MXR Phase 90

CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS POST:

As stated below, this thing has an internal trim pot. I do not recommend that you mess with it. It took me a long time to find it's original setting, and I had to A/B it with another one to get it perfect.

Also, I looked into a newsgroup to find possible mods to make the effect mellower. I found three mods in the newsgroup. I contacted Dunlop to confirm the mods and was told by them that they were accurate. Here are the mods:


To: customerservice@jimdunlop.com
Subject: Reissue Phase 90

Hi I was wondering if you could help me with a small problem I'm having with
my Phase 90. It seems to slightly boost my volume when switched on and also
seems to distort slightly at certain frequencies of it's phase cycle. Namely
the midrange tones. What can I do to "turn it down"?


There are few things you could try. First off, I do not know you technical
skills, therefore I hope the following maybe be helpful to you.

1) Removing the Pre and De-emphasis will result in a slightly higher noise
floor while raising the headroom at 1.3Khz +3dB and 7.2Khz +12dB. Procedure:
Remove C11 (.01MF) and C12 (680PF).
2) Removing the feedback around the Phaser circuit will diminish
regeneration. This will result in a mellower effect, reduce the midrange
frequency response, and sound more like the earlier SCRIPT MXR Phase 90s.
Procedure: Remove R28 (24K).
3) For lowering the overall effect output change R7 from 150K to a 100K
or -3dB reduction, R7 150K to a for -2dB reduction. This modification
should only be done in conjunction with modification #1.

Modifications #1 and #2 can be done separately or together.



I was only interested in the second mod, and could not find the resistor since it was so closely soldered to the board, and here was Dunlop's response:

Hello,

The resistor (R28) is the bottom resistor on top of the output jack to the left of
the stacked capacitors. This is if you're looking down at the board (top
view).

Contact Dunlop if you have any questions. Hope this helps.

One knob, but also a trim pot internal, so if you want to mess with that, it's a bit tricky.

Classic phase sound. Far better than the boss, which is metallic sounding, and doesn't work right with leads. Not noisy in my chain Strat >5 stompboxes >Super Reverb.

Originally bought a MXR Phase 100, but I didn't like the way it sounded. Not very natural and warm to my ears. This one is 10 times better.

No problems

Here's the scoop:

1. There is a trimpot internal to this effect. It's located at the top of the board covered in epoxy. I took the board out and was able to get to the pot from the other side. I was then able to remove the epoxy, reassemble and adjust to see what it did. Basically it kind of acts as a bias adjustment. If you turn it all the way to the left or right, there is no phase. Within the middle is where the phase is, and it's a very small portion of that middle, so any mild adjustment will have extreme results. The results are not one of effect level like some people think. What the pot does is make the phase wave inconsistent in its peak. Example, low peak, low peak, high peak, etc. Until you reach that sweet spot where the phase is consistent. Not having it set right also makes the effect sound rather thin and metallic, so after all of this fiddling, in my opinion, it's best to LEAVE IT ALONE (Hence, the epoxy, duh...). If you must tinker, be sure to mark where it was to begin with, because it will be very difficult to find since you don't have much room to play with.

2. Part of the reason why I messed with the pot was to determine if it had to do with level. EVH's phase always sounds subtle to me, and that's what I was going for -- one that I can use for leads that doesn't make people annoyed everytime I kick it on. After fiddling and that not working, I started searching the net on his setup to see if he had it modded in any way. I found a diagram of his setup, and noticed that he used it BEFORE his dummy load (back in the old VH), which was essentially providing his distortion. So, I put it before my overdrive pedal in the effects chain, and there you have it! A subtle sounding phase that works great for leads! Plus, it doesn't boost the overall volume in the chain either with it in front of overdrive. Having it after the overdrive allows for an overall boost, and the effect is much more dramatic and noticable, even at the lowest setting, so for whatever sound you are after, it is very important where you put this in the chain.

Its pretty confusing with all the knobs!!

I use les pauls and marshalls and some various old fuzz boxes and such. This pedal is perfect, Mine is a 1978 model right after the script logos. Kicks the shitty dunlop reissues right in the ass. Dunlop sucks eversince my crybaby stoped working, but thats another review. Anyway its real nice warm swooshy phasing and can sound good with any of the settings. To hear what it sounds like take a good listen to my god Jimmy Page's work on Physical Graffiti and Presence.
Especially "Nobodys fault but mine" and "In my time of dying". I think Dave Gilmour from Floyd uses one. I guess if I had to think of something bad to say it would be that it could maybe use a level knob.

This thing fells like a brick and I dont think it could break if you wanted it to!

I think MXR went belly up in the 80's so no comment but I will give a review for Dunlops shitty service. No one at that company gives a shit or knows a shit, which I experienced when I bought a crybaby.

Probably one of the best and most useful effect boxes ever. I play classic rock like Led zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Rush(by the way very useful in 2112)and its awesome. I would buy a new one in a matter of days. You should buy one!

Two words: ONE KNOB. Yup, my dog has been able to work this pedal with his paw.

one word: BEAUTIFUL. Gorgeous phasing, makes me want to spin in circles like a little girl.

Looks like it could take some hardcore stomps on it and still be okay.

I've actually dealt with Dunlop's Customer Support. SUCKS! They are quite quick on responding e-mails, but they tend to not answer much, and just send you a number to call. When you call, there is an infinite hold time, only to get a receptionist to answer, and LIE to you. I asked for a manual for my PHASE 90, just to have it, and the girl tells me "Suuuuure, what is your address so we can send you one". I give her my address and think, great, that was easy. I wait a month, I e-mail them, and they tell me there IS NO SUCH THING. They have NO manuals, they won't get done until SUMMER, they NEVER HAD manuals. Great huh? It's not a big deal, I just wanted a Manual, I have this thing where I need the Manual for everything just because it makes the product feel more complete. I just don't think it was good to lie to a customer like that, and for that, they get a 1.

This is a MUST have pedal for any guitarist, it just sounds pretty. Only two things suck, CUSTOMER SUPPORT, and the fact that it uses a 3.5mm ac adapter, which makes it pretty much impossible to add it on to a daisy chain for all your effects. If anybody knows of a way to save myself 15 bucks for ANOTHER AC adapter, please email me at Mvnkykee@hotmail.com. Other than that, sound is great. And you don't have to pay hundreds of dollars on it. Only getting a 9 because of Cust. Support.

This may be the wrong place for me to be writing this but, when I first got my Phase 90 I was using it with a strat type Pacifica with Seymour Duncan single coils and the sound was excellent.

Since then I have bought a Yamaha SG 700 with Seymour humbuckers and have had a real bad problem with distortion when the Phase 90 is on. So much so that I have to change guitar whenever I want to use the effect.

I have tried to rectifiy this by using coil taps on the pickups and even placing a compressor in front of the Phase 90. These solutions didn't work, the comp helped a bit but the Boss CS-3 I used seemed to suck too much tone from the guitar for me to use it.

Anyone else had this prob or know how to resolve it? i noticed another reviewer (tinebiter ) had experienced a distorion problem and maybe if he tried a different guitar it may solve his problem.

besides from this, with a strat type guitar I found the tone of the pedal to be very pleasing and it is so simple a child could use it.

DERRRR! One Knob come on!

Perfect! this pedal gives a slight increase in output so it adds a little distortion which works for this pedal. I feel the best way to use this pedal is with the speed knob at about 10 to 11 o'clock, here is where you will fin the sweet spot where it gives nice swooshing sound. the only song i can really imagine you would use this knob all the way up or almost all the way up is the beginning of "Nobody's Fault But Mine" by led zeppelin. Heres my setup.
Gibson Les Paul-->Phase 90---->Boss Chorus ensemble--->Maestro Echoplex--->Modified Mesa/Boogie Triple rectifier with Mesa cab loaded with Celestion vintage 30's.

There shouldnt be any problems with this pedal at all. I would trust it through a gig. It is very heavy for a little pedal so if it is dropped or something it should be pretty resilient.

never needed

If you play classics why would you buy any other pedal if this is the one they used? This should be the only pedal for phase it is perfect.

1 knob, couldn't be easier ... anual is useless (ahaha and in a box there was a Crybaby manual !).
Here's my setup: Fender American Tele std. -> Boss dd3 -> ProCo Turbo Rat -> Marshall Guv'Nor (MKI) -> Phase 90 -> Fender HRD.

Very nice sound, classic phase ... very low noise when turned on.
It's the sound i was searching: Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Incubus ... they all use this pedal.
I can get very interessant sounds when i use it with my delay.
BUT this reissue boosts the volume when you use it ... so when i use it with a Rat it's ok, but with the Guv' there is a big volume boost which is very annoying.
Without this boost i would give it a 10 ...

Mine is only 3 months old ... but seems very reliable.

no idea.

I mainly play rock/alternatif/experimental music and this pedal feets me well.
I really like the sound, the ease of use and the true bipass.
If it were stolen, i think i would buy it again, but not necassary brand new.
I only give it a 8 beacause of the price: here in France those things are really expensive ... without this and the slight volume boost i would have give it a 9.

Bonehead simple. Come on people, ONE KNOB?!? I think the real test is where to put it in your signal chain. Mine goes first, because if I put it after anything else, I get a very non-musical phase sound, which hurts my ears. My signal chain goes like this: Parker Nitefly-M > Phase 90 > Akai Shred-O-Matic > Guyatone HD-2 Harmonic Distortion > Prescription Electronics Yardbox > Line 6 DL-4 Delay Modeler > Reverend Hellhound.

Okay, there is the good and there is the bad. First of all, I'll start with the good. This pedal provides THE classic phase sound. It is also ultra quiet. I am not sure if it is true bypass, but it doesn't seem to degrade signal quality to any noticable extent. Now, as far as the sound quality goes, it is very good. Phase is a unique effect, and the Phase 90 is no exception. This is not a jet-type phaser, it's a more of a musical, tremolo-type phase that blends in very well with most guitar sounds. It is almost like a traditional tremolo pedal being run through a wah-wah, but not too dramatic sounding. Sprinkle on a little bit of swoosh and wobble, and there you go. Interestingly, I find myself keeping the Phase 90 on about 75% of the time at the very lowest setting. This setting gives me the phase effect without the noticable tremolo dip. The volume swell and loss of the tremolo part of the phase can be a little bit distracting, and at extreme settings the Phase 90 sounds a lot more like a traditional tremolo pedal. Now for the bad....not so much when at the lowest setting, but anything with the speed dial at 50% or more, whenever I play heavy strumming, I tend to get a muddy gain sound out of my Phase 90. I've posted this on some other boards and have been told that this is not typical of all Phase 90 pedals. But it can be very distracting, not to mention a bit disappointing. It seems most apparent when I have the gain on my Hellhound anywhere above 3. Other than that, I'm pretty pleased. I don't have any qualms about the lack of an output or depth knobs, I take effects for what the are, not what I think they should be. It's not terribly versatile, but what it does it does well. It's got the market on that clean, musical phase thing cornered. Again, I really love this thing with a clean guitar tone with the speed knob at the very lowest setting. Reminiscent of Siamese Dream Pumpkins, a la Rocket. Used sparingly and tastefully, this pedal would make a valuable addition to any setup.

Like all MXR pedals, this baby is built to last. I love the 'grainy' orange paint texture and the rubber knob that came with the Phase 90, to put on the knob for foot use. I'm currently using a battery, which is a small hassle to change out, but not unlike a ton of other pedals out there. Granted, it's actually better to have the battery secured in the actual box itself, keeps it nice and safe.

no idea.

As you could guess, I'm a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. I also dig Weezer, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, the whole early 90's alt.rock scene. I also have a flair for psychadelic surf music, a la The Mermen. Check them out if you love good surf guitar with a melodic twist. I've been playing for 11 years, and I'm very happy with my setup as it is, but I've still got a lot to go. I had to pawn my old set up, which showcased a Fender Custom Shop Vibro-King amp with A Stratocaster Plus with Lace Sensor pickups. Now I play a Parker Nitefly-M thru a Reverend Hellhound. The Phase 90 is a good pedal. Not spectacular, not life-changing, just a good pedal. It is the epitome of a single-effect pedal, it does one effect superbly, not a dozen variation of one effect adequately. It has its time and its place in any genre of music, and that is tits purpose. Not as a panacea, all-purpose device. If that is what you expect out of all your pedals, good luck. But the Phase 90 is one flavor of one effect. Nothing more, nothing less. And it does that flavor quietly, musically, with much tone and quality. Cool.

This is my second review for this pedal, and i must say that I get to love it more and more the longer I use it.

It's funny, I remember the first night I used it, I felt kinda 'seasick' just listening to the sound with the speed knob at the higher settings (i.e. 3 oclock and beyond).

But as the months went on, I dunno, I guess I've sort of gotten accustomed to that 'swirl,' which I've realized is that sort of quality that you can't find in other phasers or 'vibey' effects.

I have a friend who has a Voodoo Labs Microvibe and wasn't too impressed with its sound quality. As most of the reviewers on this site mentioned, the 'tone' quality varies from pedal to pedal. And my friend's vibe was not an exception. It kinda lacked treble.

Anyways, my fondness for the Phase 90 stems from that 'throbby,' pulsating swirl. When you develop tolerance to that 'seasicky' effect,you'll soon start hearing that effect in most of today's songs. Listening to most of the Motown and 70s records also made me more sensitive to that 'sound,' which I think this Phase 90 nails pretty well.

Now that I've heard Boss's VB-2 Vibrato pedal, I realized that the phase 90 actually has quite a variety of vibrato speeds crammed into that '3 o clock' to its maximum setting, so much so that the slightest turn of the knob makes a big difference in the speed!

Amazing! Really amazing! With a really good reverb unit, the phase 90 can stand alone as your sole 'modulation' pedal, and the different speed settings make it a gem!

This pedal i svery easy to use, i didint get a manual with mine but amonkey could wor it, i usually set it at 11 o clock to get a good swirl that wont make people dizzy

My main weapons are a gibson epiphone Les Paul and a Standard Telecaster >Vox Wah Wah >BOSS Chorus ensamble>MXR Phase 90> BOSS DD-% Delay> Marshall Amp. My favorite Bands are Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Stones,Guns n Roses,Bad Company, Hendrix etc etc.
I can get a perfect Jimmy Page sound with the mxr....well page sound circa physical graffiti and after, this little pedal was all over those albums.

There are 3 things i can depend on in my life...Taxes,Death,AC/DC never selling out, and this pedal not braking, its great

i get the pedal right away...never had to deal with the company so they get a 7

I play mainly classic rock or blues based hard rock, but i can play anything from folk to reggea to eastern influenced stuff.If this was lost id buy a new one... if it was stolen id hunt whoever stole and beat the crap out of them and make them buy me a new one because they use my old one, heh