Electro-Harmonix has reissued one of Adrian Belew’s signature effects with the Adrian Belew Echoflanger Reissue, a limited-edition modulation pedal based on the vintage bucket brigade stompbox the guitarist used throughout his career. The Echoflanger was responsible for several of Belew’s distinctive guitar sounds, including the steel drum-like guitar on Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love,” the elephant sounds on King Crimson’s “Elephant Talk,” and the rhino on his solo track “The Lone Rhinoceros.”
The Echoflanger Reissue faithfully recreates the original pedal’s four modes: Filter Matrix, Flange, Chorus, and Slap Back. Filter Matrix disables the LFO to create a fixed comb filter, while Flange provides the pedal’s sweeping modulation. Chorus offers a modulated echo for lush, shimmering textures, and Slap Back removes the modulation for a short echo effect.
Electro-Harmonix has also added two combination modes to the reissue. Slap Back + Filter Matrix combines the fixed comb filtering of Filter Matrix with the short delay of Slap Back, while Chorus + Flange recreates the unusual setting Belew discovered by positioning the Mode knob between the original pedal’s Flange and Chorus settings.
The pedal features Feedback, Rate, Width, Tune, Mode, and Volume controls, along with a rear-panel Blend switch that determines whether the dry signal is included in the output. Stereo Outputs are also included, as is true bypass switching with mechanical relays.
While the Echoflanger can deliver conventional chorus and flanger sounds, its combination of unusual modes and extreme settings makes it particularly suited to the kind of unconventional textures that made Belew’s playing so distinctive.
Get the Electro-Harmonix Adrian Belew Echoflanger here for $239.
