Phase 90 vs Tremolo pedal

[tehmessiah75]

Just wandering whats the difference between the Phase 90 and a Tremolo pedal?
Pros and Cons of each?
And should it be fitted before or after a distortion pedal?

FYI, I'm new to all this. History in electronics

[auden100]

A tremolo takes the signal from the instrument and modulates the volume up and down automatically.

A phaser, as in the Phase 90, shifts various frequencies within the signal from their normal phase. Then it mixes this out-of-phase signal in and out with the original. The modulated interaction of these two signals creates one or more moving notch filters.

In their most basic implementation, the phaser is more complicated to build. There are no inherent pros or cons out of context. They simply make different sounds. One effects volume, the other affects frequency.

Modulation effects, like these and others, are most commonly used after distortion to keep the effect more noticeable. This is common, but not a rule.

I'm curious if you meant vibrato and phaser, which can be more similar.

[tehmessiah75]

Thanks, that's a great description.

I like the sound of both and wanted to include one in a Tube distortion pedal as I have a big enough box for 2 effects.
I was leaning towards the Phase 90 as it only has 1 knob where as the Tremulous Lune has like 5 and I already have 4 for the distortion (Tube distortion has a boost and a distortion part so I guess its a 3 effects in 1 not 2).