Fender Starcaster Flanger.. A review.

thekage · #1 10-02-2008, 10:08 AM

I bought this pedal last night. I plan on taking it back.

It is very well constructed. Sucks no tone at all. And is not "noisy" per say. It really does not suck tone. In fact it may even add a little bit. I had all the knobs down and clicked it on and it added just a little gain.

I really could find no usable sounds though. It was either barely doing anything at all or sounded like a listening to a busted speaker through metal trashcan. The distinctive flanger jet engine woosh was really there and made most of the sounds I could get almost unusable.

The construction is top notch and seems like an awesome pedal. For 39 bucks its not a bad deal. I just don't like the sound of it at all. Not my cup of tea.

JanusZarate · #2 10-02-2008, 10:28 AM

How does it ADD tone?

I always thought the phrase "tone suck" was a bit silly. It's a tone change, usually less high end, and not identical to the clean tone.

Interesting, though. I didn't even realize Fender was making flanger pedals!

thesteve · #3 10-02-2008, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Interesting, though. I didn't even realize Fender was making flanger pedals!

Fender has a line-up of pedals designed to sell with their Starcaster guitars in big box (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) stores. Currently they have a flanger, chorus and distortion, each of which tend to be getting better reviews than you'd think a $40 pedal would score.

JanusZarate · #4 10-02-2008, 10:34 AM

Huh. Kinda like Lyon, then? I see those pedals in Target all the time.

Or is that the same thing, repackaged?

thekage · #5 10-02-2008, 10:54 AM

I misspoke when I said it added tone. It added a slight bump in overall volume when I clicked it on, other wise the tone was the same.

rustynuts · #6 10-02-2008, 03:02 PM

As an aside, Gibson offers similar pedals in that price range to accompany their Maestro brand of guitars. Also sold in big box retailers, they have a phaser, chorus and distortion.

McHaven · #7 10-02-2008, 03:30 PM

I started a thread about these a few days ago. My only question about these is why do they have to so damn big? These things are huge. Imagine putting 2 boss pedals in a line top to bottom. These are about that big.

bongomania · #8 10-02-2008, 03:43 PM

They probably have a really tiny circuitboard too, so it's a big mostly-empty metal box.

McHaven · #9 10-02-2008, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

They probably have a really tiny circuitboard too, so it's a big mostly-empty metal box.

Reminds me of my old Deluxe Electric Mistress, or any other full size EHX pedal really

thekage · #10 10-02-2008, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

They probably have a really tiny circuitboard too, so it's a big mostly-empty metal box.

I took some pictures of the guts. I will post them in the morning. The circuit board is pretty huge. It also appears to be true bypass.
I have no gripes with construction, just the sound. I will try to get some clips up sometime if I can. Who knows, it may grow on me.

thekage · #11 10-03-2008, 08:52 AM

As Promised...

thesteve · #12 10-03-2008, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekage

I took some pictures of the guts. I will post them in the morning. The circuit board is pretty huge. It also appears to be true bypass.
I have no gripes with construction, just the sound. I will try to get some clips up sometime if I can. Who knows, it may grow on me.

From looking at the pictures, what makes you think that the pedal is TB? I know it's possible to get TB via a DPDT switch, but it seems like it's not very common.

thekage · #13 10-03-2008, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

From looking at the pictures, what makes you think that the pedal is TB? I know it's possible to get TB via a DPDT switch, but it seems like it's not very common.

thesteve · #14 10-03-2008, 10:20 AM

Is there no LED on the pedal?

The most common (though still not often used) TB method with an LED and a DPDT is the so called "Millenium Bypass"

It's hard to tell from the pictures where those wires are going, so I can't really compare that schematic to what's going on in the pedal.

Scionreality · #15 10-03-2008, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Huh. Kinda like Lyon, then? I see those pedals in Target all the time.

Or is that the same thing, repackaged?

Ha, I used to have one of the Lyon distortion pedals. First pedal I ever bought. I was 16.

If I remember right, they're made by Washburn.

SoonerMatt · #16 10-03-2008, 11:22 AM

We sell that pedal line at Hastings. Being the only musicians who works there my boss expects me to know everything about the instrument section. I'm supposed to push them as great bargain pedals but really they're just generic sounding without a whole lot of flare. Imagine a cheap Boss sound and there ya go.

McHaven · #17 10-03-2008, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerMatt

We sell that pedal line at Hastings. Being the only musicians who works there my boss expects me to know everything about the instrument section. I'm supposed to push them as great bargain pedals but really they're just generic sounding without a whole lot of flare. Imagine a cheap Boss sound and there ya go.

I believe the line in my sig is a great reference for the starcaster distortion pedal's sound.

thekage · #18 10-03-2008, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerMatt

We sell that pedal line at Hastings. Being the only musicians who works there my boss expects me to know everything about the instrument section. I'm supposed to push them as great bargain pedals but really they're just generic sounding without a whole lot of flare. Imagine a cheap Boss sound and there ya go.

lol. That's where I bought mine at.