Roger Fisher

He can be seen playing a 1974 Stratocaster during a 1976 performance of Crazy On You but began using it more often during and after Little Queen. As Heart continued, he made extensive modifications. He added scalloped frets, LED lights, a humbucker in the bridge position, a Floyd Rose Tremolo, carvings, and special electronics.

"A Les Paul – I think it was a ’65 Gold Top with the standard humbuckers it came with." He used this for the Dreamboat Annie album as well as live performances in 1976, 77, and early 1978.

"For the solo on “Sing Child” he used a Les Paul through a Fender Twin (turned way up) with a Univibe."

“I decided to buy three new Jeff Beck Strats, simple Marshall and THD amps, a TC Electronics G System pedal board and call it good. I’m also using Taylor and McPherson acoustic guitars, and an ASR electric mandolin that was handmade for me in the ’70s."

Roger used a white TB1000A during a 1977 live performance of Crazy On You.

Used for "Barracuda", "Mistral Wind", "Sleep Alone" and live for "Cook with Fire", as gathered from multiple sources. This submission begins with Fisher's statement in this December 4, 2009 WoodyTone interview.

WoodyTone: Gear-wise, Barracuda is one of the most studied Heart tunes, in part because of that unique flanger sound. Do you remember what gear you used for that tune?

Roger: A Strat – not sure about the year. I think it was a Music Man head [Leo Fender-designed, solid-state preamp, 6L6 power tubes], don’t remember the wattage. I think we had a little 2×12 cab, maybe custom-made, I would go through, then on stage [at times it was at the front of the stage, facing Roger] we’d throw a baffle in front so I could play it really loud – because the best way I know of getting good sustain while maintaining a fairly clean tone is you just have to go for volume…unless you have the luxury of having close proximity to your amp, pointing right at you at guitar height. The cab had Celestions, but I don’t remember what wattage.

The flanger was a kit that I originally bought from a company called Phoenix Systems from Massachusetts. It’s the same flanger sound used in “Mistral Wind,” and there isn’t really another flanger that sounds like it. This new flanger that came out called the Barracuda flanger, endorsed by Howard Leese, doesn’t sound like that Phoenix Systems flanger. [Obviously his opinion and his ears, but judging by forum activity several folks disagree.]

When I was playing the riff, it was just a fun guitar riff to play so it was just natural to try a few different things. And one of the things we tried was the flanger. It worked, and that was that.

Do you remember where the flanger was in the signal chain? [It was a rack unit.]

I think the Music Man head had an effects loop, and I think the flanger was in the effects loop. I think I had the flanger just about as slow as it could go.

How about those laser-like sounds near the end of the tune? They sound like they have a flanger on them. Was that a synthesizer?

The way that occurred is I was leaning over my amp with my guitar on to adjust something, or maybe a pick had fallen behind the amp or something, and when I got the guitar close to the amp head – the flanger was on – we heard that sound. The producer, Mike Flicker, said, ‘We have to record that sound – it’s really cool! What should we call it?’ I said, ‘Call it Alien Attack.’ So we named it that on the console.

The kit model goes unspecified, but the June 1976 issue of Popular Electronics features an article about a DIY flanger/phaser-capable delay unit kit with parts from Phoenix Systems: the P-1220 (a complete outline of the parts and circuitry is included). This is confirmed to be the circuit basis by Ten Effects' page for the Barracuda, which was developed in collaboration with Heart bandmate Howard Leese from his own Erickson-built flanger.

When I first met Howard Leese, it wasn't very far into our conversation that my inner geek came out, and compelled me to ask all the fanboy questions that (I can only assume) he had heard a million times... and of course, the first question was 'what flanger did you guys use on Barracuda?'

The answer was surprising. A few of the details are murky, but after having spoken with all the principals involved, it goes something like this: In 1976, Roger Fisher asked (then) Heart equipment tech Rick Erickson to build an electronic flanging effect, based on a circuit that was originally featured in Popular Electronics. Four units were built, one each for Roger, Howard, Nancy Wilson, and Rick kept one for himself. The same flanger was used on another Heart classic, Mistral Wind.

The P.O. box given for Phoenix Systems in the magazine is Westport, CT, with an HQ in Manchester, CT (as can be seen in this photo from this eBay listing for a Phoenix Systems P-250 Delay Enhanced L-R Decoder). It is likely that Fisher misremembered Manchester as Massachusetts. Erickson is referred to as "some local electronics technician" in this March 23, 2018 Render Edge Media interview, in which he elaborates on the "Alien Attack".

[Fisher] I had bought a little kit. It was a flanger. Some local electronics technician put it together for me, and it was a really cool sounding flanger, it was very analog. That was the... [plays "Barracuda" chords] So there's a little bit o' flanging on there. It's the [imitates flanger sound] sound. This flanger sounded great and used that in "Barracuda". We're down at Kaye-Smith Studios recording "Barracuda", we'd been at it for hours and hours, and we're taking our time with this song because we know it's a hit song or, we believe it's a hit song. And, at some point, I had my guitar on and I reached behind my amp to do something, and it went [imitates flanged feedback], starts making this wild sound and I realized that it's the proximity of the guitar to the tubes and the flanger, all working together to make this wacky sound. And so then I thought "Well geez, what if I took this out and just used the quarter-inch phone plug?" And sure enough then you really had control over it. So, I'm making this sound and everyone's just kinda freakin' out a little bit and Mike Flicker said "Hey, we gotta use that on the end of the song!" and "I gotta write this down, what're we gonna call it?" And I said "How about 'alien attack'?" [chuckles]

[Interviewer Elliot Gould] So that's used in the lead towards the end of the song?

[Fisher] Yeah, that's near the end of "Barracuda" and we had to record it several times because he wanted to get it when it was at the, like, the apex of its [imitates flanger peak] and that is gonna come in right there and then it's gonna sync up perfectly with, in a certain way, with the song. And so it took like five or six tries, and boom! There, we got it, okay, cool. Yeah, so...

[Gould] So how do you reproduce that when you were playing live, or you don't bother?

[Fisher] I don't give a shit. [laughs] I don't, I don't! I'm not gonna reproduce that. I mean, you know, if... I'm just not the kind of person that's going to worry about a detail like that. In the future sometime, like if there was a Heart reunion, I would say that we would have to have the "Alien Attack" in there. [chuckles]

[Gould] Live you didn't try to redo that on stage, it's not really different?

[Fisher] Naw, nah, nah. You know, I could have, I never thought to do that, go back behind the guitar n' [softly imitates flanged feedback], you know.

Mono and stereo versions are also specified in the magazine (the P-1220-M and the P-1220-S, respectively), ambiguating the version used, but the mono version can be determined from the old ToadWorks product page for the Barracuda.

The circuit is a modern interpretation of the original custom unit, with a few exciting changes:

• Designed around modern components
• Stereo Output
• Manual sweep control via Expression Pedal
• Addition of Level and Depth controls
• Uses 9V DC power
• Improved noise floor
• Superior construction

It is revealed that Fisher’s commissioned units were slightly different than the stock design in this November 10, 2008 The Gear Page comment by ToadWorks (user virtualtoad).

Yeah, we're working directly with Howard. He demoed the first prototype for us at NAMM in January, he'll be back at our booth again this coming January.

It was electronic. The original unit was made by Heart's amp tech. It was based on a design Roger Fisher found in a magazine (Popular Science, I think). The original isn't an exact copy of that circuit, he made some interesting modifications.

4 units were made - One each for Roger, Howard, and Nancy, and then the tech kept one for himself.

Erickson himself posted on the same thread two days later (as user Rick E.), clarifying that he actually made a separate rack effect based on the P-1220-M. This was the original PFL-1 Pro Flanger.

For the record, the flanger in question which I built for Roger, Howard and Nancy were branded:

ERICKSON AUDIO RESEARCH PFL-1 PRO-FLANGER.

Why has this never been mentioned????

[4 units were made - One each for Roger, Howard, and Nancy, and then the tech kept one for himself.]

There were more than that made, I did several for local lesser known musicians, (at the time) including one for Michael Wilton of Queensryche.

*[But I felt that the rest of you who have read this thread should know THE TRUTH.]

The truth? You can't haanndle the truth!

*[I have Howard's original unit.]

No, you have Howard's second unit, built in 1985. His first flanger was built around late '79 or early 1980, around the time Roger found himself removed from his own band. I have Howard's first one - found it at a local music store many years ago. Not sure how it got there, but once I opened it up I recognized the build. (These were all one-of-a-kind builds, or prototypes) btw - Howard did not own one of these flangers when the tracks for Barracuda were cut. Roger had the only one, and it was a line level device that ran through the added-on effects loop of his Music Man amp. Just to add to the confusion - Michael Fisher once told me he wasn’t sure which Flanger ended up on the record, as they also had some 7.5” (Studio Standard Rack Size) Studio Flangers from MXR at the time. To me, the record sounds like the original Flanger I was involved in building for Roger, but I never did hear the MXR… Roger did indeed use his custom built Flanger live however.

*[Whether he is just keeping it a secret, or if he simply doesn't quite remember, I don't know which.]

Roger called me at ~1:00AM the morning of that Guitar Player magazine interview to ask me - "What kind of equipment do I have?" In the interview he mentions Floyd Rose, Mike Lull, Randy Hansen, and then he is quoted as saying "Oh yeah - I just had a new effects rack built... Period! No mention of WHO built the new exciting effects rack... In all fairness it could have been the magazine editor who left my name on the cutting room floor, but it would be nice, just once, to get credit for my part in this historic band, from someone besides myself.

*[but i am one of MANY MANY people that feel that Roger kinda got the SHAFT, and has largely been forgotten about as far as his guitar work and creative input in this early Heart records....]

I kinda feel the same about my contributions to Roger's sound, as well as his stage equipment. I keep hearing about this tech who made these innovative modifications, and at the ripe old age of 21 mind you. Now I hear a company is reverse engineering my work and planning to market it, and although we had a conversation several years ago about this project, I have yet to hear from them about how they plan to compensate me for my work (Intellectual Property) they are admittedly copying. Would love to hear from them about this… I’m not dead yet….

Here's some pictures of several of the flangers I have built. The top unit is/was Howard's #1, the middle one was built for Michael Wilton, the bottom one is mine.

[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/ampdog/EAR%20PFL-1/001_PFL1_FrontWM.jpg]

[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/ampdog/EAR%20PFL-1/002_PFL1_LeftWM.jpg]

[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/ampdog/EAR%20PFL-1/003_PFL1_RightWM.jpg]

[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/ampdog/EAR%20PFL-1/004_PFL-1_Foot_SwitchWM.jpg]

Rick Erickson

(Erickson Audio/Erickson Audio Research)

Aviator Audio

Edmonds, WA

Shameless self promotion!!!!

Check out my company at:

www.aviatoraudio.com

Check out my myspace page at: www.myspace.com/rick_erickson

Check out my band at:

www.myspace.com/danaosborn

ToadWorks responded the next day in two posts:

Post #55

I was done with this thread - it's too negative, and I don't think it benefits anyone. However, I feel it's important to add one more nugget of 'truth'.

Rick, we didn't copy anything. After looking at the circuit in the unit Howard gave us, we decided it was unbuildable - slightly kludgy, chock full of obsolete and/or unobtainable components, intertwined with a whole bunch of electronic switching, 22V power supply, and a (very necessary) noise gate. That's not a criticism, it's just alot of stuff that we didn't want to deal with. In addition, in our first conversation, you told me that it COULDN'T be copied, that the MN3001 BBD chip was essential to the sound. I didn't buy that, but that's what you said. In any event, we wanted to replicate the sound, and trying to replicate that circuit simply wasn't an option (even our website says that it replicates the SOUND, not the CIRCUIT).

So, we started from scratch - new LFO, new BBD, new clock, a differential signal path, power supply, op-amps - the circuit we built only resembles your circuit in that they are both analog flangers, and as such have certain unavoidable characteristics - but that's where the circuit similarity ends. If you don't believe me, we're just over in Spokane - you have an open invitation to visit our shop and look at the schematic and prototypes, after which I expect you to publically state that we very clearly did not copy your circuit - hell, we couldn't have even if we wanted to. All we did was listen to it, and make something that sounded similar.

Now, regarding your compensation - normally I wouldn't discuss this in open fora, but since you brought it up - in open fora - I'll respond. I called you because Howard suggested it, and because I thought that having you involved at some level would add to the provenance of the completed unit. In our second - and last - conversation, I asked what level of involvement you would be willing to commit to. You responded by saying "first I have to know what's in it for me." To punctuate that, you said - and I quote - "look, you need ME". That's when I decided there was no place for you in this project. I don't mean that unkindly, but that's an attitude I can't work with.

Guys, this is just a guitar pedal. It's not a cure for cancer, it's not going to make anyone a million dollars, and it's not going to diminish in any way Rick's or Roger's contributions to music. And by all means, have Rick build you a flanger - it will sound cool, and you will be happy.

Lastly, take a look at our prices - American made products, at those prices - you do the math. No one involved in making our flanger (or any of our products) is doing it for the money - we're doing it because it's a cool sounding flanger, and because it's a fun challenge... but quite frankly this petty, 30-year old baggage is taking all the fun out of it. We've gone to great expense to design and market a NEW circuit that sounds like an old one. We shouldered all of the financial burden, took all the risk, did all the work. That's a fact. If anyone who has, or thinks they have an interest in anything we are doing, has anything else to discuss, our phone number is on the website - but I'm not going to discuss it here.

Post #59

Sometimes its best to keep one's mouth shut.

Amazing work for a 21 year old.... But... Unless I'm reading something wrong...

If the flangers are from 79 or so, there's no more "intellectual property" to discuss here. Any patents would have run by now. (Interestingly enough, any connection to the flanger being used on the record is now in question also, anyone find one of these mxr units?)

So it sounds like this is sour grapes that TW was able to duplicate the sound and over the several years of time, no effort has been made by the original manufacturer to compete.

Am I missing something here?

Now what we SHOULD be seeing instead of a lot of smack talk is TWO great products!

C'mon people, can't we all get along?

Erickson posted again on November 19, 2008 to clarify Fisher's signal path and to offer more history.

Yeah - I'm still here...

The loop in the MM amp was serial, with no gain control. It was normalized to 0 dbU, or .775V RMS at the Return jack to drive the power amp to full output. I used a similar FX Loop circuit in Roger's Marshall 100W MV amp, I actually installed it on stage during a soundcheck in Charlevoix, MI - that's how tight our schedule was. The amp was drilled for the jacks, loaded on the truck, I designed & built the PC board at home and installed it on stage. Some time later I started looking closer at the signal swing in a Marshall and realized a TL072 IC did not have the capability of driving the power amp directly. This is when I began designing a tube based Cathode-Follower Effects loop. There were no amps that I was aware of at the time that had a tube driven loop, but shortly thereafter I started seeing them, especially on botique amps. I recently opened a Marshall RI amp with a built in Effects Loop and was amazed to find a TL072 IC circuit. I wonder how long it will take them to realize it doesn't have the voltage swing required to drive the amp properly?

Regarding the Flanger's Blend control - that was a blend between the internal sweep oscillator and the manual sweep control. I prefer a hard switch, but that was an experimental control. I didn't find it very useful. The flanger I built was used on "Mistral Wind" and "Sleep Alone" as well as Barracuda in the live shows. I know Roger used his in Manual Sweep mode for the D&B tour opening song"Cook with Fire". I'm pretty sure it is the one on the original Barracuda track - it nails the sound. As for Toadworks - I'm not miffed that they are building a flanger that attempts to nail the sound of the original, I just took offence that I was not getting credit for the work I did on achieving that sound. I am not the only one who added improvements to the circuit, but I am the one who built the ones they used on stage. I consider the changes I engineered made it my circuit as much as the guy who put a tube stage in front of a Fender Twin Reverb and called it a "Boogie" could claim that was his invention... I had received the blessing of the person who wrote the original article and designed the original kit, John Roberts, to "do whatever I wanted" with his original circuit. He also encouraged the folks at Loftech who he said were also making a Flanger based on his designs. I'll be publishing this story on the Aviator Audio website soon. We are in the process of re-designing our website. www.aviatoraudio.com

Erickson had previously written about the flanger in a 4:48 PM September 19, 2000 post in an Ampage forum.

"I could be mistaken but I think Rick E. built the flanger that they used. "

I best jump in here and set the record straight.

For what it's worth, I'm not absolutely sure what flanger was used on the recording since I wasn't in the studio for the session. The intro part was played (so I've heard) by Howard Leese on his Telecaster W/Bigsby tailpiece, not a Strat., probably through a Music Man HD-130. I'm not even sure if the flanger was laid down on the track or added later as an outboard effect.
The flanger used for live performance and probably on the album was a kit originally sold by John Roberts dba Phoenix Systems in Arizona and featured in Popular Electronics magazine in their June 1976 issue. The article featured the Panasonic MN3001 Bucket Brigade IC mainly as an audio delay line "reverb effect" for hi-fi use. The flanger was discussed but not really featured as a guitar effect, possably because the flanger operated at line level. I constructed the first one for Roger Fisher from the kit which he brought to me. I had read the article in PE but it was a friend of Roger's, Tyler Boley, who had actually built one for his guitar and told Roger about it.
After I had stuffed the board Roger took it to Tyler for some modifications he had done to the summing circuit, using an IC as a summing amp and a trim pot to allow a better null of the dry & delayed signals. Roger's Music Man amp was also modified for a line level f/x loop at this time, porbably [sic] by Tyler. This was a fairly easy mod since the MM amp had an IC based preamp. An IC was added as a gain reduction stage on the preamp output (-20db), and a gain recovery (+20db) on the return side.
When I joined the Heart crew as their road tech my first job was to modify Roger's 100W Marshall heads so they would work with his Flanger. I coppied the IC circuit used in the MM amps for expediency. It wasn't until much later I did some measurements and realized the inability of the op-amp circuit to reproduce the voltage swing of the Marshall preamp. To cure the voltage recovery problem I added a step up transformer to Roger's control rack, which I had designed & built. The rack included switching between his wireless system and two guitar cords, as well as the f/x loop buffer, a Gain Brain compressor and a Roger Mayer noise gate.
I designed a c/f loop using a 12AX7 tube in 1979 before leaving the crew but never got the chance to try it in Roger's amps. I had never seen one used in an amp before and was reluctant to change what was working until I'd had a chance to test it in my own amps. Most of the stuff I did was conceived on the road and built in the 2-3 weeks between tour legs.
When I joined the crew the Flanger was falling apart from road abuse. The flimsy aluminum box was being duct taped to the front of his Marshall amp each night, and was suffering from the stress. I built him a new 7" rack mount flanger, modified with an added Regeneration control to thicken the effect per Roger's request. The 7" mount matched that of the Gain Brain & noise gate he was using so I could put them all in one 19" rack mount box. After Roger left the band I built a one-space rack mount version of the flanger for Nancy and Howard with added LED displays for level and clock sweep indication. At this time I was making my own pc boards and labeling them with the Erickson Audio Research (EAR) logo. Later I would build some with solid state switching for Howard & also for Michael Wilton of Queensryche but am told the original version sounded better. The same flanger was used on Mistral Wind & Sleep Alone on the Passion Works album as well as others by Heart. I'm not sure what songs Michael used the flanger on, but it was in his rack for the Operation Mindcrime tour, and I think for the tour before that. (I can't remember what album that was). I contacted Line 6 recently about sampling the flanger I have (The one Howard Leese thought was the best sounding one of the bunch) as a possible option on the POD but haven't heard back from them. I would love to see them do that since the delay chips aren't available anymore and I never was able to duplicate the sound with an SAD1024.
Probably way more info here than you wanted to know but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

RE

Playing in the photo.

"My favorite rig was a Hiwatt – I think 100 watts." He used Hiwatts live in 1976, they can best be seen in Heart's KSWU TV Studio performance ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp862e4vaug ).

The amp he used during the recording sessions for Dreamboat Annie.

“I decided to buy three new Jeff Beck Strats, simple Marshall and THD amps, a TC Electronics G System pedal board and call it good. I’m also using Taylor and McPherson acoustic guitars, and an ASR electric mandolin that was handmade for me in the ’70s."

"Live he used an MXR digital delay, the Phoenix Systems flanger and a volume pedal."

Roger used a white Les Paul Custom from 1977 to 1979.

He had this as a part of his live rack in the late 70s. His former guitar tech, Rick Erickson, mentions it in a forum post (see source).

In this Woodytone article ( https://www.woodytone.com/2009/12/03/roger-fishers-heart-gear/ ), in the "Notable: Gear Notes" section, it mentions live he used a volume pedal, although the model goes unspecified. However, in the source photo, a Sho-Bud volume pedal can be seen and since this photo was taken in the late 70s (based off his use of a Stratocaster), this means that the Sho-Bud was most likely what he used for the volume swells on Mistral Wind, which was recorded and performed in the late 70s.