MXR Phase 90

It's got one knob, for sweep speed, and a footswitch. A no brainer.

Like almost any phaser/flanger/chorus, the Phase 90 makes some swooshing noise. It also "thumps" softly at the "bottom" of every sweep -- totally unnoticable while playing. Fresh batteries are a must -- the Phase 90 starts to sound pretty weak even when the indicator LED is still strong.

The circuit itself has never fritzed out on me. But I'm on my third footswitch. I broke the first two under regular stage conditions. A "step-box," not a "stomp-box."

It was so easy for me to replace the switch myself that I didn't even contact the company. The warranty had expired anyway.

Despite the weak footswitch, I'd buy another one if mine gave up the ghost. It sounds fantastic. Picture "Eruption" by Van Halen or "Nobody's Fault but Mine" by Led Zeppelin -- those are both Phase 90. Supposedly, it sounds better than the Phase 100 (which includes a "width" knob), but I've never demoed a Phase 100. I use it way too much. I've used every Boss phaser, and the Phase 90 puts them all to shame. I give it a 10 because tone is all that matters.

This all depends on what is meant by "good". I found the MXR 90 to sound ok, but based on what other users have said, and the supposed "vintage" reputation it has, I was really expecting to be impressed, but I was dissappointed. The sound was "poppy",and by that I mean it boosted the pick attack sounds! This may sound off the wall, but I was comparing it directly with BOSS Super Phaser and BOSS Flangers on the same daisy chain. It was nearly as expensive as the BOSS pedals, but more difficult to get the "right", or to me, an acceptable sound. (This test was done with a Roland solid state amplifier with the settings all neutral/flat, and Les Paul Studio guitar.)

It wasn't noisy as such, it was OK, put it boosted any attack I had either with a pick or fingers. I couldn't choose much variation as the other users will tell you, just one knob. One thing I wasn't able to test was the sound of this pedal when cranked, in a live hall setting.

I didn't own it, I only tested it and compared it with about 20 other pedals, all on the same loop, so that my "ear memory" was excellent.
I've had friends who've relied on it for very big dates, and they've never complained.

Again, I'd recommend either the BOSS Flanger or the BOSS Super Phaser, due to the greater versatility and slightly lower prices. I've had a BOSS Chorus for 14 years, and it's never so much as hiccupped on me! By the way, I would say this, before you spend lots of money to get the "Script" Phasers or any of the other so-called vintage sound Phasers by MXR, consider that you're paying for the reputation, and in my opinion you're getting an inflexable old pedal/old technology, well used, for almost as much as a new, warranteed product with greater flexibility. You decide.

Very easy to use. One knob and a switch! I'm the eternal tinkerer. As soon as I realized that it was either on or off, I tore the guts out the little orange box to see how it ticked. To my delight, there was another control mounted on the single circuit board. I turned it (wouldn't you?). It turned out to be the bias control for the LFO that drives the sweeping of the phase shift. By changing the setting of the control, I could acheive a sort of manual sweep of the phase shift. Also, by changing the rate of sweep with the standard control to high, I could do some odd fades in and out of phased and non- phase modes. Immediately, I went about finding a suitable way to control this in the real world. Realizing that the poor little stomp box didn't have room for a second potentiometer, I transplanted the circuit board into a larger box and and added the second pot. By experimenting, I soon stumbled upon the stereo phase shifting effect. By connecting one channel through the unit and the other channel with no effect (okay, maybe a little reverb), I found I could acheive some cool 3D audio effects (try it with headphones, dude! woah!).
Oh yeah, the unit is easy to use.

Sound quality is average. Some hissing and swooshing, but if you keep the input signal high enough (pre-amp), the noise is minimal. Noise gets worse when battery is low. There's a cute story that should probably go here. I bought this box used. But,when I was shopping for a phase shifter, I looked at the MXR Phase 90 in a music store. The battery must have been low on the demo unit I tried out, because it would swoosh at the peaks of the LFO cycle. When I asked the salesperson about the noise, he said "oh, it's probably the drive motor..."
Needless to say, I thanked him and silently wondered "hmmm, drive motor... helloooooo!! anybody in there?"

Very reliable. Even in its state of being tinkered with (I finally transplanted it into a volume pedal to control the bias) it has performed reliably over 15 years!

n/a

It's cool, it's retro, it's wow, it's now. It's on many of my demo tapes. I used to use it with my '72 strat, but found it takes the mono output of my old analog synth and gives it more depth (when used in the stereo phase shifting mode L-wet, R-dry).

One knob. How eary is that

Nothing does classic phasing better than the MXR. Effect sounds good either pre-amp of in an effects loop. Beautiful analog effect

They dont make them like this anymore(do you here this Ibnanez) .sturdy metal construction, industrial grade stomp button. Stout!

Never needed any

I have a reissue & a script logo original. They sound the SAME. If you can tell the difference, than you have the ears of an owl. You cant get lusher than the analog MXR.

There's only one knob, which controls the speed. A mix knob would've been nice.

Sounds good no matter how you set it. (Assuming you like the '70s.)

This is it: the '70s. If you want to make a classic rock record, use this pedal. Some of the used originals are overpriced, though there are reissues now.