Maestro PS-1A Phase Shifter

Easy. Rocker switches for speed. One rocker for on/off.

Can be spacey if you know where to tweak it. Can be lush with no whompf whompf whompf too if you know where to go.

I prefer the full lush sound to the deep rolling phase shifts myself. So I spent some good time tweaking the three little trim pots that are on the ciruit board to get just the beginning of dive and shimmer. Sounds awesome.

The pedal has to be on all the time or no signal will pass through it. Too, it takes some high end off your signal. You don't notice because the pedal has to be on, and when on, whether phasing or not, that high end is stripped away.

I replaced the on/off rocker with a stomp switch and have true bypass on it now. With the phase effect off (Slow rocker in off position), toggling back and forth between bypass and effect shows the tone suck clearly.

I also tried to increase the effect output volume by tweaking some components on the circuit board. Someone else may be able to figure it out, but when I finally got more volume, I'd added some distortion to the sound. That's no good so I put that back to stock values.

It's solid enough that I don't worry about support.

na

Get one. The phasers with the Balls and Speed controls are *not* the same. Those sound like you're playing in a cave at the bottom of the phase sweep. I put the trim pots on my Maestro Stage Phaser to their minimum settings and still got a sterile phase compared to the PS-1A. And the PS goes for $125 on ebay while the stage phaser will cost you $250.

THIS is the pedal used by Lifeson of Rush on those early albums. NOT the Balls/Speed pedals.

Easier than a three knob guitar.

Amazing!!! I have purchase 9 new pahse shifters...they dont cut it.

alomst 30 years old I broke the fuse hold when i dropped it. Still works great.

N/A

Steely Dans Josie sounds better with this

This is THE STANDARD by which all other phase shifters should be judged. Three buttons, slow/on/off, medium and fast speeds. What could be easier. (Note: the last of these phase shifters added an intensity knob to the top...not necessary...why mess with perfection?)

Thick and chewy phase shifting. Minimal noise considering the relatively cheap op amps used inside. The slow and fast speeds mimic the speeds of a Leslie rotating speaker, albeit a single rotor Leslie, like the Fender Vibratone, or Leslie 16. The thing even ramps up and down like a Leslie. For those who think the fast speed of a Leslie is too warbly, there is a medium speed.

This doesn't do the heavy, jet-phasing of a unit with more stages and heavy regeneration/feedback, but it's perfect as is.

30 years old and sounding great...who could ask for more. The design is actually and Oberheim circuit...a classic early synthesizer manufacturer.

Masetro was owned by Gibson, and schematics are readily available and I've found the folks at Gibson to be helpful with providing schematics. My Maestro phase shifter is actually built in to a Gibson/Norlin SG guitar amplifier...a real boat anchor with a SS preamp and tube power amp from the mid-late 70's. The phase shifter is the same board that is in the Maestro phase shifter and it also has the 6 pin plug for external switching. I built my own external switch.

But because Gibson put out such strange amps (8417 obsolete power tubes) and because their guitars are WAY overpriced considering the lousy quality control, I'll gig them a couple points.

I played in a band in the mid 70's...a hard rock band out of Minocqua WI called "Home Grown." We actually ran a whole backline of Norlin/Gibson SG amplifiers. The guitar amps had six 10" speakers and my bass amp had a 15" and two 10"s. I found a 4X10 version last year and bought it for nostalgia purposes and especially to get my hands on that wonderful phase shifter.

I play nearly anything, from classic rock, to country, bluegrass and metal. I also played in the worship team in my ex-church for 17+ years before getting kicked out. We did the usual praise choruses, and a lot of original praise and worship music. Being that the church had it's origins in the "Jesus Freak" movement in Southern CA in the late 60's, an effect like this fits the music perfectly.

A piece of the proverbial to use! An on/off switch and three large organ-like rockers like me mum used to have on her old electric organ! There's a six pin socket on the back for a dedicated footswitch to control the speeds - slow, medium and fast. Mine has the on-off switch that lights up to tell me the unit is on. I've seen others with a just a plain white plastic toggle switch. You can use the switches in combination but the slow phase switch must always be on - I suppose because it is the first stage of the effect. Cut it out and you'll get nothing. The unit always stays on - if you switch it off while connected to your valve amp you'll get a nasty, orrible crackle and everything shuts down! Leave it!

Right - first thing is that to turn the effect off when connected you just make sure that the rockers are not on - or just switch off the slow phase setting. It then behaves like a perfik gentlemen. Totally hush. Second thing - has anyone noticed that when you plug into an effect of this quality it improves the normal guitar tone? I get the same improvement from a J Everman lo-fi filter - try finding one of those on ebay! I got lucky. The Maestro makes my tone clearer and more solid when it is not phasing. Amazing. Wot about the effect itself? There really is nothing like this unit - beautiful, deep classic phasing and leslie effects. This has the deepest phasing I've come across yet. It is really difficult for me to turn this thing off. Any combination sounds bloody fantastic, even the fast ones and every sound is eminently useable. The unit is very big, but the way I set up my effects this really does not matter. Why sacrifice your sound for something that'll fit on your pedal board? Use yer loaf! I run it off a step-down transformer, cos I live in Blighty. It's AC aswell, so easy to add in yer chain.

The units from the early 70's. It works like a dream. The insides look like they were built by an audiophile. Strong casing, but you'd be a twat for stepping on the rocker switches. You'll break them, and your life will be in ruins until you got em fixed. Don't come crying to me then or any of the other reviewers here who have warned you off this dodgy practice. I reckon this is dead reliable - never let me down yet.

Support? That would be like calling General Motors about your model T Ford. However, simply looking at the integrity of the electronics, I reckon a good technician will know what to do if it needed attention. I'll give it a high rating because it looks easy to fix e.g. easy to replace each component seperately.

I play pop, funk and jazz with an experimental twist I guess. All my effects are table top so I can manually control their parameters while playing. I do not play in any convential way or style. I leave that to all the good-looking bastards with their button-down shirts.

Oh Gawd! I don't rate things 10/10 simply because nothing in life is perfect. Except for chocolate. I think that this unit deserves nothing less though. It is simply the best classic phaser sound I've ever heard. It's the sound from so many of my favourite songs. It's a sound that will always be useable - it adds a wonderful dimension and richness and sweetness to my tone. The sound of the maestro phase shifter has got me in a half nelson on this one and the ref has counted to ten. The bell goes and The Maestro wins! If I gave it less than 10, I would be in physical pain for weeks. And the guilt!

This was a great unit. I used to have a mic stand screwed into the plate on the bottom of it and kept it within arm's reach to turn it on or off, or to change speeds. The 6 pin plug in the back was for the optional footswitch. It had three "stomp box" type switches for the speeds, plus there was a white led lamp next to each switch that would light up to show you what speed your were on. The footswitch was rectangular, probably 8" long or so, and about 2 inches square, if my memory serves me correctly. The cord was hard-wired into the switchbox at one end.

I was playing a trio at the time..guitar,bass and drums with vocals.We played cover tunes....It was a great effect.I really enjoyed the way it would wind down when changing from fast to slow.

Bonehead simple- probably why I used it for so many years!

I bought one of these back in 1971, when they first came on the market, and used it well into the early '90's. During that time, I used a number of guitars, from a 59 Gibson Super 400, mid 60's 335 and 335 12 string (man what a sound that was!) to a strat. The sound never failed to please. The effect that I liked best was the Leslie simulation, with the "spooling up" between phase speeds. I almost always used it on the low speed, with accents supplied with faster speeds. The low speed "spread" my sound and made it thicker without really changing the color of the sound. The thing that made me give it up was getting a JC120 with its lush chorus. I am reacquiring another with an eye toward using it for the leslie effect again.

The original unit was like a tank. I used it for better than 20 years, and the only time it ever failed was when I accidentally kicked the on/off switch and broke it. I replaced the original switch with a toggle switch and we were back to the races. If only all my other gear was as simple and bulletproof!

N/A

Playing a variety of music, from country to folk rock to blues to jazz to pop, the Maestro PS1 was an integral part of my sound for the majority of my career(35 years). I think it sounds best with a large hollowbody played through a Fender tube amp, and I am obtaining another. As mentioned earlier, my favorite feature is the Leslie emulation that it does.

I'm just responding to one of the posts asking what the additional input was on the phaser. It was for a remote footswitch that was used to change the speed of the phaser.

Regards,
Chuck Bruce
charlesdbruce@hotmail.com

Doesn't get much simpler... I do wish I knew what the plastic jack on the back is for. Six holes maybe for six pins? If anyone knows please tell me, or just post it here.

Seems to me this is a very clean phaser. Used it plenty of times in the studio and sounds great on tape too.

Never had a problem, nor do I ever intend to.

Yes, please.

Works great, sounds great, easy to use, picked it up cheap. If I solve the mystery of the plastic jack on back, I'll give it a ten. If youhave a manual, let me know.

This phaser is very easy to use. It has three color coded rocker controls that you manually press to get your effect.

I use to own one of these until some looser ripped off my valued bag of effects. "vintage stuff" When I was using the phaser my set up was Maestro PS-1A,MXR Flanger,EH Big Muff Pi,EH Clone Theory,EH Deluxe Memory Man, and a Vox Wah. Those where the good ole days. Most of that stuff is gone now, but that was my set-up. The sound quality of the phaser was great, the best out there at the time. I bought mine new and was still one of the best phasers made. Very basic phaser, slow, medium, and fast with gradual change of speed when switching.

This unit was very dependable. Never needed a backup. Just dont stomp on the rockers, it's plastic. The unit is built very sturdy.

Never needed repair. Never had to deal with them.

The time that I had the unit I played jazz/fusion, some r&b and rock. I play "Contemporary Christian" now. I wish I still had the phaser. I've been playing for thirty-six years now and have owned some really great sounding effects. I now use mostly the Boss DD5 for delay, a Line 6 MM4 Modulation unit and a worthless piece of crap wah called the GCB95 Cry Baby.

What can you say Three buttons. DONT STEP ON THEM!

Here is my set up. Big muff->BOSS OD1 ->Boss TW1 ->Maestro paser -> DANO fish chips eq -> BOSS delay ->Guyatone Tremo -Crate amp. I was blowen away by how subtal the effect was. I know that I could adjust it internaly. But it was a nice breese to my small stones gail. I relay liked it the second I got iT. Dose not dirty the signal @ all But I do not like that if you turn it off you loose the signal going through it.

I bought it not working. After repaired by Ron Sound. I think it will last just as long as I do not step on the rockers.

NA.

I play smooth sigur ross / mello smashing pumpkins sort of sounds and this effect it great. Get one if you can!