Strymon Flint V1 in 2022 - Still great 10 years later?

[@mattcampbell5941]

I’ve had one for a couple of years. It got me over my analog snobbery and I don’t see myself needing to upgrade ever. I’ll play it until it blows up I think

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

It did the same for me! Everything about it feels so realistic and like an extension of my amp.

[@anthonysablan8650]

This is literally the EXACT information I needed regarding the V1 Flint. THANK YOU

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

You’re welcome :)

[@TylerFoleyAudio]

Great vid Andrew. Really helped me seal the deal on the purchase of a V1. I think the features of the OG will do me nicely. I'm not much of a MIDI guy...

[@mortonwilson795]

Short answer, a resounding YES! I have played thru Fender amps with their built in Reverb / Tremolo for 40+ years and now that I mainly play direct into the desk my 2 main pedals to get 'that sound' are Effectrode Blackbird Valve Pre-Amp + Flint - perfection. The Plate & Hall on the Flint are a nice bonus to the Spring.

[@maxpeck4154]

I've had my V1 Flint for a couple of years. I don't need or want MIDI and I absolutely love it. Wouldn't even consider anything else, it doesn't need software updates, it's perfect.

[@renatopasqualini5989]

I just went searching for a V1 for a decent price and found one. Great video!

[@ollierips]

Thank you for the in depth analysis. I just bought this to replace the holy grail nano and guyatone trem on my board. The guyatone trem you could hear chopping in the signal path even when it was off and the holy grail nano I loved but those footswitches always malfunction. This is basically perfect for what I need from the HG and a trem pedal, and one less pedal to plug in!

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

This pedal was what infected me with the digital bug, so to speak. And got me over "muh all analog signal path" stage. Since then my entire rig moved from tubes to Iridium amp sim, and I also added volante and zelzah into the mix. No regrets. Flint is still on my board, and I see no reason why would I change it.

[@andy_J_11]

I have this pedal and I've never heard the spring sound so good on it. With everything at noon it sounds like you have a slight drop there that mine doesn't have. Perhaps the UA Dream was giving it a great platform and eq to get the best out of it.

[@ishancooper]

Killer pedal!!! Other ones come and go, but this is a perfect staple that’s been a mainstay for years.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

It's a special one!

[@JksGuitarCave]

I loved my old Flint that I sold some years back. Tried to find equally good tremolo and reverb pedals that could do midi, or at least presets to have several options… lately I’ve been just done with programming, menus and stuff so I just bought the Flint again… now it does midi, but I couldn’t care less. I use the tap/favorite switch to ensure I have my settings saved… so I think I’ll leave it that… my search is done… 🤘🏻

[@NicolaDAlicandro]

My favorite pedal ever! 🖤

[@jacqueslegault5593]

The only one I don't want to change / trade. It's spot-on. It's also even part of my bass sound - for a nice roomy ambiance (reverb 70's decay+mix at 10h00 and colour at 1h00)

[@TylerFoleyAudio]

A super subtle harm trem on bass would be sick too. Almost in the same vein of how I use the deco's chorusing with a bass! (Also if you haven't already, try a deco on bass. Holy cow!)

[@vladaface1]

very indepth video , so useful

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Thanks for watching! 😁

[@neekomax75]

Beautiful demo my man. I'm curious about using it in 100% mode (kill dry) in my stereo wet/dry/wet. That and harmonic tremolo. So many roads to explore!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Thank you! Ooooo I'm sure this thing would sound killer in a setup like that. The harmonic tremolo is truly a thing of beauty.

[@WillBrahm]

Thank you Andrew!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

No problem!

[@otaviosmartins1]

I have a Flint and I sincerely don’t see selling it any time soon.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

The best of the best for sure.

[@williamdevlin366]

Hey man, thank you for this video. You opened my eyes to reverb. I’m an acoustic guy mostly but am having fun with a MIM Strat & a Fender amp. Clean! Learning all I can about pedals. Thanks again!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Awesome! Thanks for watching.

[@Andrew.G.Junior]

It's pretty hard to find a used one for sale these days. Great pedal, it has never let me down. I wonder how different the v2 might be, gonna try to get one of those if the prices go down a bit. The Flint v2 price is still very steep, you could easily get a second hand Mobius, Timeline or Big Sky for the same money.

[@RyanMcQuen]

I prefer the 'OG' series for these Strymon pedals because Strymon pedals already had too many options and secondary functions.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

That's a perfrectly reasonable view!

[@webbsteroni]

Stars @ Van, NYR @ Avs, LAK @ Oil.... Some great tilts tonight!

[@jzf128]

Mine about 12Y old. Bought it in 2012

[@RussC123]

Excellent overview! Thoughts on this versus the Fender Tre-Verb?

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Thanks! I've never played any of Fender's line of pedals. But imo, Strymon is probably gonna hold its value better if you ever need to sell it.

[@-_AjB_-]

Curious to know what you think of the tremolo on the 65 dream?

[@billa6348]

Okay, I don’t have or need the Flint-I have other Strymon pedals that do the trick-but regarding the first the questions of why to upgrade, I sold my 3-month-old El Capistan when they released the V2 because it was the only pedal on my board that wasn’t MIDI compatible-and no, firmware upgrades cannot transform a non-MIDI pedal into a MIDI pedal. So, for me, it was not an insignificant upgrade. With MIDI, I never need to touch my pedals. I control ALL pedal parameters with a MIDI foot switch controller. That said, if not for the addition of MIDI I would NOT have sold my three-month-old (or, if I had one, my 10-year-old) El Cap to get the new one.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Makes sense! If you're a MIDI user then the upgrade seems like a no-brainer. Cheers!

[@shckltnebay]

Very nice did you mention the Trem has a vol control?

[@Andrew-kg9yo]

I will say, the new line of pedals are a lot more practical when you look at the decreased power requirements

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

If you don't already have a power supply that can handle it that's a good point!

[@Taylor_King]

what are the decreased requirements? as far as i could tell online, v1 says 250ma and v2 says 300ma

[@Andrew-kg9yo]

@@Taylor_King I’m pretty sure the sharc processors on v1 required 500 mA while the new arm processors are only 300 mA

[@Taylor_King]

@@Andrew-kg9yo oh right cool

[@JoshKotlar]

The Flint is probably one of the best & usable pedals made by Strymon, however one big problem with both V1 and V2 is that there is no stereo pan. I don’t see why there is even a stereo option with the flint, if you can’t pan the effect. They are dual mono at best. The only pedal I see out there that can pan the tremolo in stereo (for under $300) is the Seymour Duncan Shapeshifter.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Interesting. For me that's not something I'd use, but I can kind of see why it'd be useful.

[@JayMathy]

Thank you! I just got one (like it came in the mail today) and I was wondering if I was missing something. There are no options to pan (I wouldn't anyway) but I don't understand what the stereo switch is for. On mono, I get reverb/trem from both my studio monitors.

[@brianwaugh9249]

@joshkotlar With the Flint it will do the Tremolo in stereo and auto-pan between the right and left amp creating a cool effect. It is not designed to Pan hard left or hard right, it will oscillate between the two sides. Even better!

[@lapk78]

Keeley Hydra allows for stereo panning of tremolo.

[@eleuteriomartinez8064]

I’m confused. Is the one you demonstrated in this video v1 or v2.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

It's the V1.

[@eleuteriomartinez8064]

Thank you. It sounds great

[@MOAB-UT]

FACTS It is a GREAT Pedal. I bought one BUT, I am going to RETURN IT. Tremolo is GREAT but the Reverb is just OK. For $350 it better be better than just OK. My solution: Returning. Bought a Immerse Reverberator Mkii- FAR superior Reverb and more of it. + Bought a Empress Tremolo2- arguably better Trem. Not Stereo but should be fine. It goes into a L + R output Looper anyway so I can get it close enough. Both of those likely better independant solutions were just slightly more money than the single FLINT pedal. I call that a WIN. Usually dedicated effects will be better than when one pedal trieds to do many things. I have read a lot in the last week. Mostly, they are all good but they are all different. Even within one simple thing like Trem, people will swear by the Square wave feature of X brand, or the Triangle shaped effect of brand Y. No one pedal offers it all or does it all. Bottom line is Flint is overpriced but a very decent pedal. You can get slightly better or at least different Trem and indeed better Reverbs if you buy separately. I also added a DD500 Delay to my board! Had a Fractal FM9- awesome modeler but too complex and not fun to edit on the unit. They need to update that old UI...for $1845, they had better. If they do, that could be a great all in one type solution. Still, pedals are fun. Modelers make it easier to pull up premade patches so you don't have to manually adjust 3-4+ pedals between songs and parts of songs.

[@digs7979]

More hand gestures, please!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

I can't help it! 😂

[@xxgg909]

この機材は天才すぎる！

[@Canalguitarclub]

Wooolll !!!! Great pedal, amazing sound !!!🎯🎯🎯👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 wats is position John Mayer using? 60', 70', our 80' ? Thanks brother!!! Take Care ! From Brazil 👉🇧🇷🎸🚀

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Thanks! For most John Mayer stuff I'd say it's the '60s spring reverb will be your go-to. But he definitely uses some more lush hall and plate verbs as well!

[@Canalguitarclub]

@@andrewclarkeguitar Thanks bro !!!🎯🎸🚀🚀🚀

[@organjoe]

A nice pedal. But I sold mine and found better sounds in separate pedals. Strymon stuff is great though.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

That's fair! What did you end up going with?

[@organjoe]

@@andrewclarkeguitar currently mxr M305 tremolo (w/ exp pedal), and Wampler Faux (orig size) Reverb. Really works for me since Spring is my go to verb.The Trem w/ exp pedal is awesome!

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

@@organjoe That's a killer combo. Very nice.

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

Fuzz Face, still great 60 years later ?

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Of course it is 😏

[@tomolewine5743]

I've owned this pedal several times, and quite frankly, it's not a good reverb. The spring sounds nothing like spring reverb. The only convincing sound in it is the harmonic trem. I just don't get the hype. Just my opinion of course, I know many love it.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

That's fair! I feel like the spring reverb is probably the weakest aspect of the pedal. I love all three trems, and the other two verbs are solid. It does a lot very well, but is the master of none.

[@itchyvinyl]

I think there can be a difference between accurate and usable. For me, every sound in the flint is usable. I don’t need the spring to sound “accurate” because I’m not in a ‘60s tribute band. If I need “convincing” I’ll use the True Spring which for me records better than the Surfybear *actual spring reverb I used to own.

[@bryanherward4679]

@@itchyvinyl Dead on...same way I feel about "amp models"...don't care if it's accurate, only if it's musical..and the verbs in the Flint are killer...

[@joehan877]

I don't know why, you sound so good but when I use it, I can't really find it useful..sigh..

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. I wonder if it's other parts of your rig that are causign you problems.

[@joehan877]

@@andrewclarkeguitar maybe thats true. I should have tried only this one and straight amp. But i guess I am selling it.

[@JohannesLabusch]

I haven't watched your entire video. I'm sure you did a very good job. But I have to tell you, I can't stand this title. I hate that stomp boxes are now treated as perishable objects. Strymon is to blame for this more than any KZbinr. And I don't even doubt that the improvements of the new version are going to make a real difference to a very small segment of users. But the idea that you have to throw out your pedals after ten years, or sell them for next to nothing, because a new and improved version has hit the market, is frankly disgusting. Whatever happened to firmware updates? I thought that was going to be the way of the future. No, forget that. You've got the old pedal, you're hit with a severe case of FOMO. It's all very unsavory.

[@andrewclarkeguitar]

It’s just the world we live in sadly. Especially when we talk about digital effects. My final verdict with the Flint is that it really isn’t worth upgrading. I do wish they just continued updating the firmware, but it is what it is. If it sounds good and works for you, you should never feel like you need to upgrade.

[@dkijc]

I get you. Tis is the world of digital effects. Q - Would you pay for firmware upgrades? (I know a lot of us got spoiled through free firmware updates in other modellers. Especially Helix users. God bless Line6. haha. But I do wonder how long that model of free firmware will last. There will always come a time when the hardware cannot handle all the new and shiny things.)

[@keithschwartzmusic9461]

Yeah, I was pretty mad at Strymon for that too - they marketed these as "these are state of the art" and yet a few months later replaced them.

[@e_g_mc]

Damn that’s crazy

[@phladjki]

a few comments. first yes definitely it feels like you need to get the new one or you’re missing out. however, once you see that the algos are the same it makes you think twice. if you already have one and you fork over $375 for the same sounds you already had - it just doesn’t make sense. Only reason it makes sense possibly: you absolutely need midi. otherwise: not worth it. but why does this fomo exist? because for a while digital technology kept improving substantially. newer digital emulations would be substantially better every 5-10 years so it totally makes sense. analog gear: not so much. it’s just expected that new digital gear will be a step up. it just happens that it’s not really true for these new strymons. yes they’re better but not enough to swap out for most people.

[@sixstringstarter]

If the Flint can do Reverb, why would you also need the Dream? Ta.

[@chrismilton3616]

Honey Bee OD

[@Farold_Haltermeyer]

Odd title...music technology has not been progressing/improving for the last 20 years the way people seem to think, it’s an industry based on getting customers to constantly crave the new upgrade. It even removed basic features such as stereo and then tried reselling them to punters as new features. Yes there is more choice now, yes digital has improved, but latest products are not (in most cases) upgrades on existing ones

[@oscarm4154]

Its excellent if you have one but not worth the price in 2024