What is it?
Ibanez DFL Digital Flanger from Master Series. Made in japan in mid 80’s. Missing the type plate sticker, but otherwise in very good condition.
Now, for real, get ready for running in the guts of the iron worm. The basis for all the metal worm psychedelic action is MC4101F. There’s also a schematic available for download at Schematics Unlimited. Must be one of the most complex pedal designs i’ve seen so far. Just look at the solder joints. The board is so full that it’s simply amazing.
The amount of usable controls are also notable. There’s your standard Speed and Width. And Delay Time and Regeneration. Plus a three position switch for delay time range from 0.5-4ms to 1-8ms and finally to 2-16ms. Those ranges offer pretty much every usable delay times that are needed for flange effect. There are scans of user’s manual up on Tone Home.
With wide range of controls, it is very usable and well made flanger. Even i don’t consider myself as a huge flanger fan or big time user, this unit still impresses me. And for the complexity.. There’s really not much for me to go on about with my puny understanding that is all based on simple analog circuits.
There are rumours around the internet that these units are ultimately rare and the number produced is very low. I don’t believe either of those claims are true as at the time of writing there are five different units for sale on ebay.
How does it sound?
In the guts of a iron worm. Metallic and cold. Simply beautiful sound. And over the pot at the same time. If you’re after a soft sounding airplane sweeper, you should pass this one completely. It offers harsh, deep flange that’ll melt your brains. Just beautiful.
Hi. I just got one of these and haven’t been very happy with the sound. It sounds like a nnormal airplane flange. I’ve opened it up, and the boboard looks very different from the DFL you pictured. It also has no markings on the board at all. Nothing that says “DFL” or anything. Is there a chance mine has been tampered with? It’s very troubling.
Hi Shaun.
Sounds pretty weird. If your board doesn’t look anything like the photos there must be something off. There’s not much chance of there being different boards or even revisions for a unit that was manufactured for a very short time. Could you possibly snap a few photos and post them up to some image sharing site? Or you could possibly email me too. I’d be interested to see what’s going on…
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Thank you for the reply! How can I get ahold of you?
My email address is listed on the “infobox” at the front page of this blog. It’s mirosol at kapsi dot fi.
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Here is a link to several photos of the guts of my pedal.
http://imgur.com/a/k9GQs
Nowhere on the board does it say “DFL” or anything.
This is worrying me as I’ve wanted this pedal for so long.
Ok. Thanks for the photos.
Sadly, i’m pretty certain that is not the same DFL board that’s in mine. Can’t say for sure, but those off board connections do not look like they are factory made. I’d guess there’s something “fixed” or modded in yours. But since i’m not sure (although i have not seen a board like that before), i’d suggest taking the photos Freestompboxes.org forum or send an email to world’s renowned Ibanez pedal expert, Dirk Hendrik. If there is a chance that your board is in fact a factory modded board, he’s the one who knows if it is so. http://www.dirk-hendrik.com/
There have been that kind of discrepancies in some Ibanez pedals, but i’m not aware this being the case with DFL. Dirk has posted on his page about some DL5 and EM5 pedals sharing the same board with crude factory made mods resulting in the pedal sounding completely different than it’s supposed to. But again, that’s for the Daphon made 5-series, not japanese L-series.
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Thank you.
Sorry i couldn’t be more of a help.
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Hi! It needed a photo position trimmers. You could send me an email? please!