I just got my Tech21 Flyrig 5 a few days ago and have been testing it out in a lot of different configurations.
First impressions are very good.
It works well straight into my Mesa combo, in the FX loop of the combo, and sounds good direct into a mixer and through my studio monitors. Works well with both LP and Strat.
Gear used in test:
Mesa MkIII combo
Gibson G0 Les Paul with SD Antiquities
Fender Strat Plus with Gold Lace sensor pups
Direct to Mackie Mixer (flat) and back through two 15inch dual concentric Tannoy monitors.
DIRECT IN TO THE MkIII:
I rolled off all of the treble on the amp without the FR5 engaged and set the rest of the amp controls for a warm clean sound. I dialed in a very slight amount of reverb on the boogie.
I then engaged the Sansamp; Set tone controls to taste and gain to a light crunch rhythm sound. Then I balanced out the engaged and disengaged levels using the Sansamp level control. I added a very small amount of reverb on the Sansamp.
This gave me a good clean amp sound, and a good crunch rhythm sound or blues lead with just a little distortion and reverb. Setting the gain a little higher on the Sansamp allowed me to use my guitar volume controls on both LP and Strat to get both a crunch chord sound and a slightly more distorted lead tone to taste.
So yes….It does clean up well and is responsive to input volume. Quite a good and useful distortion tone, not brittle and responds well.
The Plexi Section.
I didn’t like this section as much….but this is just a tonal taste thing, not a criticism. Works well, good distortion and useful controls. Marshal Plexi players will really like this and for that kind of tone it does a very good job. Lots of bottom end for that Marshall sound. This is the part I don’t like. I like the Plexi distortion but would like to control the bottom end a bit more. Bass and Mid tone controls really would have hit this thing right out of the ball park. Even a Bass control would have been enough.
With the Strat the bottom end is not as pronounced so it may suit Strat players a little more.
The Hot/Boost section
This section is really useful and if setup with the Sansamp distortion gives you another distortion mode.
DIRECT TO MIXER
I set the Sansamp to clean for this test and obtained my distortions from the Plexi and hot sections. Worked very well as designed. You need to keep the Sansamp section engaged all the time when going direct. Nice useful clean sound and the emulation circuit certainly makes the distortion smooth and not buzzy or brittle. Just disengage the Sansamp section and you’ll see how well it works.
With just a tweak on the mixer to roll off a little tops; (and I rolled off the bottom a little because my monitors are very bass heavy in a small room)……. and the sound was really useful. Definitely as advertised.
OTHER PEDEALS
I tried a Zendrive, a Timmy, and a TS-9 Keeley baked mod in front of the FR5 and it handled them all well. Season to taste
SUMMARY
Works well as advertised. Good reverb and delay section. The Sansamp section is very versatile and sounds good direct. Nice range of OD sounds available from the Sansamp.
The Plexi section is useful, whether you like Marshall sounds or not, and will vary a little depending on pups. Would be improved a lot with the addition of a bass control.
My preference is for my Keeley TS-9 in front and a volume pedal at the end of the chain but the FR5 is still quite a useful tool without them. I bought it to resurrect my MkIII for small blues type gigs and I believe this will give great control and minimum junk on the floor. It’s going to be very useful for jams on its own and the perfect backup for my AxrFx rig.
The addition of just one extra dirt pedal really expands the utility of the FR5. I've yet to try it at a jam or gig but I've no reason to believe that it won't do a great job with a few tweaks to allow for Fletcher-Munson.
It's a keeper.
Does anyone know if there are any dip switches inside that could be set to change the EQ in the Plexi section?
