eriksumm
New member
The Carlsbro Flanger is a one of a kind flanger and a seriously cool sounding one at that. For controls, it has Speed, Depth, Colour (which is regen), and an invert switch that gives a really unique flanging tone (very through zero-esque flange.
From what I can tell, the only prominent user of this flanger is Daniel Ash of the band Bauhaus. It's most notable off Bauhaus's cover of "Third Uncle", where he switches it on during various parts and has it set at the widest sweep. Below I've attached images, a schematic, and a thread which showcases the effect and the internals.
The flanger is does have some faults, so If possible, please make a refined version of this flanger that stays true to the original! It is cool as all hell and absolutely deserves to be come back.
Update 10/25/24
Hey so I wanted to provide an update on this thread: I bought a Carlsbro Flanger! Going to do a little work on it soon, but I am amazed at how it sounds and overall very pleased with it. With all being said, I want to refine and note some specifications about the pedal that may need to be tackled if the pedal was to be replicated into a PCB was to be built:
1. There is a volume drop when engaged. I would imagine an op-amp could be added to bring the signal to unity gain?
2. The unit runs on two 9-volt batteries in parallel which makes it 18 volt. Additionally it's positive ground. As far as powering the pedal, I’m curious what changes would result in a negative ground and 9 volt conversion, and how hard the reverse engineering process would be.
3. The BBD chip used is the TDA1022, which is a 512-stage chip. It's quite an expensive part nowadays so is there a modern equivalent that can replicate the sound?
4. The circuit contains an optocoupler, which seems very odd for a flanger. I really think this adds to what makes it sounds special.
Thread (Includes some internal shots): https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=14766
Third Uncle (audio examples):
Proper audio demo of the effect:
From what I can tell, the only prominent user of this flanger is Daniel Ash of the band Bauhaus. It's most notable off Bauhaus's cover of "Third Uncle", where he switches it on during various parts and has it set at the widest sweep. Below I've attached images, a schematic, and a thread which showcases the effect and the internals.
The flanger is does have some faults, so If possible, please make a refined version of this flanger that stays true to the original! It is cool as all hell and absolutely deserves to be come back.
Update 10/25/24
Hey so I wanted to provide an update on this thread: I bought a Carlsbro Flanger! Going to do a little work on it soon, but I am amazed at how it sounds and overall very pleased with it. With all being said, I want to refine and note some specifications about the pedal that may need to be tackled if the pedal was to be replicated into a PCB was to be built:
1. There is a volume drop when engaged. I would imagine an op-amp could be added to bring the signal to unity gain?
2. The unit runs on two 9-volt batteries in parallel which makes it 18 volt. Additionally it's positive ground. As far as powering the pedal, I’m curious what changes would result in a negative ground and 9 volt conversion, and how hard the reverse engineering process would be.
3. The BBD chip used is the TDA1022, which is a 512-stage chip. It's quite an expensive part nowadays so is there a modern equivalent that can replicate the sound?
4. The circuit contains an optocoupler, which seems very odd for a flanger. I really think this adds to what makes it sounds special.
Thread (Includes some internal shots): https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=14766
Third Uncle (audio examples):
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