Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress

it's a guitar pedal...

first of all, i use this as an FX send in my mixing desk, to have an analogue stage to all the digital stuff, and to have a nice flanger, but now i use it for everything BUT what it's ment for: immense analogue distortion, when i turn up the color knob more than 1/3 it starts screaming away all by itself even (and this happened with a guitar too), it's great :) with the color turned down and a fairly dry signal i can hear it's flanger (with the color up it's like a jet engine going up and down in rpm over the top of my music) and a lot of beautifull fuzz from the filter (color up and its a very nice distortion with the range knob to change it to your taste)... and because of the immense feedback i use it as a sound-source too.. it's worth pointing out that i like these sounds... i love noise, industrial and stuff like add n to x, and with this i can get all that... the fuzzy basses from add n to x with my juno in mono and the mistress, and all the analogue distortion/feedback i could want from one simple guitar pedal... if u want something subtle on the other hand, don't take the mistress, she's a bitch and she likes showing it :) it IS VERY NOISY... it's even noisier than my computer and that's quite a feat... not a problem for me, i just turn down the send knob when i don't use it, but in a chain of pedals this would seriously bug me...

it's a guitar pedal... not as tank-like as my maxon OD-9, but solid none the less

i have to admit i'm not shure if mine is entirely ok... because of the immense feedback and distortion when i turn up the color knob.. other people don't seem to get this result... but i don't mind, i like it like this... so possibly, just maybe it's not as reliable on the inside...

well... it does what i bought it for, but it does sooooo much more for me... i can't miss mine anymore... it's not a flanger /filter, but a flanger/fuzz/distortion/sourceOfWeirdShit for me, and GREAT at it too... if u're not into madness and chaos though, then don't buy it

Just want to elaborate on some comments from my previous review:

* The flanging sounds good with the "Rate" knob at minimum settings, but starts to get really monotonous and mechanical as you move the rate up. My old DOD flanger, noisy, cheap bugger that it was, seemed to get a nice, slightly out-of-control "Leslie" thing happening when you turned the rate up.

* I wish the "Color" (feedback) control would go higher than it does. Alot of cool, ethereal sounds start to appear as you turn up the feedback, but this control doesn't go far enough to really bring them to the surface.

* Contrary to what I said before, this pedal isn't noisy at all. All you get is a bit of "swish" with the controls at extreme settings. I'm now thinking this pedal may be a little too clean for my liking. Maybe all the noise reduction circuitry in this box is why it sounds thin to my ears.

* You can get a much fuller, deeper sound from this pedal by running it along with a phaser. Still, an effect that costs this much shouldn't need a "helper" to sound its best.

I'll stand by my original review. This is a decent flanger, but I'm still wondering if there isn't something better.

As easy to use as any other stompbox flanger. Some of the terms used to describe the knobs are a bit confusing and vague. I think "Color" controls the feedback/regeneration, while "Range" controls the length of the delay. I would've preferred it if they had called those knobs "Feedback" and "Delay" instead. "Rate" controls the speed of the oscillator that sweeps the delay. The "Filter Matrix" switch allows you to disconect the oscillator, turning the pedal into a static delay unit. As a delay, it's pretty limited, but useful for cheesy metallic reverb effects or for making your guitar sound like a toy piano.
The manual is a one-sided, digest-sized photocopy. It contains no useful technical information whatsoever - nothing about input/output impedance, about what the knobs actually do, etc. While that's all you get for a manual, they've also included a glossy, full-color, 12-page catalog for their other pedals, and a glossy brochure for EH brand vacuum tubes. Interesting.
I would've liked it if a schematic had been included as well.
Despite these criticisms, the unit is really very easy to use. Just plug in and start twisting knobs until you hear something you like. After 10 minutes, it becomes fairly obvious how each of the controls affects the sound.

It's much quieter than the DOD flanger I was using before, though still fairly noisy. I don't fault EH for that, noise is just an inherent problem with the bucket brigade chips used in analog flangers. EH have done a respectable job of keeping the noise down.

A previous reviewer hit the nail on the head when he mentioned the Danelectro Cool Cat chorus. If you've ever maxed out all the knobs on a Cool Cat, liked the sound, and wished it could go further, then the Electric Mistress is for you. It takes off where the Cool Cat ends.

This thing is at the top of the heap as far as stompbox flangers go. I have yet to hear a better one. Despite this, I haven't been blown away by the Electric Mistress. It's a little thin, and the sweep doesn't sound quite right to me. The Mistress has a reputation for being extreme and over-the-top, but honestly, I find it to be rather on the tame and "musical" side. It's not the best choice for flying saucer sounds. Maybe the old ones are different? It doesn't really cover that much more territory than other flangers, it just does it more cleanly. That's its biggest strength, I think.

I just got it so I can't say.
It seems fairly sturdy. It's a large metal box with metal jacks, etc. It's weird they didn't put in an LED to show the effect is on.
The unit I got was (supposedly) new but was covered in scratches, discolorations in the paint job, etc., right out of the box. I suspect the store might've sold me a floor unit as new, but if that's not the case and they come from the factory looking this way, it doesn't inspire confidence in EH's quality control.

This is one of the better flangers I've come across, but if I had to buy it again, I'm not so sure I would. It comes closer to the sounds I'm after than any other product I've tried, but it's still only halfway there. If this is the best analog can do, I'll be taking a closer look at the digital devices out there. I would be curious to hear how this thing stacks up to the MXR flanger, though.

Tricky to remember what settings get you what sounds in specific. I usually stick to a fast and light flange, or a slow and deep sound.

I'm totally gaga over my mistress! It makes kindof a fuzz sound if i have my guitar up all the way, which really gives it an old sound. It makes this weird noise when i play with the range knob. very analog synth-esque, but only when i don't play any guitar notes. it's just part of the pedal's noise factor i love so much. it makes a good vibe sound if i turn the range up, but i prefer a phaser for that sorta thing. it does the whole tool flange-into-distortion thing beautifully, as well as make great cure goth sounds. most of the sounds are non-cheesy and are somewhat sophisticated and arty. love the pretentiousness of electro-harmonix. there is a definite volume drop, but since i run it into an amp that's almost-distorting, it simply cleans the amp's tone up while adding it's own lo-fi distortion to make up for it.

This will never die. I see so many vintage ones of these around that i am not so worried about one dying.

electro harmonix sucks with customer support, but that's just what i've heard from others...

Beautiful 80's sounds, good jet-plane whoosh, and nice trippy noise. the reason i don't shop for flangers as much as i used to. i do need this one cool green 70's ibanez flanger, however.

Very easy pedal to use..........only 3 knobs. Within seconds, I had a great flanging sound.

This is one of the best sounding flangers I've tried. Very noisy though. I have to use it with the "Range" knob turned almost completely down or else it completely takes over your sound. Especially with distortion.

I've only had it for a couple of months, but no problems yet.

Never dealt with them

Overall, I love this pedal and would gladly get another if this was lost/stolen/whatever. The only thing that I don't like about it is the size. EH pedals just take up too much space on a pedal board. But I kinda solved the space problem by putting my delay on top of the pedal between the knobs and the on/off switch. So, I give this pedal a 9 because nothing is perfect.

EASY TO USE. NO MANUAL ALL I GOT WAS THE WARRENTY CARD HASN'T BEEN UP-GRADED S FAR AS I KNOW

SOUND QUALITY OF THE EFFECT IS VERY GOOD BUT THERE IS A 60 CYCLE HUM OR EVEN A BAD GROUND HUM EVEN WHEN THE UNIT'S OFF. ESPECIALLY ON HIGH GAIN

NO IT'S TOO NOISEY IT MAKES YOUR WHOLE EFFECTS CHAIN SOUND LIKE LITTLE LEAGUE CRAP AND I'M TALKING SOLDANO,TC,MESA BOOGIE MARSHALL WITH GIBSON AND FENDER GUITARS

SENT BACK TO NU-SENSOR TWICE AND THEY SENT IT BACK THE SAME WAY

BLUES ROCK FIX THE NOISE THAT YOUR COMPANY SEEMS TO DENY. I DID HEAR SOME MENTION OF A NEW CIRCUIT I GUESS THE OLD ONE WAS CRAP.ALL I KNOW IS THIS PEDAL HAS BEEN UNUSUABLE SINCE I GOT IT NICE FLANGE IF IT WERE USABLE

This is VERY easy to use...it is very easy to get a good sound out of it, and their are only three large knobs...It doesn't get any easier than this pedal.

This FLanger has some very good sounds...It can be very noisy though..I have found myself turning the Depth of the flange town because of the amount of hiss I was getting from the pedal..It is an analog pedal though..and I did Kind of expect some hiss

I Play with no back up for it...It has never let me down..I also like that it doesn't use any batteries..

Overall, I really like the sounds you can get from this flanger..You can get good flange sounds, and can also go as far to get chorus sounds as well..My only complaints are that it's a little noisy and it doesn't have stereo output options, which is why I'll probably eventually buy a Boss flanger to help the Electric mistress out with the stereo stuff...

The pedal is very easy to use. I am submitting this review 'only' to put forward an idea which I came up with to solve the volume level drop when the flange is turned on.

If you are after a flanger that does it better than any other, this is the pedal for you. There is a volume drop when the effect is turned on. I really noticed how much of a drop when my amp was put through the monitors when playing live. Here is how I fixed it...and you may need someone with electronics experience to help you. I wired in an EMG-SPC mid-boost to the output of the flange section of the effect. I was also able to power the SPC with 5 Volts DC I found on the effect. I was then able to adjust the level of the effect when it was turned on to match when it was turned off. The extra mids actually added some warmth to the effect as well. Good luck!

I've only owned the effect for a week.

Have not had to use tech support yet.

I love the sound of this pedal and it was worth putting the extra effort in to make it perfect.

Seems easy at first, but those 3 knobs really can take your guitar tone to very strange places indeed, so a little experimentaion is needed.

This pedal sounds incredible, theres a few people whinging about noise (I'm about to aswell) but I can't really comment as I own the old 70's model and Electro Harmonix pedals are famed for there big ugly sounds, but in the best way possible. Its true that this pedal can produce lovely chorus sounds and traditional flange sounds, but i find the best set up is when the rate is turned up to the point where you get a very subtle vibrato, which sounds absolutely incredible when hooked up with a fuzz and octave pedal for one note/string riffs. Anyhoo onto my little whinge... basically theres a click in the lower part of the sweep of my pedal, this makes the faster settings virtually unusable... i was wondering if anyone could help me out? I'm from the uk too by the way.

I have a few old EH pedals, and as far as reliabilty gos, there a bit of a no-no. I've had to take them in for repairs a few times but of course its worth it, the new pedals are probably a lot more reliable however.

next day response from any e-mails I've sent, could of been a bit more helpful though.

This is a cracking piece of kit, you need to be into the EH vibe though before you buy anything off them, theres no point getting it if your gonna put through a crappy tranny amp, or just use it for the clean part in a nu metal song or whatever, but if you want a flange thats a bit different (from your mums) then you can't get much better than this.

Easy to use with three knobs (Color, Range, Rate), on/off switch, and the Filter Matrix switch (disengages flange sweep).

But, on the other hand, there are so many micro-varieties of flange sounds that it can take quite a while to find the exact sound you're looking for.

The plug in is nice I guess, but there's a lot of cord that I have to bunch up and looks unsightly on the pedal board. Oh well.

Like others here have said, this is very good for getting the Andy Summers (from the Police) chiming guitar sound, as heard on songs like "Walking on the Moon," "Bring On The Night," "When The World Is Running Down," "Tea in the Sahara..." Yeah, Summers used this pedal a lot, especially live. Play a telecaster with a good compressor, the Electric Mistress, and some nice delay/reverb, and you ARE Andy Summers.

It's kind of a chorusy flanger, as opposed to something like a Boss or MXR or Ibanez, which sound a bit dryer than this (but with a more pronounced sweep). All sorts of sounds are available. Good for the more arty 80's flange sounds (like Siouxie & The Banshees, The Cure, etc.) as opposed to 80's cock rock flange sounds (Van Halen, ad nauseum). Good Nirvana sounds as well. I realize many of you aren't looking to imitate other artists' sounds, I'm just using them as examples of the kinds of sounds you can get.

Here's a great setting for the classic Police flanger sound:

Color: 10:00
Range: 11:50
Rate: 8:50

Andy Summers described this sound as "warbling cloud." It's a pretty good description. Try striking a chord and fading it in with a volume pedal or your guitar's volume knob, using lots of reverb or echo. Very mysterious-sounding.

Never given me a problem.

Never had to contact them...

This is a good match for the music I play. I play a lot of strange, subtly dark music, in addition to more down to earth acoustic music. I like this flanger best clean, either palm muted or with jazz and suspended 4th/7th chords. It sounds good distorted too, but usually I like my distortion with no modulation effects. It's also perfect for playing Police songs.

I've been playing for almost five years. If it were stolen, I'd track the offender down and beat him with blow after punishing blow to the head and torso region, pro wrestling style. Right. I'm not sure there's such a thing as "best ever," but this is definitely my favorite flanger. Try it before you buy it to make sure it's the sound you're after. I love the beautiful, delicate pulses of chorusy flange. The sound, in my opinion, is infinitely more interesting than any other flanger I've heard.