Boss PH-2 Super Phaser

Easy to use as any 3 knob phaser..the mode switch adds some versatility,

IMO the ph2 is a different type of effect to your classic 70s phasers.it sounds quite modern in a digital sort of way.if your after classic squishy phase 90/small stone/ph1(r) sounds get a phase 90 or small stone or ph1(r) .This is a very different beast.
Personally i wasnt keen on it on the whole but its great on synths and for really bendy synthy guitar sounds a la Korn especially mode 2.
mode 1 is a bit more normal phaser but still very modern sounding and a touch generic.
mode 2 is good for reggae and funk sounds and for the sounds of that guy from incubus as mentioned in other reviews.
overall id say it sounds good and should be seen as a different type of effect altogether instead of a substitute for a 70s phaser.

BOSS

You can still pick these up really cheap on ebay (even mij ones) so give it a whirl.if you dont like it just sell it on.Defo worth a wriggle....

Simple to use. Speed, depth and resonance controls. Mode 1 and 2.

I play either a Les Paul or EC Strat through the PS-2, Tube screamer and to a jcm 800 Marshall. I never cared for the mode 2 sound and only recently fell in love with mode 1 after performing the "white pot mod" talked about in previous reviews. Once this mod is performed the mode 2 is toast, but the mode 1 is fantastic. Minimal tone sapping, gives back the bass and adds a touch of glassy highs.

Speed at 1 -2 o'clock, Depth at 9 o'clock and Resonance at 0.

I turned the white pot setting only slightly from 1:00 to 2:00.

Hard to break!

Never had to contact Boss

Didn't like the PS-2 until I made the mod now won't play without it.

It's pretty easy, manual not necessary. this is a Japanese black label- I don't know the year its in average shape- some paint knocked off the edges. I bought this two years ago for $45 from my luthier. He repaired my ce-2 for $35 and I was floored. He knew I was into black label Boss pedals and fixed this one up.

metal/blues/heavy blues/prog. Playing since 1979. rig =Strat Hwy 1 & Dean Explorer> Cry Baby> Boss Tuner> FAB d-1> Ibanez turbo tube screamer>Boss hm-2> Ibanez fl-9> Ibanez ad-9> Boss ce-2> Boss ph-2> Boss noise gate> Furman pedal board> Randall RG100sc/combo/212 cab. This pedal is different, it reminds me of the phaser in that song, "who's that-a- lady" (Isley Bros?)it's real thin, wispy like a flanger with alot of regeneration. The intro to "lightning crashes" by Live is another good example. This is not a subtle pedal and will hamper your tone a bit. It's good for clean picking and light strumming but with anything heavy or with distortion it's a little over-bearing. The mode II is like mode I but more in your face and tone sapping. It has this funny eeeawwwerrrrra sound ( I tried) that will happen when you hit certain notes that's pretty cool.

boss-- heat tiles for re-entry space vehicles when they retire.

none

This is a one trick pony, and it will sap your low end and some volume. It's good for certian types of playing as people have said before- reggae or mood/spacefloydesque.

Traditional controls of speed, depth and feedback. The fourth knob is a simple on/off switch that engages modeII which is more intense.

I think this pedal is widely misunderstood. Unlike the classic rock phasers of the 70s, the Phase90, Small Stone, even the Boss PH-1, which are all 4 stage phasers, the PH-2 is a 12 stage phaser. 12 stages produce a somewhat artificial sounding 'in your face' tone that overbears your signal. Simply put, this phaser isn't really made for rock. It's for funk, reggae and similar or experimental styles. If you want a phaser that doesn't touch your tone but makes a subtle whoosh while you strum a few chords look elsewhere. If you want a crazy phaser that makes your guitar indistinguishable when it's switched on it's one of the cheapest you can buy.

However I'm mostly posting this review to warn other users against tweaking an internal trimpot in the effect, which some reviews have recommended doing to introduce more bass into the effect. Out of curiosity I decided to give it a go, thinking if I didn't like the results I could always set it back to how it was initially set. The tweak did introduce a fraction more bass into the effect, not enough that anyone who hates the effect would suddenly love it, but what was not mentioned in any of the reviews encouraging me to mess with my pedal was that my pedal would develop a momentary rushing whoosh that would sound each time the pedal was turned on - no more silent FET switching. Not liking this side-effect I tried to set the trimpot back where it was, but the pedal continues it's new whoosh regardless of where the trimpot is set - ie it's permanent. It was only after the fact that I learned that Boss pedal really do not like having their trimpots tweaked. Many a DM-2/DM-3 have been ruined by people mistakenly believing that Boss were hiding an extra 100ms of delay in these pedals, that could be accessed by simply turning a trimpot. These pedals are usually set by an oscilloscope, and once moved need to be reset on one. Perhaps other reviewer's pedals did not develop the annoying side-effect my pedal did, but I urge any owners thinking of tweaking the trimpot to reconsider as my pedal is now impossible to switch on mid song given the noise made. Tweaking the trimpot wont turn it into a PH-1R. It barely changes it. If you're on the fence about this pedal this won't bring you over. Better to just sell it.

I quite like this phaser. There are a lot of boring 4 stage phasers out there and this one doesn't sound remotely like them, so it's commendable on those grounds alone. I also have a Boss PH-1R which is more conventional, or an everyday or workhorse phaser. The PH-2 requires a bit more imagination and creativity to use. It's a pretty unique sound in the sub $50 price range. A Moog no doubt sounds better but it'll also cost you over $200 new.

easy to use...very straight forward..speed.depth and resonance

I found this pedal to be very generic bland and boring as in "ya that's a phaser alright."It doesn't have any flavor of its own just like boss overdrives and distortions. I've owned a number of phasers eg maestro, univox, SIB fazedelic and Ibanez PH7>the PH7 sounds a 100 times better and can be had just as cheaply.

Boss pedals don't break very often

never dealt with them...their website looks comprehensive.

I play indie rock both hard and spacier psych stuff and play both guitar and bass. This pedal is really, really boring played with either instrument. Buy something vintage or get an Ibanez PH7 if you want real flavor. I sold it real cheap and said good riddance

It's a boss pedal, mess around with a few knobs you get a great sound!

This is a great pedal with my favorite classic phaser sound in it. I also own a Boss Ph-3 and i'll say this thing is way better than that. It has such a rich phaser sound to it. I use one on my distortion amp to get a low end type feel with the resolution and depth knob set low to get a really cool tone. Then i have one with my clean amp to get a rich phaser sound.

This unit is really old and has never givin me trouble. Reliable..I think so.

never had to deal with them.

I perfer the ph-2 over the ph-3 cause i can get a better sound with it. Even though the Ph-3 has "more" types of setting i perfer the Ph-2. It's to bad that they discontinued this one it's so great.

Getting a good sound is as hard as you make it; if you have a clear idea of what you want, you can find it within a few minutes. The only confusing part is the resonance knob, which blends effected signal back into the second IC of the pedal. It tends to thicken the sound and deepen the sweep, but gets really boomy really fast and can make your speaker sound like it's being sick. The mode switch selects between six and twelve phase stages.

I bought this pedal because I love Thurston Moore's tone on "The Diamond Sea". He uses a 1970 Ludwig Phase II, the second rarest effect pedal ever with a $5,000 price tag. Since I knew that was out of the running, I just went for the cheapest alternative that offered 12-stage phasing. I use it with a Fender Duo-Sonic and Mustang, right before an EH Big Muff and a PV Bandit of Fender Bassman. The effect is very obvious and intense, which is exactly what I wanted. It tends to mask what you're playing with a wall of "WA-WA-WA". I personally like it, even the whooshy noise that comes through when you're not playing anything, but it won't be to everyone's taste. If you want 70s phasing, buy a Small Stone. If you're looking for something different, get this.

It's Boss. HOWEVER, this thing is not a simple circuit and has a 150+ part count that includes several ICs. There is ample reverse polarity and over-voltage protection built in, but it is still not going to be as resilient as a DS-1 or other simple effect. It has worked fine so far.

Never tried and the manual isn't posted on their site yet.

I play free jazz and avant-garde music. This is a good match because it sounds unconventional yet good. I set it to be an imitation of the guitar sound at the beginning of "The Diamond Sea" and have found it to be very inspirational. It makes everything I play sound a little alien and unique. I would never use it for everything, but it's fun to have once in a while. I use it clean to add some stutter to different parts and with distortion to make some noise parts a little more flavorful. If it was stolen, I would buy another or maybe splurge on a Mu-tron Bi-Phase; I've discovered that I like phasing a lot more then I thought I would.

Dead easy - but spend some time twiddling with it properly as there are lots of different sounds to be had.

As much as I generally dislike Boss stuff (apart from a few of their early pedals) I think that the PH2 is pretty good.
Whilst it will not do that chewy, 70s vintage type phasing, it is fantastic for over-the-top reggae/dub comping (especially in mode II), and for badass disco/jazz-funk rhythm playing.

Four letters - B O S S

I have a few phasers, my favourite of which is my original script logo MXR Phase 90, and this pedal could never replace that, but the PH2 is definitely a more versatile unit, and, unless you are after that vintage sound, may be a good choice, especially as they can usually be had pretty cheap nowadays.

very easyyyyyyyy...no settings can make this sound Bad

definately it deserves a 10, or even more

sound so warm and lush, JUST DON'T change FACTORY TRIM POT SETTINGS", or it will be difficult to put back to the original positions.... and will sounds either too trebly or too bassy

mine is Made in Japan one, people was always come to me after I'd done a gig, and ask about how could i Put out the sound that actually comes out from the PH 2, Man.... sound so good in just practically any settings. simply my favourite. Phewww....O yea...

very reliable

A must have pedal for me, cannot live without it.... peace

Easy enough. The rate controls how fast the phase is. The depth controls how deep the phase and the resolution makes it sound like crap if you turn it up too high. There's two different modes of phase w/ mode one being the milder more usable one and two being the more extreme one.

The low score I'm giving in this catagory is not because it's complicated or difficult to you but because it's hard to get classic phase sounds out of it. It takes a ton of tweaking to really get something that's useful other than as an amusing oddity.

As far as I can tell, mode two is basically useless. It sounds tinny and thin, the phase garbles your playing and just generally saps every ounce of low end out of your signal. Fun for noise but definitely not very musical.

Mode one gets some usable tones especially w/ the depth and resolution set below twelve O'clock but the best sounds I get are w/ the rate really high like a vibrato but even then it's not really great due to low-end suckage.

Really, I just think this thing tries to do to much and the folks at Boss needed to make it w/ a less broad range of sounds that were actually good rather than a million kind of cummy ones.

Boss pedals break. About half of the ones I've ever known have broken so I guess that gets a five.

This just plain isn't a serious phaser. In the end, it's a fun toy if you're just starting out w/ a little practice amp and want to know what phase is like or if you want to crank the knobs to make ear splitting noise (always fun) but if you want to get those classic, thick phase sounds you need to get those pedals (Small stone, Phase 90, some of the boutique stuff) even if that means buying more than one.