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Top quality Phaser?

#21
i felt the same way a long time ago- stumbled upon the red witch moon phaser at Pedalgeek, and havent wanted another once since.

its a very analog sounding phaser..a bit subtle, but in the mix it makes your bass sound ever-so-perfectly liquidy/phasy/funky. i love mine. hasent been on my board for a bit, but i think its about time i put it back..
 
#22
i'll chime in with that of the phasers that I've tried: EHX Small Stone, Phase 90, Phase 100 and Boss PH-3 the winner is the one i currently own. That is the Boss PH-2 Super Phaser. its subtle in mode I and crazy and awesome in mode II. Best for my ears but there lies the subjective context right?
 
#26
Jared Lash said:
Well, the first thing to check out is whether you like the Phase 90 tone. It's not an exaggeration to say that likely 2/3 of the phasers on the market use that circuit. If you do, and you use active basses with a hot output you'll need to be careful as the "script circuit" can be prone to clipping/distorting. Even with passive basses it can happen with aggressive playing. As RCCollins pointed out, there are some that are much better about this than others.

The other major 4 stage phaser is the EHX Small Stone which has a darker character to it. There's a very hot rodded version from Blackout Effectors called the Whetstone. There are many cool 4 stage phasers such as the Subdecay Baby Quasar, HBE Psilocybe, Roland AP-2 and others. If you want something more thick and "pulse-like" you can try an old DOD 490 or Earthquaker Grand Orbiter.

If you like the Phase 90 but want something more subtle, there's always the Phase 45 (a two stage phaser) or it's derivatives like the DOD 201, lovepedal vibe or Tone Factor Nebula.

Of course there's also six stage phasers (DOD 595, Keeley), 8 stage phasers (Jet Phaser), 10 stage phasers (MXR Phase 100, Maxon PT-9) and ones that can switch the number of stages (Moog, new Subdecay Quasar Deluxe, TC Electronic, Maxon PH-350)

Not to mention Univibe pedals and envelope phasers like the Pigtronix, Polyphase and Phantasm (which has some Phase 90 character to it)

And one more layer of complexity there are also some digital phasers (Digitech, Boss, Source Audio - I think, EBS and others) if you want to go that route.

It's impossible to say what will sound best to you. Personally I like shimmery 6 stage phasers that have a prominent sound in the mix and work well with an envelope filter. So I've ended up with the Keeley Phaser.

But others might one with a slow sweep that sounds good with dirt pedals or a subtle, watery tone, a high stage and electronica sounding phaser, a classic tone (Thin Lizzy, Stranglehold, For the Love of Money),a funky and rubbery envelope phaser or a completely crazy sound making machine like the Deluxe Quasar or Infinitphase.

It really depends on what you want. FWIW, my stock answer (for my prefereces) is usually to recommend the EHX Nano Small Stone. It's small, cheap and (IMO) sounds great. But if you have more specific preferences I could give a more specific recommendation.

Hope that helps.
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That is quite an answer.

I suppose you brought up a problem I will have as I play active sadowsky and valenti basses and I am pretty heavy with my fingers.

One of the bands I am playing with at the moment has some phasing on the bass in the verse of a song which also has a low octave on it so I guess I need something that retains bottom end well although from what I have read this usually isn't a problem with phasers?

I think a subtle phaser is more my style than something that is very prominent as I have always been a bass to amp guy and am only just starting with effects. That said who knows how my taste will change once I start tweaking...

Also there is a possibility of use with some dirt also.

Hope this helps narrow it down a bit.
 
#27
A_E_A said:
That is quite an answer.

I suppose you brought up a problem I will have as I play active sadowsky and valenti basses and I am pretty heavy with my fingers.

One of the bands I am playing with at the moment has some phasing on the bass in the verse of a song which also has a low octave on it so I guess I need something that retains bottom end well although from what I have read this usually isn't a problem with phasers?

I think a subtle phaser is more my style than something that is very prominent as I have always been a bass to amp guy and am only just starting with effects. That said who knows how my taste will change once I start tweaking...

Also there is a possibility of use with some dirt also.

Hope this helps narrow it down a bit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that makes it easier to suggest something. I'd steer away from script circuit phasers as they WILL distort with your setup/playing.

For more subtlety I'd likely stick with 4 stage phasers (or even 2, but they aren't my preference and most are Phase 45 based).

Retaining bottom end isn't really an issue, but depending on where the sweep starts and stops it can make change how well the phasing is heard in the mix.

Two great ones with dirt that I think would fit your other criteria are the Grand Orbiter and Psilocybe. The Orbiter does have a very prominent "pulse" like the old DOD 490 so it may not be what you're looking for. Check out some soundclips or try it first.

But another idea is the Subdecay Quasar. I haven't played the new "baby" version but I would imagine it sounds the same (there was also an original for sale in the classifieds). It is very versatile and the ability to control the sweep frequency makes it very suited for bass. Plus the feedback, depth and mix knobs mean that you can make it as subtle or prominent as you'd like. Not my favorite phaser with dirt, but it sounds good enough in that regard and is highly tweakable.
 
#28
Now that I have more detail on what you want, let me come back in here and suggest the EHX Stereo Polyphase. It is 4-stage, so its not over-powering and can be as subtle as you like. It has a gain knob, so you can control the input level and dial out any distortion. And the start and stop knobs let you set the sweep wherever you want in the frequency spectrum (i.e., only through the upper harmonics, or throbbing through the low-end. Plus, it has an envelope mode, so it can get quite funky if you're into that sort of thing.
 
#29
What if the *cheap* fix is the one you like best? I've tried the Akai Intellitouch or whatever it's called & the Pigtronix EP-1, but much preferred a recently-acquired cheapo vintage DOD FX20B.

Edit: After reading the OP's most recent post, I want to say that the FX20B is very good at both subtle and obvious levels of phasing, IMO/IME. Also not noisy.
 
#32
If you have never tried a Subdecay Quasar, goodness you owe to yourself to try one!
The original Quasar has a blend knob, so believe me when I tell you brother...there is no bottom end loss. There is no loss off the top either! There are lots of tonal options available.
For the price you can sometimes get these for, anything more is redundant really. Plus they are true bypass and handmade!...and PURPLE! :p
 
#33
My favorite for guitar, by far, is a 2-stage type like a Phase 45 or a DOD 201. To me these sound very natural -- a lot like a Leslie. When you get up into 6 stages and beyond the effect is very different and in my opinion much sillier sounding. It's kind of robot-y, boingy, slurpy, laser gun-y. A 4-stage phaser like a Phase 90 sits somewhere in the middle. I'm thinking for bass you'd want a more extreme effect -- probably something with at least 4 stages.
 
#34
I feel like I could give a little insight on a product that's not often mentioned here--The Toneczar Halophaze. I owned one for about 1.5 years and I loved it.

Unobtainium qualities aside, the Halophaze had a seemingly endless palette of tones. Chewy, smooth, slow, ray-gun fast, and everything inbetween.

The other feature that I loved about it (that not many other phasers have) is the "ramp" feature. The Halophaze is two full phasing circuits in one box, and you can set them at different rates or with other varied settings. Then you can stomp on the "ramp" switch, and depending on how you've got it set, it'll either ramp up or down from one phase circuit's setting to the others...you can make the transition fast (under a second or so) or slower (around ten second to fully change from one to the other). It allows for some unique effects not seen with many other phasers. Very haunting quality with some delay. Anywho, that's what I took from my experiences with a Halophaze.
 
#35
...agreed that the Toneczar is great...but at $375-$425, it's also some real serious money...I'd suggest considering the Maxon PH-350 and, if you can find one (they're extremely rare), the Studio Electronics ModMax Phaser...
 
#39
Unrepresented said:
I'm a big fan of my Psilocybe, check out the first ~45 seconds to hear it pretty prominently in the mix:

http://www.breakhousemusic.com/mp3/zonetriumph.mp3

Note, like you, I am also using an active bass with a very heavy right hand technique. It's not limited to that tone, but that's one of my favorite settings.
Click to expand...

Dig your tone in the mix. Good stuff dude. Also, thanks for posting a link that goes right to the music. Easy, simple and quality recording... Thanks.


Dirt into phaser/flanger/BEF/wah/whatever. Dirt first.
 

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