Andy Summers...more Chorus or Flanger ?!

[JohnK24]

I'm getting back into my eighties Police crazy days...I was a nut for what Andy Summers did with chords and effects. In the early 80s I had an EH Electric Mistress and Smallstone that I mated with a ton of reverb and did my Police thing. Those boxes are long gone.

So, imho, what was Andy's main choral texture tone on those first 3 Police albums (Regatta de Blanc is my personal fav)...more flanger or more chorus ? I even dig Andy's current jazz works, but those sound more like chorus and heavy delay (Green Chimneys is a killer album).

thoughts ?

J

[bduguay]

AFAIK, original small box EH Electric Mistress.
I'm fairly certain if it wasn't for the impact his sound had on me, I wouldn't be on forums like this today.
B.

[EunosFD]

I think it was more flanger than chorus, but I'm pretty sure he used both. I was fiddling around with a flange/delay setting on my MPX500 tonight & the first thing that came to mind was Police music. I believe there may have been a thread on here a few months back about this which went into detail about his setup from that era so it might be worth digging around some.

[Monkeyboy23]

http://web.tiscali.it/andatta/

That's a really cool site dedicated to Summers. They list his gear by era, and for the Police it's the Electric Mistress...no chorus.

[Improviser]

Love the sound of the original EH Electric Mistress, but not a fan of the build-quality, volume-drop, etc...

Are there any quality clones of this pedal out there?

[KennyM]

I used to nail all those Police sounds back then with the following chain. Dyna Comp or Boss Compressor (was it a CS-1?) into a Boss Flanger (BF-2) into a Boss Analog Delay (DM-2). I generally ran stereo during that era using a CE1 Chorus to split the signal to two amps. The main Andy Summers swirl in my opinion was the flanger. Set the analog delay to an 1/8th note with a fairly loud repeat, not too many repeats and you're there. Gotta have the Tele though!

[Uma Floresta]

A dynacomp, an Electric Mistress, and an analog-sounding delay should be everything you need. I think he actually used the CE-1 chorus as well. Walking on the Moon sounds like chorus to me. But yeah, his main "chorus" was the EHX EM.

[bduguay]

Not to sound like some 'Andy Summers knowitall' but, I recently finished reading his new book 'One Train Later' and there was never a mention of using chorus.
In my experience the Electric Mistress, and I'm sure the same could be said for most flangers, can cop all the swirliness found in chorus right through to vibe type pedals.
B.

[trancedental]

Roland dimension C racks & Jazz Chorus amps, I don't think he used chorus pedals?

[KennyM]

Flanger is definitely the thing. I used the CE1 chorus mainly for a stereo spread. Swirl is all flanger and gets swirlyer when fed into the delay.

[burningyen]

Originally Posted by bduguay

AFAIK, original small box EH Electric Mistress.
I'm fairly certain if it wasn't for the impact his sound had on me, I wouldn't be on forums like this today.
B.

Me too.

[burningyen]

Originally Posted by Improviser

Love the sound of the original EH Electric Mistress, but not a fan of the build-quality, volume-drop, etc...

Are there any quality clones of this pedal out there?

Howard Davis mods DEMs to correct the volume drop issue. He modded mine, and I love it. I would think the same could be done to an EM.

[JohnK24]

thanks guys...I thought back in the day my EH EM was the cat's a%s for those Police chords I was grooving on...

I'll be checking out a few flangers this week. Local shop has a used MIJ Boss BF 2 for $40...hmmm?

[wickidriffs]

Originally Posted by EunosFD

I think it was more flanger than chorus, but I'm pretty sure he used both. I was fiddling around with a flange/delay setting on my MPX500 tonight & the first thing that came to mind was Police music. I believe there may have been a thread on here a few months back about this which went into detail about his setup from that era so it might be worth digging around some.

I'd love to see that.


And yes Andy Summer's chorus effect was mainly a slow flanger effect. But he did use the Roland Jazz Chorus amp too.

[Andre357]

You can nail Andy summers chorus/EM flange AND delay sounds ( at the same time ) with an eventide Timefactor.

It's spooky it's so much like his sounds , when dialed in. Throw a compressor in front and you can nail the whole police catalouge ( with a good amp or od as well )