Members notjonahbutnoah Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 Basically I had the Malekko, loved the sound, but it went noisy and the little plastic pots are kinda fragile so I got the VFE Enterprise. After having it, and trying some other Phase 90 variants, I realize the Phase 90 sound is not the one in my head. The Malekko nailed it, but I just don't trust that build quality anymore. I've heard the Malekko is Small Stone based. Is this true? I've actually never had the chance to play around with a Small Stone. I've heard the vintage ones have a bad volume drop and that the newer nano ones are different sounding than the old ones. I've listened to clips and they sound alright, but I also liked all the clips of the VFE, but then when I got it, it was just OK. It can do a lot, but something about the phase tone is weird to me. Just the nature of the 90 I imagine. It's like I can only hear the effect when it's phasing out the higher frequencies, when it's in the lower register of the oscillation, it's like it isn't doing anything. I could hear the entire sweep with the Malekko, and it was very nice and musical, not all wonky and feedback/clippy. So what are some other phasers like that? Also, what are some characteristics to look for, you know, like if you want a TS, you look for pedals with the 4558, etc... Technical stuff. Halp:confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members conky Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 I had a Russian Small Stone and it sounded great. No volume drop. I just got rid of it and got the big box version and it doesn't have a volume drop either. It is way better than the Phase 90 I have too. Well, I wouldn't say better, but it works for me in my setup better. Both sound pretty good. EDIT: I forgot to post that if you can find a black box Small Stone for a good price jump on it. They sound great but if you don't like it you can easily get your money back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted June 13, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 I had a Russian Small Stone and it sounded great. No volume drop. I just got rid of it and got the big box version and it doesn't have a volume drop either. It is way better than the Phase 90 I have too. Well, I wouldn't say better, but it works for me in my setup better. Both sound pretty good.EDIT:1I forgot to post that if you can find a black box Small Stone for a good price jump on it. They sound great but if you don't like it you can easily get your money back. Word. How about the nanos? Do they sound right? Ideally, I'd like it to fit in the vfe's place on my board (visible in sig). I can adjust a bit, but the big black Russian pedals might be a bit too large. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members conky Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 Never played a nano but I hear the newer ones are good to go. Space is the reason I got rid of the Russian Small Stone and got the big box version. It saves a little space. The sound of the Russian one though is worth the extra real estate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members triviani Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 I just got a v4 Small Stone, big box, and it's a phaser you should try. It's musical, cannot stop playing that thing. It doesn't have a volume drop per se, but the nature of the effect makes the sound feel more thin when engaged. To compensate that I put it into one side of a stereo path, so I have one channel wet and the other with the clean signal. Don't need to get the analogman one, I wouldn't want to mod the nature of that circuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted June 13, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 Word, might search for one of the bix boxes then, shouldn't be hard. So it thins the tone a bit? That coulb be somewhat beneficial to me because I either use it for leads, which should help things to cut, and also for clean ska/reggae parts with neck humbuckers, so a little extra glass should work out fine. It will retain all your "sparkle" right? Some filter/phaser effects I've heard kinda mush everything and your clean gets kinda muddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reaganomics! Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 I really doubt that the Malekko Phase is a copy of any of the "big box" Small Stones. With the exception of one version they made for a minute, they all have 5 obsolete IC's that weren't made SMD style, so I doubt they are all jammed in the that tiny Omicron enclosure. I think you could get a Small Stone pedal into an omicron pedal, but it would have to be using different smd chips like the Nano small stone does. though, I don't think that makes a difference too much what chips are used to make the LFO. Whatever differences there are owe more to different cap/resistor values in the circuit path - the Vintage Small stones, big box USA Reissue and the Sovtek have essentially the exact same schematic and people claim they can hear big differences in them too. It's still a cool phase sound. DOD's phasers, FX20 I think, are more or less the same too, someone on here swears they're better even. There's also the Phase 45 which is the most subtle/transparent. If I were guessing what kind of phaser is jammed into an Omicron enclosure it would be that one (Madbean has a DIY Phase 45 board that is Omicron sized). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members conky Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 I have a GGG Phase 45 kit that sounds pretty nice. I used to use it on lead stuff for a slow wah type sweep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members |\|\|\ Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 green small stone was the best "small stony" pedal i'd ever played... until i played a maxon ph-350 and it made the green SS sound like a toy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members martha_KH Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 The nano Small Stones sound fine to my ears and you can find them used for cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted June 13, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 I really doubt that the Malekko Phase is a copy of any of the "big box" Small Stones. With the exception of one version they made for a minute, they all have 5 obsolete IC's that weren't made SMD style, so I doubt they are all jammed in the that tiny Omicron enclosure. I think you could get a Small Stone pedal into an omicron pedal, but it would have to be using different smd chips like the Nano small stone does. though, I don't think that makes a difference too much what chips are used to make the LFO. Whatever differences there are owe more to different cap/resistor values in the circuit path - the Vintage Small stones, big box USA Reissue and the Sovtek have essentially the exact same schematic and people claim they can hear big differences in them too.It's still a cool phase sound. DOD's phasers, FX20 I think, are more or less the same too, someone on here swears they're better even. There's also the Phase 45 which is the most subtle/transparent. If I were guessing what kind of phaser is jammed into an Omicron enclosure it would be that one (Madbean has a DIY Phase 45 board that is Omicron sized). Hmm, interesting. I'll check out the DOD as well. I don't think it's a Phase 45 type circuit in the Malekko, it sounded more pronounced than a 90. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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