ToadWorks Phantasm

how hard is it to read the manual? it is only 1 page of instructions with the other side used to show suggested settings. so read it. you will be happy you did.

Now, getting a good sound from this pedal is not very hard to do. if you know phasers that helps, but i am used to the old phase 90 (only one knob), and i still didn't have any trouble with finding a few good settings right away. I toyed with the different functions and there are some intricacies to how the settings are used but, overall, you will like the sound of what you hear--it is so clean.

quiet. not quiet with a little hiss--quiet. and the sound quality of the actual effect is great. i use a Les Paul DC through a bunch of effects and into an old Supro Model 24 class A amp. The Phantasm sits right between a Fulltone '70s pedal and a BadCat 2-Tone. The '70s pedal gives me drive from behind the Phantasm, which sounds awesome, and the 2-Tone gives the out front drive--here the sound is a little weak.

the controls are give this pedal a flexible sound, even has a couple of additional controls inside that make it even more accomodating. you have options.

i bought this pedal not too long ago, so i may have to write another review later, but the Phantasm is built well and everything seems good. the one thing that bothers me is that toadworks did not build this pedal to be used with standard 9 volt adapters in mind--they admit that voltage from adapters varies and yet they did not build the pedal so that it could take anything but a very narrow margin of error when it comes to voltage used. so I had to buy a seperate power supply for the pedal. not cool.

they are pretty good. When i first ordered the pedal i listened in on the conversation between the store clerk and the shipper at Toadworks. Very friendly. I have not had to deal with them otherwise. I give them a nine because i'm a stingy b^$+#%@, not because anything went wrong.

I would probably buy another if i had to. i have had the phase 90 for a while and the Phantasm kicks its a$$. Worth the money. Don;t like the voltage perimeters, makes me feel that the pedal could have been built a little better, but i am not an elecrical engineer so what can i really say? It has a great sound, and that's what we're after right? well here it is. Pricey, but rockin.

First let me say that Ive been playing for 20 years, and Ive seen alot of pedal companies come and go. I was pretty sure Toadworks would be one of these. After playing the Phantasm pedal I have changed my mind, I think they are going to be around for a long time, and I think this pedal is going to become a classic.

It sounds amazing at almost every setting. I say almost because there are some settings where it doesnt do anything, mainly with the ACD and ASC on. Basically you have to read the manual. I had to read it twice before I understood how the ACD and ACS modes worked. When you use the attack-controlled modes, the Sensitivity knobs provide the starting point for the Depth or Sweep, so if you have the depth all the way down and you turn the ACD sensitivity all the way to negative, it doesn't do anything. Once I figured it out I was fine.

It comes with a 1 page manual, and on the back are 6 suggested settings, which is good. I started by setting it to to the suggested settings and I was getting great sounds in seconds.

I know how this is going to sound, but this pedal pretty much does every phaser sound there is. The key seems to be the Axis control, depending on where you set it it really changes the nature of the effect. I read the manual but I don't really understand what it's doing, they could do a better job of explaining that.

I compared it to my Phase 90, my Maxon PT999, my roomates MF103 Mooger Fooger and a Small Stone I borrowed from the other guitar player in my band. Phantasm did them all, with slight tonal differences, but the basic sound was there. Unless something changes Im going to sell the Phase 90, and Ill probably keep the PT999 as a backup.

The one thing it does NOT do is the noise - this thing has no noise at all. I read on their website that it was dead quiet, and it's true, I cranked my amp up all the way, and it didn't add any noise to my signal. I don't know how that's possible since every other phaser Ive ever used is noisy as hell. The website says its an optical phaser, I assume that means a photoresistor, but I don't know how that makes it quiet, but whatever it is works.

When I first plugged it in I was expecting a little more from the ACD and ACS, and again I had to read the manual. If you take the back off there is a trimpot to adjust the sensitivity of the attack controlled modes I adjusted it a little and it became very responsive. There was another trim pot that adjusts the output volume, it was already perfect so I didn't have to adjust it. None of my other phasers have that feature.

Im using a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue as my main amp and my backup is a Victoria 20112. The Phantasm pedal sounded amazing through both. I use a Carvin DC127, and it has really hot pickups. The Phantasm is only 9V, and I was worried about the headroom, but I couldn't make it distort, so I guess it's fine.

It looks like it's built to last, and I love the big metal knobs.

If it breaks they will hear from me, but somehow I don't think that will happen.

Like I said abve I have been playing for 20 years, and I thought phasers had gotten as good as they were going to. If the word gets out on the Phantasm, it will probably become the #1 pedal on the market, and if the word doesn't out, it will become one of the all time sought after classics. If it were stolen I would buy it again, finances permitting, it's a little expensive, but worth every penny. I mostly play rock, some space rock and fusion. The basic phaser sounds are really nice and organic sounding, but the attack controlled features make it alot of fun to play with and experiment.