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MXR flangers: M117 vs. M152?

NortyFiner

NortyFiner

Drunken Sailor
Gold Supporting Member
Mar 23, 2008
3,376
2,629
Portsmouth VA USA
#1
I am looking to add a flanger to my growing collection of small noise boxes, and MXR's offerings have caught my eye. The M152 Micro Flanger supposedly is based on the same "stuff" as the older M117. I can see for myself that the M117 is bigger and has four knobs for more tweakability; the M152 is smaller and has only two knobs. My board space is limited, but that's OK since I often swap pedals in and out as my mood swings. Has anyone done a side by side between these two flangers? I am looking for advice on choosing between them, or picking another flanger. Help appreciated.
 
#3
Short answer is the MXR M117R is the clear winner of this 3 way test.

It's the richest sounding of the three. It is also capable of many more tones than the simpler MXR Micro Chorus. The 18 volts seem to give the M117R a lot more headroom.
The Boss BF-2 has its own tone, very 80's new wave, focused on the mids, somewhat assertive and kind of tubular sounding. It's a tone that is very identifiable but not transparent at all; it's voiced.
The Micro sounds good by itself but compared with the other two it does not perform as well in my opinion.
Again people might have different opinions but the M117 sounds warm, very musical and full spectrum to my ears.
 
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#4
Laurent said:
Short answer is the MXR M117R is the clear winner of this 3 way test.

It's the richest sounding of the three. It is also capable of many more tones than the simpler MXR Micro Chorus. The 18 volts seem to give the M117R a lot more headroom.
The Boss BF-2 has its own tone, very 80's new wave, focused on the mids, somewhat assertive and kind of tubular sounding. It's a tone that is very identifiable but not transparent at all; it's voiced.
The Micro sounds good by itself but compared with the other two it does not perform as well in my opinion.
Again people might have different opinions but the M117 sounds warm, very musical and full spectrum to my ears.
Click to expand...

Hello! I want to know one thing. Is the Micro Flanger a more "subtle" pedal than the M117R? Is the larger box flanger more of a "violent" flanger?? It is worth the difference, speaking of: Money (almost the double of the price of the smaller one), Space on the pedalboard and 18volt troubles.
Sorry for all the questions, but I don't have the posiblity to try out any of them before buying.
All I want to know is if I would be able to reach a big sounding jet plane "swoosh" sound from the micro flanger.
Thank you and cheers from Uruguay.
 
#5
Yes the Micro Flnager is more sublte than the M117R. The M117R is more extreme, it's hard to talk about violence for a flanger they are pretty soft, dreamy sounding devices.
All that being said, MXR created a flanger that is dedicated to bass and which might be the best of the three MXR flangers. This new flanger is called MXR Bass Chorus M83. This pedal offers both a flanger and a chorus and has some fantastic fonctions that allow you to go from subtle to more extreme forms of flanging. Highly recommended for bass. Note that this pedal did not exist in May 2008 when I wrote my note.
 
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#7
Laurent said:
Yes the Micro Flnager is more sublte than the M117R. The M117R is more extreme, it's hard to talk about violence for a flanger they are pretty soft, dreamy sounding devices.
All that being said, MXR created a flanger that is dedicated to bass and which might be the best of the three MXR flangers. This new flanger is called MXR Bass Chorus M83. This pedal offers both a flanger and a chorus and has some fantastic fonctions that allow you to go from subtle to more extreme forms of flanging. Highly recommended for bass. Note that this pedal did not exist in May 2008 when I wrote my note.
Click to expand...
JustSomeDude said:
+1 on the MXR Bass Chorus.
Just got it and I love the Crossover function
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the reply. I thought that pedal was a chorus, with a limited flanger function. So you say that it is indeed a good flanger pedal, I will do a research.
 
#9
Laurent said:
Yes the Micro Flnager is more sublte than the M117R. The M117R is more extreme, it's hard to talk about violence for a flanger they are pretty soft, dreamy sounding devices.
All that being said, MXR created a flanger that is dedicated to bass and which might be the best of the three MXR flangers. This new flanger is called MXR Bass Chorus M83. This pedal offers both a flanger and a chorus and has some fantastic fonctions that allow you to go from subtle to more extreme forms of flanging. Highly recommended for bass. Note that this pedal did not exist in May 2008 when I wrote my note.
Click to expand...
JustSomeDude said:
You just push a button to put it in Flanger mode.
Intensity/Rate etc...all still work.
Sounds great and the Bass/Treble/ XOver controls all give you lots of possibilities.
Click to expand...

I have one final question. Can you Listen to one song(intro) Monster magnet - negasonic teenage warhead. I know that flange is on guitar, not bass, but. I want to be able to do a sound similar to the one on the first 20 seconds of song. The guy is using an ADA Flanger, but I'm not able to add that pedal to my board.
I only want to do THAT kind of "spacey" sounds.
Thank you! Really!
 
#13
The MXR Micro Flanger sounds great IMHO, lot's of different sounds from only two controls and absolutely no loss of low end definition. I haven't tried the larger version but the Micro does everything I need and does it very well....try one if you can as if it works for you then you'll be saving quite a bit of money over the M117.
 
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#14
I have a question for the users of the mxr BCD. Is the flanger mode able to do some "classic" flange sounds, or is it some "modernous" sounding flanger?? (I know, weird question) So far I eliminate from my choices the M-117, because of the 18v and the size. I still have doubts about the micro flanger OR the bass chorus. I have to record some stuff in a couple of months, and I don't have the posibility of try them out.
 
#15
i play the pedal again today at the store (i still haven't bought it yet.) it's still a wicked flanger sound to me. i found with the cross over off, i had the knobs lower than i had them with the cross over off. i guess it's not a "classic" flanger sound. it's had to recall and name but i low abeyant flanger. weird/creepy/dark on the low setting, and crisp sting on the higher settings with cross over on, it's kinda classic.

overall, i want it so bad.
 
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#16
In the last couple of months I bought and sold several flangers. MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe, MXR EVH Flanger, MXR micro Flanger, Boss BF-2, Boss BF-3, TC Electronic Vortex Flanger, EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress and Ibanez Airplane Flanger.
I achieved the sound that I wanted with few of them, and they were Boss BF-3, TC Electronic Vortex, and Ibanez Airplane Flanger.
I did a blind shootout, and I ended with the Ibanez, It's an amazing flanger, althought that it is a very big pedal.
In the particular case of the MXR BCD I achieved a lot of cool sounds didn't like the X-over thing, but it is indeed an amazing chorus/flanger. I may buy this one again soon.
 
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