Product: Maxon Roto Phase 1
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
09/25/2006
at
06:38am
by
your mother
Ease of Use
:
10
This is a classic and little known Maxon pedal. I believe it predates the Ibanez distribution deal that gave us the OVER DRIVE and OVER DRIVE II. It has the narrow box, no LED, pin strip and stomp switch configuration like those two pedals. Mine doesn't even say maxon on the outside, just on the inside.
Here is the owners manual. All Capitalizations, quotes, stars are from Maxon.
FEATURES
* TRUE "DOPPLER EFFECT" SOUND
This phase shifter electronically simulates the sound of a rotating speaker, or "Doppler Effect". It gives an added dimension to the sound of any electric guitar, organ or synthesizer.
* ADJUSTABLE SPEED
The speed of the Phase Shifter is easily set anywhere between one cyle every five second and five cycles a second.
* COMPACT
This Phase Shifter fits easily in any guitar case and weights about a half pound.
*LONG BATTERY LIFE
This Phase Shifter delivers up to 70 hours of excitement on one 9-volt battery
HOW TO OPERATE PHASE SHIFTER
1. Connect the output of your guitar, organ, synthesizer etc. to the instrument jack of the Phase Shifter. This turns on the electronic circuit.
2. Connect the input of your amplifier to the amplifier jack of the Phase Shifter and WARM UP the Phase Shifter about 10 SECONDS.
3. The Phase Shifter can be changed from phase shift to normal sound by simply pushing the switch.
4. Turning the Phase Shifter speed knob clockwise will increase the rate of phase shift. Turning counter-clockwise will slow the phase shift down.
A long way of saying it's got speed knob and that's all.
Sound Quality
:
No Opinion
This thing was a great surprise. If I had to pick one word it would be PURE.
It is at the same time deep, lush and very transparent (which may seem like a contradiction). No change in volume. No muddiness. All the frequencies are there and ring out with clarity.
The waveform it uses is interesting it is a triangle but it sounds kind of asymetric. It's hard to explain but it is what gives it the feeling of movment that most phasers don't quite have.
Reliability
:
10
It has to be over 30 years old. Works like new.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I love everything about this pedal.
Product: Maxon Roto Phase 1
Price Paid: US $20.00 used
Submitted
03/25/2001
at
11:28pm
by
Anonymous
Ease of Use
:
10
As far as ease of use, very simple. One control for phase rate and one control for active/bypass. Can't really muckup this setup.
Sound Quality
:
10
The placement of the controls and the case are almost identical to a MXR Phase 90. However, that is as far as the similarities go. This orange box emanates a deep rich phase effect with much more depth than an MXR. Maxon got pretty close to "the Leslie sound" which all phase effectors' are designed to replicate. This sucker is from the early '70s and apparently a limited production run at that.
Reliability
:
10
Maxon build quality is ridiculous. Compared to the MXR Phase 90, the Roto Phase beats the hell out of it. The component board is a case within the case. It uses a clickless fet switching system unlike the MXR's noisy hard bypass, yet, these were undoubtedly competing models at the time. I haven't had a single problem with the unit. I might add if you put a half dead battery in it, it yeilds some pretty
interesting distorted delay/quasi-phase effects.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I can't seem to find much info about this piece. What I did find is that it's super rare and brings quite a bit of scratch on the 'net. Other than that the ORIGINAL Maxon that made effects and related has long since been defunct.
Overall Rating
:
9
This item is used in a studio environment quite often and would be missed. However, I don't think its worth shelling out the big bucks($200+ when you can find one!!!) to replace it. If you have one A/B it
with the MXR, you will be impressed. If you don't have one and you get the jones to get one, expect to pay a bunch. Or just get a real Leslie!!!
