EHX Stereo Polyphase vs. Subdecay Quasar Phase Off (Reviews & Clips)

[markjazzbassist]

Background - So i've been on a Phaser quest for a little while now. After doing some TB researching I got the Subdecay Quasar a couple months ago. It's a nice little box, but I could never get "that sound", so I've been searching for another one. MysticBoo led me to the EHX Stereo Polyphase and so I thought I'd let you guys here the difference.

Clips - Go easy on my playing, it was 1:30am and I had just gotten the bass I played in the clips (1969 Fender Jazz) so I wasn't accustomed to it yet. I went direct from the pedal to my Mbox.

www.soundclick.com/markjazzbassist

Subdecay - I went with the knobs from right to left. So I messed in this order - Mix, Depth, Freq, Feedback, Rate to try and show you how each one changes the sound. I couldn't think of anything better to do

Polyphase - I started with my favorite phaser sound i found, messed with the normal Triangle LFO settings a little, then did Square wave, then into Slow Envelope, and then Fast Envelope. I didn't do expression pedal. that's all i got.

Reviews -

Subdecay Quasar - This thing seems like the perfect phaser for someone that wants ultimate control over the standard phasing sounds. With the Settings (Rate, Feedback, Freq, Depth, Mix) you can really tailor your sound to be thick and creamy or short and rapid. There's a lot of room to mess around, the only problem IMO is that it all sounds like the same phasing sound, just with different parameters. I gave this thing the most time of the two (had it for months) and all I ended up doing was twiddling knobs trying to find "that sound". I couldn't find it. It's a nice pedal, I just felt that with the Depth maxed, Mix maxed, I still couldn't get a really thick phased sound. Plus the thing pulsed a lot as well, loud pulses.

Rating -

EHX Stereo Polyphase - This box has a couple of different sounds. The settings (Feedback, Gain, Mode [LFO, Envelope, Exp. Pedal], Start, Stop, Rate, LFO Triangle Wave, LFO Square Wave, Envelope Slow, Envelope Fast) seem pretty daunting, but a couple of twists and you get the idea pretty fast. The phasing sounds on this are all pretty thick and creamy (think small stone) but you can adjust the start and stop frequencies. I really liked this, and had them backwards, start high, stop low, and got some really nice phasing sounds. The envelope is pretty cool. It's like an envelope filter but a little wierder. You gotta listen to the clips to understand. The square wave thing is alright, but it's not really my bag. I really like this phaser, I'm keeping it. I really can' t find a downside, except that maybe it's 24V power??

Rating -

Sorry for the shotty reviews, I don't have time to do more. Maybe others who have owned each can chime in.

[JanusZarate]

Very nice clips! It sounds like what I was getting out of the Polyphase, except I'm not a fingerstyle funk-master by any means.

The envelope mode packs quite a punch when slapping, too! And on guitar, it's the most shimmery envelope-based sound I've ever heard. At least, it was with a single-coil-loaded Stratocaster.

[grygrx]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Very nice clips! It sounds like what I was getting out of the Polyphase, except I'm not a fingerstyle funk-master by any means.

The envelope mode packs quite a punch when slapping, too! And on guitar, it's the most shimmery envelope-based sound I've ever heard. At least, it was with a single-coil-loaded Stratocaster.

It's good to hear/see how other folk make decisions about these kind of things. I've got a pair of delay pedals sitting here, and I might work though a similar thought process to make up my mind.

FYI, not to be a grammer/english nazi, but rather to prepare you for someone that will dig into you for it.

shod·dy (shd)
adj. shod·di·er, shod·di·est

1. Made of or containing inferior material.
2. Of poor quality or craft.
3. Rundown; shabby.
4. Dishonest or reprehensible: shoddy business practices
5. Conspicuously and cheaply imitative.

I think shotty is what gamers call the shotgun.

[RickenBoogie]

Very nice, thanks for the clips. Only problem I can see is I think there may be more control on the Ehx Polyphase, then there is on the Pigtronix EP-1. That's only a problem if you're me, I have the EP-1. Does the Ehx have a trigger input? If not, that would be the one advantage of the EP-1, and a very cool feature. Sound-wise, I think the two units are quite similar, very smooth phasing, natural sounding, unlike most ANY other phaser I've heard, and the envelope phase has become my #1 effect. Not as harsh as a filter, but still so very mmwah-y. Thanks again, great clips.

[Swift713]

Those Polyphase clips sound thicker to me than the EP-1 clips @ Pigtronix's site. I like that slow filter part.

[prsbass]

Thanks for the clips Mark.
I had the EP-1 and didn't care for the shape of the phaser. I got the Homebrew psilocybe and paired with my Mu-tron I'm getting similar sounds to the Polyphase. I think just because I already have an envelope filter and phaser I like I'm not going to pick up the Polyphase but If I didn't own a filter or phaser the Poly is where I'd head to first.

It has some sounds just like what I've been looking for but found with two other pedals.

[OhThePeacock]

Wow that tremolo mode on the Stereo Polyphase is amazing, I must have one.