How can I get that flanger effect from “The Pretender” by Foo Fighters?

Question

I'm working on a cover of The Pretender by Foo Fighters, and I think I've got the tone I want pretty nailed down, with one exception. Near the bridge section (at the 2:44 mark) the rhythm guitar has a little flange effect going on, but with more effect, and less actual guitar or chord heard during that point. How do you get that effect?

I'm using one of the flanger effects on a Fender Mustang 3, but I can't seem to get the effect sound as isolated from the chord as it sounds in the song. Any ideas how I could separate that flanger "whoosh" effect from the guitar sound a little more?

Answer 1

Sounds to me like a Phaser set on low speed (also sometimes called rate) with a fair amount of resonance and a slow panning from left to right. The Phaser has probably 8 stages, which would explain the slight warble. More stages == more warble.

With eg. a EHX Small Stone (inexpensive, but quite good sounding) you'd probably be out of luck, since it only has a rate dial and not much warbling going on. Maybe an MXR EVH-90 could do the trick. It sounds warblier and juicier to me, like all MXR Phasers.

A friend of mine has an old TC XII B/K Programmable Phaser with a switch for 4/8/12 stages (called filters) that sounds just fabulous. The B/K version is the one for bass and keyboard, but he uses it for guitar. I like this much more than the new non-B/K box that sounded a little thin to me when I tested it in the shop extensivly for about three minutes ;-)

I myself have a Moog MF-103 that can be operated in either 6 or 12 stage mode. Very warm and warbly and it can be set to ring modulator like shrieking. I use it with bass guitar and it rocks. Think Hangin Tree by QOTSA.