Cheap....er, Inexpensive Flanger

[duhvoodooman***]

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.

[Justaguyin_nc]

I'll agree..it's fun to play with! I had one.. played with it.. now I got the Deluxe Electric Mistress.. sold the behringer and will be keeping the mistress.. but the behringer is cool till ya get the Mistress

[duhvoodooman***]

I'll agree..it's fun to play with! I had one.. played with it.. now I got the Deluxe Electric Mistress.. sold the behringer and will be keeping the mistress.. but the behringer is cool till ya get the Mistress

Yeah, I hope they can fix that Mistress pedal I had for a while. When it worked, the sound was sweet....

[Spudman***]

Good deal those pedals are. I have a few of them now just not the flanger. My flanging responsibilities are carried out by Ibanez and MXR.

That said, the Behringer line of pedals can sometimes be a hit and miss affair. I've had a couple that missed, but mostly they hit dead on...especially for the price. My one complaint is that the AC power plug is on the side of the pedal and not the top. This interferes with one of my pedal board mounting methods and stretches power supply cables to reach the input.

My two favorites are the PB100 Clean Boost and the recently acquired DR100 Reverb pedal. I needed a reverb for the Valve Jr. and Crate Powerblock. The DR100 works great for an 'in house' effect. I'm not sure I would carry these around much because the construction doesn't seem overly sturdy. I'm just not going to test the durability even for their meager price.

Price and function make these pedals winners. Good score Mr. Voodoo.

[marnold***]

My Behringer TO800 is the shiznit, as the kids say. My only gripe is that replacing a battery is a major PITA. I've got an adaptor now, so that problem is solved.

As far as flanging goes, my EX-7 has an A/DA model on it. I had to spend some serious time tweaking it too, but once I hit that "Barracuda" tone, I grinned from ear to ear. I haven't messed with it much, though, since I normally don't use much flange. I find the flanger and chorus on my AD30VT to be a little . . . I dunno. Digital? Whatever it is, I can only take it in limited doses.

[sunvalleylaw]

Good deal those pedals are. I have a few of them now just not the flanger. My flanging responsibilities are carried out by Ibanez and MXR.

That said, the Behringer line of pedals can sometimes be a hit and miss affair. I've had a couple that missed, but mostly they hit dead on...especially for the price. My one complaint is that the AC power plug is on the side of the pedal and not the top. This interferes with one of my pedal board mounting methods and stretches power supply cables to reach the input.

My two favorites are the PB100 Clean Boost and the recently acquired DR100 Reverb pedal. I needed a reverb for the Valve Jr. and Crate Powerblock. The DR100 works great for an 'in house' effect. I'm not sure I would carry these around much because the construction doesn't seem overly sturdy. I'm just not going to test the durability even for their meager price.

Price and function make these pedals winners. Good score Mr. Voodoo.

I have both the PB100 and the TU100 Tuner. Both work great and have an identical casing as the one above. I carry them around in my soft sided laptop case I use as a pedal case currently and they have suffered no ill effects. They work great for the price. I also wish the ac power was not on the side though. Some of those inexpensive pedal lines seem pretty good. I want to check out the Danolectro chicken salad for example. Glad to hear this one is good. I like the Mistress tones, but can't throw down for the real thing.

[duhvoodooman***]

For grins, here's a snippet of the beginning of Barracuda recorded using my Strat (middle pickup), the ZYS for overdrive, and the UF100 Ultra Flanger. Amp is the Vox AD30VT through the Blackface 2x12 model. It's recorded by running the line-out of the amp into the line-in on my PC's sound card, so it's kind of boomy, but it get's the idea across, I think:

http://www.box.net/shared/yahj3ql2d3

[sunvalleylaw]

For grins, here's a snippet of the beginning of Barracuda recorded using my Strat (middle pickup), the ZYS for overdrive, and the UF100 Ultra Flanger. Amp is the Vox AD30VT through the Blackface 2x12 model. It's recorded by running the line-out of the amp into the line-in on my PC's sound card, so it's kind of boomy, but it get's the idea across, I think:

http://www.box.net/shared/yahj3ql2d3

That's pretty darnd convincing DVM!

[Spudman***]

That's pretty darnd convincing DVM!

I quite agree. Nice.

[pes_laul]

i personly like the hashbrowns pedal (even know thats the only one i played with)

[duhvoodooman***]

I own both, and thought the Danelectro Hash Browns isn't a bad pedal for the money, I find the UF100 to have a much greater range of sounds. It "out-whooshes" the Danelectro by a mile. IMO, the Behringer pedal is the better value, though both are very attractively priced....

[M29]

That sounded great duhvoodooman!

M29