ADA Flanger

This is an original unit with five knobs and a switch. The knobs are "enhance"(E. Level), "speed", "range"(Depth), "manual"(? I think it tweeks the algorithm) and "threshold", which, when turned up, intensifies the effect according to your attack. The switch is for "even/odd harmonics", which alters the sound in a way I can't describe. Getting a basic flange or chorus sound is pretty easy, and really wierd, completely non-melodic effects aren't hard to get either. It gives you access to every element of the sound. It also has a jack for a foot controller, which I guess would alter the speed. If a phase 90 is a ten for ease of use, I'll have to give this a five.

I'm using this with a Strat into a '70s Fender tube amp. As far as buzzes, humms and swooshes go, it's dead silent, and it doesn't seem to affect the tone of my guitar either. The effect is as strong or as subtle as you want. It's very versatile, you could play anything from REO Spudwagon to Stynx to Sonic Youth-in-Asia on this thing.

I don't know if I could depend on it or not. It's pretty old, meaning A) it's lasted this long it must be tough, or B) could break down any minute.

I don't even know what "ADA" stands for. (I just checked the bottom of the pedal:"Analog/Digital Associates".)

I'd give it a ten but it was so damn expensive.

This is a followup to my previous review. In summery: controls are very confusing and manual is very inadequate.

See Reliability.

After a year (I think; it was just after the warranty expired) of occasional use (mostly at home), it developed a pffffft sound like an ocean wave that rose and fell with the low frequency oscillator (which is what produces the flanging effect). The noise was almost as loud as the guitar sound, loud enough to make the unit unusable. Continued under Customer Support...

I RMA'd the unit and sent it to ADA. They had it for I think two months, then called me and said they couldn't find a problem with it and had already shipped it back to me. I had to pay shipping both ways as well as a repair fee. It cost me $80 to have them not fix the unit. It was just as broken as before when I got it back. They said they'd only tried it in an amp's effects loop, and couldn't hear a problem. I usually use Fender tube amps that don't have effects loops! The problem did seem less severe when I put it in the effects loop of a Marshall, but that doesn't do me any good. So I found ADA's repair service fairly clueless. They didn't even think to call and ask how I was using the unit before they sent it back. For the price of having them do nothing to my flanger I could have bought a new Danelectro or Dunlop/MXR pedal.

There are some cool sounds in this thing, but it's difficult to figure out what the controls really do and how they interact, when it works at all. And ADA's customer support is among the most useless I've dealt with. Get an MXR, Mu-tron, Boss, or some other brand.

it is fairly easy to use. it has 5 knobs (threshold, manual, range, speed, and enhance) plus a switch from even to odd. the threshold is kinda like a noise gate to cut out the unwanted swoosh and the range and speed are pretty straight forward. it gets a little confusing with the even-odd switch and the manual and enhance knobs but you can just tweak them until you come up with the sound you like. very easy to get nice wild effects out of or just good old fashion flange.

i use this with my ibanez rg guitar run into a mesa/boogie triple rectifier and it sounds great. the effects are very rich sounding i have not found a flanger that sounds better than this or even close for that matter. maybe the electric mistress from electro-harmonix. the only complaint i have is that it makes a clicking sound when the pedal is off. you can control the rate of the clicks with the speed knob which i find very puzzling since i heard the pedal was supposed to have a true bypass on it.

it seems to be very sturdy and since it's got a plug instead of battery power, you don't need to worry about it running out of power mid-way through playing.

i had bought one and noticed the clicking so i called the place i bought it and they had the company send me another one, no questions asked.

i love this pedal.. it's one of the craziest things i've ever heard, but you can also get nice traditional sounding flanging/chorus sounds if that is what you want. it is extremely versatile. the clicking is the only thing i don't like about this pedal. if anyone knows anything about this, please email me, because it doesn't seem like anyone else has heard about this, but both of the ones i've had do this. but regardless, this is an amazing effect.

this is a very complex pedal, I got mine without a manual, so it took me a pretty long time to figure it out, thats not to say that it took long to get some trippy settings.

this is the best sounding flanger I have ever heard in my life. every setting you could possibly tweak it too sounds sweet. This is also by far the most versitile flanger I have ever used, with a total of 5 knobs (threshold, manual, range, speed and, enhance) and one switch (harmonics-even/odd) this thing even has a controler input. the controler you have to by seperatly, it controls the speed of the flange,like on an univibe or something.

I would use this pedal for a car jack, not really though,(figure of speech)very reliable

never had to deal with them

This pedal is my baby, I dont know what I would do without it. I would buy it again, but this pedal is rather spendy though. this is the best thing to happen to the flanger.

Takes time getting used to, but the instructions are of some help., they give you sample settings for flanging, vibrato,chorus,rotating speaker effect and some others. took me a few minutes to figure everything out.

This is probably the best flanger. I tried boss,dod,ibanez and the delux electris mistress. and the ADA came out on top with the mistress coming in a close second, the ADA has very little hiss. The flanging is tremendous. The phasing is great and so is the chorus. all are very wild and very juicy. The ADA came out on top over the mistress cuz i prefer wild , trippy effects. The mistress is good if you prefer the tame effects. Also you can but an additional foot pedal to control the effects so you won't have to fool with the knobs after songs.

It is a very sturdy pedal. plus it comes with a one year warranty.

I really love this pedal. i would but it again in a heart beat.( that is if i had the money!) as i said befroe if you love wild flanging,phasing,chours and rotating speaker effects that the ADA is your best bet. The mistress is just to tame compared to the ADA.

The manual has a few suggested settings for flange, phase, chorus, etc. I wish the knobs were calibrated--there aren't even tick marks. With 4 knobs and a switch, going from one sound to another is kind of a pain. Some of the labels on the knobs are hard to figure out, too--"Enhance"? "Range" means "Depth", maybe?

It sounds good once you figure out how to set it to what you want. It has a builtin noise gate that effectively cuts out unwanted swoosh.

Seems pretty sturdy. And there's no wall-wart, it has a built-in power supply.

Haven't needed to contact the company.

It sounds good but it's too hard to use unless you want to "set and forget", which seems a shame given its flexibility. This helped push me over the edge toward getting a digital multieffects unit.