Best phaser for Dave Murray powerslave solo tone?

[JediMasterThrash]

Maybe question 1, is the powerslave dave murray solo tone a phaser, or just a cocked wah? seems the consensus is phaser but not unanimous.

It's also not clear if he used an MXR 90 or a 100, it's about 50/50 on the internet gear lists. I felt the 90 sounds a bit too LFOish while the 100 more cocked-wah-sh.

If we get far enough to say yes it's a phaser and it's a certain mxr phaser, my question is, what's the best phase pedal to use to get a good powerslave solo sound?

I'm not one who needs to replicate gear, in the 40 years since that albums release there's probably/maybe a dozen newer/better pedals that can get that tone and just sound better.

Even MXR has a lot of newr optoins, the 95, the zakk wylde, the deep phase.

So wondering what a good option to look at would be.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

It doesn't seem very 50/50. Info from actual sources seems pretty adamant it's a Phase 90. Just keep in mind the older Phase 90s were more subtle than the modern ones.

Also a 2nd hand Phase 90 or even a Phase 95 is so cheap that it's worth it to pick one up just to have it lol

 

[JediMasterThrash]

Videos I watched of the 100 sounded so "musical" compared to other phasers. Hard to describe, likei t's generateng good harmonics and golden ratios and stuff like that. Just seemed very musical. I've got a TCE phaser with 4 and 12 filter option. But still feels like it's either too "LFO"-ish or too subtle.

That powerslave tone is like the guitar is underwater. Musical without obvious patterns.

 

[The Thing Upstairs]

I'd go with a phase 90 for that tone

Edit - longshot but could it be subtle univibe? We know Dave also likes a bit of vibe here and there

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

Pick up the EVH Phase 90 so you can toggle between Script and Block mode. Or better yet, the Phase 95 to save space and also have the Phase 45 modes on hand

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I'd go with a phase 90 for that tone

Edit - longshot but could it be subtle univibe? We know Dave also likes a bit of vibe here and there

Actually yeah I can hear that. It sounds a bit more washy like a vibe

 

[JediMasterThrash]

Maybe underwater isn't quite the right way to describe. That powerslave murray tone is so unique, it's like a werewolf howling in the knight, some evil demons crying out in the land of the pharaohs.
I did notice that script button on the phase 95. Does being a small circuit board/design hurt any sound quality/S2N at all?

 

[ArtDecade]

Maybe underwater isn't quite the right way to describe. That powerslave murray tone is so unique, it's like a werewolf howling in the knight, some evil demons crying out in the land of the pharaohs.
I did notice that script button on the phase 95. Does being a small circuit board/design hurt any sound quality/S2N at all?

The 95 is fine, readily available, and inexpensive. I think Satchel has one on his board and he is playing bigger shows than most of us... not me, of course. Steel Panther is my preferred warm up band prior to my solo air-guitar version of the complete Warrant discography.

 

[Kaura]

I always thought the "golden age" Iron Maiden was just some kind of chorus or something. Even listening the solo I think that any kind of phaser would be more noticeable. The effect is too subtle for a phaser.

 

[ArtDecade]

I always thought the "golden age" Iron Maiden was just some kind of chorus or something. Even listening the solo I think that any kind of phaser would be more noticeable. The effect is too subtle for a phaser.

Script Logo and Phase 45 circuits are less swooshy and more throbby. Dave def used a phaser a lot.

 

[JediMasterThrash]

yah, that's why I wonder if it could just be cocked wah. I tried playing a bunch of powerslave solo's with my wah half cocked (That sounds dirty) with some subtle motions and thought it did a pretty good job of the tone. The only downside is my wahs auto auto-engage so after like 2 seconds of no motion it goes back to disengage, so I can't just half cock it and leave it.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

Maybe underwater isn't quite the right way to describe. That powerslave murray tone is so unique, it's like a werewolf howling in the knight, some evil demons crying out in the land of the pharaohs.
I did notice that script button on the phase 95. Does being a small circuit board/design hurt any sound quality/S2N at all?

It's called the Phase 95 because it can only ever sound 95% as good without the Van Halen stripes

Seruously though, I haven't done any in-depth A/B testing of the two to confirm, but I have both the EVH and Phase 95 and don't notice much, if any, difference between them in the same modes I think if the 95 had existed at the time that I bought the EVH, I would have just gone that route instead since it does more things in a smaller footprint

 

[Cpt_Adama]

I always thought the "golden age" Iron Maiden was just some kind of chorus or something. Even listening the solo I think that any kind of phaser would be more noticeable. The effect is too subtle for a phaser.

On Somewhere in Time they used a Gallien Krueger 250RL amp which had a built in chorus very similar to the "Rockman" sound.

 

[Kaura]

On Somewhere in Time they used a Gallien Krueger 250RL amp which had a built in chorus very similar to the "Rockman" sound.

Cool. For me the definitive IM tone is on that album. Wasted Years more specifically. All the guitar tones are so chorus-y that it's almost nauseating but then on the other hand I dig it.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Count me in as someone that prefers the SiT and 7th Son tones when they were using the 250MLs and 2000 series amps lol
Sucks that the 250s are apparently ticking timebombs and the 2000s go for stupid money now

 

[JediMasterThrash]

You can recreate the SIT tone pretty easily with a Boss DC-2W. The "dimension" chorus is the type on the Gallien Krueger. I struggled for years trying to get a good wasted years/stranger in a strange land tone with multiple chorus and amps. Then found out about the dimension. First time I engaged the DC-2W it was just instant SIT tone turned up to 11. The underlying amp isn't even that important compared to the chorus. I always thought that upper-mid saturation of the SIT tone was from the amp itself and tried recreating that to no avail. Nope, it's actually generated by the dimension chorus.

 

[ErockRPh]

Count me in as someone that prefers the SiT and 7th Son tones when they were using the 250MLs and 2000 series amps lol
Sucks that the 250s are apparently ticking timebombs and the 2000s go for stupid money now

Maybe it's hard for me to separate "tone" from "production" on those albums, but for me SiT is where Maiden started to lose me a bit. Piece of Mind and Powerslave were the pinnacle of the Maiden sound for me. That polished up the raw grit of their earlier stuff, but stayed tight and heavy. Somewhere in Time moved to kind of an "arena rock" sound that screams 80's hair band.

To the OP - unless he used different gear in the studio, Dave had a Phase 90 in his pedalboard at that point, so that's what I'd go with.

 

[JediMasterThrash]

Tend to agreee. I find some of those tones I chase after the most are tones that actually aren't that great. Both SIT and AJFA are very ear-taxing in their saturation, it kind of tires your ears out after a few songs. But at the same time, what it does to create an iconic sound on some of the killler tracks is amazing.(and still love that chorus sound). Even like eric johnson tone is a tone chaser for me, just love how cliffs sounds. But a full album of that tone gets kinda boring. The vinnie moore maze-era tone is the only chaser tone I can listen to endlessly I think. And some 80's doug aldrich. Metallica black tone is pretty epic too, but that is so multi-layered produced it's basically impossible to recreate with gear.

Even though powerslave is one of my all-time favorite tones, primarily for the guitar solos, it too I find is just a bit to sharp and spikey at times. It's like the bass guitar takes up all the lower-mids, there's not really any lows, and that leaves the guitars with just a very bright end and sharp upper mids. Piece tone feels kinda tame and rounded off, just doesn't bite, feels weird smack between the sharp tones of beast and powerslave.

 

[ArtDecade]

Somewhere in Time moved to kind of an "arena rock" sound that screams 80's hair band.

... and?

 

[Shask]

You can recreate the SIT tone pretty easily with a Boss DC-2W. The "dimension" chorus is the type on the Gallien Krueger. I struggled for years trying to get a good wasted years/stranger in a strange land tone with multiple chorus and amps. Then found out about the dimension. First time I engaged the DC-2W it was just instant SIT tone turned up to 11. The underlying amp isn't even that important compared to the chorus. I always thought that upper-mid saturation of the SIT tone was from the amp itself and tried recreating that to no avail. Nope, it's actually generated by the dimension chorus.

Yeah, the Boss Choruses tend to add that upper mid clarity to the overall sound. The Dimension does it, but the CE-2 does also. I have been comparing some of my CE-2 clones the last few days, and this really stood out to me. That Chorus seems to have more clarity than say the EHX versions, but it is just because of those booster upper mids.