MXR EVH Phase 90

Most people who will be buying this will keep it at the same settings 24/7, so its simple enough.

It sounds cool and just like its supposed to. Simply put, this is about the most unique sounding flanger on the market.. yes you can come close with boss, etc, but its not the same..The "EVH" switch is a great marketing gimmick since EVH always kept the settings on his flanger exactly they way they appear in the magazine ads for this new signature pedal(coincidence?). If you have access to photos of any of Ed's old pedal boards you will see that he duct taped the knobs on his MXR Flanger so they wouldn't move, he just stompted on it when he wanted flange. Bottom line is that "Unchained" , "and the cradle will rock", "Hear about it Later", "Aint talking bout love", "Atomic Punk", and heck even, "The seventh seal" all have the same flanger settings..just find the ad in any magazine and dupe theh settings and there you go....."EVH". I, like most people, bought it for the paint job :) I am playing it through a 5150 head, or a Marshall AVT 50 head which in my opinion is the best sounding amp Marshall makes these days and the one that when properly dialed can get you a great classic VH tone

MXR are great, have owned several and never had any problems

I Play in a Van Halen tribute band and also have the EVH MXR Phase 90. These two pedals are essential to anyone playing classic Van Halen material, for both the tones they help create and the striped paint jobs to match your guitars. It is a bit pricy but Im sure it will find its way onto many pedalboards

This pedal is very easy to use. One footswitch to turn it on, and use the 'Script' switch to set which phase sound you want (out is edgier block-logo phasing, in is smoother old-school script-logo phasing). Just set the knob to where ever it sounds good and you're done! Very simple. The Script switch and knob even glow in the dark! How cool is that?

I bought this pedal a week ago looking for that sound heard in the song "Unchained." Well, it turns out this was the wrong effect. A flanger is what Eddie used, not a phaser. Oops! Well, I like the sound of this pedal so much I think I'll keep it and have both the EVH Phase 90 AND the EVH Flanger. With the right amount of distortion and maybe a little delay, this pedal is amazing and sounds dead on for "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."

I play a Fender American Fat Strat Texas Special in Sienna Sunburst (the most beautiful finish ever), and a hot-rodded home made Fender Strat with a YJM scalloped maple neck, 2001 Hot Rod Red body, and a mixture of hand wound hot (but not too hot, between 7-9k) single-coils.

As for amps, I use a 1958 Fender 5F1 Champ, a 1964 Fender Bassman, and a modified Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier Solo Head on top of a Marshall TSLC212 2x12 cabinet.

As for effects I have Vox Clyde McCoy Wah pedal, a VooDoo Labs Micro Vibe, a BBE Boosta Grande, a Boss DD-6 Digital Delay pedal, and now this MXR EVH Phase 90.

I like to use the Phase 90 to add depth to rhythyms, and sometimes solos. It sounds very good with distortion, kinda hard to hear on clean. I use it with the knob set at about 9-10 o'clock, and with milde distortion (too much distortion covers the sound of your guitar, and I like to be able to hear my different pickups).

As for sound quality, I feel that it deserves a 10, but I'm giving it a 9 because there may be a better phaser out there, and this is the only phaser pedal I've owned, so I have no comparison with other phaser pedals. This is probably the only one I'll ever need and use though, but Like I said, I haven't tried anything else.

I think I can depend on this pedal, as MXR is known to make some tough pedals, and I wouldn't be afraid to gig without a backup. But I have only had it for a week and don't know what long-term reliability is like, so I can't comment really on this. I haven't even had it long enough to find out how fast (or slow) it eats up a 9-volt battery.

Don't know, never dealt with them.

I play everything from mariachi to heavy metal, and this pedal doesn't suit everything I play, but I change set-ups between songs (except for the guitar), so that's okay. I really like it for solo-ing, mildly to heavily distorted rhythyms (and solos too), andfor messing around/improvising/guitar-battle-with-friends. I would recommend it to any one wanting a phaser (even though they really wanted a flanger like me). You don't have to be a Van Halen fan to use it, but if you are you will enjoy it even more.

how much more easy does it get?! 2 modes controlled by a push switch and a knob for speed.

Extremely transparent sound. Great wooshing effect. The real thing that makes this pedal better than some of the other modern effects is that switch which controls if you're in Block letter mode or Script mode. definately a super cool idea.

my rig consists of a Mexi Sunburst strat--->Ampeg VL502/Marshall 1960A cab---->effects loop: MXR EVH 90--->EH small clone----->EH Pulsar----> Line 6 Echo Park Delay.


When i was exploring options for effects, i bought a new Zoom G9.2TT. did nothing for me i returned it in 3 days. editing was hard plus it was hard for me to get a good tone with my amp (i might be dumb but whatever the case was it was no good). Then i return that for the Line 6 MM-4 and the Line 6 echo park. echo park was solid. MM-4 needed some help. i could not get a single LUSH tone out of that thing for the life of me. i had it for 2 weeks. fiddled with it for a while. Returned it in favor of an EH small clone and MXR EVH 90. couldn't be happier. and by the way, effects loop is the only way to run analogue pedals. less noise and great tones.

extremely dependable. very sturdy little box. the only thing that bothers me is that push switch that activates the script and block modes.

Great pedal. very useful and versatile. would cry for days if i lost it or it got stolen, then prolly go out and buy another because its just a great effect.

Couldn't be easier to use.

I didn't buy this pedal to get Eddie's sound, but if you are looking for that, then I don't think there is a better way to get his sound.

For the hell of it, I recorded myself playing parts of Eruption, and I thought I was listening to the real recording for a second. And that's using a Gibson V through a Marshall MG15CD amp (that's not a very good amp). I'm sure you'll be able to get a sound really close to Eddie if you look for it, and in some cases you won't have to look for it.

The phaser sounds great for everything else too, from what I can remember. But I didn't get a really good chance to test it, because it BROKE. So I don't know whether the script logo produces a very different sound, as I didn't use this pedal a lot.

To be fair, This pedal broke a little more than 11 months after I bought it, but I hardly used it.

I bought this pedal in June 2005, and it is now June 2006. I'm glad that I still have time left to exchange it, and I plan on going to the store tomorrow to do so. If they don't accept it, then I'll chop it up with an axe and send it back to MXR and demand to have it fixed.

So the pedal broke, just a few weeks shy of a year. It just stopped working, for no reason at all. I changed the battery, tried different brands, and none worked.

There was a connection going through; when the pedal was off, I got a good sound (as it should be). When I turned the pedal on, there was no sound at all, though the pedal is clearly on (that blinding blue light shines like there's no tomorrow!).

So if you want to call something that breaks for no reason reliable, this gets a 10, otherwise, it's a 1. You can't blame the company though, there is a 1 year warranty on this thing, so that shows just how reliable they think their products are.

Here's a little secret:

If the warranty is 1 year, the company expects for it to break in just over one year, sometimes you get lucky though.

Yeah right.

The pedal broke, and I emailed them. They replied quickly (24 hours), but were completely useless. I was informed that there is a 1 year warranty on it, and they gave me a number to contact them. I called the number, but it didn't work, the number doesn't call anyone.

Seriously, you have a better chance finding a homeless person to fix a broken pedal for you. Don't even bother with this company, it's terrible.

I don't recommend it, in fact, I urge you to boycott the company. It sounds good, but it is competely unreliable, and the company is terrible.

If people continue supporting this company, they will never shape up. Boycott them until they make a reliable pedal, or at least until they start treating their customers right.

Hey, Dunlop/MXR, if you want to give me a call, here's my number:

1-888-382-5RIGHT OFF

one knob for speed

Really lacking in headroom. When used with even kinda high output p/u's, it has a splatting, grinding distortion. Can't be modified to not have it , either. It uses surface mount electronics. And the "custom shop" script model uses the same board, MINUS the script switch. So good luck........

Seems sturdy.

When your warranty of one year expires, you can look forward to a bench charge of $50 for them to look at it for you.

this is not a bad sounding box with single coil vintage output type p/u's, but with hums? yikes!

I don't think I need to go into how easy this thing is to use.

I've had this for about a month and a half with weekly rehearsal, gigging use. I use it for my leads. I have it in a true bypass loop box (I do notice a change in my tone when it's inline and turned off) with a boost pedal. I activate the loop channel for my leads, and I think this thing sounds great! I have the knob turned almost all the way down with the 'Script' switch engaged, and I love what it does to my lead tone. Very nice swirl that makes my tone stand out a little bit more. The guys in my band love it too. I'm the only guitar player, so I wanted something to add a little 'something' when I was doing solos, and this is it. I also turn it up a bit for a couple of solos that require a wah (I'm in between wah's right now), and it does a pretty good impression. Beautiful swirl from this little box. I tried the same thing with the 'Script' button off, but I found it a little harsher sounding. But still, a great Phaser sound.

I have it on all the time because it runs in the loop box, but I would be wary of kicking it on and off all the time. The switch, knob, etc. are connected right to the board, so I think the board would be under undo amounts of stress over time if it was constantly being kicked on and off. Plus I like leaving it on for the awesome blue LED. I think it's going to be on my pedalboard for a long time, and I don't abuse my gear, but I won't rate this category because I don't have a frame of reference.

Don't know. Never needed to contact them.

I'm giving it a 9 overall, because of certain design aspects I don't like (above mentioned board-mounted components), and certain ones I love ('Script' switch, and you gotta love the Eddie strip job). For what I need it for, I love it. I'm sure you can do the VH 'Atomic Punk' sound effect, but I haven't tried it yet. I am a big EVH fan, which is why I bought this instead of a regular Phase 90 and mod it to 'Script' specs.

This pedal is very easy to use. Speed Control and "script" switch. It takes no time at all to get a good sound out of this pedal. Ya gotta love analog effects that are this simple.

I have fairly strait forward rig. I use mostly stompboxes. I have everything wired up in different loops though. I use a Peavey 5150 combo for my dirty/lead sound...and a peavey bandit 1x12 for clean. I use a morley aby box to switch between them. I have the evh phase 90 and an MXR Flanger that I recently purchased set up in loop via a Boss line selector so I can use them with either amp.....ok on the the sound quality. The only other phaser ive used a lot was a Boss. I think it was the ph-2. After using that I didnt really care for phasers too much. I found no practical use for the boss. For me..it just created a kind of "special effect". Something I'd never really use. The EVH Phase 90 won me over. I have to admit..I bought it online without ever trying it. Even if it didnt sound good Im a big enough EVH fan to warrant getting anyway. Upon actually plugging it in instantly loved it. It has a really nice warm liquid like sound. Thats the best way I can describe it. As mentioned in previous reviews....one of the coolest features is the script button. It basically changes the intensity of the effect. For the VH "Atomic Punk" sound try engaging the script logo button and setting the speed around 9-10 o'clock. There are also lots of cool sounds with button disengaged as well.

It seems to be built well in a sturdy little box. One thing here though.....when I recieved the unit and started trying it out. I was playing around with the speed and I noticed it seemed loose. I took off the knob and I seen that the nut that secures the pot was completly unthreaded....so I tightened it up. This has to be a quality control thing. At some point during production, it was some guys job to put the knob on the pot and he just stuck it on without even noticing that the nut was just floating there. No big deal really.....but after paying as must for this pedal as I did little details like this bug me.

Overall I would say this is a very good product. I think I will become a permanant part of my rig. Its one of those pedals that are just fun to play!

2 switches 1 knob.

Undeniably Awesome when on (script mode)
Cuts highs when off. at least in my signal chain (strat>t-booster>no master vol tube amp )Took the boost out of my treble booster, so much so I ended up returning it.
10 when on
4 when off

ALL componets mount to the circuit board. I prefer jacks, switches and pots NOT direct mounted to the board. This takes the stress these parts take off of the board and makes common repairs easy.
On par with BOSS as far a build quality but the paint chips easy.

Don't know

Dunlop,
(1)Dump the VH paint and powder coat the thing.
(2)I don't need my guitar effects to double as aircraft landing beacons. With the money you save put a true bypass switch on this thing and you got a pedal all others will be judged by.
P.S. put it in a Rotovibe case and in a few years you could buy Google.

This is probably the easy pedal I have ever used it is extremely simple.
Just turn it on and push the script button in and set it at 9 o'clock and bust out eruption!

My setup is a Marshall 1959HW re-issue with a Marshall 4x12 cab loaded with celestion G212's. Then I play an Ibanez JEM 77B with Evolution pickups instead of Breed,Charvel custom shop with an EVH pickup in it,A power brake,an Eventide H3000 Ultra Harmonizer, An Echoplex EP3, And a Fender Reverb. It is never noisy at all! It always sounds great because it never gets weak ( I use a power brick). This is instant Van Halen 1 Tone. It works great with Clean or Distortion it basically adds balls to anything. It makes tapping sound insane!

This thing could be dropped off the empire state building and be fine.

Never had any problems with MXR, Great Company.

Must have blows any other phaser out of the water. I would buy this again if it were to brake.

One knob, blinding blue light.

It would be nice if they'd put the AC adaptor jack on the back on the unit instead of next to the input.

I am submitting this review because: 1. I've had one for a year and it hasn't left my small collection of essential expensive pedals, and 2. I think it's completely unfair that several people below have submitted "1"s in this sound category to try to artificially lower the rating. If this is the worst phaser you've ever heard, go out and try the DigiTech HyperPhase or Boss PH-3, then come back and reconsider.

I tried every phaser I could get my hands on, and I kept this one.

The person who said that it sounded like a flanger is wrong. I hate flangers. This actually sounds more like a wah. It's very 'vocal' but at the same time liquid. Pure, in an analog way, though it eats up some of your bass. The effect is a little too intense, even in "script" mode; I would have preferred a more subtle sweep as an option. But I do like what's there.

Works equally well with clean and distortion, unlike other phasers (mmm PH-2) you can set it and forget it.

AWESOME on bass, maybe even better than it sounds on guitar.

MXR has been known for quality control issues; I think that they might have put extra care into this one, or Eddie would have kicked them out of Van Halen.

I actually had a question about a standard Phase 90; they got back to me via email within a few days.

I covered most everything in sound quality. I play arena-style rock with a Les Paul and a tube amp. It's neat, looks great, and is maybe just a little too intense, if I had a criticism. I am very happy with the unit, and it takes a privileged place next to my Maxon 9-series stuff.