Phase II Synthesizer

I use this with a home digital studio, I patch two channels from it into my mixer. The two fuzz voices are a bit noisy, but unique. I prefer to run a vintage MXR Distortion into it, then split the output. The three trajectories (voices) can be animated and/or pedal driven. That is a great feature. Nothing sounds like this beast.

This has gigged in the early 70's without any problems. The pedalboard is die-cast aluminum. The body is fiberglass. The upper control panel is in its own aluminum box. Very sturdy. The weak link here is the allen screw that fastens the pedal to the fulcrum shaft, it will loosen occasionally. This unit was serviced once. I think a switch went out, as I recall.

I bought this one new in 1970. We used it onstage in one band, since then I have used it occasionally for home recording. It provides many unique sounds unavailable by other means. I use the stereo splitter function a lot, blending in as needed to give varying textures to my sound. No manual came with it. The big buttons on the foot switches are a plus.

Repaired once. The schematics are actually INSIDE the unit. Any shop worth using could probably fix it. Ludwig? Forget them, they are a drum company. You are on your own, but that is not a big deal.

I write "classic rock" originals. This unit is nice for flavoring or coloring sounds. It could be used for solos (Hendrix flew this baby at Woodstock), if you are up to it. I have been playing since 1964. If it were stolen, I would be very upset, I don't think I could find another. I love to see it in a darkened room, it looks really cool with all the lighted switches that change colors when flipped. I don't hate anything about it, just because it is so unique and rare, it should be respected for what it is. I associate a lot of good memories with this ultra-rare piece of musical history.

Currently, I am using this with a Rickenbacker 4003 bass running through a Carvin R600 and Mesa Powerhouse Jr. cab. It was designed for guitar, so it sucks the low end out of the sound a bit. A little noisy but bearable. You can play the into to Sonic Youth's "The Diamond Sea" perfectly! It has three different wah sweeps as well as foot-controllable wah/phaser type sounds. This is not a phaser! Produces wah, wah, you, you, you, yoy, yoy, yoy, oyoy, oyoy, oyoy, i, i, i sounds. The bypass effect mode is louder than the bypass mode and distorts my preamp.

Made in 1971 and still going strong. The craftmanship is very good. Everything works fine, with the exception of a couple of burnt out lights. The pedalboard itself appears to be made of cast iron or steel. Very heavy duty. The case is plastic and aluminum and could be damaged fairly easily.

It takes awhile to get to know this crazy device, but afterwards, it is very rewarding. There is a lot of wild sounds that this thing can put out. Fairly easy to use. It is kind of like a suitcase and unfolds to become a pedalboard-type thing. When you are done playing, fold it back up and you're ready to go.

Ludwig only makes drums now, no chance of support for this old thing!

This is a crazy psychadelic pedal that is very, very rare (supposedly only 50-100 left world-wide). It fold up into it's own suitcase for quick transport, and looks awesome. Cool sounds. The only thing I wish was different would be frequency responce and the bypass/effect volume ratio. I have been playing bass for 4 years now. No other pedal compares to this thing. Great for the noisemaker/experimental guitarist. If lost or stolen I would be pissed. These things are almost impossible to find

It's pretty typical for a late '60's early '70's pedal. I bit noisy, but not bad like an EH. One problem it has that on a certain setting it makes a constant ticking sound, almost like beat.

Well, I'd deffinately gig with it because it's so cool looking, and sounds so wierd. Having a back up is hard because there are supposedly less than one hundred of them left. You have to be careful to leave it out of intense sunlight because old analog electronics' wires can brittle and crack....

If you're not familiar with this monster, it's just a trememlo/envelope filter in a big pretty case (there's a fuzz too, but it sucks. Quite distintive, but generally very weak). You can hear it on Sonic Youth's "The Diamond Sea" and Beck's "Cold Brains." (I think it's what he's using anyway.) It's basically a trememlo controled by a rate wah, and tends to be a bit quiet on the clean channel. Going between wet and clean can sound a little awkward if you're wet volume and clean volume aren't balanced. "Phase" and "Synthesizer" are both misnomers. It's not a phaser. No sine wave option, and basically worbles your sound like, "You you you you..."

I looked up Ludwig in the toll free directory once, and came up with Ludwig drums and Ludwig modular furniture. That says it right there. I don't know if the present Ludwigs have anything to do with this monster, but I'm sure it sunk the company to begin with because the pedal was a flop. It's a cool toy, but generally hard to get a really useful sound out of, not to mention it was too over the top lools-wise for its time, and was too expensive.

This is a cool toy no matter what you are, and a good investment if you're a serious collector. It's not terribly useful, and I work it into my songs when I can. It's the gem of my collection, and despite the money, I'd buy it again in a second. This is the kind of pedal your likely to find at a garage sale for $40 bucks, and the old lady selling it says it was her son's amp and she's cleaning out the attic... The thing seriously looks awesome! It's about two feet tall, seven inches deep, and a foot long along the front. It's got a large wah that folds down from the front, and has all sorts of slider pots and switches on its top, which is covered by a panel. There's even a schematic printed on the metal plate covering the underside of its guts, right above the wah. Anyway, it's really pretty. I like to turn off all the lights and play with the different colored light switches. It sounds like I'm making this up, but it's really that much of a toy: like a cross between a Christmas tree and a Light Bright you can plug your guitar into. There's a picture of it in the CD booklet for Sonic Youth's Washing Machine. It's really worth checking out. As far as I know, Sonic Youth has two of them, Primus has one, Beck has one, Bruce from the Sound Barrier (now Sounds Fuzzy) has at least one, my friend has one, and I have one. If anyone has one he or she would like to sell, I'd be very willing and happy to buy ; -)