Halophase review (finally, I've only owned it 8 months...)

[Toasted]

Here's a letter / review I wrote for Toneczar about a month after having recieved the pedal, with some updates that I've added now I've had it longer. It's a lot luvvie, but you'll have to deal with that! Here we go:

I’ve had my Halophaze for a while now and I’ve put it through its paces. I’ve spent a lot of time by myself getting to know the pedal and what it can do, I also spent more than a few hours playing with it with a guitarist buddy. I have taken Halophaze along to several full band practices and used it on a few different gigs. I feel that I know the pedal very well.
Firstly, I’d like to say that the customer service experience with you from first getting on your waiting list to the shipping of the order has been flawless. Your replies to my questions have always been timely, considered and accurate. I’ve dealt with a lot of companies in the music gear world and none have treated me better than you.

The packaging that Halophaze arrived in is beautiful. I especially like the manila document envelope, hand named and written check list. The pedal is very aesthetically pleasing. It is obvious that you have made a lot of effort in the external design of your pedals (I especially like the buffed / chamfered corners). The form allows great functionality, and great looks too. The foot switches feel sturdy, and the pots have a nice articulation. The fit and finish of the unit is excellent. The user docs are comprehensive and also concise and considered. A pet hate of mine is badly constructed user documentation, Halophaze’s is excellent. The quick start guide and sample settings are especially useful to the first time user. I’ve had a sneaky peak inside my Halophaze and although I have no technical background it appears to this layman to follow the neat/intelligent construction of the rest of the unit.

When anyone first sees Halophaze their first comment is normally “that’s a lot of knobs for a phaser” but after only a few minutes it becomes apparent that although there are many user defined controls: They are intelligently placed and labelled and this allows intuitive use of the pedal from the outset, and reduces the possibility for confusion.

These points are important but academic when compared to the sound of the unit.

Width – This control appears to me to be quite subtle. I generally set it at about 3 to gain the widest sweep without the super crazy sounds. Those crazy phase-sproing sounds are now contained within the last quarter of the Halophaze’s width turn. I find that just a small turn of this control past 3 o’clock can create some really unique sounds.

Ramp – This control must be the piece-de-la-resistance of the Halophaze. My favourite way to use this control is to set Halophaze on speed two with a very high rate, and a very low rate on Speed 1 and quickly stomp the ramp switch to create a psychedelic slowing down sound. Coupling the Ramp function with delay (my favourite Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay) creates a really spaced out bubbling mess.

Speed – Using a larger knob on this control allows very subtle fine tuning of the phase speed, and also convenient manipulation with my big toe / Toneczar expression pedal. The width of speed is as wide as any phaser I’ve ever used and more importantly musical throughout the whole spectrum from insanely fast to doom/sludge slow.

Blend – Why don’t more phasers have this control? As a bass player I always like to mix some of my original signal back in with the effected tone – here I have separate controls for blend on both speeds.

Volume – This control pretty much does what it says on the tin. I’ve just used it to balance the level of the Halophaze with unity gain within the gain structure of my other pedals. Sometimes I use this control to add a little boost to really make the phase stand out. There’s not really much to be said about a volume control...

Feedback – For me this is probably the most powerful control in terms of shaping the sound of the phase sweep. When I’ve been using it live I either use it central, fully clockwise or fully anti-clockwise. When I’ve done a few recordings the ability to finely tune the sound of the pedal is very useful. Ful negative and full postivie feedback create some really funky enveloping sounds.

(Now replaced by Plus Mode Mod: Phase switch – Since I don’t bi-amp I’ve not used this. It is obviously a useful function.)

2 mode switches – I don’t have the technical background to talk about these in terms other than which configuration I like best – which is one up and one down and I like it very much, I find both set to vibe a little shrill, and I find both set to phase a little undefined.

Plus Mode Mod: This update adds further phase stages to Halophase creating more of a Block-logo chunky phaser sound. It’s alot less delicate than the “stock” setup, but sometimes that’s exactly what you want. It also takes away some of the “swooshing” that can happen in the normal mode.

I started powering Halophase with a Wallwart, but a condition of a pedal being on my board is that I can power it from either my Pedal Power II or my Diago Powerstation. I only ever want to: take it from the roadcase, plug a guitar cable in, plug a cable to the amp in, and plug one power supply in. If I pedal messes this up, it's a no-go for me. I spoke with Ed about this and he told me about a mod / power solution he can do the PP2. I sent it to him, and he increased the mA output of all 8 outputs to 185mA. He also supplied me with 2 cables that take up 4 outlets of the PP2, but can power 4 Toneczar pedals at 18V (so I can power my Toneczar Dove and Openhaus, and another pedal at 18V with them too). The mod to the PP2 was $100, and IIRC the costs for the double 18V cables was $25/each.

In short (as is my desire), I love the Halophase and I think it's going to be recogised as one of the the definitive phase circuits in the future.

[TaySte_2000]

Excellent review (for once )

That ramp feature is the main thing missing off most dual speed modulation pedals and really is a must have.

So I take it the honeymoon period is over and your keeping this beauty then

Can you also give a brief overview of how it compared tonally to my Quasar you borrowed, obviously the Halo has more features.

Man I'm really digging that ramp idea I might ask Brian if he can mod the Quasar to have an additional footswitch that maxes the speed out when you press it.

[Toasted]

The ramp is unbelieveable. I'll make a demo of it either tonight or this weekend. You have to hear it.

The max time setting takes 5 seconds to go from slow to fast, and then 10 seconds from fast to slow. It's beautiful.

[Higgie]

Thanks for the review Joe - This pedal has got to be one of the best and most versatile phasers out there - hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one of them at some point

[The BurgerMeister]

sweet! good to see you're still amazed by this pedal many months after getting it. thanks for the review!

[TaySte_2000]

Originally Posted by Higgie

hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one of them at some point

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

*Stewie Voice On* You're Funny *Stewie Voice Off*

[Liten]

WOW!

2 qestions..

1. Does it have switchable stages? (does it do sort of a: 6 and 12stage like the moog 12 stage phaser? Or is it more of a phase 90 only type sound?)

2. isn't the knobs a little to close to the fotswitches? I got pretty big feet.. a possible "oops" situation live with those big speed knobs??

Oh yea.. Great review!

[PunkRocker33133]

Oh wow, I would love to get one of these. How much did it cost? Also a great review well worded and no noticeable grammar mistakes.

[Higgie]

Originally Posted by TaySte_2000

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

*Stewie Voice On* You're Funny *Stewie Voice Off*

Hey - It could happen.

























Very very unlikely, but it could.

[bongomania]

Aw, man, now what do I have to complain about? Thanks a lot, Joe.






No actually, thanks a lot. 'Bout time! Useful for sure, and just enough to make me a little more secure in putting the money up when my name finally gets to the top of the list. Any day now!

[Happynoj]

Originally Posted by Higgie

Very very unlikely, but it could.

Why? Are there only a limited number or something?

[Higgie]

There is a huge waiting list, and there are only a very small amount of them produced each year.

[Happynoj]

Ah. I see. I'm really glad that none of the pedals that I've got GAS for have a waiting list! Mind you, I haven't started to think about upgrading my OD/Fuzz pedals yet!

[grygrx]

Originally Posted by bongomania

No actually, thanks a lot. 'Bout time! Useful for sure, and just enough to make me a little more secure in putting the money up when my name finally gets to the top of the list. Any day now!

Glances at his own halo-phase waiting list e-mail

[nad]

Cool, been waiting for this review.

Very curious about this here ramp thing, would love to hear a sample. I'm still pretty happy with my Psilocybe, but if I ever want to really step up my phaserisings this one along with the Toadworks Phantasm are on my list.

[benevan]

Originally Posted by grygrx

Glances at his own halo-phase waiting list e-mail

No kidding, 14+ months and counting.

[SnakeAnthony]

Emailing to get on this waiting list tonight. Great review Toasted.

And what is the 'Dove'? I can't find it on the site.

Lastly, what are your thoughts on the Openhaus? It's the only fuzz I've GASed for since getting my White Russian.

[Mark Olson]

Thanks for the review. Ramping is great it's one of my favorite features of the old Roland Jet Phase.

[KarateKid25]

Nice review! Looks like a great bit of gear

As for the waiting list thing.... On their web page they state the longest waiting list they have is on the Echoczar, being 12 months:

"I'll send a return email confirming your order, answering any questions, and placing you on the wait-list. Please note that wait time varies depending on which product I'm currently building, and is the longest for the Echoczar (12 months)."

So... If you really want one, according to their site, at worst you will be waiting a year.
Depending on how impatient you are, that ain't so bad. Vintage can be harder than that sometimes!

[Toasted]

Originally Posted by SnakeAnthony

And what is the 'Dove'? I can't find it on the site.

It's a prototype low gain overdrive pedal that Ed suggested I might like to try. It's very good, I'm not sure if I prefer the Dove or my Dredgetone Angler. They're both excellent.

Originally Posted by SnakeAnthony

Lastly, what are your thoughts on the Openhaus? It's the only fuzz I've GASed for since getting my White Russian.

Openhaus on bass is really nice. The EQ is phoenomenal, you have to crank the bass, but that's no problem. I'll PM you a clip at some point this weekend.