Akai P1 Intelliphase

easy 4 knobs. rate depth and feedback. more feedback a sharper phasing sound.
the last knob works with the gating feature ( intil part).
it sets the level where the phasing effect starts or stops
based on the signal volume.

great analog sounding phaser. nothing over the top. good bread and butter phasing sound. can go noce and slow or pretty fast.

metal case, though thin. seems strong enough. sort big in size.

close out from musian's friend. good deal for $34. if you need
a phaser sound in a user frendly box, this one seems good.

Hello Again:
I'm the guy who did the "one year review" just below this one. Or maybe by the time this gets posted my other review might have been
bumped down a few. There are just a few other things about AC Adapters that I meant to add in the other review and forgot to. Those being that I tried a whole bunch of AC adapters before I found the one that worked without huming - the Danelectro DA-1. Among the ones I tried were a Boss AC adapter that was specifically designed for thie purpose. About the only one I didn't try was the Ibanez AC109. That was because I didn't have access to one to try before I bought one. On a whim, I even tried a Labtec AC adapter that had the correct ratings. In case you aren't familiar with Labtec, they make
speakers for computer systems. All these other adapters worked fine with the units that they were specifically made for. But like my buddy I mentioned in the other review said, the Dano Adapters seem to be the way to go if you can't find anything else to work without huming.

Happy Playing!

Just over a year ago, I did a review of this pedal here on this site. So, here?s my one-year update.
In the original review, I said that I really liked the fact that it is a true Analog Phase pedal; and that it is in an all metal housing and would take some abuse. That is all still true. However there are a few inconveniences that anyone buying this unit should be aware of:
1) It has no numbers by any of the control knobs to allow you to write down any settings that you want to save for future reference. I didn?t think that would bother me at first; but it did. So, I took a permanent fine tipped marker and made very small dash marks at the 7, 9, 12, 3 and 5 o?clock positions. That helps a lot.

2) The other problem that IS NOT so little is that it eats batteries. This isn?t a major problem at home. However, when I?m playing out someplace, it seems to have an annoying habit of the battery going dead at the most undesirable time. This is even after having put a brand new battery in the unit before I left home figuring I?d be safe ? NOT !!!!! So, this was why I gave up on using batteries with it ? that and the fact that I don?t own stock in Duracell or Energizer!

3) An even BIGGER problem was that it took months to find an AC adapter that worked with it. The adapter that Akai indicates is available through their dealers is NOT ? at least not with the three dealers that I checked with. I even sent 2 e-mails to Akai asking if I could buy it directly from them. They never responded to either.
My local music store once was an Akai dealer and stopped selling their stuff because Akai would not return even their calls.

One alternative that I came up with was to buy a universal AC Adapter at Radio Shack that was in the required milliamp range. The milliamp rating for this pedal is very low (30 ma), unlike most pedals which are 200ma. I?ve also wondered if maybe this 30ma number is a typographical error in the owners manual. The Radio Shack adapter works. BUT you?ll get a lot of hum with it through your amp. This is acceptable if you?re playing at average or loud volume levels; because you don?t hear the hum. However, if you?re playing at lower volumes and/or planning on doing some recording with it - forget it!!

A BETTER ALTERNATIVE is the 9 volt Danelectro ZERO HUM DA-1 AC adapter. I have a buddy who I haven?t seen in a few years; as he lives far away. I saw him a few weeks ago; and he?s an effects pedal ?junkie?. He uses that Dano 9V. adapter for many of his pedals and has no problem. So, I bought one (they?re only $10). I figured I?d give it a try. At this point I didn?t care if it fried the pedal. If it didn?t work, I was planning on buying the Danelectro Phase pedal, which I really like as well. THE GOOD NEWS was that the Dano pedal did work. In fact, it works like a charm; and I get no hum at all through my amp.

These inconveniences might be part of the reason that this unit is selling so cheaply. I believe it lists for $150; and I haven?t seen it selling for more than $50. If you can deal or work with all the above issues, then this is still a good pedal for the price; and the analog quality is quite good.

So, because of these inconveniences and that it does not have numbers near the control surfaces, I give it an 8. Without these "problems" I'd give it a 10.

Sound quality is very good; as indicatd here and in my pervious review.

No problem - it's built like a truck! As long as you don't jump up and down on it,it should last a long time.

Non existent. Sent them 2 e-mails and got no response.

I'll give it an overall 8. Without the previously mentioned issues
getting in the way, I'd give it a 10. It's still the best Analog Phaser on the market for the money!

Very easy to use. Depth, Speed, Feedback controls, plus sensitivity control for the touch feature of this phaser. Manual was pretty basic, but you really don't need it.

It does what an analog phaser should...rich sounding phasing, not harsh. I play either strats or teles, and this phaser sounds great with either guitar. My amp is a Fender Super 210 ( tube amp) and the phaser sounds very warm. It is a 4-stage phaser ( like the MXR Phase 90 ) so you aren't going to get a super swooshy sound ( no color switch, like the Electro Harmonix Small Stone ) but it does what I want it to do. It sounds very much like the MXR Phase 90, but more flexible due to the additional controls. I like the touch sensitivity feature, which works well. You can get a very slow phase sound, and the fastest speed sounds pretty good, but could be just a tad faster, to get into univbe territory.

I've only had it a few days, but it seems pretty well built. The case reminds me of the Ibanez tone-lok series units, though it is a large case. The input jacks are metal. The footswitch is the standard external switch ( like the MXR Phase 90, etc.) and has a fairly light spring in it, so you don't have to push too hard.

I play Jazz or Classic Rock ( Hendrix, Zep ) and this pedal is a great match. Iv'e been playing over 30 years, and have owned MXR Phase 90's ( original and re-issue) , Small Stone ( original), Boss PH-2, and I currently own a Guyatone PS3. If it were stolen, I would definitely try to replace it...at $34.95 (closeout), it is probably the best phaser value on the market today. It is very easy to use, and the touch sensitivity is a great feature. It could use a color switch for a deep phase sound, but I can live without it. It definitely is a much warmer sounding phaser than the Boss PH-2, and is very musical.

Four knobs, one switch to engage it, and a threeway toggle for the touch feature, easy as pie.

My set-up is:
b-bender tele, vox wah with true bypass, digitech whammy, marshall compressor, inteliphase, two boss od3's one light drive, the other just over half gain,, digitech rds1900 delay, ibanez dd100 delay, lexicon lxp1, boomerang, all into a boogie mark iii comto. This is the most versital and lush phaser I've owned, and I've had them all, mxr, EH, electra, line6, you name it. The only one that could touch it is the Maxon pt999 but even that falls short. I was looking for a univibish type of phaser, and a friend convinced me to check this one out. I would reccomend it to anyone who wants a transparent high quality phaser.

Looks reliable enough, and the components all look well soldered in there.

My band plays a mixture of 70's covers, and impro based jazz/fusion,sort of a tribal tech type of blend, and this is one of the pedals I can't do without. If I had to have one effect, I think this would be it, it really adds a new dimmension to my playing.

The unit is a stomp box, hence almost by definition easy to use. You have one step-on button that turns the effect on and off, 4 rotary knobs, and a 3-position switch for the "touch phaser" (about which more later). Rotary controls are mostly typical for a time-based effect: depth, speed, and feedback, with the fourth -- touch sensitivity -- unique to this box. The manual is sparse, but really, all you need to do is listen to a sustaining note while you turn a knob; either you'll figure out what the knob does pretty quick, or you're deaf. If the latter, stop testing the device and see a doctor immediately.

I use this device with harmonicas and keyboards, and with tube guitar-oriented and transistor keybvoard-oriented amps. It's a good solid phaser; it makes a lot of different sounds depending on the settings, the control is precise, and it sounds very good on top of both clean and distorted sounds. There's no MIDI, so you can't sync to MIDI clock, but it's a stompbox, so you can't demand that. There is little or no noise short of very extreme settings.

The touch phaser is a really terrific feature, one I haven't had on a phaser before. Essentially, you can set up the device so only notes that are hit harder, or softer, than your touch sensitivity setting will be phased. So, for example, you can set up the box so that hard notes go through without phase, and soft notes (or chords) are phased. The result is what sounds like two different instruments, both available instantly just by varying your touch. I wish more effects worked like this.

Like all the Akai stuff, it's got a metal case. I'd gig without backup.

Never dealt with this part of the company.

I play a lot of different styles of music, from completely acoustic to all-out electric; you can hear extensive samples (though none with this device) at www.hunterharp.com/freemus.html. This device is very usable for lots of the electric things I do. At the price I paid, I consider it a bargain, and would certainly replace it if lost or stolen.

three knobs for the actaul phase controls, and a knob and a three way switch for the touch sensitivity thing. i don't really use the touch sensitivity, but it's great for changing into the phaser by just picking harder if you set it correctly, so you don't have to stomp the switch, which is good if you have to engage another effect at that same instant.

sounds great, though it isn't exactly completely transparent. i play it through a guild s-100 and a hot rodded strat through a marshall dsl401 tube amp, and it likes to cut some of the low end out and boosts the high end some. with a traditional adapter with no volt regulator or anything to give it clean dc power, it can give some noise, but not much for an analog. though it eats batteries like anything...

very reliable, the caseing is galvanized steel, so i'd say it's pretty tough...the only thing that i would worry about is something breaking the knobs off, but if you have a pedal board case or something, that isn't a problem. i would gig without a backup.

never called them...

uh huh...

This is very easy to get really nice, fat, gorgeous, analog sounds out of. I have no use for the "intelligent" part of it...the touch sensitive feature. I just leave that off.

I play a '79 Les Paul KM through either a '66 pro reverb, '65 bassman, or '64 Gibson Falcon. The phasing is lush, thick, and beautiful, and it's not overly noisy. You can set it anywhere from a dreamy, slow phase shift to ridiculous warbling. It'll do a fair interpretation of a flanger as well.

Maybe it's just because it's do darn big, or maybe it's not made out of metal, but there's something about it that tells me that if I were to put all my weight on it, it may not function afterwards. I don't know if that's true or not, but it seems sorta flimsy compared to the effects pedals I have that are built into Hammond boxes. I'm going to give it a 5, because even though it may very well be built like a tank, to me it just doesn't feel like it.

n/a

If you're playing ANY 70's music, you need a decent phase shifter, and this is one of the nicest sounding ones I've ever heard. There are only two things....well, three things that bug me about it. It's as big as a '74 Dodge motorhome, it chugs batteries at a blinding rate(recommend adapter!), and I have no use for the touch sensitive feature, which is probably the main reason that the thing is so damn big. Other than that, for $40, I got a very sweet sounding, analog phase shift pedal with true bypass. How can you beat that?

Three standard controls: Depth, speed, feedback. There's also a touch sensitivity feature (slider + knob) that enables you to dial in a phase that activates according to your picking level/dynamic. I normally don't use this feature, but when I HAVE messed around with it, it has seemed a little frisky.

Using this with a strat and Fender solid-state amp (Attention all "professionals": Enter snide comments here). I like the way the guy before me stated it -- this truly is a polite sounding phase -- never blatantly over-the-top. It's a four-stage phase, so it's great for classic rock stuff -- Some Girls-era Stones, Aerosmith, etc. Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold"? It's in there (I've messed around with it a little on bass too). I'm a big Sonic Youth fan, and you can dial in some of Lee Ranaldo's sounds from A Thousand Leaves and Washing Machine too (I think he used an old Mutron for those albums).

My fav setting is Depth @ 2 o'clock, Speed @ 9 o'clock, Feedback @ max. Very syrupy, watery, etc., without being over the top. Great for spacey picking or funky rhythym chords. As the guy before me said, I also wish you could get a slower speeed out of it. Was looking for that really slow David Gilmour phase, and it doesn't work well with this unit. At speeds below 9 o'clock, the phase is barely noticeable regardless of depth and feedback and seems to have tracking problems. Doesn't do the rotary speaker thing to my satisfaction either, but then again, that wasn't what I wanted to use it for.

I'm running the pedal straight into the amp; it doesn't add appreciable noise. Haven't had any problems with footswitch clicks either. The pedal dosesn't seem to like having distortion after it, so I use it on my clean channel with a Rat in front of it. My effects setup is as follows:

Rat -> Tech 21 wah -> Akai Intelliphase -> Korg delay -> Boss Tremolo

Seems solid. Used a battery for a few days before buying an adapter, and it didn't suck it dry -- and I played through the pedal A LOT during that time.

FYI -- This pedal has been discontinued, I believe, hence the fabulous sale at zZounds.com.

I truly enjoy this pedal, especially for the price I paid. I would have gladly paid more, despite it's few shortcomings. I play rock music, and the Intelliphase has been a great addition to my sound.

simplicity itself. knobs and a switch.

excellent. signal-to-noise ratio MORE than adequate for an analog pedal.
this is a very "polite" phaser. more on that later.

a tank.

called Akai on several occasions. great help each time.

for the price i'd rate this an absolute TEN. it is a very POLITE sounding phaser. there are NO extreme settings here...no "over-the-top-ness"...not that THAT is a bad thing. it adds a nice variance to tone. the "touch" setting is VERY nice (ex....play a few hard chord strums using a delay pedal.....no phasing sound at first..THEN as the delay echos into silence the phase kicks in.....pretty cool. CONVERSELY the phase can effect ONLY the heaviest of strums or chords played on your guitar..muting itself on the delicate passages). i reckon you could just stomp ON/OFF a normal phaser to achieve the same effect,..but at least with this pedal you can "dial-in" the point that you want the effect to start/stop and not worry about it as you play. pretty nice. the phase SOUND itself is pretty run-of-the-mill. the only GRIPE i have is that i wish the oscillating could be set to a SLOWER rate. perhaps i'll crack it open and see if i can tweak it. i paid $39.99 for this pedal. for THAT price
it is the DEAL OF THE YEAR. for $100 (or more) you could probably get a nicer pedal,...but..for $40,...i think i like this thing.