MXR Phase 90

One konob and a footswitch.

Sound quality is excellent when being played. Minus two for the clicks when taking a pause between bursts of sound.

This is a metal unit with sufficient protection around the electrical bits. However, I subtract 1 point because the speed knob fell off. This is an original, so I guess it is between 20-30 years old, and still sounds great, though I worry because one knob could foreshadow other disasters.

Hear they are defunct, but I am not about to call over a plastic knob that is more ornamental than necassary.

My goal with music is to put people in a trance. I could care less about textbook and/or scholarly playing. For what I do, the Phase 90 works well, one depth, various speeds. If your goal is to recreate sounds or rehash tried and stale styles buy a digital phaser, otherwise find one of these and get to work. I paid 30 bucks to my roomate who had trouble making rent, so it was a bargain for me, I do believe that they usually sell for in excess of $100.

There is no way in hell you couldn't figure out how to work this box. There is a on/off switch and a speed knob. The only thing you might have a problem with is unscrewing the back to put the battery in, but if you can't do that......

I use a Epiphone Les Paul and a Fender Solid State amp. This thing sounds wonderful with anything. I've played it on a couple of other guitars and amps, and whatever the hell you play, the Phase 90 will do it for you. It's not noisy. It always sounds great. Van Halen uses it, Radiohead, Hum, etc...
The only gripe I have is that the Phase 100 is better. If you can spend the 40 more bucks to get the P100, do it.

This thing is strong. Metal. Throw it at the bassist and the only problem you'll get is that he will yell at you. And if worse comes to worse, you can always knock him out with the thing. The only bad thing is that this thing eats batteries like a bitch.

MXR is a out of buisness company bought out by the jerks at Dunlop. I would just buy a used one if mine broke

This is a good buy, but the P100 is better.

One knob, Speed, and a light. No fancy names or gimmicks, you would be hard pressed to find anything else this easy to use. I hate having the tweak controls to get a good sound so I love the simplicity of this thing. The rubber stopper on the knob is useful if you want to change settings during a song.

I use the Phase 90 with a Distortion + and an old MXR noise gate thats been beaten to crap from a pawn shop. I run them serially into a Fender Princeton 112 from either my Epiphone Sheraton or my no name strat copy i've got tuned F#F#GGAA. Despite the apparent lack of control you have over the pedal you can create an amazing array of effects from it from a slow meandering to an intense warble. With a bit of distortion this thing just inspires creativity. My only gripes are the lack of control over intensity and that when left on and your not playing I've noticed that it thumps in time to the wave which is more noticable on the higher speeds.

It is a re-issue and know how crappy the buttons on Dunlop wahs get after awhile but the thing is built like a brick shithouse and if it stuffed up i'd seriously look out the window for the four horsemen of the apocalypse. I was actually looking for a chorus when I bought it second hand at $80 off the new price and the damn thing don't even have a scratch!

I've never dealt with them and I hope I never do cause dealing with american companys from australia is a nightmare.

I've always wanted to own one of these things and couldn't be happier now that I do. It does the riff to the Diamond Sea beautifully and is great for distortion soaked punk outings. I'm probably killing my amp doing this but combining the amps distortion with the gain around 4 (which is wonderful with some reverb) and the distortion + maxed out with the phaser at half mast gives this incredible oscillating horn like bellow that is completely useless but is delightfully frightening.

This is a no-brainer, one knob, no tweaking to do here. Honestly though, it can't be any easier, left for slow, right for fast.

Personally, with my setup (70's Les Paul Custom, Marshall Combo), this pedal gives the richest, thickest sounding phasing I've ever cared to hear. Always a prominent effect when switched on, I don't understand why people whined for so many years about no LED, you KNOW when this thing is on... The best part is that it sounds just as amazing clean as it does with distortion. (I use it with a Big Muff reissue, these two together are heavenly!)

If you've got a fresh battery in this thing, I wouldn't worry about a backup, and as far as durability, it's a tough little orange box.

Never had to deal with them, I don't think I will. Even if I do, I have a reissue Phase 90, so I can talk to the people at Dunlop.

I would definatly buy this again (even though I don't think I'll have to), all things about this pedal are great (read above babbling). I tried a Boss Super Phaser before buying the Phase 90, and it doesn't even compare! (Again, the tweaking factor) I have to warn you, you will get addicted to this pedal, so BUY IT SOON!

It only has one knob but there's so much you an do with it.. When I first saw it I figured one knob? What can you do with it.. I have a Boss rack phaser with many more features and the Phase 90 blows it away!

It is noisy.. on Distorted type stuff anyway.. Who wants a clean Phaser?? Great for getting that Van Halen 1 phase tone wih the speed down.. Instant disco with the control at 12 o clock!!My only complaint is that the LED won't fade the unit will just put out a weaker signal..

I've never had any reliability problems and I've toured Europe and the States!! Yes I would use it on a gig without a bakup

Never dealt with them..never had to

10 Never heard phasing this fine.. It's impossibly easy to dial in great sounds.his is the coolest stomp box I've ever had!!

Only one knob to use--- it doesn't get easier than this.

I've never owned an original MXR phase, so I can't compare it to the original. However, I have owned different brands of modern phase units. In my experience, this pedal sounds a lot thicker and warmer than any BOSS or IBANEZ phase pedal I've stomped on. Great for funk guitar! If you set it at high noon, and play the intro to Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar," your neighbors will think David Gilmour dropped by to have tea with you. This pedal also sounds absolutely gorgeous when hooked up to a Fender Rhodes piano!

"Takes a licking, keeps on ticking..." I've dropped it many times, and it still sounds great.

none, yet

The only other brand of phase that sounds as good as this, in my opinion, is a 2-knob model by ROSS (not Boss). A friend of mine owns one, and he tells me they are quite hard to come by. Considering most users of this are not high-paid rock stars who can dish out mega-bucks on stomp boxes, I give the phase-90 highest marks due to great sound, accessibility, and decent price.

Speed control. That's all it has and that's all you need. Slow swoosh all the way to mach one. I own an original block logo and have the box, manual, and warrenty card.

The truth is the Phase 90 is a one trick pony. Without depth or regeneration control, phase is all you get. New DOD and Boss pedals have so much control they can all sound alike if you tweak the knobs correctly. But hey, do you want phasing or what? Sound is top notch. Classic 70's rock and British gothic and pop tones. Slight noise when on. Make sure to use a fresh Duracell at all times. This pedal will lose it's definition when the battery starts to wear out.

I own a late 70's block logo. Never a problem in it's twenty year life. The reissues are known to have problems, but they are made by Dunlop, so that should explain everything.

MXR went out of business. Now that's shitty service. All kidding aside, call Dunlop since they own they rights to the reissue. They rate low for service and they think their reissues don't sound different than originals. They are wrong.

I love mine. I recommend to all interested parties to search out an original block logo. They average $100 and that's $30 bucks cheaper than the reissue. The Script logo have a weaker regeneration rate and therefore sound weaker. Block logos also handle loud volumes better than script, which have a tendency to get lost in the mix. Reissues do sound close(80%), but no cigar. There are sound variations in each unit. If you can demo two or more, check them all.

The reissue Phase 90 is VERY easy to get a good sound. Since it only has one knob, there are many different speeds to choose from without any problems.

The unit is not too noisy. It works well with both clean and dirty sounds. If you turn the speed knob completely off (to the left) you can get Edward Van Halen's early sound! I have always played along to the first Van Halen album and have always been dissapointed with my sound until I got this pedal! It sounds just like the record. If you turn the knob straight up (12 o'clock setting) you get a cool, clean funk guitar sound. At about 3 quarters up you can get a decent Univibe sound!!! Try playing along with Robin Trower's "Too Rolling Stoned" to see what I mean! The sound quality of this pedal and my MXR Flanger are some of the finest pedal sounds I have ever heard. The Phase 90 is easily one of the best sounding and most versatile stompboxes I have experienced.

The Phase 90 is quite reliable but the footswitch itself is weird sometimes. Meaning, if you don't press down hard enough the effect makes a slight noise through an amp. I've only owned this pedal for 1 year and haven't had any problems with it. I use the Dunlop adapter.

I have never dealt with Dunlop personally so I can't say.

Absolutely. I do not like turning the Phase 90 off! It sounds too good! If you want a part of the early Van Halen sound then you have to get one!

Much easyer to use than the first version of the same box cause they've added the indicator light so you know if it's on and they've also added the 9v jack. One switch on / off one dial for speed

they've added the silent switching feature which is good but they've changed the level of the effect so the new version is too much of a boost in my opinion, so you can't really just slip intoit any more, but the effect still sounds good.

my first version broke only cause I put it through hell by trying to hard wire a power supply to it.

N/A

I would love to have the skematics for the older version that I still have. Then I would replace burnt resistor of the old version and install the guts into the newer shell.

The phase 90 has one single knob and the bypass switch, so it's a stripped-down, easy-to-use pedal. The control (speed) is very reactive and responsive and has a good feel.

Like I said, the speed control is very responsive and the pedal sounds great overall. Swooshie Sweepie!!

Well, I just bought it new, so I don't know. But I can tell you that is it is solidly built and hard as a rock, so I don't expect any problems.

It's relatively cheap and sounds great. Even with only one control you can get a wide range of sounds, all great. I would buy it again in a minute!! You should have heard me at the store. When the tone inspires you to play better, that's when you know you've got a deal. That's what it's all about, right? Inspiration!!!