Product: Ampeg A-4 Phaser
Price Paid: N/A used
Submitted
02/22/2001
at
10:52am
by
Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
Sound Quality
:
10
Same reviewer as above... I recently realized that the humm or noise I reported in my previous review was caused by a bad ground on the electrical plug I used to plug it in... The unit now produces only the normal hiss you would here when any Phaser is turned on... Sorry about the misinformation... I give it a 10 !!! By the way, pluging a delay (like my Boss DM-100) after the phaser lets you do quite interesting sounds on bass (I mainly use this effect on bass...)
Reliability
:
10
So far, so good
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
Maybe it's hard to find, never seen any other, never heard about it...
Product: Ampeg A-4 Phaser
Price Paid: N/A used
Submitted
02/19/2001
at
12:10pm
by
Michel Legris
Email: michel_legris<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
10
Pretty easy to use. It's a bit like your regular boss phaser... 3 knobs (rate, depth and color). "Rate" controls the speed of the frequency sweep, "depth" controls the range of frequencies that are to be swept and "color" gives a bit of emphasis on high frequencies as you turn it up (color ads something that sounds a bit like a subtle chorus effect to the sound...). In brief, it's easy to get a good sound out of this...
Sound Quality
:
8
I use this pedal in two situations: G&L L-2500 5 string bass --- ampeg a-4 --- trace elliot SMX compressor --- Ampeg SVT classic with an Ampeg 8X10 OR Jackson JDR-94 --- Ampeg A-4 --- Fender Blues Junior amp. With the bass, the compressor is almost necessary as the effect gets too dramatic on higher settings (depth at max setting); not using a compressor would be quite an exercice for my speakers... With the guitar, it sounds quite good... don't need to compress here. In general, the sounds I get from this pedal are excellent, it sounds like no other Phaser I have heard... The only serious problem is that it's quite noisy... even when it's off. When it's on, it makes a regular phaser noise (like any Boss phaser pedal...) but when it's off, it produces a big humm...
However, it makes a very good phaser effect... (if it wasn't noisy, I would give it a 10 !!!!)
Reliability
:
10
Very solid metal case, foot switch as been step on quite often without showing any weakness... Knobs are very solid... Excellent construction!!! No need to think of a backup here !!!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I asked Ampeg about this pedal via e-mail and never had any answer...
Overall Rating
:
10
This pedal was made in Japan in the 1980's or so... I never heard of anyone using this and I haven't found a website talking about it yet (not even Ampeg's !!!). I guess it was part of a series because I saw a parametric eq that was physically the same (boss-like pedal...) I play all sort of rock, progressive, jazz, blues type of things and this pedal comes usefull in some situations... I love this effect, it sounds unique !!! But that's just an opinion, some people might think it sounds like crap... I believe it's a good alternative to a boss phaser (and I think it sounds better). I just wish I could have information about it... maybe it's noisy because it needs a repair !!!
An Ampeg product made in Japan does make me curious about it !!!!!
