Arion Stereo Flanger Mods/Upgades?

A forum devoted to mod, tips and suggestions for upgrading and rehousing your VERY CHEAP commercial stompbox to near boutique excellence.
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Mike7
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Post by Mike7 »

Anybody ever mod an Arion Stereo Flanger? I could use any help I can get as all I can do is switch out parts, no real technical knowledge at this point. But I do like to take the stuff apart and put it back together, especially when it sounds so much better after changing a couple of parts. Anyway if anybody can give me some info thanks very much.

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DrNomis
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Post by DrNomis »

See if you can find a schematic for this online.... :)
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Mike7
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Post by Mike7 »

Can't seem to find a schematic anywhere :scratch:

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

What exactly do you want to alter in the sound? One cannot mod without having an idea what's the goal.
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

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Flanged
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Post by Flanged »

I personally wouldn't mod an Arion Flanger...
I have owned some 40 or so flangers :shock: ... for my taste the Arion is second only to the vintage or deluxe Electic Mistress... can't understand why it's underrated: his brother SCH-1 already has its due fame... and I personally think the SFL-1 is far better than the SCH-1, I prefer the chorus sounds of the SFL-1 with feedback at zero, even the leslie simulation is more "rotary" with the flanger... spectacular flange and hard to improve in my opinion...
:idea: oh yes maybe a blend pot! anyone?

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Flanged
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Post by Flanged »

I mean a blend control, or a vibrato switch (just like the SCH-Z mod).

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bobcock
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Post by bobcock »

i had the SFL-1. nice flanger except the volume boost when engaged.

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king_arthur
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Post by king_arthur »

I bought this pedal recently. It's really capable of a lot of things, including chorus, leslie and kind of a "talk box" simulator, apart from the classic jet plane flanger. It's great.

My problem is the gigantic boost when engaged. Does anybody know how to solve that? Thanks!

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Liquids
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Post by Liquids »

Thank link doesn't work, at least for me. Can you post it again, or somewhere different, please?

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juice2
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Post by juice2 »

Actually my Arion SFL-1 is not able to produce that classic jet plane sound... Chorus-like and fast leslie sound is quite good, though.

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Post by hyrk »

A little up if someone have something ! :D

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Post by juice2 »

Sharing my experience with this pedal. My unit had sometimes not pleasant overdrive when I strongly hit strings. It was fixed by reducing gain of the output opamp stage while keeping the same normal volume level. Also I changed delay capacitor near MN3204 increasing its value by 2 times. It changed the tone and gave more variety in "Manual" control.

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Pdubs1120
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Post by Pdubs1120 »

juice2 wrote: 09 Nov 2017, 08:31 Sharing my experience with this pedal. My unit had sometimes not pleasant overdrive when I strongly hit strings. It was fixed by reducing gain of the output opamp stage while keeping the same normal volume level. Also I changed delay capacitor near MN3204 increasing its value by 2 times. It changed the tone and gave more variety in "Manual" control.
Reviving an old threat! Do you remember what resistor(s) you changed for this to decrease the gain on the output stage and what values you used? I can’t find a schematic for this pedal anywhere. I plan to try to trace it but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

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Post by juice2 »

Hello, no, I don't. I sold it a couple of years ago, so no evidences left. As I recall the schematic for this one was pretty similar to the Rocktek flanger which is available here, components numeration could be different though. I could have changed resistor in the feedback loop of the opamp but I don't remember exactly. Also if Arion resembles Rocktek design its weak point is 5V power supply of the wet (delayed) signal path which has a reduced headroom obviously and can suffer from unpleasant overdrive. These days acccording to the Rocktek schematic I'd probably reduce R7 (47k -> 22k) at the input pre-emphasis amp and compensate that by increasing gain at the output mixing stage (both input resistors halved).

But first check value of the feedback resistor in the output opamp (R30 based on the Rocktek schematics). If it's really 470k then it can be a culprit.

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Post by Pdubs1120 »

juice2 wrote: 06 Feb 2023, 18:54 Hello, no, I don't. I sold it a couple of years ago, so no evidences left. As I recall the schematic for this one was pretty similar to the Rocktek flanger which is available here, components numeration could be different though. I could have changed resistor in the feedback loop of the opamp but I don't remember exactly. Also if Arion resembles Rocktek design its weak point is 5V power supply of the wet (delayed) signal path which has a reduced headroom obviously and can suffer from unpleasant overdrive. These days acccording to the Rocktek schematic I'd probably reduce R7 (47k -> 22k) at the input pre-emphasis amp and compensate that by increasing gain at the output mixing stage (both input resistors halved).

But first check value of the feedback resistor in the output opamp (R30 based on the Rocktek schematics). If it's really 470k then it can be a culprit.
Thanks for the insight. I’ll give it a look and try to find that Rocktek schematic. I still plan to try to trace the whole circuit at some point to make an accurate schematic and look at other possible mods. I do really like it in its stock form other than the lack of headroom, particularly when using humbuckers or after a boost pedal. I love the vocal or throaty nature of the effect. The only other things I’d really looking to change would be getting a touch more speed at the top end of that control’s sweep and possibly a blend control get more subtle or intense flanging sounds.

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Post by juice2 »

Pdubs1120 wrote: 09 Feb 2023, 13:24 I love the vocal or throaty nature of the effect.
Yeah, that's what I also remember about it. I really liked how it sounded combined with a distortion box after it.

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