Opinion needed: Pigtronix EP2 vs separate EF and Phaser

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by RCCollins

Oof, ya PUNched me in the gut there.

It's true that the EP-2 won't quite cop the slippery wet sound of the psilocybe, but you might try limiting the range to a narrow-ish band of the upper frequency and you can lose its chew for shimmer. The width and frequency controls are REALLY powerful. I would LOVE to see a second, 12- or 16-stage mode on an eventual successor in the EP series...

Yeah, the flexibility is a definite selling point. I only ran it through a quick practice prior to gigging it once so it still really hasn't gotten a fair working in period, and I like the pedal, even if it may not remove my psilocybe from my arsenal, or displace both a phaser and filter from my board per the OP's question.

[newbold]

Where an envelope phaser really shines is with dirt. Heavy fuzz and drive can really eat up picking dynamics and having an envelope following phaser at the end can bring a lot of the dynamics back to a pedalboard signal path.

I don't need an envelope filter enough to trade my EP-1 for anything else.

[PENLIYL]

Gave my EP2 a stay of execution. I'm keeping it on my board for a while. Starting to grow on me especially paired with my W&C TFR.

[RCCollins]

Originally Posted by newbold

Where an envelope phaser really shines is with dirt. Heavy fuzz and drive can really eat up picking dynamics and having an envelope following phaser at the end can bring a lot of the dynamics back to a pedalboard signal path.

I don't need an envelope filter enough to trade my EP-1 for anything else.

The EP-2 has an envelope input, so you can split your signal and preserve ALL your dynamics while using a fuzz/phaser...

[newbold]

Originally Posted by RCCollins

The EP-2 has an envelope input, so you can split your signal and preserve ALL your dynamics while using a fuzz/phaser...

That's how I roll

[fasto]

Originally Posted by PENLIYL

Gave my EP2 a stay of execution. I'm keeping it on my board for a while. Starting to grow on me especially paired with my W&C TFR.

got my EP2 some weeks ago, not sure if i will keep it. expectations were high, but the first minutes of testing were frustrating ... grabbed the manual and followed instructions ... much better, but still not satisfied. the next thing i will try to combine the EP2 with dirt pedals ... after that i will decide: keeping or selling it.

[alec]

I got an EP-2 this week. I like it better than the PH-3 (which I prefer to the small stone nano) but it hasn't sated my desire. I'm now eyeing off the Empress Phaser.

[newbold]

Originally Posted by fasto

got my EP2 some weeks ago, not sure if i will keep it. expectations were high, but the first minutes of testing were frustrating ... grabbed the manual and followed instructions ... much better, but still not satisfied. the next thing i will try to combine the EP2 with dirt pedals ... after that i will decide: keeping or selling it.

It works like a charm with dirt.

Also, try putting compression before the phase to get a more audible effect from the phase instead of using the EP2 to compensate for dynamics. My compressor has a high frequency expander so I might be getting a bit more from my setup than you might if it's a typical compressor. It's not a boutique model but was made by an American with great parts in Utah. DOD Milkbox. YMMV

If you have a tuner pedal or other stompbox with a dry out, you'll be well-served to use the sidechain. You can, of course, experiment with effecting the sidechain trigger...adding a boost, expander, gates, oscillators, etc. I believe the sidechain is CV but you'd be best to ask Dave Koltai or someone around here if you can treat it as such since Pigtronix have released sidechain inputs with specific voltages for Moog CV.

If you have a tremolo or other modulation or delay that you would like to be able to phase then the sidechain is your ally.

The Staccato feature is amazing. I really dig my EP-1 but the EP-2 is a lot more over the top tonally speaking.

For now, I'm glad I have what I have but the featureset on either is amazing. I'm glad Empress threw their hat into the ring with another sidechain triggered phaser.

Go Canada!