Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter

Very easy to get a sound out of. The manual didn't tell me anything a moron wouldn't know about a phaser. its got some really innovative possibilities, like the step function. whenever i turn that on people are in awe cause they have no idea what effect that is. basically since no other company that i know of has that option. great pedal

I use this with my les paul custom. it sounds amazing and is never noisy for me. i can get any phase sound with this thing. i was considering the phase 90 also when buying this. but the boss has way more possibilties, i mean with a phase 90, you get a speed knob and thats it. with this thing you get speed, depth, resonanse, and then you can choose between a 4,8, 10, and 12 stage phasers. or you can do rise or fall where that sound is always continuosly rising or falling,. and then the step funtion. amazing.

all boss's are built well. i would gig without a backup, mainly since i dont have another one or the money to buy one.

haven't dealt with them

I play all styles of rock from beatles to zeppelin to metallica and incubus. it sounds great no matter what. i would definately replace it if stolen. i have yet to play a better phaser.

Very intuitive knobs, the only problem is you can obtain so many different sounds that you?ll always spend a lot of time experimenting, and I think that?s very good.

It?s not a 10 because of the TAP tempo, that?s not so good: if you old the switch down for more than 2 seconds the led becomes green, with the red glittering at the end of every phase, and you can use the switch to set the tempo, but the effect will be always on! That?s awful, but you can connect into the unit an easy home made switch, so you can use the switch to turn on and off the effect, and whenever you want you can change the tempo (even when the unit is bypassed).
Now the only problem is that you wont be able to move your foot so fast to obtain very high frequencies, and the slower set you can reach is about 6 seconds, while the rate knob gives you every rate you want. It would be better if it worked like this: while you old the TAP down it keep the rate, instead of needing the to impulse, that can?t be so near.
I?ve to say that you can also buy a Boss EXP pedal, I think it can make you change the Stage to, it would be great.

RATE increaseS the rate of the wave from 0 (yes, and it will work like a sound filter without wave!) to a very high frequency, the higher I ever heard in a phaser. It keeps the depth the wave was when you turn it down to 0, but if you turn it off and on, it will start from the middle of the wave (hope you understood, it?s not easy for me to explane it in english!).

DEPHT sets the depth of the wave, nothing easiest. MIN means no wave at all (except for the FALL and RISE stages), and this is very good.

RES is the amount of the effect on the tone of your guitar, MIN is for softer FX, MAX is for space sounding.

STAGE is very interesting: you ans select 7 different wave type:

4 is caracterized by a very frying low end.

8 is quite a normal phaser, very liquid and slim.

10 is a worm fat phaser, very similar to a flanger if you keep low DEPTH and high RES and put a good overdrive in front of it.

12 looks like two waves together, one very very fat, the other very space.

FALL produces an always-going-down wave.

RISE produces an always-going-up wave. (try it with all the knobs at max?)

STEP is one of that silly things that make me love a pedal, it produce a cool step wave.

This is not the best phaser I?ve ever heard, but it?s absolutely one of the best noise machine ever made, and I love it.
Like a lot of Boss stuff, it colors up your sound a lot, if you don?t keep depth and res low, you can forget your guitar original sound.
This is one of that pedal that change a lot if putted before or after the fuzz and the overdrive.
If you connect it before it?s much more sweet, less dominant.
If it?s after, it can make every noisy-hears-grinding sound you desire.
I choose the second, basically to have better results using it as a filter, with 0 RATE.
I didn?t give a 10 because of a pair of problem.

The main is that when you turn it on, it take a very little second fraction to start producing his sound, something that can be heard only if you use it overdriven. I don?t know if it?s only a problem of mine, anyway, you can learn to press it in the right moment to avoid this problem.

A little problem is that between a stage and an other there is something like 0,1 second of mute, but it doesn?t really care, because you?ll probably don?t have to change it while playing.

Something more I?d like the PH-3 had is a general level knob (every effect should have one), because some setting can cut off some frequencies, or overload others, changing a bit your volume, mainly if overdriven.

To be perfect it would be nice a wha-like swich, you know, like the george dennis one, so that you can turn it on and off softly, but it would be much bigger.

This unit isn?t truly bypassed, but it doesn?t sucks tones or hisses when turned off.
It produces a little hiss when turn on, but absolutely nothing annoying, you?ll hardly hear it, may be it would disappear without other 6 pedal before it (se my setup below)

Here it is some of the sounds you can get:

RATE 3 o?clock;
DEPTH 3 o?c;
RES 9/12 o?c;
STAGE 12
for thin space treble over fat mellow phasing bass frequencies.

R.max;
D.max;
R.min;
S.step
and your guitar will sound like a sitar with a bad neck that makes the strings fry on the frets.

R.max;
D.max;
R.max;
S.rise
do you know the Melvins, the song Soup on Stag? Water world! It?s like bubble explosion (while in the other stages it?s like different laser guns!)

R.min;
D.4 o?c.;
R.8 o?c.;
S. 4
after fuzz or overdrive, my guitar sounds like a distorted bass.

R.4 o?c.;
D.2o?c.;
R.2 o?c.;
S.8
With a stupid octave before it, like the sintetic sounding BOSS OC-2, you?ll get something like an Hammond sound (may be not a very good Hammond, anyway something interesting)


My setup is:

?97 Gibson Les Paul Special DC TV Yellow (P90 pick ups, 0.13-0.56 strings, CGCFAD tuned)
Boss OC-2 Octave
Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95 wha wha
Ibanez TK999 Tube King overdrive
Electro Harmonix Big Muff PI fuzz (the N.Y.C. one, NOT THE RUSSIAN!)
Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man analogic delay
Sovtek MIG 50 all tube head
Home made bass cabinet with two 12? cones

I don?t use battery, anything is connected to a strong enough ac 9v adapter.

It has a good hard metal box, the only critical point is the rubber ring around the hole where the little screw keep the battery case closed. Mine was broken, and the switch had a too wide excursion. I repaired it easely with some rubber.

I never dealt with them, but the site bossus.com is very good, and gives you any information and semples.

It?s not a 10 because of the problem listed above. Nothing is perfect, but this is perfect in what do well, and it?s enough (as the things it do well are really a lot). If you are a purist you?ll probably hate the way it absorbs your original tone, so, buy an mxr or something like that: a beautiful sound, but only that one.
I prefer the very slow or very fast vibrato-like wave, on the middle rate it sounds a bit to? robotic, it?s digital, so a bit cold, but not in every stage, 10 is worm, 8 is wet, 4 is crispy, 12 is a good digital. Fall and rise need very low res, step is so lovely silly?
You can have some not bad traditional phasing, and a thousands of strange sounds. The best feature is the rate control, the widest you can desire. The TAP is nice to, but with his limits.
I think this unit costs a lot, but it?s not too much for what it gives.

Quite a few knobs/settings avail. for a pedal. Easy to use & to find useable sounds nevertheless. 4, 8, 10 or 12 stage phasing plus Fall, Rise, & Step.

When i used it thru the fx loop (Mesa-Boogie 50 Caliber circa '86) it robbed most of my tone. Perhaps thru the loop of a more modern amp this wouldn't happen. Found the best configuration is to place it first in line from the guitar. After the PH-3 I have: Boogie V-Twin preamp-> Vox wah. In the fx loop I currently have: Morley Crystal Chorus->Danelectro Pepperoni Phaser->Danelectro Hash Browns Flanger->Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo.

Played thru the instrument input its not as pronounced as thru the loop. Beats losing tone though. Doesn't sound as lush & rich as my friend's PH-1R or PH-2 back in the early 80s. Maybe that was just the weed and being 18.

Have never had problems with Boss pedals.

I play mostly heavy progressive & alternative rock. Also a bit of jazz. Been playing since '81.
I'd probably buy it again if I couldn't find a used PH-1R or PH-2. Either that or an Electric Mistress.

it very easy to use.
the temple feature is pure genious.
just hold down for two seconds and tap the tempo.

sounds great with a clean tone.
also with a little distorion.
the fall and rise features are my favorite.
when im playing some rythym i just tap the tempo and away i go.
sounds great.

seems pretty solid.
but i just got it.

great pedal and its versatile.
glad i bought it.
i like it a lot better than boss's phaser pedal.

Simple modes.
Simple customization
Hold for 2 sec
tap
Hold for 2 sec
rock like no tomorrow

As usual with Boss effects you can have the effect hide you, or you can turn the effect into ambience.
I've played with the PH-2 and the PH-3 has HUGE improvements over it.
More modes with 3 unique (hard to play something to) styles.
Fade up and up and up
Fade down and down and down
Step up Step down
you dont often hear those 3 in modern songs... at least, you dont now... just wait untill my band gets big :)

If you know anything about Boss, it's that their effects are built like tanks.

never had to use it

i would prefer no other.
I'm that way about all Boss effects, i use nothing but.
all of my Boss pedals are of all outstandingness.
(BF-3, DD-5, TR-2, TU-2, MT-2, CH-1, RV-2, PS-5.. and more and more to come)

easy?...yeah, turn the knobs, get sounds, jam

setup: washburn somethingorother, mexi-strat, hamer duotone--zoom505, ph-3, boss tremolo, q-tron, boss blues driver, boss dd-5--trace elliot tramp--fender princeton chorus

it's a little noisy but it could be cuz my cables suck or cuz the zoom is kind of cheesy. I can hear the effect when nothings being played, ya know??

the effects are great. I keep pretty mild most the time, but, if you cramk up the rate and keep the depth pretty low, that's some good shit.

It sounds good with a little delay and a deep phase: strum a chord with the volume down, and swell the volume up and you get a cool incubus type sound.
I thin it sounds best with a bit of overdrive/distortion

no problems here..I've had it for a year or so and use it a lot and it's been great.

N/A

I make a lot of noise and this pedal encourages that. Not to say you can't use it for more tradtional stuff.
I love everything about it.

Pretty easy to figure out. Mine didn't have a book but then again its phaser not hard to figure out. I love the versatility of the different stages. I previously owned a danelectro phaser (crap) so this is a major upgrade. If you're used to 1 knob phasers it may take a while to figure the extra features. The tap tempo needs some work though. I don't care about the 2 seconds it takes to cut it on cause I work the time change into the song but you can't tap it enough. 4 taps makes it go its fastest yet it isn't nearly as fast as the dial goes. What's the deal??? So I suggest getting an expression pedal. You can get the $30 FS-5U if you want and the tap tempo doesn't have to be held for 2 seconds so that works fine. I just wish I didn't have to buy an expression pedal for it. I haven't actually used the boss one but i plan to look into it. I just played around with my amps footswitch. I'm thinking though getting a keyboard expression pedal will be your best bet cause you just push in for fast and roll back for slow so then you don't have to tap at all but you have to remember where you want which is also a minus, because its like having the dial but it is easier than reaching down mid song to fix. I really hope to fix the tap tempo problem. It screwed me up live so I was agitated. It was playing too fast on a slow song. Its hard to bring the tempo back down properly is the problem. Maybe if i had a book i wouldn't have made the mistake but too late now. Fix the tap though and I'll love it more than I do.

Overall its fine for what I do. It does drop the volume when in the 4 stage which ticks me off cause I like it the best. When distorted it fattens your sound so for that I love it. The rise and fall modes are kinda stupid to me, but Step is freakin awesome. People freak out when they hear it live so I'm well pleased. Minus 1 for the loss of volume though

Its a Boss duh. Don't screw with batteries. Get a GOOD power supply and you won't have any problems.

Never had to deal with them. Hope I never do. I bought a pedalboard to protect and power my pedals. SKB makes em for $120 and up. Look into it.

Overall I give this bad boy a 9. As I said I was naive enough to buy the Danelectro one before so I do know the difference between utter crap and something good. I've learned to save up and buy good gear. As a refrence I'm running a Gibson Les Paul trough a Fender Tube Amp. Other pedals are my Crybaby, Boss DS-1 (used as volume boost, tube amp dist is best hands down), Boss PS-3, Danelectro Hash Browns Flanger (I actually like this one but im looking at a boss one next time i go to the store just for tap tempo) and the retarted Danelectro French Toast octave if you have one use sparingly. Anyways for a great classic sound use phaser and get the boss. If not buy something else. Don't be an idiot try stuff out in the store. Sure its cheaper online but play it in the store first then order it. Overall I give it a nine based on the minor gripes I had about it. ie slight volume cut and the tap tempo needs refining. As far as my style its blues, rock, and i'm getting into spacey tasteful guitar sounds. For some samples go to www.sojourneronline.com

it is fairly simple to get a good sound out of it but to get a great sound out of it is a different story it is difficult to get a signature sound but with a about and hours werth of tweakin i found mine and it rox.The manual does its job not that u really need one and the tap tempo is simple

i have a charvel cx 291 runing through a dunlop gcb-95 wah then through the ds-2 turbo distortion(awesome pedal)into the ph-3 into my peavey delta blues 210 (great amp) this pedal fits perfectly into my setup.as i sad earlier it always sounds good but not perfect until u really tweak with it then it sounds great the 4 stage is a nice vintage sound that i really enjoy the 8 stage is a very deep phase sort of like a creed style phase and it is my personal favorite the 10 stage wit the depth and resonance maxed u get a sweet flanger sound its awesome very unchained van halen sounding 12 stage is 2 six stage phasers connected in series and fall is a great sounding effect that just continues to fall and fall very good for rytyhm sound and rise is a funky sound that is very nice and the step function is kool but in my opinion it is useless even though its fun to play with in my opinions this is one of the best boss sounding pedals around

unfortuantly i droped it once and now the rate knob is bent but other then that really reliable

never dealt with them hopefully never will have to

this pedal rox. I play blues all the way to heavy rock and this pedal can pretty much do it all. if it were stolen or lost i would beat the shitte out of the guy who took it from me but ya i would buy it again . I luv all of it it is just awesome. I compared this to the digitech phaser and this one took it because of the tap tempo feature but basically the same pedal . it is a great effect it helps me wit my creativity very nice

This pedal IS easy to use but no phaser is very easy to use because the rate at which the whole sweep is completed will change depending on the depth, although tap tempo is harder.
4 knobs Rate, Depth, Resonance, Stage [4,8,10,12,Fall,Rise,Step] (thickness/type)

This pedal is probably the most versatile phaser on the market, you can switch between 4 different "levels" of phase (4,8,10,12) each of which have their own destinct sound. As well this there are new Rise, Fall and Step modes the name says all, continual rising or falling effect or a swoop which goes up in steps/stages, very interesting sound. At subtle settings the pedal is great for soft textures and VERY VERY LONG swoops and when set to manic levels I've had this box sounding like dripping water, a dog barking, and a hyper-active monkey!!

The reason this gains an 8 is because the basic pedal sound when it is not mixed with other effects is poor in my opinion far inferior to the older Ph-2. Where the Ph-2 sounds organic and full of life the Ph-3 leaves you feeling empty with a very average tone.

The pedal is moved up a mark because it comes into its own when mixed with other pedals, it adds great swoops to fuzz and distortion and is great for subtle textures with chorus' etc. If you own a TSA pedal get one o'these as well!!

Boss, enough said!

never had to use them hopefully never will.

I've been useing phasers for a long time now and use 3 in my live rig a MXR Phase 90 and Boss Ph-2 and Ph-3 Phasers. This pedal is good and I still use it everyday for adding subtle over tones to my sound for this reason i give it a 9. Decide what you want, if you are buying a phaser for pure tone try and get a discontinued Ph-2 but if you are going to use it to "swoop" other effects then buy the Ph-3 for its unbeatable versatility.

Very easy to use.

I don't get the reviews where people complain of the pedal sounding weak, or dry, or feedback occuring with the pedal's use, or tone alteration with the effect in line.
I get none of those things. I get an awesome phaser pedal - better than the MXR Phase 100 I owned for a while. And it does stuff no other phaser does. The pedal has a knob to dial in how strong you want the effect to be, and with 4, 8, 10, and 12 stage phasers you can get every phaser sound period. No bypass problems, no thinning of the sound, just great phasing. Ignore the naysayers 'cause they don't mean a thing.

I base this rating on my other 3 boss pedals I own, and several others I used to own.

I play almost every style of music. This pedal is great for funk or making weird sound or for soloing - it has lots of uses. Great pedal.