Danelectro Fab Flange: A Review

Greetings blogosphere! You likely saw the title of this post and cringed. Here, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpfOUxIPkOk.

… No seriously, watch the video.

Pretty bad right? Well I don’t care! I flipping love the Fab Flange and will continue to use it in my music until the day I transform from the hip, indie lead player, to the mustached mandolin player who doesn’t really have a place. All joking aside, I will say this about the pedal- it adds noise, is cheap, and is actually a very poor quality flange pedal. But I love it. So be prepared, worship guitarists of the internet, for an overwhelmingly positive review on one of the worst pedals ever made!

How I Use the Fab Flange

I use the Fab Flange in the FX loop of my Strymon Timeline. Now, you might be wondering why I allow a Danelectro pedal on my pedalboard, never mind fogging up my $500 delay pedal’s signal. You ought to know that I am an immense fan of Jonny Buckland’s work on Coldplay’s “Ghost Stories”, particularly the first track on the album, “Always in My Head”. From the fact that he’s rawking the now-popular Silvertone 1484 (which has a beautiful recreation by JHS Pedals), to the fact his reverb could cut through the most bitter heart, I just love everything he does (even [as Rolling Stone described it] the most unsexy solo of 2014 on “True Love”). Aaaallllllll that to say, his overall sound is incredibly modulated, while not overly saturated. I use the Fab Flange to get these tones. Just check out Ghost Stories to get an idea of how my delay sounds.

Twist and Shout

There are three knobs on the Fab Flange: Regen, Speed, Depth.

Speed- The speed of the modulation. Nothing more, nothing less. I usually have it about 50-60%.

Depth- The depth of the modulation. Nothing more, nothing less. I usually have it at about 25-40%.

Regen- Hey, so imagine if you made Pikachu drink a cranberry Red Bull, shook him up, then stuck him in a knob. This is easily the most convenient and accurate way to describe the way the Regen knob. You probably won’t need it past 20%, if at all. I have it at about 10% most of the time.

Situationalism

Know when to use the Fab Flange. It doesn’t always sound good. On most Chris Tomlin stuff, you probably do NOT want to use it. On Bethel stuff, you likely do want to use it, as Michael Pope has a very modulated sound. The Fab Flange sounds incredible for overall ambience and swells. I usually use it once a set, which for me, warrants it a spot on my pedalboard. NOTE! Do not use the “infinity” mode on the Timeline when also using the flange. The modulation feeds into itself, warbling, ultimately sounding like a dubstep bass drop.

All in all, I have maybe 3 complaints about this pedal. Which is rare. And for only $15, it’s a steal. Go buy one.


Thanks y’all.