Flange it up! Maxon FL-9 vs. Boss BF-3 vs. Boss BF-2 vs. EHX Electric Mistress!

[Chronicle]

Alright so the flanges are in! We have 3.5 competitors today! I only have one clip of the Boss BF-2 [white knob verison].


All of these clips are Fender Jazz -> pedal -> GK2001 -> soundcard.



Tool- 46+2 clip demos.

EHX Electric Mistress:
http://media.putfile.com/ehx-sem46


Maxon FL-9
http://media.putfile.com/maxon-fl946

Boss BF-3
http://media.putfile.com/boss-bf346

Boss BF-2 whiteknober (not recorded by me)
http://media.putfile.com/462-26



Tool- Jambi [ Boss DD-3 used for delay. ]

EHX SEM:
http://media.putfile.com/semjambi

Boss BF-3:
http://media.putfile.com/bossbf3jambi

Maxon FL9:
http://media.putfile.com/maxonjambi



Tool- H.


MaxonFL9:
http://media.putfile.com/MaxonH

EHX SEM:
http://media.putfile.com/semH

Boss BF-3:
http://media.putfile.com/bossH


Sorry for all the Tool songs, I just felt that this was the best way to show off the pedals' sound.

Some things i want to go over...

The Electric Mistress shouldn't be bought for the purpose of a flanger. It sounds like a flanger but it's a little more in depth than flangers. I'm not saying this is a crappy effect. In fact, i love it! There's a 90% chance it's going to stay on my board WITH a flanger! The filter matrix mode is awesome and i can definitely use that for something.

The Boss BF-3 is a great flanger. It's great for guitar and bass. If you like the normal sweep of a flanger than put your bass in the guitar input, if you like a subtle flanger, put it in the bass input. The BF-3 also has many features like Gate Pan, Tap tempo, and ULTRA flanger which imo is too ridiculous lol..

The Maxon FL9 is probably my favorite of the ones we tested. It just has that certain sound to it... It doesn't have many options but all the more reason to keep the SEM.


SEM filter matrix clip:
http://media.putfile.com/semfmm

[Ryan Mohr]

Great clips! I think the electric mistress was the most metallic and had the biggest swells(what settings?), the Maxon was the warmest (very nice), and the boss pedals were in between. Do you like the BF-3 over the BF-2? Anyways, thanks for the clips.

[Chronicle]

Well i haven't had much experience with the BF-2. It wasn't my pedal, Tbirdbassit was supposed to come to my house for this review but he sold his bf-2 too early! haha I still <3 the teddy bear though.


Anyways, yeah i think i had the SEM at 1oc Rate, 2 oc Flanger and 10oc Chorus.

[JanusZarate]

The SEM is still my favorite, even in these clips. Seems like the Flanger Depth is cranked a little too high for my tastes, though.

But I actually like the BF-3 more than the FL-9, based on these. Maybe it's just the context (especially since the BF-3 would naturally fit in a Tool setting), but it just seems better somehow. More appropriate, perhaps.

The Maxon doesn't sit quite right with me.

[assboglin]

I was only able to listen to the first EHX sample, and to my ears, not only did it sound wrong in that context, I didn't like the sound of it. It just didn't do what I like a flanger to do. I think you're right about it. Thanks for the clips though!

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by Chronicle

Anyways, yeah i think i had the SEM at 1oc Rate, 2 oc Flanger and 10oc Chorus.

Yep, definitely too much Flanger Depth for my tastes on bass.

[Chronicle]

I take better clips later

[Valerus]

Thanks for posting these!

[OhThePeacock]

I liked the maxon the most...The BF-3 sounded to digital and the SEM sounded to thin to my ears.

[incognito89x]

Here's a few sloppy clips of the BF-2 in action for further comparison.

OMG more Tool stuff wee!

[Tbirdbassist]

Originally Posted by Chronicle

Well i haven't had much experience with the BF-2. It wasn't my pedal, Tbirdbassit was supposed to come to my house for this review but he sold his bf-2 too early! haha I still <3 the teddy bear though.


Anyways, yeah i think i had the SEM at 1oc Rate, 2 oc Flanger and 10oc Chorus.

Hahaha. Yea, I just don't think flange sits right with my sound. Phaser tickles my fancy much more.

[4Mal]

I have an older Maxon FL-01 and I like it a lot. IMO - next best thing to an original ADA Jet Flange - that one is still the Holy Grail for the flange world for me... you know the guys that whine about the bass they sold that they want back ? In my case it would be that darned pedal...

[cathal]

can the BF-2 get as metallic/over the top as the the BF-3?

[Terrorstorm]

Originally Posted by Chronicle

The Electric Mistress shouldn't be bought for the purpose of a flanger. It sounds like a flanger but it's a little more in depth than flangers. I'm not saying this is a crappy effect. In fact, i love it! There's a 90% chance it's going to stay on my board WITH a flanger! The filter matrix mode is awesome and i can definitely use that for something.

That's exactly the way I am thinking about my Electric Mistress. I thought this would be the last flanger (and probably chorus) to buy, but I was wrong...

love it for over the top kinda stuff and for noise things (especially the filer matrix), but somehow in a band situation it doesn't do well. IMO the sweep is too wide and it reaches certain frequencies that are bad for bass. It won't leave my board either..

GREAT review! Cheers

[RickenBoogie]

Originally Posted by Tbirdbassist

Hahaha. Yea, I just don't think flange sits right with my sound. Phaser tickles my fancy much more.

Same here, generally. But the Electric Mistress is the exception, I do love this pedal, and intend for it to stay on my board, unless something else forces me to go another route. But yeah, phasers do seem more useful.

[iualum]

...the SEM sounds nice, but for my money, the Maxon FL-9 is where it's at...of course the Foxrox would be great, & the Barracuda will certainly be excellent...

[Chronicle]

Expect another FLANGE IT UP Review-- i have a Boss BF-2 JAPANESE model pedal coming :]


And I promise this review will be very in depth :P

[assboglin]

Very good. As of right now with the samples up there now I like them in this order:

BF-2
Maxon
BF-3
EHX

[spectorbass83]

Is the Maxon FL-9 a copy of the Ibanez FL-9? It's gotta be. I have the Ibanez FL-9, its a great pedal

[98dvl]

More like the Ibanez is a stripped down version of the Maxon (Ibby doesn't have true bypass)