Flamma Innovation Pushes Things Forward for Budget Compact Digital Pedals with 7 Onboard Presets and Full Stereo Ins and Outs
Some of you will have seen Flamma Pedals featured quite highly on several gear forums of late, and several of you readers have been asking for my take on the subject. To my mind Mooer’s diminutive 7 Series was the first to do this kind of thing in incorporating 7 Presets, 5 Controls and a Select/Save button on the mini format.
I note that for the FSO2 Reverb - it has the exact same modes in the same order as the Mooer 7 Series equivalent - so I can only imagine that Mooer is involved in some way in this newish Chinese venture - OEM or otherwise. The main difference here versus the Mooer 7 Series is the slightly larger Compact pedal format, and full stereo input and output jacks on all pedals bar the FS06 Preamp.
Pricing is incredibly keen here - with the FSO1 Drum Loop Beat Machine & Phrase Looper and FS22 Ekoverb being priced at $128, currently on offer for $98, and the others are RRP $88, currently on offer for $68.
There is also a Multi-Effect with Expression Rocker FX100 pedal - which I’m not including here on this occasion. Here I will do a brief overview of the so far 6 FS Series pedals with relevant demos and pertinent control details.
The one improvement I would like to see here is that the Select/Save button gets translated / transitioned to a second Footswitch - you could then save and select presets as easily as on the superb CBA Automatone pedals - to me that’s the only ingredient really missing here!
In fact as some have commented this is quite a similar format to my own very first V1 take on the perfect Compact Format Pedal - per the below visual, which has evolved somewhat further of late. Nice to see that companies are catching up with my own level of innovation - ha ha!
FS01 Drum Loop - $128, on offer for $88
This is a really cool understudy of sorts for the Boss RC-10R - with a somewhat simplified feature set compared to that, but still a fairly formidable stereo looper with drum / beat machine.
It has 3 Modes :
- Loop
- Drum
- Loop + Drum
11 Genres of Rhythm :
- Pop
- Funk
- Blues
- Rock
- Metal
- Jazz
- Fusion
- Punk
- Latin
- Hip Hop
- Disco
And 4 further controls - Looper Level, Drum Level, Pattern 1 - 11, and a push-button Tap-Tempo.
It doesn't quite suit my own rig with its side-jacks as it were - those ideally need to be top-mounted which would undoubtedly mean a vertical-BB enclosure too like the excellent Boss RC-10R. If it had the top mounted jacks it would certainly be on my acquisitions list, as it is though I can imagine it would suit all kinds of players' purposes - particularly if they like the sort of thing that the RC-10R deliver - as this is a long very similar lines, but much simpler, and without the neat visual displays of that model.
FS02 Reverb - $88, on offer for $68
I've already noted the similarities between this model and the Mooer Series 7 R7 Reverb - in that they both have the exact same algorithms in the same order as that. The only major differences being the size of enclosure, and the inclusion of stereo ins and outs on the FS02.
Its 7 Modes / Algorithms are :
- Room
- Hall
- Church
- Cave
- Plate
- Spring
- Mod
It sports 6 controls - Level, Hi-Cut, Lo-Cut, Decay, Pre-Delay and the usual Save/Select button.
I feel I might very likely get one of these for understudy duties. With its full ins and outs, I can place it anywhere in my chain - and while I'm already pretty much covered via the Boss GT-1000 Core, Cooper FX Arcades, Eventide H9 Max, and Strymon NightSky - it's still nice to have a multi-tasking alternative which you bring in for special duties.This is another nice to-have, yet not really essential for my pedal-chain needs!
FS03 Delay - $88, on offer for $68
This is another which is not altogether dissimilar to the Mooer 7 Series equivalent, with a lot of the same named modes - albeit there are a couple of differences - in that the Mooer contains a Looper Mode in place of the Stutter, and obviously is mono only.
The FSO3 has 7 Modes :
- Tape
- Liquid
- Rainbow
- Stutter
- Galaxy
- ModVerse
- LowBit
With the 6 controls on this occasion being Mix, Time, Feedback, Tweak 1, Tweak 2, and of course the usual push-button Save/Select. This would make another decent versatile understudy, while with my Strymon Volante, Boss DD-200, Cooper FX Arcades, and Eventide H9 Max - this is somewhat surplus to requirements as far as that goes.
FS05 Multi-Modulation - $88, on offer for $68
The Flamma Multi-Modulator is another pretty cool assembly of modulations, albeit missing a couple of my own essentials in terms of Harmonic Tremolo and Uni-Vibe. The 11 modes / algorithms covered are pretty decent - anode course in full stereo and with 7 presets as before.
The FS05's 11 Modes are :
- Chorus
- Flanger
- Tremolo
- Phase
- Vibrato
- Rotary
- Liquid
- AutoWah
- Stutter
- Ring
- LowBit
And the 6 controls on this occasion are Rate, Type, Depth, Control 1, Control 2, and the usual push-button Save/Select. There isn't actually much competition in this area currently funnily enough - in terms of a compact stereo multi-modulator with quite this many algorithms. This is most likely my first Flamma acquisition. Once more it's not really essential for me as I have the Boss GT-1000 Core and Eventide H9 Max for those purposes - but for sure a nice-to have supplement.
FS06 Multi-Drive / Preamp - $88, on offer for $68
This is the only Flamma and understandably so that is mono only. Something of a junior OD-200 with just 7 essential flavours / varieties :
- DlxBlue (Blues Breaker)
- BluEye100 (BE-OD)
- HVE5151 (EVH 5150)
- MB5thGen (MESA/Boogie MKV)
- Plex50 (Plexi)
- AC31 (AC30)
- CoralReef (Two-Rock Coral)
The 6 controls here are Bass, Mid, Treble, Level, Gain, and the usual push-button Save/Select. This is a decent sounding multi-drive, not entirely perfect, but fairly close all-round. I might just get this one for fun too - I really don't need it, as I have a couple of hundred drive pedals - including the Boss OD-200, and in fact the GT-1000 Core - which has even more flavours of drive as such.
FS22 Ekoverb Rev + Dly - $128, on offer for $88
And so to the very first Flamma pedal released - its Ekoverb Delay + Reverb - which started off the craze - with its multiple modes and stereo ins and outs. On this occasion there are no presets, and the Delay and Reverb modes are offered in just 3 fixed combinations :
- Reverse Delay + Swell Reverb
- RealEcho Delay + ModVerb
- Analog Delay + Shimmer Reverb
You then have 2 banks of 4 controls per side - Level, Time, Tone, and Feedback for Delay; and Level, Decay, Tone and Pre-Delay for Reverb.
Finally you get 2 footswitches on this occasion, with the right-hand one being the regular Standby On/Off switch, and the left-hand one is a Tap-Tempo input, and Hold/Freeze for the Reverbs.
This is in someway the least flexible model here - but is what really set the ball rolling for Flamma - and gained all those positive early reviews.
Final Thoughts
I feel that if you're on a budget then you can't really fail but do well with these. They are a sort of Chinese TC Electronics of sorts - with smart functions and innovations - particularly at this price point.
Each of these really has its own merits, and while I personally don't need any one of these, I will probably still get 1, 2 or 3 just for reference purpose and some sideline fun.
The FS05 Multi-Modulation is possibly the standout here with all those different modes. While it's probably the Ekoverb that is currently the most enduringly popular - even though that is in many ways the most basic model here.
I expect the Delay and Reverb here to do particularly well - these are easy add-ons to most boards / pedal-chains and quite a rarity for this particularly combination of feature set.
What say you all?
