MXR M117 Flanger
This big grey box is easily one of my favorite
pedals of all time. Ever since I heard John
McGeoch weave his twisting spires of sonic
sorcery on Siouxsie and the Banshee’s Juju
I have been hooked. So much so, that at
one point I had two vintage variants and
a reissue. The old ones were perceivably
warmer and sported the impossible-to-find
SAD chips, but they were noticeably noisier
and prone to breakdown, so I moved on to
the reissue eventually.
The reissue possessed a slightly brighter
characteristic that bridged the gap
between Electric Mistress and M117 to
my ears. The M117R can be just as subtle
and watery or capable of crazy alien steel
drums at the other extreme, but much more
reliable than the original. There is also way
less volume drop when engaged, making
this a fine example of the evolution of a
classic circuit. Respect to proto-boutique
originators Terry Sherwood and Keith Barr.
Also thanks to current Dunlop and MXR
designers Bob Cedro and Jeorge Tripps for
keeping this one alive. The choice between
vintage and reissue on this one is weighing
up the pros and cons of reliability—hey, the
old ones lasted 40-plus years—subjective
sonic difference and of course, cost. All
versions of this pedal sound amazing to my
ears because it is a great circuit design that
has evolved over the years.
ToneReport.com
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