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by fuzzbuzzfuzz » Tue May 02, 2023 2:13 am
Isn't she pretty? Finally arrived yesterday and I had a chance to give her a short whirl.
Firstly, I love the looks, delectable pink with a retro 80s flair. Additionally, it is a rather wonderful condition. I don't recall seeing an awful lot of Micro Flangers over here in this series, so a welcome addition to the collection.
Sounds : Prepare for an avalanche of subjective adjectives!
YES > Flutey, wispy, lush, 80s, light, sweet
NO > Metallic, jet plane, dark
The FL-3 seems to emphasize the high-end frequencies and shelve off quite a lot of bass. In that respect it instantly recalls mid 80s tunes, floaty ethereal melodies but not a deep throaty flange. The resonance switch offers three modes which are quite useful and cover a lot of ground. Due possibly to the asynchronous rise and fall there is a palpable tremolo effect at certain settings. So those are the pluses.
Downside - like many of the modulation effects in the Guyatone Micro series it suffers from background noise when engaged, a "sssssh" that's constant. On lighter settings clean tone wise that's fine but add any gain or switch to the resonance setting 3 and it quickly becomes annoying. With a battery its a tad reduced but overall, like my MC-2 & 3 it's there. Whether a cap change or some filtering circuit could be applied I don't know. I have read that early Guyatones (with analogue BBD circuitry for example) also suffer from noise. I will take it to a studio at some point with my board as my house is not the best place for noise. Additionally, the type of power supply and whether power is shared with different effects also matters.
Overall, I'd give it 7.5/10. In general, it's my kind of flanger, sweet and non-metallic.
Further note: the FL-3 sound reminded me of my Maxon Fl-301, so I pulled out the smaller box 301 version I have to compare. That is an 18v unit and bar UFO noises when engaged/not playing(!), is a thoroughly lush unit that is to my mind a benchmark. It has the FL-3 sweetness but with the deeper full spectrum EQ and a richness. My only dislike is that the pot reaches a max speed very suddenly right at the very end of the rotation. Anyway, a useful exercise. I shall keep the FL-3 for now and see how it fares in the studio later.
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