NAMM 2009: Ibanez Paul Gilbert Airplane Flanger

2008 is truly the year of Paul Gilbert and Ibanez. At his clinic in Geelong last year, Paul mentioned that he had been using a modified ADA Flanger for years, and that he’d suggested to Ibanez that they reissue one of their vintage flanger designs, which he said had a very similar circuit to the ADA. It seems they listened to him: they’re now releasing the Paul Gilbert AF2 Airplane Flanger.

Paul’s ADA flanger had a modified feedback control to get that wild, whammy-like sweeping sound, and this pedal has the same feature incorporated.

Here’s what the Ibanez website says about it:

The Paul Gilbert Signature AF2 Airplane Flanger is two fantastic pedals in one rugged package. One section is a traditional chorus flange; the other is the “Taxi Take Off” flange (hence the “Airplane” moniker), which provides virtuoso guitarist Paul Gilbert’s own “crazy flange” sound, which includes shifting the pitch up and down. Time to buckle up.

You can read more about the pedal over at the Random Chatter Music blog.

NEWS: More on the ADA pedal reissues

The new A/DA website has been updated with a small tidbit of information about the forthcoming reissues of the company’s classic Final Phase and Flanger pedals. On October 8 the page added, “All A/DA™ pedals will have a true bypass switch, reducing click in/out noises, increasing reliability, and eliminating any coloration of tone.”

Paul Gilbert uses a modified A/DA flanger with extra range for the feedback control, which allows him to create whammy pedal-like divebombs and squeals.

For more on the return of A/DA, check out my previous story.

NEWS: ADA returns!

Those of us with a fondness for the, let's just say, larger-haired corners of the rock guitar world will be excited to know that the long missing-in-action company ADA (Analog/Digital Associates) is on the way back after about a decade or so of inactivity.

ADA's famous midi-controllable tube preamp, the MP-1, was used on a lot of recordings around the late 80s/early 90s, especially paired with the power section of a Marshall JCM800 or JCM 900 head. Notable MP-1 users included Steve Vai, Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt, White Lion's Vito Bratta, and Paul Gilbert. On the bass side, Primus's Les Claypool used a modified MP-1, while Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey used the dedicated bass version, the MB-1. To this day, Gilbert uses a modified ADA flanger tweaked to create a whammy-like divebomb effect, and other notable flanger users include Pat Travers and Testament's Alex Skolnick.

The new website is at www.adaamps.com and it shows the classic Final Phase and Flanger pedals, so we can assume these will be among the first products to be reissued. Could a reissued MP-1 be on the horizon?

A member of the ADA Depot forum posed some questions to ADA, and got this answer:

"Hello,

We’re in the storming and forming phase and usually send out a canned response, but your questions are intriguing and deserve an answer.

David Tarnowski, head engineer and inventor of all things A/DA, continues to be majority owner of A/DA and chief engineer of the new A/DA. He still owns all rights to the A/DA electronic designs and trademark. A group of us have convinced him that the time is right to come out of retirement and resurrect the A/DA legacy. We’re starting with stomp boxes, most notably the Flanger and Final Phase, which will be re-released in late 2008/2009. We’ll continue soon thereafter with other legacy effects such as Battman and the Seamoon line, as well as the Rocket Amp series. We’re currently working with suppliers to source original parts so that these releases can be as “original” as possible – we’ve gone over the designs and have decided that the original designs were best. We’re in the early stages, but are confident that we’ll have a full line of products to present at NAMM 2009.

Of particular interest to the ADAForum board would be our introduction of the all new MP3. Still on the drawing board, the digital potential is enormous and we’re still hashing out potential functionality prior to full design. As you well know, the fight starts trying to decide what goes into a future MPx and doesn’t stop until the prototype has been demo’d and agreed upon by all. As of now, there is no release date for the MP3.

We appreciate your interest and would ask that you help pass the word that the original A/DA is back!!

Cheers – the A/DA staff"