Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress

Very Easy to get the sound I was looking for. As with all EHX pedals the controls are VERY sensitive. Small changes produce wide range of tones.

I also have a MXR EVH Flanger and I like this one better. The EVH is a fantastic Flanger I just think the Mistress is more musical and organic sounding. Clean tones.....think The Police Message in a Bottle. Distorted it will do the Gilmore tone no problem.

I have been using EHX pedals since the 70s. I have only had one fail and that was MY fault for hooking up the wrong voltage adapter.

Here is where EHX shines for me. I had a EHX pedal that I messed up as previously stated. Contacted them and they told me to ship them the pedal. Exactly 8 days later from the time it left my hands till it was back to me in perfect working order. I even had a small slider switch that was still working but getting worn from use...they replaced it as well. "HELLO MESA THIS IS HOW YOU TAKE CARE OF CUSTOMERS"

I play Blues,R&B and Classic Rock. This pedal has a wide range of tones available. The only thing I would change is it needs a LED to let you know its on. For home players I know this isn't an issue but on stage this would be very nice.

Although he didnt work for me from the minute I bought it !!!

I bought it and when I plugged it at home - it didnt work at all !!!
I got it damaged from the first place...

Man.. it has hundreds of possible knob combinations that are able to create anything from trem-chorus effects to flying saucer ..of course it doesnt do extreme chemicals that we can hear from all those zoomie-plastic 10dollars craps but that not what are the real musicians looking for anyway. Pure analogue heaven... Boss flanger is crying in the drawer..

Visual sound anniversary volume pedal-EHX Hot Tubes-EHX Deluxe Mistress- EHX Memory Man Hazarai. I`ve got Few other pedals like envelope filter, tremolo, octaver and few overdrives which I use only for recording. Playing live gigs and singing main vocals I`m into simplicity and this one deliver all neccessary modulation that I really need. It use to be noisy due to internal power supply and crappy switch but recently it was by my amp doctor he changed the switch to true bypass, shielded power supply and setted volume levels and it just sings now!!! Think police, Nirvana and ME :-))

Well there are some contraversions about EHX products they have some problems when you buy them (crappy tubes, switches, pots etc..) But then when you modified them they really deliver what you want.. thats why 5

Nothing like that in Europe...

I play kinda... raw guitar music ..piece of punk rock ska grunge psychadelic and pop but I have recording studio where I produce everything from folk to house and techno and this is just my best modulation friend/ I bought it unmodified 5 years ago for 20$ in local no more existing shop. Paid another 20$ for further mods few weeks ago.(Yes.. eastern europe prices :-) I think I have the best sounding flanger in the world now and all for 40 bucks ..not bad Huh?

Controls: Color (resonance/intensity) Range (breadth of sweep) Rate (speed of sweep) Filter Matrix (frozen LFO - adjust manually with Range knob).

Also features a dry out for stereo setups.

I reviewed this seven or eight years ago, but I thought I'd re-review it after having much more time with the unit, and more technical knowledge about modifications.

The sound quality of the flanging effect is superb - it's one of the more "musical" flangers out there, meaning it's not as much of a special effect as it is something you can leave on for an entire song, if you wish. Not on every song, unless you're in a Police cover band, but certainly it won't wear out its welcome as quickly as something like an MXR Flanger.

While a wide array of sounds are available, there are four categories that cover most of them:

Jet plane
Swirly chorus
Rotating speaker
Resonant filter

The range of sounds can be expanded with a simple modification. Find the internal delay time trim pot - on my unit it is located furthest apart from the other three. Some units have five trim pots - I don't know where the correct one would be in that case. It will be the one that changes the depth or breadth of the sweep as you turn it. In my unit, it measured at nearly 10k. Simply desolder and wire an external 10k control pot in its place (once desoldered, measure your trim pot with a multimeter at lugs 1 and 3 and make sure this is the correct value - find a pot that matches that value). You'll need to drill a hole in the case for this external control, of course. There's plenty of room. This is much preferable than just drilling the hole in the case and using a mechanical probe to turn the trim pot. If you've never done anything like this, visit the forum at diystompboxes.com and see their wiki on pots and soldering.

Having this fourth external potentiometer gives you the ability to increase the delay time, which will give you a deeper, more chorus-like effect. You can also decrease the delay time, which will give you a lighter, more whooshy effect that sounds very good with distortion. At certain settings it sounds like it's nearly going to go through the zero point, ala the Foxrox TZF. Of course it can't quite get there, but it sounds good.

This unit has also been modified by Howard Davis to sound like the smaller non-Deluxe Electric Mistress. Google his name for contact information. He will perform modifications to most any Electro-Harmonix effect, and since he designed many of them, he knows what he's doing. He can also fix volume drop problems, noise problems, convert to true bypass, etc.

I've owned this for eight or nine years now, with no reliability problems.

The Mistress will start to make rhythmic noises in time with the flange rate, however, if certain conditions are present. I've read that this has to do with impedance mismatching and the shared ground of the internal clock. Suffice it to say that if I power my digital effects with a daisy chain or Dunlop Juice Box (similar to DC Brick), the presence of these effects in the chain will cause my analog Mistress to make noise. If I power them with their own Boss wall worts, the noise goes away. The Juice Box had no effect on the Mistress when used with my analog distortion effects - just the digital reverbs etc. The digital effects probably require more milliamps than provided by the Juice Box. Note that the Mistress is not powered by the Juice Box, but rather its own three-prong plug, in my case. But giving the (slightly) wrong sort of power supply to certain OTHER effects can negatively impact the Mistress. It's a bit of a prima donna in that respect.

If this is too much of a pain to deal with, Howard can also correct this tendency.

Most people don't have a lot of use for flangers these days - I admit I rarely use modulation now, preferring overdrive or fuzz, and reverb. But when I do use it, it's always inspiring. It's a nice flavor to have on hand, especially when playing less conventional music.

I'm playing a Telecaster into a Vox wah, OLCircuits Professor Tweed, Supreaux and Umble, a modified/rehoused Big Muff, a Danelectro Fab Distortion modified to act as a gated fuzz, a Runoffgroove Tonemender, the Mistress, a Korg AX3G, and a Digiverb (those last two are the ones that required wall worts in order for the Mistress to function properly).

I still like this better than any other flanger, even if I don't use it as much as I used to. For Gilmour, Summers, Trower and Lifeson fans, it's practically mandatory.

Now where's my rootbeer?

This is a review of the current production reissue of the original Electric Mistress.

I found the Deluxe Electric Mistress straight forward to setup. Three knobs: Rate, Range and Color. My only complaint is the lack of true-bypass (more on that later), and the lack of a status LED. There is basically no manual like with other EH effects, just a slip of paper telling you to plug it in.

Everything that comes out of this thing, from slow airplane swooshes to fast chorus-like sounds, are very useful and huge sounding--I was very impressed. The more extreme settings are mostly only useful as a one-shot effect for particular parts, etc. Where this effect really shines is in it's ability to sound transparent on the lower settings. This is where I keep it set 90% of the time: Rate around 9 o'clock, Color and Range around 10-11 o'clock. People ask me how I get that "amazing sound" and many times don't realize I am using a flanger at all. My chain goes basically like this, although like every guitarist out there it changes all the time: '94 American Strat w/ Warmoth Walnut Neck and Lace Sensors-->BYOC Big Muff clone-->EH Electric Mistress (modded)-->Crybaby Wah (modded)-->Custom Optical Compressor-->Boss DD-6 (modded)-->Custom Stereo Volume Pedal-->'70 Fender Silverface Twin Reverb (R) and '58 Danelectro DM25 (L).

As someone might notice, I modify pretty much everything I have to get it just the way I like it (...it doesn't help my obsessiveness to be at a school for Electrical Engineering and have access to most any parts I could ever need for free). Without mods I give the Mistress a 9, after mods a 10. Here's what I've done to it: converted it to true-bypass, added a status LED, changed out the ceramic capacitors for film capacitors. If you want to do the first two mods it is extremely straight forward as they already include a 3-pole switch in the case but only use one pole connection!? All you have to do is run a few new wires and change an existing one. For the LED you'll have to drill a hole--there is plenty of space--I chose to put mine above the "D" in Deluxe right in the black triangle area.

This effect can be a little noisy stock. I changed all the ceramic capacitors to film hoping it would help in this respect and it definitely did. Ceramic capacitors are dirt cheap (hence their use here) but they tend to be noisier than film capacitors in audio circuits. They also are not linear in the audio range (which isn't always bad--just a little known fact). (I could also go on a rant about Electrolytics in the signal path on many other cheaply made effects.)

One last note if you are interested in eliminating the most noise possible for the Mistress: Use a different power supply than the cheap wall-wart provided. Anything with external filtering would be better.

Now it want to hear one of the original models for comparison.

The hardware (pots, switches, jacks) are all high quality as well as the printed circuit board and I can't imagine them breaking any time soon. The power connector is a cheap plastic one. The case is the weakest part. It is relatively thin sheet metal and would dent easily if not given a bit of TLC. Also the silk-screened case decoration will wear off fairly easily. People often complain about EH product's poor quality but I look at it this way: Most of them sound quite good and to keep the price down I would much rather they cut back on the case quality and other parts than the actual electronics.

If yours seems to just randomly stop working and you're feeling brave, open it up and trying removing each IC from it's socket and cleaning the pins with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol and then re-inserting them. Since all the ICs are socketed the most likely cause of sudden failure is a bad connection with one of the pins (one disadvantage with socketed parts). Also check the power connector as it may not be making contact.

I've never dealt with Electro-Harmonix or any other effects manufacturer as I usually modify their products voiding any warranty :)

I play mainly psychadelic with experimental and ambient influences. I have been playing for about 13 years now. I am a huge fan of David Gilmour's work, hence my purchase of the Mistress (I ordered one without even hearing it first). I have probably about 50 FX pedals and several guitars and way too many amps but I always go back to my Strat and a few classic pedals and my Twin Reverb or old Danelectro. I find the older I get the less equipment I use and the less interest I have in fancy modern junk. Maybe I am less versatile this way, but I have my sound and I've never heard a modern modeled reproduction of it that even comes close.

The Electric Mistress will always stay on my board and in my opinion is the best pedal in it's category (flanger). I've compared it to other non-boutique flangers (Ibanez, Boss, etc.) and they all suck when put next to the Mistress. If you don't have one, GET IT, you won't be sorry. I have not had a chance to try the original but after hearing the reissue I would love to get my hands on one.

Very easy to use. Three control knobs and an interesting Filter Matrix switch. A little disappointed that the pedal did not come with an in-depth manual, only a little green piece of paper describing how a flanger works. Not a big deal though.

Being a Police fan, of course, I have been seeking this pedal for quite some time. I must say, it is able to recreate most of Andy Summers' tone to a T. That lush, chorusy swirling tone he is famous for. Also recently, I discovered that with a little tweaking in Filter Matrix mode it is possible to somewhat recreate Jimmy Page's metallic, shimmery tone on "Houses of the Holy." Currently I run the Mistress before my Boss GT-8, going through a Crate G-600 4x12. My main guitar is a Korean made Peavey Predator Plus. I also have a Standard Mexican Tele, which I have not yet used with the pedal. With the Peavey in HB mode and a little delay in the mix, the Mistress sounds smooth and spacey. I tend to like all the knobs somewhere in between 9 and 12 o' clock, which produces a lush chorusy tone, much like Mr. Summers. Very full and warm sounding pedal. There is the much expected analog noise, but it is not bad at all, and hardly noticeable at moderate volume. Overall, very impressive sound.

So far so good. I've read one a many bad reviews in this area, so we'll see. I will be bringing to its first gig in a couple days. I'll get back with ya then!

Not had to deal with yet.

I play lead/rhythm guitar in a classic/progressive hard rock band. The Mistress fits right into our sound. It's already been used in writing and I'm sure it will easily find its way into a recording session. I compared it to the EHX Polychorus and I liked it just as much, but this pedal had more hype and (like a good consumer) I bought into it. Fortunately it has lived up to its hype so far. Plus I'm sure it can do pretty much anything the Polychorus can do and more.

Simple to use. There are three knobs- Color, which adjusts how strong the flanging effect is, Range, which controls how wide the sweep is, and Rate, which controls how fast the signal cycles. It
uses a old stlye on/off switch (which I prefer), and is Stereo!

I have an original early 80's version I bought at a pawn shop for $75.00. It works flawlessly. This is quite possible my favorite effect of all time. Its that good. First it is dead quiet on or off,
there is alot of sounds you can obtain with some simple knob twisting. My favorite setting is Color- 12 oclock, Range- 9 oclock,
Rate- 9 oclock. That gives you a super smooth Robin Trower tone, you can run it mono with just one amp and it sounds cool, but if you run it last in your chain and run it stereo it is AWESOME ! It bridges the two amps togeather and gives you a much wider sound stage. You have to hear it to believe it. Very professional sound ,Highly recommended!

Mine has never had ANY problems, I take excellent care of my effects and keep them in boxes until show time. I have gigged with this unit
for years and don't even worry about it. I love that it is AC powered, instead of batteries or wall warts. It is a BIG effect box,
but the board inside is big, and I don't really care about its size, it looks Great on my pedalboard.

Never dealt with Electro-Harmonix, never had to.

My guitar mentor turned me on to the Tubescreamer and I was never the same, I quickly asked him what other killer effects he knew about
and he told me to get an " Electric Miscarraige', So the search was on. This pedal is well worth having if you like Hendrix, and Trower type tones. This thing will put a BIG smile on your face if you like those type tones, especially in Stereo! I'm pretty sure the reissue ones sound good too, but I always go Vintage, I just like older gear.
One of the alltime Great pedals, along with the Memory Man. I run my
1970 Strat> Vintage Crybaby> Maxon AD-900>Ibanez TS-9, Ibanez CS-505
Chorus>Deluxe Electic Mistress split into Marshalls.

I purchased this at a local pawn shop for about 75 bucks, and it didn't have a scratch until I gigged with it the following weekend. The 'manual' was a mere piece of paper describing the knobs, but what on earth is the 'direct out?' It's a 1/4 inch jack, so not ideal for DI. Anyway, it's fun to play with the three knobs and the filter switch rocks.

It came with a power supply, which is cool, because my One Spot power strip thing doesn't fit, and it doesn't have a battery input.

My setup is: a Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 20th Anniversary 20 watt all tube ( 2 channels, it kicks, see my review!!!) and a small chain which is a Peavey rack mount Deltafex digital processor which I run through the FX loop, an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9 reissue, and a Vox wah pedal which I run along with the Mistress through the guitar chain. My guitars are a Washburn WG-580 and a Godin Solidac Steel.

I'm gigging in a cover band playing stuff from the 50's to current music, genres range from rockabilly, blues, hard rock, reggae, to motown. My original stuff is similar, covering the forementioned genres with a modern twist.

Now, the sounds this bad chick can make are astounding! It can range from very subtle (I use it on Hotel California for an added kick), to almost overpowering, which makes for some kick-ass experimental tones. I take after Hendrix, Van Halen, Santana, SRV, Page, and Morrello in my original stylings, and this pedal covers them all! The filter matrix is different. The chiming tones the ad describes can be achieved, but I don't find it quite so. The tone varues from playing your guitar from inside a glass bottle, a far away, Floyd type sound, to the chime-like tones the ad describes, which are more metallic sounding than chimes.

I move and groove on stage, ham and cheese sandwich if you will... but I've only gigged with it once. My Big Muff, which I've recently retired (not because it sucks, but because my amp can produce the same tone), is quite rugged, and this pedal is built in the same manner.

I've never dealt with the company, and I don't believe in mods, besides, they void the warranty!

I'm very happy with this pedal thus far, and prefer the analog tones it provides to the abomination which is digital. I'm soon to give back the borrowed processor (I was going to buy it...) and replace all of the effects it has with analog sounds. It's worth every penny, but even more so to me seeing as how I got it at such a kick-ass price, still in the box ( it lists for about $220.00)!!!

The only negative quality is, well, the effect can be overpowering to the guitar tone, but I like that because I can use it. It sounds great distorted or clean, especially through my amp. Buy it!

The controls are easy to use once you get the hang of what they do. I'd say that the Rate control has a very limited useful range. Over about 9 o'clock the thing is just swinging wildly.

Many reviews ago, somebody here provided the key to dealing with the trimpots inside - THANK YOU very much. That was extremely helpful and quite important for making the pedal sound its best.

I really like the "filter matrix" thinger. That's a cool feature.

I've got a Tele into a Deluxe Reverb.

My Mistress is an older one, not the reissue. As I got it, it had some serious liabilities...

Firstly, the hum. I wonder what rockert surgeon decided to put the unshielded transformer inside the box right next to the unshielded circuit board and wiring. Even when bypassed this thing made an unacceptable amount of noise.

Secondly (and less critical) the bypass is just adequate. It doesn't ruin the sound but there's an impact.

So, I made the sucker true bypass with a DPDT switch (no LED) and I ripped the transformer out entirely and gave it an adapter for a wall wart. Goodbye hum! I also had to resolder a couple joints that were causing a crackling sound.

Now there's just that delicous flange-y goodness! With a few basic repairs and mods the pedal is quite useful and enjoyable to play. However, I'm gonna slam it a bit here for being essentially unplayable out-of-the-box.

I don't have that high an opinion of the durabilty of EH gear, sad to say. Still, I don't abuse my stuff and I see no reason to fear it spontaneously combusting. I'd gig without a backup. Does anyone other than a pro player have "backup" gear just sitting around waiting to go?

My experience here was really remarkable. I emailed EH and got prompt, courteous, helpful support within a day or two. This is for an old pedal that I got off ebay!

I asked for some info on changing out the switch for true bypass and they told me how to set it up to avoid a pop when switching.

Then I asked about some specs on the transformer to make sure the adapter I had would provide the juice the Mistress wanted.

Superb! I was amazed to hear back at all.

I play many different things, been at it for at least 20 years. Every so often I play a paying thing but mostly it's just for fun. The Electric Mistress puts a smile on my face.

Here, however, is where I once again have to nail EH. Why are the blasted boxes so big??? This effect is about twice as big as it has to be. I had a Mini Qtron for a while - that box was four times bigger than necessary. Why!??!? Is it to stash your weed or something? While they have the looks of the funky 70s, they're very unfriendly for a pedalboard.

To summarize: As I got it, this was not a good pedal. After a few simple, low cost mods and some repair, I like it quite a bit. I'm not sure it's there for the long haul but it's there for now and I get a kick out of it.

Fairly intuitive - just 3 dials to play with cant be that demanding even for us techophobes. Takes a little time to work out how the controls interact though. Part of the fune eh?!

If you are interested in my set up see my MXR Stereo Chorus review under R2D2.
I bought this US pedal and after 2 days I have it for sale on Ebay. I love the sound of this pedals sweep and flange and I've always wanted to get close to the David Gilmour "The Wall" sound which was electric mistressed to death. However, Mr Gilmour's EM (Pete Cornish tells me) was one of the US originals, powered by dual 9v batteries with additional circuitry by Pete Cornish to address the tone sucking and noise that plagues this EHX pedal. Sadly Pete cant do anything to fix the new mains only re-issue pedals but suggests that if I find an original I photo the innards before purchasing so he can appraise the pedal regarding its potential for modification. Since flanging is not THAT much of a part of my sound nowadays I'll stick to my MXR which may not give the EM sound but it doesnt suck tone and gets me close enough. The Jim Dunlop MXR is simply a much better and more expensive flanger pedal than the US mistress which just sucks tone. If you have a budget rig then the mistress would be great and it would give you great fun and sounds, (and you could maybe use an EQ pedal to help compensate for the tone sucking) but if you have invested #000's in your tone you'll perhaps pass this one by. Shame they don't make a Deluxe, Deluxe. They would sell like flippin hot cakes and I'd be 1st in the que. It is a unique signature sound.
If it didnt suck tone I'd give it a 9.

Sorry EHX but this amount opf tone sucking is unacceptable. Some of you other pedals are wonderful (like the Holy Grail which I love).