price: $129.00
EarthQuaker Retail Price: $299.00
Source Audio Retail Price: $149.00
Mr. Black Retail Price: $179.00
Single effect flanger pedals may be a dying breed. Manufacturers are creating more and more multi-effect pedals to offer guitarists more options. The issue is that many guitarist don’t have the ability to scroll through menus or to flip multiple knobs and switches while playing on stage. Let’s hear it for the companies that make a simple to use, very “effective” flanger.
Per usual, you can view and sort thousands of pedals from our “All Pedals” page link listed below. Find the tone right for you.