Maxon FL-9

4 knobs that take a little time getting used to. Very versatile, but expect to spend some time tweaking it.

Amazing flanging effect, 3-D in quality, and a perfect alternative to high-end chorus tones. Many songs need something different besides chorus, and running this amazing effect will allow you to add a texture and feel that cuts through the mix and just sounds cool. ** Even though it's a mono effect, when split stereo to either side (I do this with a TC Nova Delay that's last in line) it generates a suprisingly cool spacial effect. Who would have thought that would happen with a mono effect?

I've had mine for about 9 months now, and it's sounding better every day. Beyond getting aquainted with the adjustments, like most expensive boutique effects, there is a break-in/burn-in period where the capacitors form and other things get used to operating voltage. Don't be disuaded if it doesn't sound exactly like what you hoped during the initial 25-100 hours of break-in time. After that, like magic, you'll see what this baby is all about.

** One of the reviewers below first gave it a lousy review, and then reposted to fix his unfair initial review. Beyond placement of the effect, I'm sure break-in/burn-in was also a factor in what he/she was hearing. Again, give it some time, and the rest of your expensive pedals and amps as well!

Maxon. Nothing else to say.

Godlyke. Again, nothing else to say.

Giving this an overall 9, but would be a 9.999 if I could. Over 30 years playing, so much gear I can't count, and this little yellow pedal is up with all my other great stuff (Keeley, Analogman, Tech 21, vintage Ibanez, Boogies, Bogner, Fenders, Marshalls, Dr Z., TC Electronics, ADA, Custom Built whatever, etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah). If I needed another stompbox Flanger, yes, in a heartbeat, this is worth every cent.

This is an addedum to previous review where I unfairly gave this Flanger a very low review. I was definitely too hasty with when I wrote it.

I'm going to give Ease of Use a 9, although it should be an 8 but this will kind of counter my review below. The reason it should be an 8 is because the setting knobs aren't the most intuitive, and the Maxon / Ibanez pedal switch is kind of finnicky - sometimes it won't go on the unless you give it an extremely accurate press, and sometimes it does.

This is an addedum to previous review where I unfairly gave this Flanger a very low review.

After months of tweaking it, I found that there are many usable and cool sounds and the high-end sounds where being caused by a combination of where it was in my signal chain, amp used, etc.

I would say it's a 8-9 in terms of sound quality. There is some coloration of tone, but after months of experimenting the input/outpu buffer (this is not True Bypass) is actually a benefit at key points in my signal chain. From what I can tell, Maxon did a great job on determining the appropriate resistance and this can minimize some of the True Bypass high-end loss if you place it strategically.

Although I rate the effect 8-9, boosting to 10 to try and counter my inaccurate review (below).

See my previous review.

See my previous review.

This is an addedum to previous review where I unfairly gave this Flanger a very low review.

For the money, this pedal is DEFINITELY worth it. However, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHERE YOU PLACE THIS IN YOUR SIGNAL CHAIN. Enough said.

Final interesting point: initially I thought I was going to have to sell this because it just wasn't working for me. After finally getting my overall pedalboard configuration right, figuring how just what a great buffer this pedal is against True Bypass tone loss, and spending some time becoming familiar with how the settings work, this pedal is now a permanent fixture on my board and some of my other Boutique pedals have to go!

Clearly, I was far too hasty and should not have written my previous review.

Not entirely intuitive to use, as stomp box Flangers go. Controls are Speed, Width, Delay Time, and Regeneration. True Bypass when off. If you are new to Flangers, try turning each knob through the entire range to get a feel for what it does. Because of large range of possible effects sounds, plan on tweaking it for a while.

Ok, so here's where I'm going to knock this pedal down. The actual Flanging effect works good, but it is adding some high mid tonal shading when off that is almost brittle sounding and in some cases unusable. Interestingly, it sounds better with an overdriven/distorted tone than with a clean tone. For the price, I would have thought it that equalization of the flanged tone would be closer to the original, uneffected guitar tone, but not so.

I play all styles ranging from rock, blues, country, soul, and some classical and jazz.

My all analog, 100% true bypass setup:

Vintage Gibson Les Paul or SG > Keeley modded Vox 847 wah > Keeley looper (as tuner mute) > PedalDoctor FX 4 Speed Overdrive > FL-9 > Analogman Chorus w/options > Retro-Sonic Analog Delay > Keeley modded AD-9 w/expression pedals > Bogner Ecstasy 101B > Swanson custom built 2x12 speaker cabs loaded with Celestion G12-H30 (awesome cabs!!).

It's a Maxon, and might last 20 years or more. I have a Maxon built Ibanez multieffect from 1983-84 (original owner) that's only now starting to show any signs of age. I would trust this without a backup any day of the week.

The guys at Godlike (Maxon direct) responded to my emails with honest and helpful answers within 1-2 business days. Can't ask for much more than that.

Well, the pedal provides the necessary flanging effect, but the tone leaves something to be desired. Frankly, I'm considering removing it from my board although I want a flanger option. The jury is still out here. If it was stolen I would look elsewhere.

I have over 30+ years playing experience, with 20+ seriously. I've used a huge array of guitars, amps, and effects, although most of the effects were high-end rack gear, so I'm no stranger to good AND bad tone. This pedal is in the middle somewhere, and may or may not work for you. I recommend that you try it in a store first to see how it sounds to your ears, which is something I didn't do otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it. If you plan to buy it sight unseen online - like me - consider yourself forewarned that it might leave you a little underwhelmed.

A lot of people seem to have trouble getting their heads around the Ibanez/Maxon FL9's when, in fact, you can get decent sounds by completely ignoring the two knobs on the right hand side (resonance and delay time - just put them both fully CCW)) and just using the width and speed - these alone will give you a whole range of chorus/flange effects.
It's only once you want to make things more interesting that you need to work out what the other knobs do and, once you've managed that, the pedal is actually pretty easy to use.

Up until recently I owned an original, early 80s Ibanez FL9 but got rid of it on account of it being quite noisy, having lousy bypass (i.e. you could still the effect swirling away when the effect was meant to be off), and giving quite a volume boost when engaged. I always thought that the FL9 was one of, if not the, best flanger out there, and certainly one of the most versatile of all analog modulation stompers, and, soon after getting rid of the Ibanez, found myself yearning after it all over again.
I had heard that the Ibanez FL9 reissues are not a patch on the originals and, seeing as Maxon made them the first time round, thought that maybe one of their reissues would do the trick.
I eventually managed to pick one up secondhand (no small feat, even on eBay) and was delighted to discover that it did everything my old FL9 did, but was utterly noise-free (very rare indeed for a flanger, even a high-end one), had true-bypass, and unity gain when engaged.
If you want to know how it sounds, you may be better off reading the reviews for the Ibanez FL9 as there is a lot more info there, but let me just say that the Maxon FL9 will do everything you'd expect, and much more, but without all the problems usually associated with flangers.

Maxon's distributor, Godlyke, is quick to answer e-mails, and very helpful, beyond that I cannot comment

It is very expensive brand new but, if flange is your thing, or you want one modulation device to cover a wide spectrum of chorus/flange and even phasing/rotary sounds, that has true-bypass, is completely noise-free, compact and totally sturdy, then you really should try and get hold of of one of these.
As stated at the beginning, getting the most out of it does require some time twiddling and testing - but that's part of the fun, isn't it?
The only reason I'm docking a point is the cost brand new (??160 here in the UK - mind you, the EH Deluxe Electric Mistress is over ??100 and, sound-wise it's not as versatile, is three times the size and has an unacceptable volume drop when engaged).

have to agree w/the previous reviewer re: the fickleness of flange units & the way it's not exactly intuitive what the frick each knob is doing as you twist it. the fl-9 is no exception. it took at least my third time hooking it up till i was both getting good sounds AND understanding why i was getting those sounds. i don't know about you, but for some reason the understanding why part of the equation has become a big thing to me in the last few years. huh. anyway, here are my findings once i did get it "figgered out": SPEED control-- i tended to like the sound when this knob was in the 9:00 to 3:00 positions. anything faster, too warbly. anything slower, ya found yerself singing "she'll be comin' round the mountain" waiting for the full sweep to make its way back to zero. REGENERATION control-- 9:00 to 12:00 was where i found this knob pleasing to my ear. below 9, too muddy & bass-y. over 12 & it got too tinny, that steel drum kinda sound. these aren't complaints, as flangers are supposed to have these characteristics at extreme settings. just observations on what tones i personally find cool & uncool, & where they lie in the travel of the knobs. lastly, the WIDTH & DELAY TIME controls: i found that these two worked w/each other to produce the vast array of sounds in the fl-9, from 747 take-off (width max, delay min) to hollow & box-y (width min, del 12:00). i'm sure some people who "know" the machinations of flangers are reading this review & going "no shit, sherlock" to my hard-won discoveries, but i'm hoping this malarkey i've just typed up might be of some help to somebody, somewhere.

1976 gibson s-1 w/lindy fralin p-90s > maxon sd-9 > maxon fl-9 > ayan smooth & slim > dr. z mini z (5-watt tube amp w/8 inch speaker). everything connected w/george l's cables & juiced w/voodoo labs pedal power 2. i went into a good bit o' detail re: sound quality in the ease of use category, so i won't repeat myself. suffice to say, the fl-9 sounds great. no extra noise, no unpredictable sounds that'll have ya checkin to make sure all your cables are still connected. you laugh? i've definitely owned a couple of chorus/flange/phase/delay units that've made me scrap "perfect takes" when recording cuz of un-wanted snaps, crackles or pops. at this point in my pedal-acquiring "career", stability counts for more than any-"whoa dude, check out that crazy sound!"-quotient. the fl-9 comes up aces. dude.

to those of you who may be unfamiliar w/maxon, the answer to the question is YES, you can depend on it. gig with it, record with it, practice with it, jam with it, get jiggy with it. whatever you wanna do.

i have no flippin idea.

i think it's funny the way many harmony central reviewers whine about the prices of pedals. some claim to even "know" what the parts cost when justifying their whining. what i wanna know is: do these same people make a big stink when they buy a loaf of bread? claiming they know the cost of yeast? do they complain about what their auto mechanic charges for his hourly rate? bitch & moan about the fees to get his kid signed up for little league baseball? if the answer to these questions is "yes", then i guess i know that these people are just miserable sad-sacks who always are on the lookout for getting "taken". if the answer to the questions is "no", what i wanna know is--why do they feel effects-pedal makers don't have the same right as bread makers, auto mechanics & municipalities to recoup their costs & possibly even turn a profit? it's called capitalism. why do i bring all this up? well, seeing as i'm only the second person to review this pedal, i'm guessing tone-snobs are turning a deaf ear to the fl-9 cuz of the price. do i wish it cost less? sure i do. but for whatever reason, this is the price maxon has decided on. check out the rest of their line; i don't see any blatant examples of price gouging. making a good flanger seems to be difficult to perfect & expensive to construct. maxon has done it. & i bought one. lousy capitalist.

I find flangers kinda fussy...you fool with it, think you have something, than soon realise you have to mess with it more. This pedal gives you four knobs...oy! I took me awhile to figure the FL-9 out, even with Godlyke's techno-gook explanation on their site. This isn't to say I cound't get dramatic changes when I moved the knobs...that was definately happening, but I didn't understand why it was happening. One week later I finally got a handle on the thing...that is to say I can make many great sounds and teak them successfully...I think! The manual was helpful when I finally looked at it (lame sounding example settings), but I still had to play with it to get "real life experience". That was the real teacher.

Right away I could tell the sound quality was top notch...I guess this is why I held in there for so long. Very clean and transparent. I had an old Ibanez flanger...the one with the "chicklet" knob. That made my guitar sound thin. The FL-9 sounds full and phat, unless I set it to a severe comb filter setting. I really like the way the depth control controls how the effect is either a part of your sound or floating above it!

I haven't owned this very long, but it is built like a freakin' tank. Seriously, it must weight a ton. I don't KNOW it will last forever, but would definately bet money on it!

No contact.

I play in a heavy sludge sub-metal band. Our influences include Sleep, the Melvins, Hawkwind and Blue Cheer. I play a70's Aria Pro Les Paul copy with DiMarzio pickups into the FL-9, into an Expandora, into an Ampeg V4B, into a 4x10 and a 1x15 Sunn cabs. I was using a Roland Jet Phaser to give me some freak out tones. The FL-9 is the freakiest by far. If you crank the regen and delay knobs up all the way you get this knife slicing glass sound that is very heavy...the rate knob and the depth knob really give a wide variety in this use alone. More conventional settings are great for leads. If I could change anything, I would add a rocking pedal jack...but I can't decide if it should change the regen or rate settings. This pedal rules...I would definately buy or steal another if I had to.