Why did I buy this - The Ibanez Soundtank Flanger FL5.
Modulate like it's 1999.
Sometimes a late-night Reverb or eBay purchase can lead to riches, sometimes it leads you to a blackhole, and many questions start with “Why”. However, the topic of late-night gear acquisition will be debated in a later newsletter. Today we are talking about this Ibanez flanger that has found its way into my life and some opinions along the way. Now grab your purple-colored flanger coffee cup and lets go!
A side note: I feel as guitar players we have all been conditioned to the colors of the pedal and the sound they make. For example, chorus pedals from MXR, Boss, Ross, and Analogman are blue. Tube screamers like the Ts9 and 808s are Green. Phasers are usually orange. and Flanger pedals are usually purple! The fact the FL5 is green throws me off.
Okay, side rant over, now to the pedal!
A few weeks ago my cousin who’s a Gandalf-level electronics wizard brought up an interest to rehouse a pedal. In my surprise delight to feed this interest, I lunged at the opportunity and ripped out my phone to look for a cheap-ish pedal for him to tinker with.
A quick look at reverb will lead you to a bunch of micro pedals, bad-sounding cheap digital pedals, or… the Ibanez Soundtank line from 1999 (runner up, the Maxon Fireblade line). I selected the cheapest pedal in the lineup. It was $15 bucks.
A few seconds after the high of buying a new pedal wore off some things became apparent to me. This pedal uses a much-maligned and noted switch that fails regularly and he would have to replace it with a more modern stomp switch. Another thing, the circuit board for this line of pedals is larger than standard-size pedal enclosures. Whoops.
But because I am a chronic gear buyer, I have another pedal for him to enjoy tinkering with that has far more modern parts. This works out for both of us, because I have a deep loathing of the micro pedal and it will be a fun project for him!
Storytime aside, how does this hunk of plastic sound? How does it feel? Most of all, when will it fall apart?!
Here is where I scratch my head a little. Ibanez managed to make an AMAZING sounding flanger pedal. I am considering tracking down a Soundtank Chorus and Tubescreamer because they are cheap.
The company chose to go cheap on the enclosure, jack, and most of all the switch used. To my knowledge like the Nobels pedals in the 90’s these were sold in a blister pack for cheap. Like an entryway into the much larger Ibanez pedal line. When I say this enclosure feels like a Bic pen im not kidding. Im genuinely surprised this pedal has not cracked, turned to dust, or completely fallen apart since it was made in 1999.
The most known issue with this line and one I am also encountering is the switch. It is a momentary switch that as the years have gone by no longer latches consistently at the connection point on the circuit board (the fix for this is more expensive than the pedal and may not be compatible with the size of the board and enclosure) Apart from that huge issue, the input jacks feel like they are going to shatter every time you plug them in, and the knobs for the parameters are inserted directly into the circuit board with every turn, I worry about wiggling it off the post. But again, entry-level pricing gets you entry-level Bic pen parts from the late 90s.
But somehow, this little modulation pedal is endearing and has many wonderful tones. It does not have those loud digital artifacts you hear in “budget” pedals from companies. It reminds me of the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress in the best way. The FL5 for all accounts sounds great and is very usable. The FL5 can go from glassey almost chorus-like sounds, to phaser-like tones and most importantly it can sound like a jet taking off. The hallmarks of a great flanger! Just ask Paul Gilbert!
If you were to try one of the Soundtank pedals and enjoyed it enough to use it consistently and had to have it. I have a workaround to suggest, Disclaimer this workaround will be much more expensive and you might be better off going with a modern pedal. Not might, you would be better off buying modern.
Deep breath. In and out.
The workaround I have in mind is to use one of these in a pedal looper by say: The Gig rig or One control or insert your preferred pedal looper maker. Keep that pedal on 100% of the time and turn it on and off from the looper. Because you cannot, and I repeat cannot count on the switch to work even 50% of the time.
While I would not have considered this pedal without a project in mind, That aside I am happy it is now a part of my tool kit of tones. While learning about the Soundtrack line the Echomachine is a much-desired pedal in this lineup used by Nashville session artists. So, that is pretty cool 25 years on some of these pedals are getting used professionally! Okay, maybe I will add the Echomachine to the Chorus and Tubescreamer Soundtanks I might collect. Time will tell.