STOMPSCHOOL
Stompbox Classics: A/DA Flanger
Greetings, and welcome to another edi- A/DA used a hardwired AC cord. But that’s
tion of “Stompbox Classics” here at Stomp not so unusual, and there were a few other
School. This month we’ll be looking at the AC-powered 18V flangers available at the
unequivocal king of all vintage flangers – time. So what else?
the A/DA Flanger. I’ve noticed a spike in the
price of these recently on eBay, prompting In addition to the four controls found on
me to feature the A/DA this month. I have a most flangers – manual, width/depth/range,
database of vintage effects auctions going rate/speed and feedback/enhance – the
back six or seven years, and the sale price A/DA also offered an even/odd harmonics
of the A/DA has always been fairly stable. switch for a slightly different timbre, and a
Although long out of production, there were Threshold knob to gate the flanging effect.
thousands made and you can find one for The Manual knob sets the time delay and is
sale any day of the week. Of course, all it disabled when the Range knob is turned fully
takes is for a couple of morons
on eBay to throw down one
bid after another way before
the auction has ended, each
trying to outbid the other to
remain on top. Then it almost
goes without saying that the
one who loses the auction
must perform the same idiotic
strategy on the next similar
item that comes along – driving the market value up on
just about anything.
most notably the Pat Travers Band. While
the A/DA Flanger was the staple of the
line at that time, there were a couple of
other stomp-type effects – the A/DA Final
Phase, which used the same enclosure as
the Flanger, and the now exquisitely rare
A/DA Harmony Synthesizer. All three pedals
featured sophisticated, cutting-edge circuitry.
These ambitious designs were mostly the
work of company founder David Tarnowski,
a former Seamoon engineer. Seamoon was
best known for the Funk Machine (designed
by well-known DIY author Craig Anderton).
Tarnowski devised the Seamoon
Studio Flanger, a precursor of the
A/DA Flanger, and then started
Analog/Digital Associates in 1975
after Seamoon had folded.
Okay, rant over – back to
the A/DA Flanger.
Debuting in June 1977, the
flanger produced by Analog/
Digital Associates (A/DA) had
a circuit design and features
that instantly set it apart from
the rest. With its heavy cast
metal enclosure and a faceplate full of
knobs, this was a serious looking stompbox. But it was the sound of the pedal that
earned it its legendary status. It’s still my
all-time favorite flanger. I can get sounds
on the A/DA that I can’t get with other
flangers, including an absolutely amazing
“steel drum” guitar. It’s also super quiet,
has plenty of headroom, and the tones are
just so thick, juicy and, well, flangey!
clockwise. In this mode, the A/DA Flanger
could be swept with either the Manual knob
or an external control pedal, which was an
unusual feature for that time. The sweep
range of the A/DA was also much wider than
any other flanger and the circuitry was more
advanced, employing a built-in compressor
and a bandpass filter in the feedback loop,
which gave it its own distinct sound. The
first version of the A/DA Flanger used the
Reticon SAD1024A Bucket Brigade device,
but the circuit was revised in May of ‘ 78 to
use the Panasonic MN3010 chip.
The A/DA Flanger remained in
production until 1981, when
the company began to focus on
rackmount effects, producing
the STD- 1 Stereo Tapped Delay,
the TFX4 Time Effects, and
the highly popular MP- 1 MIDI
Programmable Tube Pre-Amp.
A/DA reissued their famous
Flanger in the mid-nineties. The
circuit used the MN3010 BBD
and had a built-in AC power
cord; unlike many reissues, this
one was as good if not better
than the original. Unfortunately,
these also are no longer in pro-
duction. There are still plenty of
them out there though, so if you look for
one on eBay, don’t let yourself get caught
in a bidding war.
Check back next month for another Stompbox
Classic. Until then, keep on stompin’!
So what is it about the A/DA that makes it
different from all the other flangers? To start
with, the A/DA runs at a higher voltage than
the typical 9V battery-powered flanger. The
early A/DA pedals used a 12VDC external
wall-wart power transformer with a positive
tip plug. Some mid-year versions need more
than 12V or they will hum, as they use a
15V internal regulator. Later revisions of the
Stompboxes were still considered lowbrow
in the seventies, but A/DA seemed set on
creating products that offered high-end quality in road-worthy enclosures, touting their
Flanger as “studio quiet.” The company
also boasted some high profile endorsees,
Tom Hughes
(a.k.a. Analog Tom) is the owner and proprietor of For
Musicians Only ( formusiciansonly.com) and author of
Analog Man’s Guide To Vintage Effects. For Musicians
Only is also the home of the FMO Gear Shop.
Questions or comments about this article can be sent
to: stompschool@formusiciansonly.com.
Analog Man
( analogman.com) is one of the largest boutique effects
manufacturers and retailers in the business, established by “Analog” Mike Piera in 1993. Mike can be
reached at AnalogMike@aol.com.
