Strymon Flint

Description

A Perfect Gentleman.

The magical combination of tremolo and reverb is the earliest example of a perfect guitar effects marriage. First pioneered within historic amplifiers of the 1960s, this harmonious coexistence has made it’s way onto countless records and performances—from early surf, swampy bayou blues, spaghetti westerns, film noir soundtracks, to modern day indie rock. There are certain things in life that just belong together—the blend of tremolo and reverb create the perfect pair.
Given this storied history, there was no doubt that we wanted to develop a studio-class effects pedal that delivers this classic combination. We carefully studied our favorite classic tremolo and reverb circuits, examined the sonic complexities, and faithfully accounted for every detail in our hand-crafted algorithms. Flint harnesses the complete power of a SHARC DSP to authentically exhibit these details.

From a Classic Era.
Flint gives you the soothing, pulsating, and hypnotic effects that were pioneered in vintage amplifier tremolo circuits, along with three classic and completely unique reverb algorithms. You get the sonically complex ’61 Harmonic Tremolo, the swampy and sultry ’63 Power Tube Tremolo, and the sharp and balanced ’65 Photocell Tremolo. You also get the classic ’60s Spring Tank Reverb, the inventive ’70s Electronic Plate Reverb, and the nostalgic ’80s Hall Rack Reverb.
With eight parameters to tweak, you get extensive control over the tremolo and reverb characteristics. Go from splashy, pulsing twang, to throbbing, swampy blues, all the way to ambient, trembling, and serene reverberated pads. Couple that with true bypass, and a high quality analog front end and output section, and you have yourself the history of tremolo and reverb in a pedal-board friendly format.

Tremolo Types
Flint provides you with three distinct tremolo types. Read our Tremolo white paper and learn how we studied and captured these sonic details.

The ’61 Harmonic Tremolo is somewhat rare due to its very short period of availability in tube amplifiers in the early 1960s. It gets its signature sound through a dual-band filtering effect that alternately emphasizes low and high frequencies. The end-result is a soothing pulse that has shades of a mild phaser effect combined with tremolo due to the nature of the frequency bands that are alternated.

The ’63 Power Tube Tremolo utilized the LFO signal to directly influence the power tube bias of the amplifier’s push-pull output stage. The power tubes are biased into lower and higher idle currents, creating the fluctuating gain that produces the tremolo effect. The effects of crossover distortion at low tremolo volumes, increased power tube harmonic distortion at maximum tremolo volumes, as well as the influence of power-supply sag, all add up to the boggy and dirty nature of this tremolo circuit.

The ’65 Photocell Tremolo is a faithful recreation of the classic photo-trem circuits found in mid-1960s American amplifiers. Those classic circuits used a light-dependent resistor to attenuate the input signal, coupled with a miniature neon bulb that is connected to the LFO. As the LFO oscillates, the bulb gets brighter and dimmer which in turn varies the resistance of the LDR. The varying resistance works with other circuit impedances to change the signal level, which produces a characteristically ‘hard’ sounding tremolo that moves between two levels, reminiscent of a square wave.

Reverb Types
Flint gives you three unique reverb types. Read the Flint reverb summary for in-depth details on these reverbs.

The ’60s Spring Tank Reverb is our faithful recreation of the full-size two-spring tank that was commonly used in vintage amps. The two-spring tank uses spring segments of differing delay times, which adds to the complexity of the reverberated sound. Contributing greatly to the sound are the input and output tube circuits which convert the electrical guitar signal into a mechanical signal and then back to an electrical signal.

The ’70s Electronic Plate Reverb pays homage to one of the earliest digital reverbs ever created. The astounding hardware-based algorithm used multiple delay-lines configured in parallel, with each delay featuring multiple output taps and filtered feedback paths. The result is a rich, smooth reverb with a very quick build-up in density due to the summation of the many parallel output taps.

The ’80s Hall Rack Reverb is our rendition of the now nostalgic digital microprocessor rack reverbs from the late ’80s. The limited processing power of the day led to the implementation of efficient regenerative series loops of all-pass filters, delays, and low-pass filters. Modulating delay lines were used to increase the reverb density and add warmth. This reverb provides the signature sound of distinctive early reflections followed by the slowly-building density of the late reverberation.

Features

Expression Pedal Input
This multi-function input can be configured for use with an expression pedal, external tap tempo footswitch, or Favorite switch. Set up for an expression pedal and you get assignable expression control over any front-panel knob parameter. Set up for an optional external tap switch and remotely tap in your tremolo speed. Set up for our optional Favorite switch and save a favorite preset.

Individual Bypass
Separate bypass footswitches allow you to bypass the tremolo and reverb individually.

TRS Stereo
We know that there are some out there that like to run stereo rigs. This is why we’ve added the option of running your Flint in stereo. Flip a jumper inside your pedal, use a TRS splitter cable, and now you’ve got yourself a stereo pedal.

Specification:

Sound Design

• Three hand crafted tremolo algorithms faithfully deliver classic tremolo experiences:
• ’61 Harmonic Tremolo, ’63 Power Tube Tremolo, ’65 Photocell Tremolo
• Three distinct reverb algorithms:
• ’60s Spring Tank Reverb, ’70s Electronic Reverb, ’80s Hall Rack Reverb
• Two tremolo adjustment and tone shaping knobs: Intensity, Speed
• Three reverb adjustment and tone shaping knobs: Decay, Color, Mix
• Four “hidden” knobs for extensive tone tweaking:
• Tremolo Boost/Cut, Reverb Boost/Cut, Effect Order, Tap Subdivision

Ins, Outs, Switches

• High impedance mono input (internal jumper enables selectable TRS stereo input)
• Stereo output
• Tremolo Bypass and Reverb Bypass footswitches
• Expression pedal input allows the connection of either an expression pedal (for selectable control over any knob parameter), external tap pedal (for remote tap tremolo), or Favorite switch (to save a Favorite preset)

Audio Quality

• Super low noise, high performance 24-bit 96kHz A/D and D/A converters
• 115db typical signal to noise
• +8dBu maximum input level easily handles instrument and line signals
• 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response
• Premium analog front end and output section
• Analog dry path (when Reverb only is engaged)
• Super high performance DSP in a compact form factor
• 32-bit floating point processing

More

• True Bypass (electromechanical relay switching)
• Selectable “trails” mode with high quality Analog Buffered Bypass
• Adjustable +/- 3dB boost or cut when effect is engaged
• Powered with a standard 9V center negative DC supply, 250mA minimum
• Strong and lightweight black anodized aluminum chassis