Sweeper

A wide sweep range helps make this one of the best flangers available

 

   

 

The GT Sweeper flanger rack effect module compares to the famous A/DA Flanger, one of the best flangers of all time.  The wide sweep, great flanger and chorus-like tones available, internal voltage, and lack of flanger noise are some of the design points that come together to produce a well-engineered circuit, regardless of which version you try.  It has been released with multiple Reticon and Panasonic BBD delay chips over the years, all of which sound superb.  New or used, they bring premium prices above that of most other flangers.  But the sound quality is worth it, providing a wide range of pro-quality, virtually noise-free flanging tones.

 

Description

The A/DA Flanger has been one of the best-engineered flangers available since its release in the late '70's.  The wide sweep, range of control, and clean, noise-free tone quickly made it a favorite with those that could pay a little extra to get a truly professional quality effect.  As you probably know, the availability of various BBD delay chips posed challenges for manufacturers of flanger, chorus, delay, and other circuits that used those amazing analog BBD chips.  But the engineers at A/DA rolled with the changes in BBD availability, using various Reticon and Panasonic BBDs in their past and current designs.  It isn't that difficult to adjust from one BBD to another if you know what you're doing, as they obviously did and do.  Even with such a critical component being changed, the various versions of the circuit all sound remarkably similar, and all are excellent.  As with any BBD-based circuit, you may get some minor variations from unit to unit if you look for them, but if you're in the market for an A/DA Flanger, don't get over-concerned about which model is best and whether it is worth the price.  Just jump in and get whichever one you can afford and don't look back.  Chances are that few people could consistently tell the difference between them in blind tests.

The Sweeper stays pretty close to the original design.  Of course, our power and switching are very different, but those don't have any audible impact on the sound.  We use the MN3007 BBD, as was used in some versions of the pedal.  The circuit has a number of controls, some of which were internal trimmers or external controls in different versions.  We've made most of those external controls.  There are still some internal trimmers, but those aren't meant to be adjusted after their initial calibration.  We also have an option to use an expression pedal.  The pedal takes over the function of the Manual control and lets you control the sweep.  We don't (yet) offer an expression pedal, but third-party expression pedals will work.  The Manual control is a B10K pot, or a 10K linear pot.  An expression pedal with a 10K linear pot makes a great direct replacement.  Expression pedals with other values may only sound good in a portion of their range.

 

Configurations

  • Sweeper - compares to A/DA Flanger

 

Options

  • Expression Pedal Jack - Adds jack for an external (third-party) expression pedal.  The pedal will replace the functionality of the Manual control when a pedal is plugged in.  Without an expression pedal, the Manual control works normally.  When selecting a third-party expression pedal, look for one with a linear 10K range of control.  Others may also work OK, but only sound good within a limited range of their operation.

 

Front Panel

  • On/Off indicator LED
  • Volume
  • Manual
  • Threshold
  • Range
  • Enhance
  • Speed
  • Even/Odd Harmonics switch
  • Expression Pedal Jack (optional)

 

Rear Panel

  • Audio In
  • Audio Out
  • On/Off Footswitch
  • On/Off Override
  • DC Power
  • DC Power LED

 

Module Width

  • 2" standard and with Expression Pedal Jack option
  • wing configurations not currently available 

 

Power Consumption (aprox)

35 - 65mA

 

Base Configurations

Part # Description List Price
MOD-SWEEPER Sweeper module $259

 

Options

Part # Description List Price
MOPT-SWEEPER-EXPR Expression Pedal Jack $19