Throughout the decades, Electro-Harmonix pedals have been wielded by pedal heads and true musical innovators. Adrian Belew tops both of those categories with his penchant for sonic tweakery and exploration, and Electro-Harmonix has been part of his signal chain since the early days. Following his career launching stints with Frank Zappa and David Bowie, during a time of collaboration with the likes of the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club, Adrian discovered the tone bending abilities of the EHX Echoflanger, a bucket brigade-based time and pitch modulation effects pedal capable of creating lush chorus and flanger effects as well as completely warped and wiggly sounds outside the traditional effect uses of the time. With Echoflanger in hand, Adrian was inspired to create signature sounds including the steel drum guitar of Genius of Love (Tom Tom Club), the elephant of Elephant Talk (King Crimson) and the rhino of The Lone Rhinoceros (solo). The Echoflanger went on to live by other names like Polyflange and Polychorus, but the original remained a staple in Adrian’s rig for ages.
The Adrian Belew Echoflanger Reissue is a limited-edition tribute with all the bells, whistles, warbles, and extremes of the original plus modern construction with a few new tricks (and an old one discovered by Adrian himself!). Equal parts smooth operator and agent of chaos, this multi-mode modulator creates classic chorus and flanger sounds with the ability to take the effects beyond the limits to design totally unique and twisted tones.
The original 4 modes include: Filter Matrix, Flange, Chorus, and Slap Back. 2 new combo modes complete the set: Slap Back + Filter Matrix, and Adrian’s signature Flanger + Chorus.
- FILTER MATRIX: A flanger effect with the LFO disengaged for a fixed comb filter to create “chime” effects and manual flanging
- FLANGE: A sweeping comb filter that creates a variety of modulation and classic whooshing sounds
- CHORUS + FLANGE: Based on Adrian Belew’s custom “in-between” setting discovered by parking the MODE knob between FLANGE and CHORUS on his vintage Echoflanger, this mode combines the sweeping filter effect of the FLANGE and the thickening echo effect of the CHORUS for a unique stacked modulation sound
- CHORUS: A sweeping modulated echo creating lush, shimmering chime and rotary type effects
- SLAP BACK: The short delay of the CHORUS mode with modulation disengaged for a quick echo effect
- SLAP BACK + FILT. MATRIX: A new mode that combines the fixed comb filter of the FILTER MATRIX plus the short delay echo of the Slap Back
Controls on the Echoflanger allow you to dial in the desired amount of cool modulation or startling squeals. FEEDBACK sets how much of the processed signal is fed back into the input to increase the overall intensity of the effect from mild modulation to self-oscillating sirens and roads. RATE sets the speed of modulation while WIDTH adjusts the total range of modulation. TUNE will adjust the center point of the modulation producing more undulating or more shimmery effects. MODE selects the mode of operation and VOLUME adjusts the overall output volume of the pedal.
Additionally, the BLEND switch on the back of the pedal can be used to remove the dry input signal from the output. In the ON position, you get typical chorus, flange, and echo effects. When turned to OFF, only the effected signal is set to the output for more intense vibrato-type effects. The Echoflanger is also equipped with stereo outputs for full stereo effects and employs True Bypass with mechanical relays.