Arion SFL-1 Stereo Flanger

I'm not new to the effectbox scene, but it's not the easiest thing to get a good sound from. I have to say I'm not that experienced with flangers, but it took me a couple of hours to figure the thing out. The guitarist whom I bough it from didn't have the patience to do so (and he's a real stompbox freak), hence the 7.

I have to say, it sounds good! Mine is noisy on the electric circuit (I'll talk about that later), but in use it's not that noisy at all.

I'm primarily using it for keyboards. I'm playing on a Yamaha QS300 and Alesis Quadrasynth over a Fender Bassman 135 clone. It's not the perfect pedal for it. It starts to clip at higher levels (especially at the high-mid synth-sounds), which is a little disappointing. But with my MI Audio Blues Pro on, it's not noticable.
On guitar it's not clipping at all, not even with a Les Paul with active EMG's.

Now about the noisy bit. I'm using a pedalboard (Crybaby, Dr.Q, Blues Pro, Arion, Small Stone) and the whooshing sound is spreading on the electrical wiring. So when I'm activating the blues pro, I can still hear an irritating whoosing. Not hearable at playing, but is when silent. Maybe it's a bad component (cap or whatever), but it's a little disappointing.


Overall I would say 7/10 because of the clipping and noise.

I only had it for a couple of months now, but it seems sturdy enough. The electrical problem is probably from ageing though.

But knowing that it's probably been doing that for a while now, it's probably gigging material.

Never dealt with them, I don't think they still exist.

I would be really pissed if it got lost, because of the low price and good effect it gives. Though I am looking for a good replacement for my keyboards, I'll still use it for my guitar.

It's not that easy to get YOUR sound of it. It took about 1 hour to find out what the "Manual" knob actually does. It's a frequency control that makes the flanger work within certain tone spectruns. The more you roll it right, the more it will work on the lower frequencies. Most of the settings can almost cut the guitar sound when the flanging gets to the higher phases.

I use a Fender Stratocaster Southern Cross Series (made in Brazil), Boss RV-3, a Fuzz Factory clone, Boss CH-20 and a Boss OD-2.
Well... It can do a nice flanging sound for sure. What wears me out about this pedal is the fact that it boosts the guitar signal a lot when on. There's no way to make that boost a little more subtle, so, if you turn the pedal off during a song, the guitar will sound like it suffered a noticeable volume drop.
I used this box into a Boss RV-3 with the decay knob all the way up to make a huge ethereal sound wall (a la Shoegazer-Post Rock bands) and I felt like the boost it causes to the signal, mixed with the natural sound wall boost, could explode my two amps (the RV-3 has stereo outputs, wich I love to use live) and everything around.
It didn't sound good with my Fuzz Factory too, but it's not about the fuzz: I just couldn't get a good flanging for distortions out of this box, and I tried several overdrive and distortion pedals.
But I was really impressed when I plugged a Bass Guitar into the Arion Flanger: A convincing flanging effect came out of the amp and a bassist friend of mine got in love with that pedal. But the fact is that the box is not a bass flanger, is a guitar flanger, and it's supposed to sound good on guitars, not bass. The fu***** annoying boost had disappeared when I plugged the bass into it, and I can't explain why. Now this pedal belongs to my friend.

Yeah, it looks like you can depend on it, but, it's plastic, man. I just can't trust anything made out of plastic. It feels like a toy not a profissional equipment.

Never dealt with them.

I play my original songs, but I like to play some Alternative Rock stuff. Slowdive, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure etc. so, based on the bands I know, I could tell if a flanging effect sounds good or bad and this one sounded bad for me. It will get an 8 because of the nice pedal it became when plugged into a bass guitar.

Hi, this is a follow up review in a way. I posted nearly a year ago and I now own two of these made in japan arion flangers. I've exhaustively used that one I reviewed 9/2006 and can tell you a lot more what you might want to know if you are considering buying it. For the money you can't beat it-and also it remains the most quiet analog pedal flanger I've ever used. I'm going to give this an 8 though for ease of use because you really need to have a vintage pedal background and a lot of paitence to negoiate the right sounds from it.

On over all guitar/bass/keyboard "flangability" (coining a phrase there) I will give it a 8.9. For being the lowest noise/excellent for digital recording 10.0 because this is far away the most quiet flanger I've ever used. I've had vintage mxr, ross, DOD and Boss. In my previous review I noted that there are two flange categories: Van halen/barracuda "mxr/ross" flange. Police/cure sort of "chorusy" flange. I would say this really falls into the first category more than a second but after a lot of experimentation managed to get both flange sounds out of it. Here are the settings for both. Consider each knob a clock. Going clockwise: "Van Halen" regen= :15 Depth= :36 Manual= :23 Feedback= :01 If you go with these settings, with a phase in front of the flanger and 200 ms after both effects you can get a VH I and II sound. Remember, I think Eddie just used Flanger for solos and stuff. For regular playing just leave the phase on. Flange only on solos. For police/cure sound: Regen= :25 Depth= :36 Manual= :36 Flanger= :41. Another thing to remember when using a flanger in addition to how you order your effects I've noticed that flangers work the best with clean sounding pickups. I think if you have over wound pickups they do not do as well. These settings are with a marshall style tube amp. I've owned vintage mxr, ross, dod and boss. I've owned so many tube and solid state echoplex I can't even remember how many. So when I'm not a novice and have a pretty good idea how to find that "sound." I'm not saying the Arion flanger will nail them but on VH get's really close and is way more quiet than any vintage mxr or ross flanger. This pedal still suffers from sort of a boxiness or cartoony flange. I can't put my finger on it. It's like it can be a little abrupt or too crisp. But for the money you can't beat it. It's not my main flanger for guitar though. Want to know my favorite application for this pedal? I love this on my synth. Man, far and away I'd use this before any other flange on keyboards. Everything that works against it on guitar works for it on synth. That's why I am posting here again. Best application: Synth. Second best application: Does a pretty close VH sound if you set it up right. Even though this averages out a 9.45 on sound quality I am going to give a 10 because I paid $9 for my last one.

Boy, I don't know. If using for a keyboard and you have it there off the floor and you are depressing with your hand might be okay. I do not trust these pedals. I don't care if they are made in japan. Very cheaply made. First time I tried and use the 9 volt clip in one it discintegrated on me. I always power supplies with them and depress the pedal with my hand. Another thing that you really need to watch because they are made of plastic they don't show there age or scuff marks so you can be getting a well used unit that looks like new. They clean up pretty well. I really like this for synth. Buy two is my advice. Buy the made in japan ones

are they still in business? Who's going to do support for a $9 pedal? Cheaper to buy another off ebay than to call support

I play everything. Covers, originals, classic rock, alternative, contemporary. This pedal is good for all of them. I may even take the arion flanger over the mxr reissue. It does everything an analog flange should do and is so quiet for recording. Cheaply built though expect it to fall apart anytime. The only flange I ever had go out on me was a vintage mxr. Where do you get reticon ic chips? Answer is they went out of business years ago. I feel so much more comfortable with arion flange. I own two made in japan sfl-1. I don't know if I am going to post reviews on HC anymore for guitar pedals because everytime I do the price jumps up on ebay. LOL I decided to post this one because this is really a great flanger for synth. Also, there maybe some broke guitar player who really needs a good flange for there VH thing and can't afford to pay $200 for an MXR reissue or a vintage one. I'd just get this it will do the job and flanger isn't something you use every day. Remember it's an "effect" if you use it all the time it's not an effect. I look at the price people are paying for the Arion MIJ chorus and sad-1 delays. Man these units are so not worth it and are just as cheaply made as this pedal. For what people are paying for those can find much better analog chorus and delay. Forget "Radiohead" or whoever else used it. If you buy it it's not going to make you them. Vintage dealers are really pulling a number on musicians. Judge a pedal on what it is. All arion pedals were made for the student market for kids to play around with in there room. They are very cheaply built. Bottom line: Great for synth and van halen sound. Most quiet flanger ever used. Cheaply built and can fall apart anytime. Don't pay over $30 for any arion pedal and stick to the ones made in japan

mine is a made in japan model. I've had vintage mxr micro flanger, Ross 4 knob flanger, dod r-870, dod fx70 and a 1980s boss flanger (worst I ever heard.) So I know my way around flangers. I was able to get a good sound out of this relatively quick (under a minute.) I think I prefer 2 knob flangers to 4 knob ones as I have a feeling I will be writing down settings and getting to know this one for awhile

Sound qaulity is relatively good. Not as good or as bad as some of the HC reviews have said. All flangers seem to fall in to one of two categories. First category would be the Van halen/"barracuda" category with deep bass/whoosh sound. Or, the police/cure sort of chorusy/phase sound. The arion pedal is more in the first category and can do a fair facimile of a MXR/Ross pedal right down to the annoying whistle those pedals can have some times. I managed to coax a police sound out of it but it does hard rock stuff better. Dispite what at least one other HC review said this pedals does a good job with distortion. My only guess is maybe they did not have the flanger in the proper order of the effects chain. The whoosh is moderate. It's not quite as extreme as MXR/Ross but adequate. This pedal can sound boxy and lack bass. The whoosh can be cartoony and cheap sounding at times and not in a good way. This sounds cheap and not professional. It is what it is dispite the whole "vintage" consensus. I have an informed opinion I've had the best and tried the latest. It's an adequate, do a little bit of everything flanger and great buy for the money. It is not worth more than $30 and you should never pay more than that for it. Plus marks for the Arion flanger being the most quiet flanger I've ever used. Real good on this. It has two outputs and a stereo switch. I hooked it up to two amps if there is a stereo effect it is not very profound. I couldn't even notice one

NO. Not dependable. Construction is shit. I don't care what anyone said. This thing is toy like, and cheap toy at that. These were made for the student market just starting out on guitar in the 80s. I don't think there are so many around just because they were built well but because they built so many. Most didn't leave the bedroom or people bought, used once or twice then quit playing guitar. There are a ton of these out there. Things I especially hate about the construction on these. First thing I noticed was the 9 volt battery clip-cheapest I ever saw and actually fell apart second time I used it (my pedal was used but like new condition.) The input jacks are a joke. So is the case. I am going to permanently leave the plastic direct/stereo switch engaged because it feels like it can break if used more than once or twice. This is supposed to be a "stomp box" man I wouldn't try it and I'm average size. I would not gig with this let alone step on it. It's plastic man

I paid so little for this I would just replace it if I had a problem

as always with HC there is a lot of misinformation about this pedal and a lot of wishful delusion by new owners. For what it is it's not bad. I don't know how I feel about it I don't think I would buy it again. I expected something embarrasingly cheap in construction and my expectations were rewarded. I think I would suggest to anyone interested in this pedal maybe look at older USA made dod flangers for about the same price. Some people are paying over a hundred dollars for the Arion chorus pedals they must be insane. The whole vintage market has really gotten out of control. If you want to buy this okay but don't pay over thirty dollars for it and don't expect it to last too long. I am going to give this an overall rating of 7. 9 for sound quality because it does sound fair not great and is cheap. 7 overall because this is the cheapest built pedal I have ever seen in my life

Easy, four knobs. Rate, depth, manual and feedback. Just experiment with it and you`ll find your sound in no-time.

I got this little stompbox cause i wanted a flanger that could do more then just flange (does that make sense to you? If not, read on). I wanted to get something that could do heavy flanging, but also something that could provide me with some nice mellow chorusish sounds. This thing can do both. Deep swirls and nice mellow chorus like sounds. I run it through my marshall VS8080 with a american made fender strat.

I was a little bit dissapointed when i found out it doesnt sound THAT good distorted. I cant really get a nice sound yet with distorted and heavy flanging. But my amp settings could be the problem of that. Not really noisy. Overall a good unit for the price.. and its a 'made in japan'!

Although its made of plastic, it seems reliable. I just got it last week but i think it would last in a gig/practise session(s). I mean, it aint a Boss, but it sure seems durable.

To be quite honest, i never heard of the firm before. I got it second hand and have no intention to contact them.

For the price this is a excellent unit. Im more into old/vintage/cheap effectboxes, just to find out how they are etc etc. This Arion has a great sound, is reliable and you can get them for a very descent price. It doesnt sound as good distorted. I play a variety of styles, just call it indie (sonic youth, dinosaur jr, sp, radiohead.. stuff like that). Very usefull for my style. Ive owned a pearl flanger before, and compared to this arion the pearl is crap (very noisy).

For the price i certainly advice you to check it out!

Plug in and Turn the knobs, stupid...

Fantastic sound. Swooshing jet plane effects at max setting. Nice warbley effect at halfway. Doesnt suck tone either. Silent switching. Sounds better than: DOD, BOSS, MXR and the some other big names.

PLastic tabs break off cover on all these (or cover gets lost altogether) no biggie. VERY VERY low noise op amp (7355 or 7358 toshiba i think, oh by the way, The SCH-1 chorus has the coveted 4558JRC chip).

Doubt it

The ARION pedals are the best kept secret in pedals. Made from 1983-till ? Japanese quality and ultra quiet. BUY EVERY ARION effect you can find! (i am) They are still cheap and still be had, you wont regret it.

no difficulties with getting a nice sound, i bought it second hand so no manual, but its not difficult to figure out.

i'm using a cheap strat copy through a fender 212r amp, and it sounds beautiful. with my setup it sounds a but limp with distortion so i keep this to add an edge to my clean tone. i love the swooshing sound in the background!

its plastic but it doesn't really concern me. you don't need to stomp on the thing to make it work - just tap it with your foot. the very switch is very sensitive which i think is good, but i'm sure some people won't like it. being plastic i think people will be put off.
i would definetely gig with this.

never heard of them before i bought the pedal, never contacted them. they don't exist anymore (i think) so i won't bother trying.
i had some problems with the battery connector - it kept disconnecting from the wires, but a bit a soldering sorted it out.

i play smashing pumpkins, nirvana, led zeppelin, pink floyd, etc and it does the job very well. i'm very happy with this pedal. it looks pretty tacky but thats part of its charm i think. excellent value for money and i'm on the lookout for other arion gear

Not very difficult to figure out. It's very easy to determine how each knob affects tone simply by turning it.

Quite simply, the best Flange pedal I have ever used. I don't know if this is a fluke or not, since Arion isn't known for high-end products. I've used this pedal in both my bass and guitar rigs and it just sounds fantastic. Other than a quiet "swooshing" sound when this pedal is on, it's noise an hum free. This may be a problem in a studio, but on a live gig you'll never hear it.

I've had this pedal since before time began. Its plastic casing is craked and broken in half a dozen places. It's now being held together by bits of duct tape and velcro. It looks like it's been to Hell and back and then back to Hell again. BUT---it still works the same as it did the day I bought it.

Never dealt with Arion. In fact, this is the only product of theirs that I own.

I play Rock, Blues, and Jazz--both guitar and bass. I don't use a Flanger all that much, but it's nice to have one in the arsenal. This pedal has been with me for a long time, and it shows. if it was stolen, I'd be hard pressed to find another one that sounds just like it. I've thought about giving it the retirement that it has finally eraned, but I can't find another Flange to match this one. When the original casing is no longer salvagable, I'll probably pull the guts out and install them into another stomp box.

speed/manual/rate/feedback

This is the original grey japanese one. I love it. Arion just has a way with bucket brigade pedals in my opinion. I use it with my arion overdrive and my arion analog delay to get that awesome tone that only arion can provide "super sounds of the 80's". Oh baby! seriously, it is possible to dail out most of what makes flanger's suck. You wann'a know what I use? your mother! and arion pedals! if arion just made guitars and amps it would make all my gear purchasing much easier!

You cannot kill it.

just buy everything Arion from now on fools! love that font! Oh, Arion, you found your way into every small town mom and pop music chain. There was no guitar center we were at the mercy of Jimbo's Music in downtown Bumfuck Egypt and Jimbo don't carry Boss! at first they laughed at you. They said "how can it rock when it looks so lame?" but you won them with your smooth tones and budget price. Arion, may your name ring on! May people one day consider you cool and vintage like the 25 year old pedals you sound exactly like.

This pedal is very easy to use and is very versatile. I can make it do lots of things that most other Flangers cannot do. I believe the "manual" controls the variance between the stereo channels. Hard to explain what it does but you can hear a distinct change when you turn the knob.

I have used this pedal into just about everything and it's sound is very sweet. Never had a problem with feedback or noise. "Down in a Hole" sounds perfect through this pedal. I love using this pedal for my solos. It actually adds to the output from my OD pedal a little and sounds heavenly at 100 watts!! or more.......... Also, it doesn't seem to matter where I put it in line with my other effects pedals, the sounds still rings through just fine.

I have never had it fail on me yet. It is plastic so you can't chuck it across the street and expect it to live. Very battery friendly. Cheap and it's in <<STEREO>> !!!!! A great value for the sound you get out of this thing.