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A quick 6-phaser shootout
- Thread starter smeet
- Start date
That would be great!
I'd tend to agree, but the subjective differences are hugely magnified when you are in the room playing and listening through your bass cabinet. They all sounded quite different to me when I was recording. Listening back to the recordings, not so much. Except for that #6 dude... imagine how thin that sounds in person.
I'd have to agree with JohnK's evaluation. I'm not opposed to the idea of clean blend, but it shouldn't be used to hide a thin crappy sound.
- Mar 30, 2007
- 4,017
- 321
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genzler Amplification/Spector Basses/Mojo Hand FX
Are you gonna tell us which is which?...if you want to keep people guessing, please pm me...I'll stay mum...
Thanks again for the following samples. I still have to say #1 sounds best followed closely by #4. But these new recordings with sustans/harmonics made me appreciate #2 a bit more. Still hoping 1 and 4 are a combination of the phase 90 and psilocybe since I one one and want to purchase the other.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
Fixed it for you.
forget the clean blend. even with a clean blend, IMO that thing would still sound awful..
- Mar 30, 2007
- 4,017
- 321
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genzler Amplification/Spector Basses/Mojo Hand FX
I'm learning a lot from this. I think people will be surprised by the results of the reveal.
Hmm.
That makes me wonder if #1 is the Source Audio. Having never heard it I'm not sure. I'd be disappointed in SA if it was #6 but that one sounded so different (in a bad way) from the others and with four of the six being Phase 90 variants I found it hard to believe that one of those four would be so thin sounding when it uses the same circuit.
That said, I always thought the Psilocybe had better bass response than the Phase 90 which is why I'm guessing it is number 1.
- Mar 30, 2007
- 4,017
- 321
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genzler Amplification/Spector Basses/Mojo Hand FX
I will be surprised if #1 is the Psilocybe. I had one and found the sweep to be odd and just not useful for me. maybe I had a faulty one...
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
Recorded samples of the T-Rex Tremonti Phaser, but I am having trouble uploading them on Soundcloud. The Save button does not work... Any ideas?
I've tried both with Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.
Cheers,
Kalle
I've tried both with Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.
Cheers,
Kalle
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
I don't know, he's not known for being reliable. We may never know...that's if if he ever posts them.
OK, time to be slapped in the phace by the truth. Let's get the main facts out of the way first:
Phaser #1: Source Audio Orbital Modulator
Phaser #2: VFE Enterprise
Phaser #3: MXR Phase 90 (modern block logo)
Phaser #4: HBE Psilocybe
Phaser #5: Mojo Hand Nebula IV
Phaser #6: BYOC Phase Royal
The big surprise is of course that the Orbital (the only digital phaser in the lineup) is the warmest and fattest sounding of the bunch. Times are a-changing. Maybe that's an eq thing, but nevertheless, that is the overwhelming impression that everybody (including myself) got.
My mini-reviews:
Orbital
The dark horse... The 4-stage phase sound is dark and chewy in a very subtle way. It SOUNDS phased, and there is internal movement, but you can't really hear the "swoosh" clearly like you can with the other phasers. It's just a moving texture, without the obvious sinewave sound. I kind of like that. I haven't played with the parameters much, this is really the first phase sound I hit on and stuck with it.
It also adds a good amount of fatness to the eq, at least with the current set of parameters. As mentioned above, maybe that's just post-phase eq, but hey, it can do it, and none of the others can, so it counts.
In addition to all this, it has two presets, and can also do 6/8/12 stage phasing, in addition to flanging, chorus, vibe and resonator sounds. I haven't even scratched the surface here, but so far the only thing that grabs me is the 4-stage phaser. So maybe the versatility isn't practical. Well, at the very least it has that one great sound. The editing is a bit "digital", not as intuitive as twiddling knobs. But it's not too bad.
VFE
This one is packed to the gills with features. It can do 4-stage, 2-stage, and inverse 3-stage phasing. The sweep can be a focused-sounding phase, or a more diffuse vibe sound. It has both positive and negative feedback. It has a mix control. You can control the center frequency of the sweep. Internal trim pots can set the level, the brightness of the LED, and the range of the depth control. Wow.
The negatives are that the sweep isn't as smooth as I'd like, and it's a bit cold sounding to my ear, almost as if the band of the frequency being swept is very narrow (I have no idea if that's what's actually happening). Or perhaps it's that the sweep goes too high frequency, or that the shape of the sweep spends extra time at the top, which makes it sound thinner. It has a very wide sweep range, so when it goes low, it gives a strong throbbing sound which is not very smooth sounding. But when you turn the center frequency higher to get rid of the throb, it gets too thin sounding because the sweep goes too high.
I really wanted to like this one more as it can do so much. It sounds very good, but in the end it feels a bit clinical and doesn't inspire me to turn off the lights and improvise to the light of my blacklight posters.
Phase 90
One of the classics. It has a LOT of coloration. The phasing sound is quite extreme, with a very pronounced swooshing sound. There is also a boost in the midrange and a harshness to the overall sound. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I wouldn't call this a warm and lush phaser. It does have THAT sound, but maybe it has a bit TOO much personality, and it can't be toned down except by slowing the sweep.
Psilocybe
This one is cool. Not very versatile, it basically has two usable sounds on bass, a strong and a weaker phase (from the Shift1 switch). The regen control is nice but doesn't have a huge range of tones. The speed control is a bit sensitive in the critical 2:00 o-clock range, but in practice very few people try to tempo-sync phasing, so that's OK.
The timbre and shape of the phasing sweep is great. It's chewy and very "phased" sounding. The range of the phase is perfect, it spends a lot of time in the low mids giving a round and thick sound. More than any of the others, this one really DOES make me want to freak out with blacklight posters and acid-soaked headbands. It lives up to its name.
Nebula
This is a very high-quality version of the Phase 90, I believe based on the gentler phasing of the 1974 script logo model. It doesn't have the midrange peak of the (my) MXR, and the sweep isn't so harsh and obvious. When I play solo, it's a very rich and dreamy sound. It also has a level control, which is really nice. My problem with it is that it basically gives one sound, which is a rich and gentle phase. Even with the depth control maxed, it's not a very pronounced phasing sound. On the plus side, the sound it gives has a feeling of fidelity and high quality. The level control is nice and very appreciated.
BYOC
I'm going to be blunt. The BYOC (this unit anyway) sounds like crap and has no low end. It also has a high-mid boost that I don't like. I bought this off ebay pre-built by somebody and refurbished by the seller, so maybe it's just this unit. I find it hard to believe they are all like this. Nevertheless, this unit sounds bad.
I contacted the guy that sold/repaired it (rootbeer pedals) and he said looking at the schematic he wasn't surprised that it didn't handle bass well. He suggested 3 capacitors I could try changing to improve the frequency response. I could maybe replace some components in the hope that it would sound better, but... Nah. I'm trying to get my money back.
Here is my preference from best to worst purely in terms of sound quality for the specific classic sound I was aiming for in this test:
My preference from best to worst in terms of features and versatility:
In the end, I think I might keep the Orbital AND the Psilocybe, at least for now.
Phaser #1: Source Audio Orbital Modulator
Phaser #2: VFE Enterprise
Phaser #3: MXR Phase 90 (modern block logo)
Phaser #4: HBE Psilocybe
Phaser #5: Mojo Hand Nebula IV
Phaser #6: BYOC Phase Royal
Strange as it seems, this was the ONLY guess made by anybody that was actually correct.
The big surprise is of course that the Orbital (the only digital phaser in the lineup) is the warmest and fattest sounding of the bunch. Times are a-changing. Maybe that's an eq thing, but nevertheless, that is the overwhelming impression that everybody (including myself) got.
My mini-reviews:
Orbital
The dark horse... The 4-stage phase sound is dark and chewy in a very subtle way. It SOUNDS phased, and there is internal movement, but you can't really hear the "swoosh" clearly like you can with the other phasers. It's just a moving texture, without the obvious sinewave sound. I kind of like that. I haven't played with the parameters much, this is really the first phase sound I hit on and stuck with it.
It also adds a good amount of fatness to the eq, at least with the current set of parameters. As mentioned above, maybe that's just post-phase eq, but hey, it can do it, and none of the others can, so it counts.
In addition to all this, it has two presets, and can also do 6/8/12 stage phasing, in addition to flanging, chorus, vibe and resonator sounds. I haven't even scratched the surface here, but so far the only thing that grabs me is the 4-stage phaser. So maybe the versatility isn't practical. Well, at the very least it has that one great sound. The editing is a bit "digital", not as intuitive as twiddling knobs. But it's not too bad.
VFE
This one is packed to the gills with features. It can do 4-stage, 2-stage, and inverse 3-stage phasing. The sweep can be a focused-sounding phase, or a more diffuse vibe sound. It has both positive and negative feedback. It has a mix control. You can control the center frequency of the sweep. Internal trim pots can set the level, the brightness of the LED, and the range of the depth control. Wow.
The negatives are that the sweep isn't as smooth as I'd like, and it's a bit cold sounding to my ear, almost as if the band of the frequency being swept is very narrow (I have no idea if that's what's actually happening). Or perhaps it's that the sweep goes too high frequency, or that the shape of the sweep spends extra time at the top, which makes it sound thinner. It has a very wide sweep range, so when it goes low, it gives a strong throbbing sound which is not very smooth sounding. But when you turn the center frequency higher to get rid of the throb, it gets too thin sounding because the sweep goes too high.
I really wanted to like this one more as it can do so much. It sounds very good, but in the end it feels a bit clinical and doesn't inspire me to turn off the lights and improvise to the light of my blacklight posters.
Phase 90
One of the classics. It has a LOT of coloration. The phasing sound is quite extreme, with a very pronounced swooshing sound. There is also a boost in the midrange and a harshness to the overall sound. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I wouldn't call this a warm and lush phaser. It does have THAT sound, but maybe it has a bit TOO much personality, and it can't be toned down except by slowing the sweep.
Psilocybe
This one is cool. Not very versatile, it basically has two usable sounds on bass, a strong and a weaker phase (from the Shift1 switch). The regen control is nice but doesn't have a huge range of tones. The speed control is a bit sensitive in the critical 2:00 o-clock range, but in practice very few people try to tempo-sync phasing, so that's OK.
The timbre and shape of the phasing sweep is great. It's chewy and very "phased" sounding. The range of the phase is perfect, it spends a lot of time in the low mids giving a round and thick sound. More than any of the others, this one really DOES make me want to freak out with blacklight posters and acid-soaked headbands. It lives up to its name.
Nebula
This is a very high-quality version of the Phase 90, I believe based on the gentler phasing of the 1974 script logo model. It doesn't have the midrange peak of the (my) MXR, and the sweep isn't so harsh and obvious. When I play solo, it's a very rich and dreamy sound. It also has a level control, which is really nice. My problem with it is that it basically gives one sound, which is a rich and gentle phase. Even with the depth control maxed, it's not a very pronounced phasing sound. On the plus side, the sound it gives has a feeling of fidelity and high quality. The level control is nice and very appreciated.
BYOC
I'm going to be blunt. The BYOC (this unit anyway) sounds like crap and has no low end. It also has a high-mid boost that I don't like. I bought this off ebay pre-built by somebody and refurbished by the seller, so maybe it's just this unit. I find it hard to believe they are all like this. Nevertheless, this unit sounds bad.
I contacted the guy that sold/repaired it (rootbeer pedals) and he said looking at the schematic he wasn't surprised that it didn't handle bass well. He suggested 3 capacitors I could try changing to improve the frequency response. I could maybe replace some components in the hope that it would sound better, but... Nah. I'm trying to get my money back.
Here is my preference from best to worst purely in terms of sound quality for the specific classic sound I was aiming for in this test:
- Tie between Orbital and Psilocybe (#1 and #4)
- Nebula
- VFE
- Phase 90
- Every other phaser I've ever heard
- BYOC
My preference from best to worst in terms of features and versatility:
- Tie between Orbital and VFE
- BYOC
- Psilocybe
- Nebula
- Phase 90
In the end, I think I might keep the Orbital AND the Psilocybe, at least for now.
Well I'm glad to see #4 was indeed the Psilocybe I've had my eye on for a while. Now I gots to have it lol If by any chance you decide to not keep it and sell it I'll gladly take it off your hands 
Thanks alot for this awesome thread. Very useful
Thanks alot for this awesome thread. Very useful
Great thread! I bought a Psilocybe a while back based on reviews and demos. I had never owned a phaser before and this really reinforces that I bought the one that works best for me...the first time! That never happens...
Here's the Maestro PS-1A demo using smeet's dry track. It has 3 settings, slow, medium, and fast. That's it. No other control whatsoever. It does cut some high end during use and it's not true bypass either. All that said, it's pure bubbly goodness that to me almost sounds alive. Another feature is that going from one speed to another there is a ramp, this was by design as originally these things were supposed to emulate a leslie motor churning up to speed. I play with all 3 settings here.
Here's a pic of one (not mine):
Here's a pic of one (not mine):
