Phaser Mods (ala Big Joe type)

[Paul Marossy]

I saw a blurb about the Big Joe Phaser in the latest edition of Guitar Player magazine yesterday. It has a Speed, Depth, Feedback and Mix control. Sounds pretty cool, and it's obviously very versatile. Anyone seen one of these, or know what it's based on?

I'm not looking for a schematic, I'm just wondering how they accomplish the feedback and mix parts. I know how to get a depth control on the phaser circuit I am tweaking for myself. The depth control would be kind of the same thing as a wet/dry mix pot in my mind, so I don't know how they can have two knobs for controlling each of those things. And the feedback control I am also curious about. Not sure how they accomplish that either.

Anyone have any ideas or info they would like to share?

[Mark Hammer]

"Depth" IS sometimes reserved for a control that could also be called Mix, Blend, or Intensity, so you are not out of line in making that assumption.  But it is also used to refer to LFO modulation width quite often.  So, what we're looking at here is a phaser where you canvary how fast it sweeps, how wide it sweeps (Depth), how much feedback there is, and the wet/dry blend (which might also be the wet amount only).  Nothing terribly spectacular there.  A tricked out Phase 90 will be able to do all of that.

[Paul Marossy]

"Depth" IS sometimes reserved for a control that could also be called Mix, Blend, or Intensity, so you are not out of line in making that assumption.  But it is also used to refer to LFO modulation width quite often.

Hmm... hadn't thought LFO modulation. 

So, what we're looking at here is a phaser where you canvary how fast it sweeps, how wide it sweeps (Depth), how much feedback there is, and the wet/dry blend (which might also be the wet amount only).  Nothing terribly spectacular there.  A tricked out Phase 90 will be able to do all of that.

I'm guessing it's a tweaked Phase 90. Are some of these things possible on a Phase 45, or is it too limited by a single notch? You can definitely do what I call a depth control, which is really more like a wet/dry mix knob.

[Mark Hammer]

One can certainly provide any number of controls for a single-notch phaser, but they may not really deliver as much as they do with a two-notch (4-stage) or higher unit.  For instance, feedback in a 2-stager is pretty well pointless.  Flowing from that, a mix control, that permits dialing back a very resonant phase-shift sound to be more in the background, starts to become only minimally effective if the phase-shift sound itself can never egt really in your face.

A dry-cancel toggle would be useful (to produce vibrato), as might a sweep-width, and a sweep range control (to move around where the sweep happens in the spectrum), but some thgs that are valuable in the 4-stage-and-up zone are a waste of effort for 2-stagers.

[Paul Marossy]

A dry cancel switch sounds like it could be interesting. Thanks for the ideas.

[Mark Hammer]

You're welcome.

Say, do you get to take in any of that CES mayhem in your town?

[Paul Marossy]

You're welcome.

Say, do you get to take in any of that CES mayhem in your town?

No. I usually miss these conventions and hear about them after the fact. I don't know that the average joe can go to that anyway. That's what I seem to remember anyway.

[Devius]

Doesn't the Easyvibe contain a dry cancel switch?

[Mark Hammer]

Yes it does.  I hope I didn't create the impression that a dry kill is ONLY for a 2-stage device.

The intention was to convey that, when the effect was a rather subtle one, like a 2-stage phaser, there is not much point in having a continuously-variable blend adjustment; with on-off (i.e., dry-engage/dry-lift) achieving about as much as one was going to be able to achieve in that context.

Personally, I'm not big on wet-dry blend controls on phasers, anyway.  I like a dry-kill switch for phaser/vibrato, and a wet-level control for dialing in subtler sounds.  I have yet to think of a context where I might want, say, 65% wet and 35% dry.  But that's me.

[Devius]

I'm just doing my due diligence before I build my first phaser. Neat little devices indeed. When I read your post, it made me think of the easyvibe. It sounds killer, was the first pedal I built but it is cursed with ticking. I'm doing my own vero for it and I'm using a tl071 for the input buffer to keep it separate from the LFO.
Damn close to a phaser come to think of it.

[Paul Marossy]

Personally, I'm not big on wet-dry blend controls on phasers, anyway.  I like a dry-kill switch for phaser/vibrato, and a wet-level control for dialing in subtler sounds.  I have yet to think of a context where I might want, say, 65% wet and 35% dry.  But that's me.

Actually, I think what I have done is a wet level knob, although it seems to function as a wet/dry blend knob. That's what it sounds like to my ears anyway (but it's probably technically something different). Going to try the dry-kill switch tonight.