Holy crap, that's my pedal! I had a weird feeling seeing this obscure chorus I just sold pop up on my feed, and checking my sales, it looks like I sold it to you! It was part of my massive chorus collection I've been thinning out as of late. It sounds stellar, and those rotary sounds are pretty convincing. I've been subbed to the channel for a while and always check out your videos, honored to have something I owned featured! Btw I noticed the ticking from the clock goes away when you put a buffer in front of it!
FL-99 is another gem. Either way, what makes them special is that the LFO sweep is slightly off center, which gives it added dimension. With the FL-99, if you get the controls down low enough, it'll will cop a nice chorus too. The only issue with these is the placement of the BBD clock chip, which is really close to the pots board stacked over top. With age, the BBD clock chip starts to bleed more, and it gets picked up by the pots overhead, and it ends up ticking into the audio like a mofo. You can change the caps, clean the pots all you want, but it won't fix the tick issue. There's an easy fix though, which I documented over at DIYSB.
Bring on more chorus pedals, one can never have enough! Personally I have been exploring Yamaha's range of vintage chorus pedals, there's some gems well worth looking at ( thinking the hard to find dc-100 Dimension chorus and DSC-20M digital chorus - unique takes on the Boss dc-2 & dc-3). Always look forward to your in-depth reviews.
I agree. I mean, the amount of pitch variation is a function of the oscillation shape, the speed, and the depth. Kind of like waving a piece of cloth in the air. Somehow, this has a pleasing tone instead of a seasick or wiggle-wiggle one.
It has a pleasant sweetness to it indeed or there is something to that cycle of it sounds good you play good you make it sound better then play better - extra in tune day or fingers working better- just whatever it is it all comes together sometimes. Every single time I plug into my fulltone choralflange I'm assuming it has drifted more and more since it's birth but I just love it so much. It connects me immediately to the first times playing it and that watery sensation in the room - the extravagant look and feel and weight of the pedal. It's a whole experience and I can tell this Ibanez is pretty heavy, something to the feel of equipment.
Absolutely, we use all of our senses to perceive a pedal. It's actually pretty light, kind of like some of the Russian EHX pedals. Oddly enough, I have a Choralflange, but I've never been able to get too excited by it. Also possible it needs a tune-up.
Wow! big fan of the enclosure shape and design! Researching the other pedals in that series now. The phaser and flanger have an "intense" foot switch lol
Mr. Breakdown, Another interesting and somewhat strange pedal :D I hope you some day get hold of a Kernom Elipse. That looks like the kind of pedal you could really get into and your detailed demo/review style would help it out a lot!
I had this pedal in the late 1990s. Solid as ever, but it always seemed to thin out my midrange too much. I think the EHX Eddy does a better chorus than this that approximates a rotary speaker
Demos of pedals pre-UA-cam is very fun, except if you want to snag one of these unappreciated relics. Nevertheless, if you can find one, (generally speaking) then no need to pass on the past, the magic was in middle-Earth...
that's so cool, the enclosure reminds me a lot of a black Russian Muff. does it do vibrato if you plug a patch cable into the first output and go out of the second output only?
@ definitely need a video on this concept you would get a lot of spicey disagreements in the comments but i bet it would be funny. even if you only said nice things, internet humans would have a lot of feelings about category boundaries
I feel that Ibanez is overlooked when it comes to effect pedals and their (Ibanez's) influence on music over the past 40 years. Boss gets all the love in that regard, (outside of the Tube Screamer, of course) but pedals like this and the series pedals that Ibanez put out that are really cool just do not seem to get any love. Maybe I'm wrong. Thanks for giving their pedals a proper showing. (Sound Tank Tremolo lover here)
I know exactly what you're talking about with the look and feel affecting our perception. This is actually pretty light, almost like a Russian EHX pedal. Interestingly enough, I've got a Choralflange, but I've never really found it that amazing. Also possible it needs a tune-up.
Holy crap, that's my pedal! I had a weird feeling seeing this obscure chorus I just sold pop up on my feed, and checking my sales, it looks like I sold it to you! It was part of my massive chorus collection I've been thinning out as of late. It sounds stellar, and those rotary sounds are pretty convincing. I've been subbed to the channel for a while and always check out your videos, honored to have something I owned featured! Btw I noticed the ticking from the clock goes away when you put a buffer in front of it!
Thank you for accepting my offer, lol. I love it, and good to know about the buffer info. It’s going right on my board!!
got a Arion chorus?
@@maxonmendel5757 lol I used to! Sold that off when I first started letting go of the choruses. Sounded stellar and did a decent rotary sound as well
FL-99 is another gem. Either way, what makes them special is that the LFO sweep is slightly off center, which gives it added dimension. With the FL-99, if you get the controls down low enough, it'll will cop a nice chorus too. The only issue with these is the placement of the BBD clock chip, which is really close to the pots board stacked over top. With age, the BBD clock chip starts to bleed more, and it gets picked up by the pots overhead, and it ends up ticking into the audio like a mofo. You can change the caps, clean the pots all you want, but it won't fix the tick issue. There's an easy fix though, which I documented over at DIYSB.
Have the FL99 and am not selling it any year soon
sounds great
No u
This pedal ticks all the boxes: sublime vibrato, tasty rotary emulation, and a cool graphic. I think Ibanez is my new favorite boutique pedal brand. 😅
Bring on more chorus pedals, one can never have enough! Personally I have been exploring Yamaha's range of vintage chorus pedals, there's some gems well worth looking at ( thinking the hard to find dc-100 Dimension chorus and DSC-20M digital chorus - unique takes on the Boss dc-2 & dc-3). Always look forward to your in-depth reviews.
It's really nice to hear a chorus effect that doesn't sound like a cartoon when you jack up the rate. I like that. A lot.
I agree. I mean, the amount of pitch variation is a function of the oscillation shape, the speed, and the depth. Kind of like waving a piece of cloth in the air. Somehow, this has a pleasing tone instead of a seasick or wiggle-wiggle one.
That is one trippy-ass pedal. Very unique. Nice find!
Sounds surprisingly good!
That's dope!
It has a pleasant sweetness to it indeed or there is something to that cycle of it sounds good you play good you make it sound better then play better - extra in tune day or fingers working better- just whatever it is it all comes together sometimes. Every single time I plug into my fulltone choralflange I'm assuming it has drifted more and more since it's birth but I just love it so much. It connects me immediately to the first times playing it and that watery sensation in the room - the extravagant look and feel and weight of the pedal. It's a whole experience and I can tell this Ibanez is pretty heavy, something to the feel of equipment.
Absolutely, we use all of our senses to perceive a pedal. It's actually pretty light, kind of like some of the Russian EHX pedals. Oddly enough, I have a Choralflange, but I've never been able to get too excited by it. Also possible it needs a tune-up.
Wow! big fan of the enclosure shape and design! Researching the other pedals in that series now. The phaser and flanger have an "intense" foot switch lol
What is that illustration? A merger of a butterfly and a hand!
Yeah. It's more visible on the Flying Pan flanger. It's pretty wild.
Mr. Breakdown,
Another interesting and somewhat strange pedal :D I hope you some day get hold of a Kernom Elipse. That looks like the kind of pedal you could really get into and your detailed demo/review style would help it out a lot!
I really wanted one of those when I was a teenager, but they were to spendy for small town me.
The FL99 dual analogue is a great flanger
I definitely want to get my hands on one of those.
I had this pedal in the late 1990s. Solid as ever, but it always seemed to thin out my midrange too much. I think the EHX Eddy does a better chorus than this that approximates a rotary speaker
Okay yeah this rules
It really does, there's some mojo to be found in there
Demos of pedals pre-UA-cam is very fun, except if you want to snag one of these unappreciated relics. Nevertheless, if you can find one, (generally speaking) then no need to pass on the past, the magic was in middle-Earth...
As a chorus it's quite nice, but doesn't convince me of its rotary designation.
Agreed, I think it was more like a "What small adjustments can we make that can give this a more interesting name?" type of thing.
Nobody could've watched this entire video until now (not counting playback speed bc who would want to listen to this sped up lol)
Speaking of something a little different, is that a picture of the beefiest, most muscular butterfly ever on the pedal? 💪🦋
Yes it is! And I might be thinking of getting it as a tattoo, haha
I have one of these. The clock ticking sound disappears when you put it after a buffered pedal.
Oooh, good to know! Thanks!
that's so cool, the enclosure reminds me a lot of a black Russian Muff. does it do vibrato if you plug a patch cable into the first output and go out of the second output only?
Oh yeah, I can see that, too. It doesn't do the vibrato-only thing, both outputs are identical other than the wet signal being inverted.
what is a PBV? that venn diagram is kinda hard to read haha
I threw it together out of nothing... but Phase-Based Vibrato
@@StompboxBreakdown we need an official fancy one
I'm not sure if a venn diagram or a truth table makes more sense... but I've thought about it
@ definitely need a video on this concept you would get a lot of spicey disagreements in the comments but i bet it would be funny. even if you only said nice things, internet humans would have a lot of feelings about category boundaries
The dyslexic input and output jacks are not a pedalboard's friend.
How old is this pedal?
Looks like it was available from '96-'99, so... 26-29 years old
@StompboxBreakdown thanx!!
Old enough to party
Imagine asking your chorus pedal to buy a 30 rack of Miller High Life.
I feel that Ibanez is overlooked when it comes to effect pedals and their (Ibanez's) influence on music over the past 40 years. Boss gets all the love in that regard, (outside of the Tube Screamer, of course) but pedals like this and the series pedals that Ibanez put out that are really cool just do not seem to get any love. Maybe I'm wrong. Thanks for giving their pedals a proper showing. (Sound Tank Tremolo lover here)
I know exactly what you're talking about with the look and feel affecting our perception. This is actually pretty light, almost like a Russian EHX pedal. Interestingly enough, I've got a Choralflange, but I've never really found it that amazing. Also possible it needs a tune-up.
If you ever stop smiling while playing then I am going to unsubscribe.😊😊
The minute it's not fun, I stop recording