Phasers & Univibes

[sonoftheoldnorth]

Anyone rocking phasers, univibes or harmonic tremolo? (Regardless of what people say, there absolutely is crossover between these effects in terms of sound) Tbh I always thought phaser was like the flanger jet swoosh thing and pretty much useless, but since messing around with a few in front of my amps I'm absolutely hooked on that psychedelic 'chewy' sort of watery thing. The good old Phase 90 around the 11oclock mark is king so far.

What's some good, slow, throbby and watery ones?

I'd really like to try the Gypsy Vibe, but it's expensive.

 

[High Plains Drifter]

I've got a Phase 90 on my board along with an EHX Bad Stone. I think that the Phase 90 is more "usable" in terms of layering it with other modulation effects. The bad stone has a more distinctive quality that imo does better on it's own.

Ive been running a ModTone Harmonic Tremor for a long time now and it's not going anywhere. Dunno why but I think there's some hate towards the brand but I don't remember why and I don't honestly care. This pedal was super cheap ( maybe $60 ?) and it sounds fantastic. Perfect mix of tonal control too- rate/ wave/ depth.

I use a TC Electronic Thunderstorm flanger as well. I don't use it often ( as with the others I mentioned) but it was stupid cheap ( maybe $50 or less) and it's all I need for my tastes. It's based off of the bucket-brigade analog effect so it def has a more traditional vintage tone.

 

[Baelzebeard]

I love my EQD Grand Orbiter (v2). It is hyper tweakable too.

MXR phasers are generally great to my ears too. I would really like to get my hands on a phase 99.

 

[USMarine75]

My fav univibe are the Sabbadius models.

I use all of these effects quite often along with pitch vibrato (Magnatone).

The Keeley Hydra and Catalinbread Tremol8 are great for trem which I use a lot. I’m a bid fan of using the preamp on trem pedals to boost the signal just like Hendrix did. Trem is always on on my Victory Kotzen amp, I just hate it set to be subtle.

For phaser it’s the EVH Phase 90 or MXR Phase 95 all day. Greg Koch sold me on the 95 for rhythm playing.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

The Mr Black Pana-Trem is not cheap but I've had me eye on it for a while now. It's true stereo if you care about that kind of thing. He makes some more affordable mono trems but those don't interest me so I haven't looked deeper.

 

[Crungy]

Rotovibe heel down allll fuuuuuckin daaaaay

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I've had an EVH Phase 90 in my rig for the better part of 10 years. I usually use the Script mode and keep the speed around 10:00 for solos and certain clean parts, but will sometimes use the Block mode and speed between 1:00-2:30 for a more heavy-handed swooshy special effect. I also have the Phase 95 and use it the exact same way as the EVH when I need the smaller form factor, although the Script 45 mode is also nice to have for cleans. I'd really like to try a Phase 100 one of these days, too.

I honestly haven't experimented with Uni-Vibe much other than just flipping through all the different modulation models in my HX Stomp. A buddy of mine is in a country/rock band and loves his JHS Unicorn V2, though. He's mostly using it in front of a broken up Princeton for a slow, syrupy pulse.

My only experience with harmonic tremolo is on my Strymon Flint. I like it as a more obvious effect at the end of my chain, especially with other reverbs and delays feeding into it. I haven't really cared for it as a moderate always-on thing, but that's how I feel about tremolo in general, so the harmonic mode on the Flint is just a fun throb/pulse flavor to have vs more typical choppy styles.

 

[Jotun@]

I have an old 80s Ibanez flanger. I’ve been on the hunt for a phaser/univibe with an unreasonable amount of options… like the allpedal microdose… but I might just get a 90. I used to have one that was old as dirt, and it finally kicked and rolled over. Wish I still had a gut shot, that thing fried.

 

[Grindspine]

I've got Voodoo Lab Micro Vibes on 2x of my pedal boards. They are both early in the chain, after buffer and noise gate. Voodoo Lab discontinued years ago, but it was in production from around 1990 to 2015, so they are far from rare. It was a pedal definitely worth buying twice. Besides, I am rocking Voodoo Lab Pedal Powers on a few of my boards too.

I have another board with a Pro Tone Pedals phaser on it, which is nice and trippy. I like how the LED on that one throbs with the sound too.

I had an EarthQuaker Devices The Depths vibe. It sounded great and had more adjustments (like throb and tone) than most phasers or Univibe clones. It could take 9, 12, or 18 volts as well to fine tune the fidelity of the sound. The super-friggin-bright LED was really off-putting for me though, so I eventually sold it.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

While I don't think it's a true harmonic tremolo, I used an EHX Stereo Pulsar for a while and I thought it was excellent for the price point. Reviews online seem to be mixed but I really dug the sound.

I had an EarthQuaker Devices The Depths vibe. It sounded great and had more adjustments (like throb and tone) than most phasers or Univibe clones. It could take 9, 12, or 18 volts as well to fine tune the fidelity of the sound. The super-friggin-bright LED was really off-putting for me though, so I eventually sold it.

I've had to dampen the LEDs on a few EQD pedals over the years. Bassist I used to play with would tape a piece of paper towel over them. Ugly, but effective.

 

[Crungy]

While I don't think it's a true harmonic tremolo, I used an EHX Stereo Pulsar for a while and I thought it was excellent for the price point. Reviews online seem to be mixed but I really dug the sound.


I've had to dampen the LEDs on a few EQD pedals over the years. Bassist I used to play with would tape a piece of paper towel over them. Ugly, but effective.

Similarly, I think I could see my darkglass pedals from space

 

[High Plains Drifter]

I've used various tapes... frog tape, blue 3M, and on one pedal I pulled the LED and used some window tint spray paint that I had laying around. All have worked well to knock down the glare.

 

[BenjaminW]

Had a phaser on my board for a while, but ended up taking it out when I built my current board. I would love to add it again and possibly a uni-vibe pedal. I really like how greasy those pedals can get in terms of tone, especially with some kinda dirt.

 

[narad]

I chased down one of these after a couple of years:



The Sabbadius stuff also seemed really tempting but he kept putting out models and it made it impossible to know which one was the one I wanted. He choiced me out of a sale lol

I always thought the Korg one was kind of cool, because that EQ part seems really useful and they were blowing these out at one point like $200-ish.

 

[runbirdman]

On the univibe front, I’ve only owned a Mojo Vibe because it got thrown into a trade. It sounded great but had too large of a footprint and was worth too much for me to hold onto it with how sparingly I used it.

I’ve had a Grand Orbiter and Phase 95. Stuck with the Phase 95 and I used the hell out of it until I got sucked into…

Harmonic tremolo. I’ve used the Hydra, Monuments, and now have a Spaceman Delta II. With the exception of a chorus pedal, all other modulation is gone from my board because the phasey sounds from the Delta work perfectly for everything I do and the harmonic tremolo is fantastic.

 

[Fenriswolf]

Rotovibe heel down allll fuuuuuckin daaaaay

Man, I've wanted a Rotovibe ever since I heard Suicide Messiah by BLS.

I don't remember how it's because it's put up at the moment, but I have a Phase 90 set where I get that kinda cocked wah effect, and a Boss BS-2 set up for the Unchained flanger sound.

 

[Shask]

I have never been a huge Phaser person, but I think they definitely need to be in front of the amp. I think they sound much nicer there. I have built several different Phaser clones.

Not a huge Univibe person either. I am basically good as long as it will Dark Side Of The Moon.

 

[RevDrucifer]

I have a Dry Bell V3 that I absolutely love for a Vibe. I got Brent Hinds’ Vibe Change the same week, plugged it in once and it’s been back in the box since because the Dry Bell is pretty much perfect.

I do need to grab a Phaser and a Flanger at some point, Most certainly grabbing a PastFX Electric Mistress clone for the Flanger and probably just a regular ole Phase 90 for the phase. I’m more interested in copping older Gilmour tones with them than I am anything else.