Krozz Devices' Airborn Analog Psychedelic Flanger beautifully combines Highest Fidelity Components with smart extended range delivery
As well documented on this site - I’m a huge fan of the Flanger modulation category - and the Airborn is my own 19th pedal of that genre - where I already own a number of superb High Fidelity Specimens - many with incredibly rare BBD chips onboard.
This Airborn itself also has a pretty rare NOS Matsushita MN3207 BBD Chip onboard - which is quite evident from its output on first encounter. Flangers are typically fairly variably musical - while this one is a particularly great example of a musical flanger.
For me it’s most reminiscent of my Spaceman Aurora - both have dual footswitches - with the ability to ramp up the speed of oscillation, while you can’t really operate the Aurora without a manual - in particular in order to remember all the different Trigger Modes. The Airborn delivers much the same experience - albeit via a slightly more effortless and elegant means.
The only thing that is particular unusual about the Airborn is its Oxidation Filter / EQ control - which delivers more sharpness and stridency as you wind it up, and a fatter profile if you wind it down! That’s the only wholly unusual thing about the Airborn. It also has an internal Filter / Matrix switch which allows you to park the LFO and use the Range more as a comb filter.
I tend to use my flangers in 4 main ways - as a super Sparkly Electric Mistress style voicing, EVH Brown Sound and Distortion accompaniment, Jet Flanger, and a full on Woozy more experimental sounding Flanger. And the Ariborn delivers beautifully on all fronts. It would have been nice to have the Filter/LFO switch externally accessible - but otherwise this is pretty much a perfect implementation of a full spectrum Flanger. It has the perfect complement of controls for the maximum sonic impact - of course including both Postive and Negative Feedback Flanging - and each of those controls delivers a lot of range. This is a properly full flavour and full-on Flanger, but one with a lot of delicacy and finesse to it also.
It's easily one of my favourites of the genre - but then again I only acquire those that I really love. This Airborn has been on the cards for a long time - it just took some time to establish a proper relationship with Krozz Devices' Murilo, and to get my good friend Steve from FX Pedal Planet fully on board for this project - indeed that's where this very pedal was acquired from. I'm delighted to have it in the collection at last, and hope to do a similar exercise with the also amazing Krozz Krakenheart Abyssal Uni-Vibe - that I did an overview feature on not so long ago.
Controls - Level, Oxidation (Stridency), Range, Feedback, + Positive / - Negative Feedback Type, Rate, Bypass Footswitch, Hold Footswitch - Speed Flutter, Internal Switch : Filter / Oscillator.
I feel that this Airborn is one of the most easy to deploy flangers out there - I found it really super easy to dial things in - which is not always the case with flangers. Right from the get-go I was getting superior tones - and tweaking them to sweet-spot perfection was a breeze. It's important to recall that I have a number of fantastic flangers in that capsule collection - and this one is right up there with the top echelon of those. Super easy to use, and consistently delivering superior sounds!
I'm always one for full flavour - and this one really delivers in that department - if that's what you want of course. You can also dial it back to be really subtle and elegant - which isn't really my thing for this genre. Subtle and elegant for me is more for core reverbs - I want my modulations to be distinctly heard!
Generally I prefer the fuller sound of Positive Feedback Flanging, while there is a place too for the more Hollow-Sounding Negative Feedback style - it's just something I tend to use a lot less - great to have it onboard though of course.
The top / below visual actually indicates a great starting position - in fact that all knobs in the middle setting is pretty much the perfect start! All I do is add a little more Level to make it sound a touch more imposing - but right from the get go you get a beautifully musical timbre and tone! Then to get to Jet Flange Mode I drop the Oxidation and Rate to 9 o'c and fully crank the Range and Feedback. What I would say is that this pedal is so very well behaved for me - that it doesn't quite get to the crazy eerie Whale-call sounds, nor some of the super woozy timbres that some of my other flanger do - but it brilliantly covers everything up to those points.
I have to say this is one of the most musical Flangers I've yet encountered - and its super easy dial-in will sway many to its charms!
This is one of those pedals that is just perfectly balanced - it has just the right number and type of controls - for maximum impact. And of course it has that beautiful dark green and gold artwork by designer Joey Melo - who was also responsible for the superb Krakenheart design. I might be tempted to do one more pass of UV Printing - to get that extra ridged detail effect into the finish - I think that would really suit the nature of the artwork - which has a very mechanical / steam-punk sensibility, and which theme I nicely extrapolated to my background image too - courtesy of some MidJourney and Photoshop magic!
I really feel that this is a Flanger for all seasons - and its vast range alongside its marvellous ease of use - will endear it to both Flanger novices and fanatics alike. I'm certainly delighted that this is finally in the reference collection - it was always going to happen, and was only a matter of when!
As mentionedl], I got mine courtesy of friend Steve's FX Pedal Planet Webstore, with significant input from Krozz Devices' Murilo too. It retails for £249 at FX Pedal Planet, and $249 on the Krozz Devices Webstore - also avaiable at selected international dealers.
Demos
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
