A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

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cestlamort
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A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by cestlamort » Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:07 am

I recently fell back in love with my old MXR Flanger, which gives everything such a lovely, warm, chewy sound at pretty much any setting. However, it also has a sketchy switch, no LED, dedicated power cord, big footprint, etc. (I have an MXR patch for the Eventide H9 that is in the same family, but like all things in the H9 that try to emulate something specific, it sounds okay but just doesn't sound right, like the illustrations of sea monsters or African animals on a 16th Century map: cool but not really close).

So I decided to try out the A/DA PBF Flanger as a compact alternative.

(Very) first impressions:
Great that it's made in the US, but the packaging seems half-hearted: Generic cardboard box with styrofoam (!) and a tiny manual that looks like it was printed on a color inkjet printer.

Sound: It is everything I don't like about flangers: metallic, thin, prone to wackiness, very sensitive knobs, etc.

Running at 9v (which may or may not make a difference) and I'll try it at 12v later.

Will update as I explore more, but I'm surprised at my reaction to it. (Which, funnily, was the same reaction I had to an old DOD Flanger FX75 years ago, so it's probably a taste thing).

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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by JAGJazz » Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:27 am

Thanks for these thoughts. Please do post when you've explored more.

Big MXR flanger fan here.

I have an A/DA 1978 Reticon SAD1024 reissue that I still need to wrap my head around.

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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by Jaguar018 » Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:41 am

I had one of those for a bit and sold it on. Some days it sounded good and others it did not. And despite the numerous videos explaining what the knobs do, I was never really able to dial it in to my satisfaction. [Admittedly, Flanger is not an effect I use all that often]

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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by fuzzjunkie » Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:27 pm

Sound: It is everything I don't like about flangers: metallic, thin, prone to wackiness, very sensitive knobs, etc.
I guess you can’t squeeze that big box sound into a little box?

I listened to a Brett Kingman review and he seemed to like it, but to me it sounded like you described: metallic and thin. My old school big box model certainly isn’t that! Even when you make it sound metallic at the steel drums setting it’s still thick syrup on your tone.

The PBF does sound like it’s easier to cop Electric Mistress tones though. At least from the Kingman video.

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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by stevejamsecono » Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:00 pm

The PBFs seem to have really inconsistent reviews, unfortunately. I'd love to dig up one of the old ADA big box ones some day.

Doesn't Longamp do an MXR clone with an LED and a smaller enclosure?
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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by cestlamort » Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:36 am

It may also be a taste/flavor thing -- I listened to a bunch of Electric Mistress (and clones) videos, and I'm after a chewier sweep / more churn than shimmer.
I'm looking for something even a bit more like an analog phaser, too: somewhere between the phaser and flanger on an Ibanez UE400, for example. Or just what the old MXR does, I suppose.

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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by JAGJazz » Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:01 am

cestlamort wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:36 am
It may also be a taste/flavor thing -- I listened to a bunch of Electric Mistress (and clones) videos, and I'm after a chewier sweep / more churn than shimmer.
I'm looking for something even a bit more like an analog phaser, too: somewhere between the phaser and flanger on an Ibanez UE400, for example. Or just what the old MXR does, I suppose.
I'm not an EM expert, but it does sound like you're more describing vintage MXR to me.

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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by cestlamort » Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:31 am

JAGJazz wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:01 am
I'm not an EM expert, but it does sound like you're more describing vintage MXR to me.
Yeah, that's actually what I was trying to replace on my board. Guess I got it right the first time (haha), and I should just figure out how to address the issues (new/repair foot switch, maybe convert internal power to adapter, etc.).

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:27 pm
The PBF does sound like it’s easier to cop Electric Mistress tones though. At least from the Kingman video.
After playing with it more, that seems to be the deal. It does all sorts of cold / icy / glassy somewhere-between-flange-and-chorus tones and seems to be in the Electric Mistress family, but as the somewhat crazy relative no one really mentions. That video is indeed what it sounds like (maybe I should have watched that first!).

Would likely work really well for some spidery death rock guitar stuff.

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Re: A/DA PBF Flanger first impressions

Post by JAGJazz » Thu Sep 16, 2021 10:10 am

cestlamort wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:31 am
Yeah, that's actually what I was trying to replace on my board. Guess I got it right the first time (haha), and I should just figure out how to address the issues (new/repair foot switch, maybe convert internal power to adapter, etc.).
I know this makes the footprint issue worse (double), but I use my vintage MXRs with an Xotic X-Blender. It solves most of the other issues and I love the added functionality.

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