EasyVibe or Ross Phazer?

[Puguglybonehead]

So far, I'm still at the fuzz-building stage of things, but I would like to do something in the way of a modulation pedal. I was looking at both the EasyVibe and the Ross Phaser as possibilities.

I was also inspired, reading about the Maestro Fuzz Phazzer. It's sweep was pedal-operated, rather than an LFO. I remember trying a phase pedal in the mid `70s that worked that way (maybe a Coloursound?) and I liked the control of the sweep that it gave you. LFO's are often too mechanical for my taste, and they never seem to sweep slowly enough either. I like a really slooooow sweep!

Another thing that interested me was hearing a sample of the Tau Pipe phaser. 20 stages! It sounded like studio-tape-flanging. Incredible!

So, I was wondering, as this would be something I would try to breadboard until I got it right. Would I be better off to try to build the Ross Phaser (with as many additional stages as possible) of should I try the EasyVibe (with the phase shifter mod) and see how many stages I could add to that. I was also thinking of using the LDR controlled sweep with a wah-pedal, like the Maestro Fuzz Phazzer used..... with an LFO as well, and, and, maybe envelope control, and maybe a bounce mod and, and, ...... ok, ok, just kidding.

I guess what I'm really tring to ask, is the Ross Phaser too much for a rookie? Would I be better off experimenting with the EasyVibe for now?

[Mark Hammer]

They're both actually quite easy to build, and personally I can't see that suitable LDRs are necessarily harder to come by than LM13600s.  The Easy Vibe can be readily changed to be a phaser by using equal-value caps.  The Ross can be readily changed to be a Vibe-like unit by changing equal-value for unequal-value caps.  They can both be easily converted to vibrato units by lifting the dry signal at the mixing node.  And they both have time-tested PCB layouts that neatly fit in common chassis units.

As much as I like the Ross, I have to say that the LFO has been kind of hit and miss for me.  I've built 5 or 6 of them (one of them configured as a Uni-Vibe that I put up as a prize for a battle of the bands at my older son's high school), and sometimes the sweep is spot on, while other times it seems sort of jerky, and I can't figure out why.  People can drive themselves nuts looking for a suitable taper speed pot, but keep in mind that NOBODY runs a Uni-Vibe like pedal at speeds slower than maybe 1hz, so you can simply use a 50k linear pot and be happy with the range of speeds and their dialability instead of obsessing about a pot that will take you from 500k to 50k quickly.

I've not built an Easy-Vibe, but LDRs are nice and quiet and sweep smoothly, once you get the LED positioned right, and the LFO is obviously optimized for a suitable sweep.

Is there something that the one can do and the other can't?  Yes.  The Ross can be configured to be a "phasefilter", in which one or more stages can be converted from phase-shift to lowpass, simply by taking the 3300pf cap that connects to the 27k input resistor from pins 5/7 or 10/12, and rerouting the end normally connected to 27k to ground instead. It's a very interesting and unique sound, particularly when the pedal is run in vibrato mode so that there is no clean signal mixed in.  Charlie Barth hotrodded a Small Stone with this capability and posted the outcome here: http://moosapotamus.net/THINGS/frankenstone.htm

What the Easy Vibe can do that the Ross can't to quite the same degree is offer continuously variable sweep width, something that comes in handy at faster speeds.

So, to sum up, as a dedicated vibe unit, both units are capable of decent pleasing sounds.  The Easy-Vibe is more likely of the two to deliver precisely the sweep you want for vibing.  If you have an eye towards experimentation, and have some 13600s or access to them, though, the Ross can end up doing more tricks.

[daverdave]

The ross phaser is a pretty decent sounding pedal, adding a manual control should be pretty easy to do. I tried adding an envelope detector to it, and although it worked, the sweep was not as wide as with the lfo. This was more to do with how I set it up to sweep the stages, but it's tricky to do.

A manual control is pretty straight forward though. Haven't built the easyvibe, but I've always been more of a phaser fan, it's one of my favourite effects.

[Puguglybonehead]

Thanks so much for the replies! I guess the Ross is probably the better route for what I'm after then. I've found a couple of sources of LM13600s, so following the Tonepad layouts should be the way to go, I guess? I'm definitely thinking phase-shifter more than univibe, sound-wise. (although the vibrato option is still attractive, I think that's a separate pedal)

[jimmybjj]

short sound comparison, read desription for identification

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ic6ApzVILA&feature=youtube_gdata

[Puguglybonehead]

Thanks for that sound comparison. That clears it up. The sweep on the Ross phaser is much more evenly curved.