Your EHX Small Stone thoughts?

[gambit]

I think i might be about to order a 'big-box' USA small stone based on the fact that the top-mounted jacks will be neater and easier to position amongst other pedals

 

i have a russian and a nano already.. i'd quite like to be able compare them all side by side too, because it's been a while since i had the non-nano USA version. maybe i'll record a video of my tweaking..

 

anyway, as far as all the various small stones, which do you prefer? here's my basic rundown.. all based on shallow mode and rate pretty slow.. 1/4 or thereabouts.

 

USA:

- Had a volme drop issue (this was about 8 years ago though).

- Does a weird compressed/filtered phasing thing on higher frequencies.

 

Sovtek Black:

- Ticks at the end of the cycle

- Bypass is pretty poor

- Way too big.

- Knocks off that high end phasing from the USA for a more 'vintage' phase.

 

Nano:

- Bypass is the best of all of them.

- Size is great.

- Phasing of the higher freqencies is halfway between the USA and Sovtek. kind of lacks mojo on the sweep though.

 

All - your guitar signal gets completely effected.. sucked through the swirl.. this is why i put my modulations in a dry/wet bypass loop set to 50/50.

 

if they just put a depth knob or a wet level/mix knob on the nano it's not like they can't fit two knobs on it surely?!

[Fender&EHX4ever]

I've tried all the Small Stones except the Nano, and my favorite is the version 3. No volume drop on mine, a well-balanced phase, and not noisy at all.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Small-Stone-Phase-Shifter-Vintage-1980s-pedal-EH-/140452358729?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b39cea49#ht_500wt_1154

 

http://www.pedalarea.com/small_stone.htm

[homestar_kevin]

I've had an NYC reissue, and older black Sovtek one, and an original 77 and have loved them all.

 

The 70's one sounds like sweet, sweet lovin'

[gambit]

I've tried all the Small Stones except the Nano, and my favorite is the version 3. No volume drop on mine, a well-balanced phase, and not noisy at all. http://cgi.ebay.com/Small-Stone-Phase-Shifter-Vintage-1980s-pedal-EH-/140452358729?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b39cea49#ht_500wt_1154 http://www.pedalarea.com/small_stone.htm

 

i've never really considered the vintage ones.. i always presumed they'd have a bad bypass/volume drop etc.. and no LED

 

how does the polyphase fit into all this aswell? is it digital? or just very un-small-stone-like?

[Fender&EHX4ever]

 

version has no LED though right?

 

 

Correct!

[Edkoppel]

my favorite is definitely the V2.

 

to me this one is the complete package of super thick phasing, little volume drop, and decent bypass.

 

I love the sound of the Green Russian but there is definitely a volume drop in that one and the bypass is pretty bad. But with the phase on it's super thick, like you can chew it and it cuts the highs a bit which is cool.

 

I would try to find a V2 or V3 on ebay. they come up pretty cheap actually.

[Edkoppel]

the poly-phase is meh.

and not a substitute.

 

now the Bad Stone on the other hand is the king {censored}.

[gambit]

^ that's definitely the sexiest looking version

 

so, i just had my ebay offer accepted on the USA version 4.. will be interesting to test it out again after so many years.

 

i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for a version 2/3 on ebay aswell. i think they go for around the same price as a new small stone does these days.

[Poltergeist]

i have the USA one. i'll eventually get around to fix the volume drop, but it aint much of a biggie to me, 'cose i don't play at bedroom levels. the sound is very usable and musical, the sweep rocks and in general it is alot more versatile than it looks, 'cose it's quite sensitive.

[nankuamedha]

I have a USA reissue that I love/hate. To me it's the perfect phaser sound. But...

 

It has 'the volume drop,' but I run it before my distortion most of the time which leads to the next problem...

 

It has a really bad bypass. When using distortion I can hear swirling in the background (when off), and when clean on the depth up mode (my fav) it bleeds through an effects the clean guitar (super wak!!!)!!!

 

Sounds great.... pain in the ass. I think I'm going to go Moog.

[Naterel]

Ive played them all and I have a clone at the moment, which is ok

 

I have a Grand Orbiter now and while not as "chewy" it is alot more musical, you can coax tons of sounds out of it sans vol drop

[booher]

I had a Nano and hated it. I got a great deal on an analog.man modded big box though and it's pretty rad.

[dandy13]

my analogman modded small stone is the best phaser evar

[hangwire]

green russian sovtek = best phaser ever... sooooo thick

[Taylor.]

Owned a Black Russian (bought it from Natarel) and here are my impressions:

 

-"blanket-over-amp" style tone suck

-volume drop so bad the pedal more or less doubles as a mute pedal in a band

-most gorgeous phasing sound I've ever heard

 

I always had to kick in a clean boost whenever I'd use it. Trying to find a "silver" box Stone right now, so if you're selling, hit me up.

[Naterel]

Man I loved that pedal but I needed the money, lol

 

The phase on that one was sooo good

[companyman]

Man I loved that pedal but I needed the money, lol The phase on that one was sooo good

 

what....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FUCK?

 

who are you and what did you do with Mr. Matthews?

[Reaganomics!]

I have one of the USA reissue versions. It had an LED, but it the switch wasn't a 3PDT so I'm assuming it wasn't true bypass? I couldn't hear it when it was off so I'm assuming it wasn't sucking tone. Anyways, it the phase effect awesome but it did have the volume drop and it did totally obscure the rest of the amps tone.

 

However, I found Moosappotomus's page with the univibe, etc. mods. Of course I had to to try them all... and now it doesn't work anymore . I am slowly reversing it back to stock, but it's tough because EHX circuit boards are so cheap the leads start pulling up if you heat them up more than one or two times.

[damacy]

I've had both the USA reissue and nano.

 

I was surprised that they actually sounded quite different. I personally prefer the big box version. However, it adds some weird, irregular sweeps with the rate knob set past 12 and the "Color" switch up. But I liked it that way anyway. The AnalogMan mod adds a trimmer on the circuit board where you can control the feedback of the LFO if I recall.

 

[AidyCM]

I used a big box reissue in the studio and it was nice but the volume drop was a bit annoying. I went out and tried a few and went home with a nano.

[MrChrisos]

I've got a big box reissue version. I don't notice any volume drop, but I've always loved it's sound, colour switch up.

 

I've also found I never like it with anything else like gain - just my clean sound through the stone for swirly underwater bliss.

[Mind_Riot89]

I've got the most recent version; I bought it from here and it had the resistor mod to reduce the volume drop. I absolutely love it, so much better than the Nano and my favourite phaser.

[RoboPimp]

I true bypassed my small stone, it had the bleed through issue mentioned here

 

easily done, I love EHX but for a while there they did some {censored}TY bypass designs.

[yannL]

Hello,

Do other people suffer from the end of cycle tick issue, I got it from my sovtek pedal and would like to fix it ?
THanks