I bought a EH Electric Mistress flanger a couple of months back on eBay, but it turned out to have some problems (random pops, squeals and beat patterns) so I returned it for a full refund. The seller is going to try to get it fixed under warranty, but I have my doubts that he'll be successful. I told him I'd buy it back, if he can get it fixed. In the meantime, I thought I'd look around and see what was available for cheap. I have a Danelectro Hash Browns flanger, but it doesn't have much "whoosh" and the controls don't seem to have a lot of range to them.

A couple of days ago, I was poking around on eBay and came across the Behringer UF100 Ultra Flanger with a BIN price of a mere $20. These are relatively new pedals, and I couldn't find much in the way of reviews, though the few I came across were generally pretty positive. But at that price, what the heck--worth a try!

Anyway, the pedal arrived yesterday and while it isn't the greatest flanger in the world by any means, it's certainly worth what I paid for it and then some. Comments & impressions:

  • A pretty standard looking stompbox (see image below), with a 9V adapter jack on the side and battery mount under the removable pedal. The casing is plastic, which will turn some people off, I realize. This isn't an issue for me, because as a hobby player, my pedals don't see much abuse. But guitarists who gig a lot will probably want a sturdier metal box. OTOH, I made my living in the plastics industry for many years, and there are some incredibly tough resins out there, so you might be surprised at the punishment this little box will absorb.
  • The UF100 has four control knobs for Manual (delay interval), Depth (sweep width), Rate (sweep cycle time) and Resonance (signal feedback). It also has a toggle for two different flange modes, with one the standard negative feedback (inverted delay signal) commonly used in flangers, and also a positive feedback mode (non-inverted signal) that gives more of a detuned/vibrato character to the output. The four control knobs have plenty of dynamic range, and it's easy to get some pretty strange (and questionably useful) sounds out of it.
  • There's certainly no shortage of "whoosh" on tap here. You can get a pretty convincing EVH Unchained or Heart Barracuda sound going in nothing flat. I find that I much prefer the sound of a distorted guitar through a flanger, and this unit is no different. Clean guitar tones seem to sound rather oddly modulated though the UF100--at least at those settings I've tried so far--so I'll stick to a phaser, chorus or vibrato pedal for those warbly, watery tones.

I've really just scratched the surface on the sounds this pedal will generate, especially in the positive feedback mode. If I have one main criticism at this point it's that you have to hunt around a bit for the useful settings. Many of the settings I've tried so far--especially when I venture past 12 noon on some of the control knobs--are just plain weird to my rather conservative ear. But there are plenty of good ones in there, too, and it's tough to beat the value of this $20 pedal!

P.S. The Behringer website has pretty cool little Shockwave Flash app for listening to sound samples of some of their extensive line of stomp boxes. You can check it out HERE.