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How to use the Electric Mistress - Settings

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The Effects Chain - Where to put your Electric Mistress

Although there are no strict dos or don’ts, there is a proven place for the Electric Mistress in the effect chain. Here is a typical complex effect chain containing most types of effects:

Typical Guitar Effect Chain containing an Electric Mistress
Typical Guitar Effect Chain containing an Electric Mistress

Fuzz:

The reason for putting the fuzz first in the chain is that vintage fuzz pedals should be fired directly by the guitar as these are impedance sensitive. If you use a newer buffered fuzz (e.g. Boss Fz-5) you can put it in the distortion/overdrive section.

Wah Wah:

Some recommend using a wah wah first in the chain (just after a vintage fuzz if you are using one), others recommend putting it behind the compressor. The important thing is putting it in front of the distortion/overdrive.

Compression:

A compressor needs a rather clean signal to work properly. As most distortion/overdrive pedals alter the dynamics of the signal significantly it is important to put a compressor before the distortion/overdrive.

Distortion/Overdrive:

It’s time to add some Rock’n’Roll. Here you put your Big Muff, Tubescreamer, Rat, SD-1, OCD or whichever you prefer.

Modulation:

Modluation effects like vibe, phaser, chorus or flanger work rather subtle compared to distortion. If you put these before distortion most of the effect would be overlapped by distortion. As the Electric Mistress is a flanger it is best positioned between distortion/overdrive and delay.

Volume:

Now it is time to add your volume pedal to make it work most naturally.

Delay/Reverb:

Delay and reverb should be the last effect in the chain. If you want to use a noise gate put it right before the delay/reverb.

If you have different pedals in one section you don’t want to use simultaneously (e.g. a vibe, a chorus and a flanger) it is suggested to alternate the sequence whether the pedal is buffered or true bypass.
 


Settings

Use these setting only as a starting point. Your environment will be different, there are component tolerances or maybe even your knobs are not mounted straight. Slight misalignment may also influence the setting. So you need to perform some fine tuning by using your ears. Please note that the Electric Mistress V6 must be set inbetween the Electric Mistress V5 and the Deluxe Electric Mistress, closer to the Deluxe.

Mild Flanging or 'David Gilmour' Tone

David Gilmour used the Electric Mistress mainly from 1977 to 1983 on the Animals tour and Wall and 1994 on the Pulse tour. He first had a 1976 Electric Mistress V2 added on top his Pete Cornish Animals board using send/return. Later the Electric Mistress had been integrated into the Cornish board. It is not known which version Pete Cornish used for the board and whether he modified it (most probable yes). David Gilmour also used a multi amp system which had been mixed down. E. g. he split the signal and played one trace over a standard cabinet, the other over on a rotating speaker cabinet. I don't know if the Electric Mistress affected all channels or if had been mixed with a non flanged channel which would have allowed a more intense setting not to excessive in the final mix.

From photos of David Gilmour’s live equipment it can be taken that he used the Electric Mistress with the famous '10 o’clock Setting'. This means all knobs were set to 10 o’clock. On many musicians discussion boards you find something like this:
Q: What flanger for a David Gilmour tone?
A: Get an Electric Mistress or Deluxe Electric Mistress and set all knobs to 10 o’clock.
Q: I bought a Deluxe Electric Mistress and it sucks...

The reason why many are not happy with their Electric Mistress is that they don’t set the knobs by their ears, but just by the '10 o’clock Setting' recommendation. What most don’t know is that the pots of David Gilmour’s 1976 Electric Mistress V2 had a different arrangement than the devices from 1980 on and all Deluxe Electric Mistress. (See my versions section for further information) Here is the '10 o’clock Setting' for the different versions regarding pot arrangement and different LFO sweep range. Some prefer a setting with less RANGE. Note that David Gilmour varied his settings. E.g the RATE for most settings had been about 22 ° more clockwise (slightly faster sweep) on the Wall compared to the Animals tour.

Electric Mistress V2, V3, or V4:
David Gilmour Electric Mistress Setting for the 1976 V2
'David Gilmour' Setting on a V2, V3 or V4
Deluxe Electric Mistress
(all versions):
David Gilmour Deluxe Electric Mistress Setting
'David Gilmour' Setting
on a Deluxe Electric Mistress
(all versions)
Electric Mistress V5:
David Gilmour Electric Mistress Setting for the 1980 V5
'David Gilmour' Setting on a V5

 

Medium Flanging or 'Andy Summers' Tone

Most today user want to have an Electric Mistress as they are either The Police or Pink Floyd fans. It is hard to get an authentic Andy Summers 1980s tone without the Electric Mistress. Andy Summers used a rather clean tone with the Electric Mistress as his main effect and delay in some songs like "Do Do Do Da Da Da".

A typical Andy Summers setting on the different versions of the Electric Mistress would be something like this:

Electric Mistress V2, V3, or V4:
Andy Summers Electric Mistress Setting for the 1976 V2
'Andy Summers' Setting on a V2, V3 or V4
Deluxe Electric Mistress
(all versions):
Andy Summers Deluxe Electric Mistress Setting
'Andy Summers' Setting
on a Deluxe Electric Mistress
(all versions)
Electric Mistress V5:
Andy Summers Electric Mistress Setting for the 1980 V5
'Andy Summers' Setting on a V5

 

Leslie Simulation Setting

Although there are dedicated Leslie rotating speaker cabinet simulation pedals out there (Hughes&Kettner Rotosphere, Boss RT20 ...) the Electric Mistress does this job pretty well. Start with a setting like this:

Electric Mistress V2, V3, or V4:
Leslie Simualtion Electric Mistress Setting for the 1976 V2
'Leslie Simualtion' Setting on a V2, V3 or V4
Deluxe Electric Mistress
(all versions):
Leslie Simualtion Deluxe Electric Mistress Setting
'Leslie Simualtion ' Setting
on a Deluxe Electric Mistress
(all versions)
Electric Mistress V5:
Leslie Simualtion Electric Mistress Setting for the 1980 V5
'Leslie Simualtion' Setting on a V5

 

Extreme Flanging

I think there is no recommendation for a extreme flanging setting. Play around with the knob and dial in the setting you like.

 

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