Flange me baby one more time

[NicoMcJ]

Hi peeps,  which flangers are you using live on your basses?

I have an EHX Mistress but when it's turned on and I'm not playing all I can hear is a "whooshing" sound in the background.  I can hear it flange when it's not supposed to be flanging.

Where should I be looking to replace it? I'd prefer analogue, but I'm not completely averse to digital.

Edited March 5, 2020 by NicoMcJ

[EliasMooseblaster]

Hmm...has it always done that, or has the problem started more recently? I have a little Danelectro flanger which had a tendency to do something similar when the battery was going - might be worth checking the power source first!

[NicoMcJ]

It's always done that, it seems to be one of the idiosyncratic "charms" of the Mistress.  But sadly it's all I can hear now.

[Skybone]

Must be an old EHX Mistress (Big Box?).

It's because of the "old" style buffer circuit they used. They updated the range to True Bypass sometime around the mid-Noughties, mainly because of the influx of "boutique" pedals featuring it. 

So my answer would be, by another EHX Mistress, maybe one of the "Nano" or small enclosure versions, as they should be True Bypass.

I loved my old Small Stone & Small Clone pedals, but again, due to the buffer, when you switch them off, you had "artefacts". I replaced them with newer True Bypass versions, and never had a problem again.

[Daz39]

I have the Donner Jet Convolution, which is a copy of the Electric Mistress: it does the job, doesn't whoosh unneeded that I know of. Although - I've no idea what the Filter toggle does, apart from make it squeak if you turn the Colour knob up past 9 o'clock...

[NicoMcJ]

Skybone - I didn't realise it was as simple as true bypass, not true bypass.  I think the Neo and Nano are dirt cheap used so I might take a punt on one!

Daz39 - if it's the same as the Mooer filter switch then it fixes the sweep of the flanger, making it sort of a cross between a flanger and a ring-mod. I guess that would explain the squeak!  I have the Donner noise gate and it's built like a tank, really impressed with it.

[Daz39]

10 minutes ago, NicoMcJ said:

Skybone - I didn't realise it was as simple as true bypass, not true bypass.  I think the Neo and Nano are dirt cheap used so I might take a punt on one!

Daz39 - if it's the same as the Mooer filter switch then it fixes the sweep of the flanger, making it sort of a cross between a flanger and a ring-mod. I guess that would explain the squeak!  I have the Donner noise gate and it's built like a tank, really impressed with it.

Thanks. Err. I'll have a play. Does it fix it as you flick the toggle or do you mean it turns the sweep off?

It's annoying because there's no manual or mention of it in reviews. 

I have a few Donner and Mooer pedals - compressor, tremolo, auto-wah, delay. So small and non-fuss.

[NicoMcJ]

It turns the sweep off

[dudewheresmybass]

Is it it worth putting it into a tb loop?

I have similar issues with my old dod stereo bass flanger. I totally love the tone, and am not keen to search out another pedal that sounds as good to me. The true bypass box is going to be much cheaper than a new pedal😉 especially if you like the tone 🤘👍

Edited March 7, 2020 by dudewheresmybass

[floFC]

I have the DOD Bass Stereo Flanger FX72 as well, no unwanted swoosh on mine - except when I use a single coil bass with the treble a bit high - I think the noise from the pickup is what gets into the flanger (when it’s on).

[Skybone]

IIRC, the Neo and Nano range are true bypass, so you should be good with either.

Pretty sure that your old pedal can be converted to True Bypass, but you might need a proper music spark to do it.

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 4, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[BassThing]

On 05/03/2020 at 12:05, Daz39 said:

I have the Donner Jet Convolution, which is a copy of the Electric Mistress: it does the job, doesn't whoosh unneeded that I know of. Although - I've no idea what the Filter toggle does, apart from make it squeak if you turn the Colour knob up past 9 o'clock...

As already mentioned it turns off the sweep. The Rate knob will now have no effect, but Colour and Range still work. Colour will add more feedback and resonance as normal, Range will manually change the notch positions of the filter (a flanger works by sweeping a comb filter up and down the audio spectrum). "Range" is the same knob as "Manual "on Boss flangers, both of which adjust the base delay time around which the effect is normally varied by the sweep. 

Edited March 16, 2020 by BassThing