Maxon PT999 Phase Tone

One knob. Stupid easy to use.

I wasn't going to write a review of this pedal because when I first got it I thought it to be so similar to a Phase 90 that it would required me giving my two cents. But it really is a very different sounding device - much richer, warmer and darker than the MXR Phase 90. I give it an eight just because it isn't true bypass and there is a bit of volume loss when you turn the effect on. I'm sure there are better Phasers out there. But Phasers are in no way a staple or foudation to my sound. I could easily get along without one. So, I've always been a fan of the Phase 90 since it is so cheap and easy to use. My last one busted a few years back. And I decided to get another. The place I usually shop doesn't carry MXR but they had the Maxon Phase Tone. It was a little more expensive but I have used some of there other pedals and have liked them so I figured what the heck. Well worth the extra 50 bucks. Way quieter, way smoother. Put it in front of your overdrive or distortion pedal and you get a really great expressive tone that seems to sort of react to your attack somehow. Put it after your overdrive or distortion effects and you get a rich super saturated sound that is really cool too. So if you just want a good little phaser to kick on every once in awhile then check this little guy out.

I own several Maxon pedals. Never had a problem with a one of them.

Never had to deal with them. Probably never will.

Like I said before, I'm sure there is a Phaser out there that is better - One that is true bypass, quiet as can be and can be adjusted to create all sorts of different sounds. So if you need every Phaser sound under the sun then maybe this pedal isn't for you. Still this little guy packs up more than just a few amazing tones. And its simplicity is a major bonus in my book - with only one knob you can easily adjust it inbetween songs if you want. Compared to a phase 90, the Maxon Phase Tone wins hands down. And compare to a Small Stone well, there really is no comparison there - Unless you really want a pedal that takes up twice as much room, is nosiy and really muddy. All I can say is that I never thought a Phaser would inspire my playing. This one has.

1 knob real easy to use

I bought this pedal along with the CP101 and the OD9 and the EH Small Stone. My setup SG Standard->Some type of phaser->Dynacomp or Analongman BiComp->TS808 reissue->Marshall JCM2000 DSL 401. This pedal is QUITE compared to other Phasers i have tried. But I hated the sound of it! It was more of a pulse not a nice wave sweep. Even at the slowest setting it really didnt impress me that much. But this is supposed to be another "subtle" effect. Its too subtle for me. I'm going back to the MXR Phase 90 thats been modded by Vodkamods with the "script" toggle. The PT999 IS NO MXR! The Small Stone has a much nicer sweep than the PT999 and I would have kept that too if it wasnt for the wicked volume drop when you switched it on and its noisy.

its a maxon so i'm sure its reliable. I would gig without a back up.

Never dealt with them

I play classic rock and hippie stuff. I returned all the Maxon stuff i bought so i dont have to worry about anyone stealing it. If it was the exact same as the MXR Phase 90 I would have kept the PT999 but it was too subtle for me. I would pass on buying this if you are looking for the Phase 90 sound. The Phase 90 was popular for a very good reason!

Just one knob.
If you don't get it, your parents were probably family-related before they were getting married. I feel sorry for you...

A tip for the Maxon people: tell some more about the tweakers!!!

I usually use:
Boss OC-2, EHX Small Stone Phaser (USA), EHX Guitar Synth, Maxon OD-808, EHX 16 second Digital Delay (reissue).

I was a bit scared when I read all those horrible reviews, but I decided to buy it anyway. Okay it has a smaller range than the Small Stone, but it a nice smooth, dark phaser. I maybe change the tweakers a bit but as far as I hear and play it now it is defenitely a surplus to my sound.

Looks solid. Tweakers are ease to turn and look solid (plastic yellow) too.

I trust the pedal, so I would gig without a back-up!

I upgrade the stuff myself. I don't ever reclame. I live in Belgium so the cost of sending it to Maxon is already as expensive as buying a new one.

I play music which is between Sonic Youth, Neu ! and the famous Belgium band : Dead Man Ray" starring Rudy Trouve (best musician, guitarist, check the first "dEUS" album Worst CAse Scenario and you will know why). The lines are truly drippin in oscilllated, phased and delayed surroundings if you knwow what I mean.
It fits my muscial style very well.

I've had three phasers: The Ibanez PT909 (broke down), Small Stone (USA), still in line, Boss PH-3 (sold it, sounds terrible like icecubes.

The PT999 is a phaser which (thank you Peter Sellers: I treuly leuve !!!

1 knob

Playing a strat thru a hot rod deluxe, with your usual assortment of pedals. I tired it before and after distortion. It made no difference. I hated it. Very bassy. Swirl much too subtle. Very dark sounding. There was also a noticable volume drop when on. I didn't try it with my band, but I'm afraid it wouldn't cut through the mix in a live situation.

It doesn't seem as sturdy as an mxr phase 90. The switch seems a little flimsy.

I returned it and got a MXR phase 90.

one knob. controls the speed of the "swirl". if you can rotate your wrist in both directions, you can immediately operate the pt-999 as well as a nashville session guitarist.

set-up: gibson s-1 w/lindy fralin p-90s > maxon pt-999 > fuzz/distortion pedal > custom-built 3-watt tube amp. everything powered up w/voodoo labs pedal power 2 & connected w/george l's cables. on the advice of robert keeley (on his website), i've been placing my phaser pedals BEFORE od/fuzz/dist. since trying this method, i have not gone back to my old practice of putting them after the signal clippers, like you would w/other modulation devices (chorus, flange, etc.). anyway, when i bought the pt-999 a few months ago, i really didn't think i'd post a review on harmony central for this unit. i was like, well, it's a phaser- everyone knows what they sound like. & this one only has one knob- i mean, how much advice on its use could i possibly offer? but lemme tell ya, the sound i'm getting w/ my set-up is hard to believe. hard to describe too. like a violent fixed-position wah, except there is a slight quiver in the tone caused by the phaser. is this sound exclusive to my set-up? the lindy fralin pick-ups? the particular fuzzbox i'm using? the ayan smooth & slim pedal after the fuzzbox? the low wattage of my amp? who knows. but i felt i would be remiss if i did not at least mention this possibility to the guitar-playing (& harmony central-reading) public who own this pedal.

since i use the voodoo labs pedal power, i remove the batteries from my effects pedals as soon as i get 'em, to avoid any possibilities of the battery corroding in the pedal housing & fouling up the device. when i removed the battery from the pt-999, i marveled at how light (in weight) the pedal was- easily the lightest pedal in my collection. nevertheless, the pt-999 is plenty rugged enough to take a pounding. not that i intend on dishing out any abuse. i mean, come on. don't be a dork. if you feel a need for gettin' all aggro, don't take it out on your guitar pedals- that's what punching bags are for.

maxon pedals are distributed in the states by godlyke. the on-line store that i often buy my pedals from is pedalgeek.com. both of these companies are outstanding. really, they care about you. worthy of your biz & dinero.

i currently own two maxon pedals, the other one being the af-9 auto filter. if i were made of money, i'd probably buy every item in maxon's "vintage","reissue", & "9" series of pedals. i get the feeling from what i've read about these pedals, both in guitar magazines & here on harmony central, that the whole line of products they put out are top-notch. i believe the whole "boutique"(hate that term) & "modded" pedal industry is really only making pedals that are about the same (sonically speaking) as the maxons are right outta the box. sure, the maxon pedals ain't cheap, but it sorta amuses me the way they don't have anywhere near the rep of the aforementioned limited -run & modified pedals that come in at around the same price, or even higher. but hey, i'm not gonna lose any sleep over it or nuthin.

Just TRY to put cables right way... One knob... So this is siple and eaysy.

This in incredible phaser. It sounds so beautiful everywhere. With Diffirent analoq syths.. With diffirent guitars and amps and also with bass, because it does not reduce bass levels... No matter what amp (guitar or hi-fi) you plug this in this rocks.

Quite tranparent sound. Just little beautiful wobble, not HUGE ower-effect that allways attracts your attencion. NO! Just that little swirl that makes your sound more intresting.

No matter what equipment... No matter what knob position... BEAUTIFUL.

Mayby not best effect for HUGE amount of distortion or overdrive, but seems to wobble them little too.

Wery realiable. Nothing can go wrong.

What ever music style.. What ever equipment... This has something little to offer to it.

Announcing....My simple, informative review of the PT999.*

Or, how I wrote a review without being a dork!

The PT999 has one knob, for phase rate. If used stock, it couldn't be easier. Power up, plug in, play.
However, if you want to tweak the internal trim pots, you have to take the pedal apart. Totally worth it, more on this later.

I've got a vast pedalboard with lots of true bypass effects and some that aren't. I use mainly a Les Paul into a Boogie Nomad amp.
This phaser has the classic Phase 90 script sound everyone wants - the early Rush, Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, etc. from the 70s. You can get everything from soft rolling to harsh warbling and everywhere inbetween. As many have said, I found it to be somewhat transparent and subtle, so it doesn't overpower your guitar sound. And it's quiet, no annoying swoosh when you are not playing.
BUT, it does suck tone! Robs your highs and lows when not in use. No, it's not true bypass. There is no way I would use it if I didn't have some sort of true bypass looper. I use an Aspect Design Labs (the original pedalboard.com) SwitchBox to keep the PT999 and a couple other pedals out of the signal when not in use. I'm shaving some points because of this.
The stock sound is really pretty good, but to my ears it sounds a little too compressed. Fortunately, you're not stuck with that. If you take off the back of the pedal, and then unscrew the circuit board from the housing VERY CAREFULLY, you can see all of the innards. The trim pot for compression is near the top left corner. I turned this pot counter clockwise just slightly, and I heard the difference. Less compression and the dynamics of my playing was restored. I like the sound better after this tweak, but others may not. My thanks to the previous reviewers who discovered this and wrote about here.

Built well, flaw free. Small size fits pedalboard easily. But it's a mass-produced product, not a hand-wired boutique. I haven't had it long enough to rate its reliability.

Maxon has a good informative web site with lots of sound samples. Other than that, I haven't dealt with them.

I compared the PT999 to the newer MXR Phase 90 and the Guyatone PT-3. Of the three, the Maxon gets me the closest to the classic 70s phase sound that I want. Of course, it is the most expensive of the bunch. I wanted to try a MXR EVH Phase 90, the one with the "Script" button (which I suspect is just an on/off toggle for the legendary R28 mod) but nobody has them yet.
Anyhow, it's a pricey box but it sounds good. A keeper.

Dirt simple: one knob.

See below.

Felt insubstantial.

Godlyke is very good about answering questions. They're the US
distributor of Maxon products.

Announcing...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE GREAT 2004 PHASER SHOOT-OUT* ! ! !
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I got a whole bunch of phasers, determined to keep one. That was
the MXR Phase 100. I returned this one. My styles are rock, metal,
some classic rock. I am an analog snob, and I typically use Maxon
N9NE series effects.

For the shoot-out, I used a Schecter Blackjack C1, with a Seymour
Duncan JB in the bridge and a Duncan '59 in the neck. For the amp,
I used my ALL TUBE crate 50 watt combo (VFX5112). No other effects
were used in the chain. The phasers went right between the guitar
and the amp, not the effects loop. Here are the results:

Dunlop-reissue MXR Phase 100: A+, the clear winner. This is a 10
stage phaser, unlike almost every other model tried. PROS: A wide
variety of sounds, but most of all, CLARITY. Every other phaser
sucked all the treble out of the tone, and most of the bass. This
one preserved it, though it took some mids out. I was wary about
buying this at first, since everyone on HC was slamming Dunlop's
reissues. But the sound quality here is great. It handled the JB's
high output just fine, unlike some of the other models, and it
actually made sounds that I wanted to listen to! CONS: AC adaptor
jack is on the side, which is odd, and the jacks don't give a
satisfying "click" when you plug in. Also, there was no manual in
the box, rather, a Crybaby wah manual...a really lame marketing
scheme if you ask me! Wahs annoy me, and I won't buy one. If I
did, I'd test a bunch out. But this pedal restores my faith in
MXR. The BOTTOM LINE? A GREAT phaser--the sound samples on the
web don't do this justice! It's bright, and very clear.

RUNNER UP: Maxon PT-999: B+. This was a four-stage phaser, and of
that kind, it was the clearest. Very transparent, and the effect
became part of your tone. BUT, it sucked most of the treble out and
some of the bass as well. The physical construction of the box
was solid, nice "clicks" when you plugged it in. But because it was
small, I feared it getting battered about. There was only one knob,
to control the rate. The depth was, I guess, supposed to be set at
the best range. And it's hard to argue with the setting. The
BOTTOM LINE? If you want a dark, transparent, classic phaser, this
one is great! It just wasn't the sound I was looking for.

HONORABLE MENTION: Guyatone PS-3, C+. This would have been an
acceptable phaser. It's cheap enough, and it does have a separate
depth control (in addition to rate). This pedal does let a lot of
high-end through. It wasn't anywhere near as good with distortion
as the Maxon PT-999. It sounded like it was fighting the distortion.
Remember that I'm using tube-based preamp gain here, the real stuff.
Decent for clean sounds, very crisp compared to the Maxon, but it
did drop some bass and treble out. This worked okay with humbuckers,
although the JB would cause it to fizzle out when I whacked a high
note. The phasing would gradually creep back into the sound as the
volume level faded out. It was better with the '59. The BOTTOM
LINE? This would do in a pinch! It has a different sort of envelope
than the others and might be an interesting sound to have. People
are freaked out by the rubber ring that holds the battery compartment
on, though. Me, I use adaptors, so it's not an issue.

VOODOO LAB MICRO VIBE: C, just average. It really darkened up the
tone, pulling everything into the mids. It handled the distortion
the same as the Guyatone. Clean, it was not as crisp, so it gets
lower marks. It was very close in tone, and about twice the price
of the Guyatone, and so it was much less of a bargain. The BOTTOM
LINE? If someone gives you one, say thank you. Otherwise, save
your money. It's a good phaser, but not $150 worth.

DIGITECH HYPER PHASE: D-, that's still a passing grade! Yes, I am
an analo

One knob.

The best phaser I've ever heard. I give it a 8 instead of 10 becuase it's not true bypass. Nor is there room inside the pedal to mod it for true bypass. I had to buy a Keeley True Bypass Looper so it wouldn't suck my tone. I found I lost a good amount of high end becuase of the bypass system in it. But don't be mistaken, I'd NEVER get rid of this phaser. It's killer!

I've gigged with it for a while now. No problems. Good solid switch and jacks.

Never had a problem, so I've never contact Maxon.

Killer phaser for vintage-type phasing. If you need a superb sounding phaser without lots of crazy controls and options (and if you don't mind losing some high end or buying a true bypass looper), this is your phaser! Great tone!

One knob. Doesn't get any simpler than that.

I was really impessed with this product, and have been very impressed with the whole Maxon line of effects. There seems to be an ever so slight volume drop when engaged (as other reviews noted), but it is negligable at best. Sounds way better than any new phaser I've tried (MXR, Boss, etc.) and nails that vitage sound like Dave Gilmour and Jimmy Page on Physical Graffitti (The Rover, In My Time of Dying).

Seems to be pretty solid. The battery rolls around abit, but that's not unusual. The switch was alittle loose, though. I tried tightening the nut down, but that didn't solve the problem. I can't see that creating any problems in the near future.

Never had to deal with them.

Overall it's a killer pedal. A little pricey, but you get what you pay for. I have a pretty basic setup; American Deluxe fat Strat or Yamaha SBG 700s fitted with Gibson '57 Classic Plus pickups or my good ol' Danelctro DC-2 (black and white like Jimmy's) through a Mesa Boogie V-Twin Bottle Rocket, Line 6 DL4, Boss Super Chorus, Ernie Ball Volume and a Crybaby into either a Laney LC15R or my '67 Bassman head. I'd wouldn't think twice about replacing it if something happened