Akai P1 Intelliphase

This is a pretty bog-standard analog phaser--fiddle around with the depth, speed, and resonance knobs and you can get a good variety of classic phase sounds. I'm using this with bass; I primarily bought it to get the classic Anthony Jackson sound (think the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" or Al DiMeola's "Flight Over Rio"), but it's possible to get some cool Tony Levin-type sounds going. I'm eagerly anticipating trying this out with the MTD Kingston fretless I'm getting later in the month. I've also tried it with a friend's PRS McCarty Hollowbody guitar and Polytone Megabrute amp (he's a jazzoid) and gotten some surprisingly funky sounds out of it, given the setup.

The touch phase setting is tricky. I think it works a lot better with passive electronics than active, since I like to run my onboard preamp very hot (hotter signal off the jack->lower gain necessary at amp->less noise). I have gotten some pretty tweeky sounds out of it, though--but I'm not a noisemonger so I doubt I've used the unit to its full potential.

I'm using this with an FBB 5-string bass (go to fbbcustom.com and look at "Completed Projects," mine is #1046-01), an EBS Fafner head (the older 440-watt model without the DI output), and an Aguilar GS-410 (for gigs) and Eden CXM-110 (for practice and rehearsal) cabinet.

There is virtually no noise with the effect engaged, and in bypass mode it's dead silent. You've got to love true bypass. I wish more companies used true bypass; a properly wired true bypass switch is noiseless (no pop), which makes FET-switching stompbox manufacturers' claims dubious at best.

The phase sounds are always classic: rich, chewy, and noticeable. (This is a 4-stage phaser, by the way. Look elsewhere for the modern, smoothed-out 12-stage sound.) The touch-sensitive phasing can be a bit difficult to notice, but that's an issue of my technique and my equipment more than anything else. What matters to me is that I can cop the Anthony Jackson or "Strangehold" sounds no problem, funky Tony Levin sounds are somewhat attainable, and most importantly I can get my own cool tones out of it.

I have not gigged the unit--my studies and my tech-support job have eaten up enormous amounts of my free time, despite my excessive gear acquisitions in the past six months. I will not speculate on reliability until I have. I have confidence in the unit, though, as the switch does not feel cheap and the metal casing feels reasonably solid.

I have not dealt with Akai yet, nor do I plan to.

I play dark rock music in fiddly time signatures and with dissonant/exotic harmonies for jazz geeks who like to shake their butts from time to time. My biggest musical influences are all of the eras of King Crimson (Tony Levin is my hero), pre-_Dark Side_ Floyd, the Eno-era Talking Heads, and Berlin-period Bowie, but I'm also into classic hard bop, freebop, and modal jazz--Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Mingus, Monk, McCoy Tyner, early Ornette, and of course Miles and 'Trane. I wouldn't use this in a straightahead context, but for the music that I make--best described as "evil jam band"--it's quite appropriate.

I've been playing bass for three years now; I have expensive gear partly because I'm willing to eat ramen and Hot Pockets for a month so I can finance a gear purchase. (College is also a lot cheaper if you don't drink.) I've only been in a couple of pretty lame bands--a progressive metal band that went nowhere and an Allmans-wannabe jam band with the name of "Yermom" (yeah, they were that bad)--so I don't consider myself a pro, or even a semi-pro, by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just an enthusiast who loves playing bass.

If this were stolen, I would buy one again in a heartbeat. Even though I'm not an effects whore and this is in no way the core of my sound, it's still pretty damned cool. It gives me a spacey vibe that has aided my creativity. I had tried the Boss and EHX phasers before and was not impressed; this is a much higher grade of stompbox.

Pretty intuitive, standard rate, depth, and effect level controls. The main unique feature is the threshold control, which is described in earlier reviews.

I'm actually using this for bass. Like other Akai stuff, they were smart enough to design it to handle low frequencies, so tracking is impecable (no problems with a dropped tuned D, haven't tried it yet on five string though).
Now, for actual sound, this thing is wicked! I've tried boss phasers before and although they track fine, they don't even come close to the analog warmth of this unit. Combined with my bass overdrive pedal this cranks a great, almost synth like, sound (somewhere in the realm of God Lives Underwater or Depeche Mode). The only misgiving I have about the unit is the max level of feedback still seems fairly subtle for bass (as a opposed to some other phasers).

Looks solidly built, but it still is begging to see some live action.

Haven't dealt with akai yet (the need isn't present). Zzounds was speedy with my order though (no complaints there).

For what I paid, this pedal far exceeded any expectations. If something ever happened to it, I'd be more than willing to pay the original price tag (around 100 bucks). One of the best investments I've seen in effects, and at this price it won't break the bank.

This is a true Analog Phase Pedal. I got a great sound by just plugging it in straight out of the box. I've been playing for 37 years and have heard a bunch of Phase Pedals, Analog and Digital.
I'll take this analog unit any day. The 4 control buttons are straight forward ans easy to use. The only objectionable thing I've found so far is that when using the "Hard Touch - Soft Touch" feature, there seems to be a little delay before it kicks in.
This can be a little anoying. It also could be that I just haven't "mastered" its use yet. So, that's why I give it a raining of 9; otherewise it would get a 10.

My main amp is a Fender 50 watt Princeton Chorus. I'm using it with 2 guitars at this time: A Fender American Strat and a PRS Santana. The unit sounds great on all settings and is not noisy at all

It should be very reliable, as it's built like a truck. And short of having it run over by a truck or leaving it out in the rain, I don't think that there is much that will hurt it. It has an all metal housing; and it's BIG. It's about twice the size of a Boss or DOD pedal. It measures in at 5.5" Wide by 7" Long by 2.5" High.
I would definitely gig out with it without a backup.

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

I've been playing for 37 years and play a little bit of everything.
I'm really happy with the sounds I can get from this unit. I use it on songs that were recorded with a Phaser; and I'm also using it with good results on a bunch of songs that, as far as I know, were not recorded with a Phaser. A perfect example of the later is on "Just The Way You Are" by Billy Joel. You can get the swirly echo effect Billy uses on the electric piano; and this sounds with great with both guitars. I didn't buy the poweer supply for it because I wanted to check it out first. But now I plan to get the power pack.

Anybody looking for a great Phase Pedal at a great price should really check this one out. It listed for $149 and zZounds is selling them for $39.95 plus shipping. This is a closeout price; Akai must be coming out with a new model. Don't think too long about this; because at that price they won't last long. This one is definitely a "No Brainer".

4 knobs. Turn them. It's that simple. No bells or whistles, save for the "hard touch, soft touch" modes. True bypass, too.

AAAHHH! Now we're talking! I actually did not like this unit when I first unpacked it. It's HUGE!!! At least twice the size of a comparable Boss pedal. And when I plugged it in I didn't think the effect was pronounced enough. So I went to my local Guitar Center and bought a Boss PH-3, with all its programs and flashiness. Let me tell you, I couldn't get a natural, vintage sound out of the PH-3 to save my life! It was so digital and tinny! So I went back to the P1 Intelliphase and switched it on... WOW! What a difference. The Akai is so warm and natural sounding. It is an analog unit, which definitely makes all the difference. It leaves the natural sound of your guitar (or whatever) completely intact. The Boss, on the other hand, completely gutted the sound of my guitar and made it sound as though the effect was being played over the phone, long distance, from Jupiter! Anyway, this is a long and rambling way to say that the Boss went back and the Akai now has a permanent patch of realty on my floor. I love it!

Very sturdy, made of metal. Very big, though. You'll be surprised at its size. I have no doubt it will last.

Dunno...

This is a superb analog phaser, that delivers such a warm, natural and pristine sound, you'll be spoiled to ever listen to another digital phase again. I ordered this from zzounds.com for an unbelievable $49! If they still have them, do yourself a favor and grab one. You won't be disappointed. If you don't know how natural a phase can sound, you'll be happy with your Boss. But I will never use one of those again, knowing what it SHOULD sound like.

not hard at all to use... the soft/hard threshold needs to be played with, but it's all very intuitive

I had this pedal for 2 days and returned it, after some serious testing. it's not BAD, but it did not at all have the versatility that I wanted. I play a mix of electronic/noise/samples, and I tend to run a lot of people with a lot of gear through a live mix on stage, and I wanted something that would go from a throbbing, spatial crawl to a rapid stutter, and this isn't it. it also didn't give the depth that I was looking for. I'm sure it would be fine if you were looking for a good standard phaser sound, but if you are looking for a phaser that will add something a little different I wouldn't pick this one. I went and got the moogerfooger 12-stage phaser, which is AMAZING, I can't imagine a phaser outdoing this one. spend the extra money. it's sooo worth it.

I did not have it for long enough...
seemed sturdy enough.

no contact

I would only reccomend this phaser to guitarists who want a decent standard phaser sound, don't care about stereo, and think the touch sensitivity would be useful (I don't play guitar so I couldnt' get that feature to do much for me) if you play anything beyond that, esp. electronic music, I would look elsewhere. (and I will reiterate, spend the $300 and get a moogerfooger)

Your standard phaser with a few extra features. "touch sensitive" mode allows the phaser effect to be triggered with either soft or hard picking. You can set the threshold nob to fine tune exactly at what strengh picking the effect comes in. This feature is a little confusing at first (not found on any phase pedal i've heard of other than this), but aside from this, the unit is extremly easy to use with Depth, Speed, feed Back and touch sensitivity knobs. I got a brilliant sound straight off in the demo booth at the store. The manual doesn't say much, just what knob does what, e.t.c, turn power off before replacing battery.....(yawn). It just states the obvious, with no sample sttings. Cos of the slightly tricky to use touch phaser mode, im giving an 8

Epiphone lp - Boss ds2 (distortion) - Electro Harmonix Big Muff (fuzz) - Marshall valvestate 102r, With the intelliphase in the effects loop. No noise whatsoever emitts from the pedal (o.k, just a teeny amount while in the fx loop). The fx from the unit always sound very high quality and are very pleasing to the ear, although I tend to stay away from the "bubbly" high speed phasing, but if thats what you want the phaser for, it sounds great. I tend to use high depth, slow speed settings with different amounts of feed back to get a subtle, swirly Smashing pumpkins sounds, which it nails perfectly. I know they used a small stone, and i actually bought this pedal after comparing the two, and I preffered this for its greater versitility (e.g,3 knobs against 1 knob and 1 switch, plus the "touch phaser" mode). And I was buying a phaser purely because of the pumpkins. Also, the small stone seemed to muffle the sound a bit (i know its supposed to be very warm like that, but it was a bit too much for me). Anyway, the sounds from this phaser are incredible. Just remember to put it in the fx loop, so your amp's distortion gets that "wwwwwwwhhhhhhhoooosssssshhhhhh" sound! 10!

Hey, its brick, pedals dont come much sturdier. I am going to gig without a backup, however i'm not sure how long the batteries last yet, so always take a spare. (i really need to get a power supply for my pedals one of these days). 9 cos of the battery thing, could be 10 after I see how long they last.

Dont know, not worried, shouldn't have to worry in the future

This pedal does everything a phaser should do, and then some. If you set the threshold correctly, you can bust out some hard power 5th chords and then lighten up with some swirly phasing, without touching the switch! great stuff, although I dnt use that feature much. Great for anything pumpkin related, without the disadvantages of the small stone. I've been playing for over 1 year now, and am beginning to get a collection of stompboxes up (stay away from those little multi-fx buggers!). If stolen (highly improbable) i would either buy it again or something else just for the hell of it (this isnt the only phaser on the planet, y'know). Great pedal, everything you'd want from a phaser, and the price isn't too high for this sort of quality in construction, sound and features. It helps me make music, as effects can change the way you think about a certain riff, chord progression, etc. I love this pedal. 9.

Standard phasing controls, no problems. Speed, depth, and feedback. The only new knob is the touch control, which presents no real difficulty, just a matter of setting your threshhold.

I love this pedal... it has become my favorite phaser, and one of those heartwarming "I'll never switch to rack gear" sounds I can't get enough of. Set low and slow, the warm, rolling, lush sound is beautiful.

There is audible "pop" when I hit the switch, though, and this doesn't bother me too much, because if I'm laying down a phased part, it tends to be phased through the whole of the song.

The threshhold will set it to only phase the soft attack notes, or only phase the hard attack notes, dependinding on how you set the switch. This is a neat feature, but I never seem to use it...

Nice heavy box... Phase and delay are my choice effects, and I carry this thing into battle without a backup. It doesn't show any signs of failing

Sounds great...