Re: Phasers on Stun

[legion <legion@voicenet.com>]

> > >Which is better in terms of reliability and recording sound quality
> > >(noise), the MXR Phase 90 or the Electro-Harmonix (Sovtek) Small 
>Stone?

I've found phasers, more so than other types of pedals, vary greatly
from company to company. They all have so much personality be it an EH,
MXR, DOD, Ibanez, or cheapass stuff like the Arion or Korg PMO series. 

I use an old DOD FX20B phaser I bought 10+ years ago. Don't know if they
still make it but it should be cheap and plentiful used via Daddy's
junky or the like. another Fav is the mid vintage Ibanez phaser from the
TS9 metal case series. I have one of these in rackmount form on my UE400
and it's very juicy. 

Like I said there's a lot of variety. I know a Vintage gearhead who
*always* uses a crummy plastic Arion phaser. noisy as hell but unique in
an ugly way. The Boss one mentioned also is a winner and like the DOD
probably a lot easier to find and cheaper than the EH or MXR. 

If you live near a decent music store than gets used stuff in try out
what they have in stock to see what characteristics you like. Also try a
few different sources into one. I know a drummer who likes to record
maracas and tambourines through a phaser and a spacerock band that uses
one on their vocals most of the time set on a sloooow LFO. You'll
certainly get a different feel using that than playing a guitar lead or
chord and you might surprise yourself what pedal best meets your needs.

Of course the king of new pedal phasers (espcially for recording) is the
new MOOG phaser recently released by Bob Moog himself via his company
Big Briar. This is similar to the famous Moog 12 stage rack mount unit
in a high quality stomp with tons of CV ins, wildass LFO, resonance,
overdrive, etc etc. A bit pricy but certainly a few levels above any of
the other stomps out there and it rivals all those $$$ VINTAGE!! racks
(Roland SPH, etc at a fraction of the price they're going for these
days).

http://www.bigbriar.com/12stagephaser.htm

There also is a site dedicated just to stompand rack phasers with high
quality soundfiles, pics, and full info on each omdel including many odd
ones Big Jam, Maestro, etc). If I can find the URL I'll post it later or
if someone knows what I'm talking about please send it to the list. 

Phasers are one of the most useful effects for loopers IMO (Ob Loop
content! :)) because the evolve a sound over time and if you loop that
sweep or change it can make quite an impression as it keeps coming
around and around...

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