Lectric-FX Old Chap Flanger (EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress)

[blackhatboojum]

Man oh man, do I love me some analog flanger. This is my second mistress style build and like the first one, I love this thing. Is it a completely different animal compared the Madbean Current Lover? No. Is it different than the Current Lover? Absolutely. Compared to the Current lover, the Old Chap feels and sounds bigger to my ears. The sweep is more open and the overall effect has more of a hifi quality to it. There's also a more liquidy, type of smoothness, to the feedback. If you were to ask me, "Which one do you like better?" I honestly can't answer that. They're both great.

Build wise, there's not much I can say. It was pretty straight forward with zero issues. Fired right up first try and I got to play with my o-scope and signal generator to dial it in perfectly.

Aesthetically was where the real fun was for me. In a recent discussion with some fellow forum members, it was pointed out that I'm not really embracing my brand and location. I live in the desert of Southwest Arizona. Home of the old west, stagecoaches, shootouts, cowboys, shit like that. I should be going all "Red Dead Redemption style" with my builds. Well... They're absolutely right and I should be. That's where the inspiration for my graphic comes in.

 

[Paradox916]

 

[dawson]

"Somebody poisoned the water-hole!"

That looks dope.

 

[giovanni]

Yes!

 

[Fingolfen]

I'm going to have to try this one. I've got the madbean one to build as well. I actually got the PCB Guitar Mania version to work, and it's pretty much lived on my board, but I'm betting both of those boards would be substantial upgrades.

 

[blackhatboojum]

I'm going to have to try this one. I've got the madbean one to build as well. I actually got the PCB Guitar Mania version to work, and it's pretty much lived on my board, but I'm betting both of those boards would be substantial upgrades.

Just the fact that you’d be purchasing a verified layout and board is an upgrade. Shit! Did I say that out loud? Anywho, you can’t go wrong with the current lover or old chap. They both sound great, and have they’re own flavor. The most important difference is that the Old Chap requires 18v.

 

[Gordo]

That looks very clean. Tasty graphics and that red wire look absolutely sinister with the black boards. I'd be curious to compare the two circuits, I got the impression that the 18v Deluxe was a different animal.

 

[blackhatboojum]

That looks very clean. Tasty graphics and that red wire look absolutely sinister with the black boards. I'd be curious to compare the two circuits, I got the impression that the 18v Deluxe was a different animal.

Thanks for the kind words. I’ve actually spent various parts of my day comparing the two. It’s not a completely different animal but there’s definitely a difference. If I had proper recording gear I would do a comparison video but, just using my iPhone camera in the room doesn’t capture it. The 18v deluxe just feels and sounds bigger.

 

[Coda]

The old chap is definitely on my list.

 

[Ali7887]

I want to order Electric mistress clone PCB for getting exact david gilmour tones, and also without any signal loss...
Which one is most suitable?

Old chap?
OR
Current lover?

 

[mkstewartesq]

I want to order Electric mistress clone PCB for getting exact david gilmour tones, and also without any signal loss...
Which one is most suitable?

Old chap?
OR
Current lover?

I built both and they’re both really good. Neither has a volume drop in my experience.

I find the current lover to have a more bright tone and the old chap to have a slightly thicker tone (at least on my builds) but that’s about the only difference. My personal preference is for the old chap but they are almost exactly the same and both equally good.

Mike

 

[owlexifry]

I want to order Electric mistress clone PCB for getting exact david gilmour tones, and also without any signal loss...
Which one is most suitable?

Old chap?
OR
Current lover?

main difference i see is that one requires an 18V supply and the other doesn't.

same reason why i haven't built my old chap pcb yet --> i need to build a fucken 18V supply first.

 

[Erik S]

main difference i see is that one requires an 18V supply and the other doesn't.

same reason why i haven't built my old chap pcb yet --> i need to build a fucken 18V supply first.

I think you can get a voltage doubler Y cable that’ll get you there if you can spare the extra slot on your power supply.

 

[DGWVI]

main difference i see is that one requires an 18V supply and the other doesn't.

same reason why i haven't built my old chap pcb yet --> i need to build a fucken 18V supply first.

I built mine with an MT3608 buck converter

 

[Ali7887]

1- Old chap works better with 9 volt or 18 volt ?
2- What are main differences in tone in 9 and 18 volts?
3 - Old chap is exactly clone of what "version" of Electric mistress?

 

[Ali7887]

I built both and they’re both really good. Neither has a volume drop in my experience.

I find the current lover to have a more bright tone and the old chap to have a slightly thicker tone (at least on my builds) but that’s about the only difference. My personal preference is for the old chap but they are almost exactly the same and both equally good.

Mike

I want to use flanger after bigMuff for Gilmour's The Wall/Animal album era
and also use it for clean tones for
songs like "Run Like Hell".
Please guide me more.

 

[mkstewartesq]

I want to use flanger after bigMuff for Gilmour's The Wall/Animal album era
and also use it for clean tones for
songs like "Run Like Hell".
Please guide me more.

Like I said, I can't tell much difference beyond the fact that one seems a bit brighter than the other. I'm not overly familiar with Floyd so can't advise you what works best for that.

@MichaelW has a demo of his Current Lover in this build thread, which is what convinced me to build it (he may even play some Run Like Hell in that video, but I don't recall). Search to see if there are any similar demos for the Old Chap (I know I found one on YouTube when I was thinking about building that one).

M

 

[owlexifry]

Please guide me more.

build the current lover so you don't have to deal with 18V supply issues.
the old chap will not run on 9V.

the only reason i didn't get the current lover was cos the damn pcb was out of stock when i went to order either or.

 

[Ali7887]

I also have A/DA flanger hand made clone (18volt), but its sounds is so "Jet flanger",
Is there a way turn it into a Mistress by changing or modifying its circuit?

I tweaked and adjusted all trims pots (off course by listing to the sound by my ears and not use any oscilloscope for fine tuning it)

But I still couldn't get the desired sound from it, even though its circuit was carefully designed and assembled.