Take 10 Phasers - Which One Rules? The Best Phaser Pedal

[Dendy Jarrett]

Here is a great shoot out comparison of 10 Phaser Pedals by our friends at Guitar Chalk! :

 

http://www.harmonycentral.com/articles/the-best-phaser-pedal-a-replete-buying-guide

 

Please feel free to open a discussion about the comparison and your personal findings on your pedal use.

 

 

[Fender&EHX4ever]

Great write-up, layout, graphics, etc!

 

Unfortunately for me, I have no personal experience with any of the phasers listed in the shootout, and so it follows that all of my favorite phasers are left out of the running.

[Dendy Jarrett]

What pedals do you use?

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

I'd say there are at least a few worthy phase shifters that were left out of that shootout. Off the top of my head:

• Ibanez Flying Pan
  
• ProphecySound Infinitphase and Pi-Phase
  
• Subdecay Quasar DLX
  
• Lovetone Doppelganger
  
• Maxon PH-350 Rotary Phaser
  
• EarthQuaker Devices Grand Orbiter
  
• Moog Moogerfooger MF-103 12-Stage Phaser
  
• Diamond Phase
  
• Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser
  
• Electro-Harmonix Flanger Hoax and Stereo Polyphase
  

 

 

Not all of those are still available as new pedals, but some of them are. There's definitely a few on my list that I'd much rather have than the majority of the pedals they picked, but that's personal preference, isn't it?

[mbengs1]

I have the boss ph-3 phase shifter as my phaser and am quite happy with it. it does the thickest phasing effect i've ever heard.

[onelife]

I've always been after the "Abbey Road" and "Dark Side of the Moon" Leslie guitar sound. Before the Flanger and Chorus effects along with digital delays became popular I used a Roland Phase Five pedal.

 

[video=youtube;SeTpqRa3y_U]

 

The Phase Five has always been my favourite for guitar and I liked the Electro-Harmonix Small Stone Phase Shifter for that 'Richard Tee' Rhodes sound.

 

I would imagine that both of those pedals would sound muddy by today's standards but they served me well at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

[1001gear]

These are the best ones but difficult to find and they don't make the right batteries here.

 

[video=youtube;EvI_FYarYIY]

[WRGKMC]

Back in the early 70's The first phaser used was a Maestro single speed pedal a buddy of mine had.

 

Shortly after I bought a Small Stone for a year or so.

 

I traded it for one of these Large Maestro Phase Shifters that I used untill the thing had no paint left on it. I loved that phaser because ramped up in speed like a Leslie cab did. The pedal was in fact designed for a Keyboard player and had a mild rotovibe like warble to it. I played in many guitar bands and the pedal helped emulate keyboard parts. I liked the fact the pedal had its own built in power supply too. This one looks like it had a three wire plug replaced. The originals had two wires and since the chassis isn't connected to any AC like an amp might be it didn't need a 3 way wire.

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have the boss ph-3 phase shifter as my phaser and am quite happy with it. it does the thickest phasing effect i've ever heard.

 

I've always preferred the sound of the original Boss phasers, or the even older Roland phasers like onelife mentioned. The PH-1 is nice, but the PH-1r I think is even better. I don't think the PH-3 is bad at all (and it has a lot more features), but I'd still rather have a PH-1r. YMMV

[Phil O'Keefe]

It's spelled "Maestro".

[WRGKMC]

Thanks, I meant to fix that.

[WRGKMC]

I have a Boss mini Rack Phaser called the RPH 10 that gives you three different phase settings in one. The first being mild like the Maestro I used to have, the second is a bit deeper voiced and the third gets that deep throat sound the old Mutron's would give you.

 

I haven't used a Phaser pedal on my board in years. It kind of went out of style when Disco music died and really hasn't gained back allot of use since. I do what the article says when I', recording and just use a plugin to get the sound. A Phaser essentially a wah circuit with an LFO to vary the sound like the pedal does. I keep a wah at the front end in case I want that kind of tone changes and a chorus near the end to get some movement.

 

 

 

 

I do have the ultimate Phaser rig. A horn driver, plastic tube and a small amp to drive it . A voice box make the ultimate phaser tones. It just becomes a bit fatiguing.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I used to have some of those 80s era Boss half-rack effects.

[WRGKMC]

I have two or three others. The Echo/Harmonizer is actually very good and get a nice analog delay sound. Its got the reverse echo and harmonizer settings too. You can even re-pitch notes using a keyboard or other audio source if you wanted. Its old school however. You have to actually tune the pitch like you would an analog synth. It does have a tuner out that you can use to tune the pitch of the harmony.

 

The Overdrive/Distortion units is pretty dated sounding. You can get a few decent tones but it does sound very solid state, typical for many Op Amp driven effects form the 80's I do have a boss GL-100 I bought back in the early 90's which is a much better sounding preamp gain unit. I used that one for a good 20 years in my recording rig. I haven't used it in a couple of years now but its cool because you can have mono in and it splits it into a stereo out with stereo effects loop. It was the first one I owned with speaker emulation too.

[Fender&EHX4ever]

What pedals do you use?

 

Here is a list of the phasers I am most familiar with, * denoting my current favorites:

 

Morley Tel-Ray PFV (70s version)

Mutron Phasor I

* Effectrode Phaseomatic Deluxe

Digitech XP 300 Modulator

EHX Small Stone

* EHX Bad Stone (70s vintage treadle version)

EHX Bad Stone (early 80s vintage)

EHX Polyphase (70s vintage)

EHX Stereo Polyphase XO

EHX The Worm

* EHX The Worm XO

EHX The Wiggler

* EHX Bi-Filter (rackmount)

* EHX Flanger Hoax

[Fender&EHX4ever]

Even though the original Small Stone is lacking in features, it is undeniably one of the most iconic phasers of all time, heard on legendary tracks ranging from Billy Joel, to Radiohead, to more current bands like Tame Impala. But because it is so familiar sounding, I would only really use it on a recording in an unconventional way, or to intentionally invoke a retro vibe.

[Chris Loeffler]

I actually really dig the phaser section in my Ibanez UE400. It is a bit thicker but somehow less "effecty" than the 9 vintage series. I know that all these circuits were slightly different than their pedal peers (and often run at higher voltages), but it just sounds good

 

I really dig the Redwitch and the Chase Bliss Wombtone for different reasons.

 

One day I will play an Intelliphase.

[lefort_1]

Since the thread has progressed from the review of (currently available and common-on-the-used-market) to (our favorite old pedals)

I thought I'd toss in a couple more old gems.

 

The Mutron Biphase:

If you really want luscious swirl, try a Mutron Biphase... there are a few clones out there as well. I'm not sure if it is due to the judicious use of LDRs in the circuitry, the well-designed power supply, or the large component spacing afforded by the half-acre footprint, but the Biphase is the smoothest/least-noisy phasers I have played. My BiPhase came used and mod'd by a university lab in Hawaii which used it to study whale vocalizations. (honest to god, that's what they said) The mods eliminated the need for the little two button foot-pedal, (all controls exist on the big box now) and placed a CV line in for the LFO shape....I understand these mods are on the net, somewhere.

 

The Jet Phaser

Originally made by Roland, and copied in very short order by Aria, this pedal sounds GREAT either with the phase alone of when modified by the distortion. I have the Aria unit and it is noticeably smaller than the Roland, but still has the same type of heavy cast-metal housing.

 

 

When I opened up the article, I was really hoping for a review that included characterizing the different forms of filter circuitry used (FET, LDR, OPA) by sound. Likewise, I was hoping someone would discuss the impact of the 'all pass' filters, and how their non-ideal characteristics actually contribute to the overall soundscape of a phaser. I guess I'll just have to wait (or write it myself?).

[Trick Fall]

Back in the early 70's The first phaser used was a Maestro single speed pedal a buddy of mine had.

 

Shortly after I bought a Small Stone for a year or so.

 

I traded it for one of these Large Maestro Phase Shifters that I used untill the thing had no paint left on it. I loved that phaser because ramped up in speed like a Leslie cab did. The pedal was in fact designed for a Keyboard player and had a mild rotovibe like warble to it. I played in many guitar bands and the pedal helped emulate keyboard parts. I liked the fact the pedal had its own built in power supply too. This one looks like it had a three wire plug replaced. The originals had two wires and since the chassis isn't connected to any AC like an amp might be it didn't need a 3 way wire.

 

 

 

 

I have the large Maestro and while it's totally impractical it sounds delicious.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I hate to think of what one of those Maestros go for now on the vintage market - IF you can find one. I hardly ever see them for sale.

[Mikeo]

I hate to think of what one of those Maestros go for now on the vintage market - IF you can find one. I hardly ever see them for sale.

 

 

 

about 700 bucks, if you want a complete one with the foot switch.

 

 

https://reverb.com/item/2168447-maestro-ps-1a-phase-shifter-70-s-black

 

I'll even ship it to your door for free.

[Mikeo]

I have had the EH small stone phaser ( the one on the big ol tin case) and the Boss one with the 4 knobs.

 

One day I took all the effects pedal I had, and lined up what I didn't want. Up for sale and out the door went both phasers and a bunch of those stuff.

 

I sold a couple of drum machines from the 80's too.

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

I'll sell YOU one for about 600 bucks, and yes, I'll pay for shipping too.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have had the EH small stone phaser ( the one on the big ol tin case) and the Boss one with the 4 knobs.

 

One day I took all the effects pedal I had, and lined up what I didn't want. Up for sale and out the door went both phasers and a bunch of those stuff.

 

I sold a couple of drum machines from the 80's too.

 

 

You actually were able to find buyers for old drum machines?

 

What were they - 808s?

[Mikeo]

 

You actually were able to find buyers for old drum machines?

 

What were they - 808s?

 

 

I wish, those were the Cadillac of drum machines back then. Mine wasa 707.

 

I bought that 707, P Bass, a Tascam 246, a compressor, and a analog reverb unit that day.

 

I swear it was in the winter of 1983, but the net says Roland built then in 1994. Maybe I got a very early one.

 

I kept the analog rack reverb unit with springs in it and I still have the 246 in my attic. The P bass I sold about 10 years ago on a new Martin guitar purchase. I had 2 other Fender American made bass guitars, and hard used the P bass anymore.