Vermona PH-16

Very easy to use. Dial some knobs and experiment. Haven't found bad, uninteresting sounds yet. It is a little more difficult for me still to design predicated sounds. But I'm sure I will learn with time. Only own it for a few weeks now.

Beautiful sheer analogue bliss.

I love the sound. I'm a phaser fetishist and have lots of phasers. I'm considering all the other ones... But then again, my phaser lust wont allow me to... Anyway, a phaser is a weird kind of equalizer / tone shaper, if the LFO is off, as the Vermona allows one to do. I'm dialing in all kinds of weird and beautiful guitar tones, then turn on the lfo and be flabbergasted. Use a CV pedal for some more fun...

Don't know how old it is, but it still works. It feel rugged and heavy. Must be lots of electronics in there...

Dunno.

I bought it ridiculously cheap. For what it can do and how it sounds, it shout cost at least 5 times that much. Do they still make them? If not, I'm sure they will become much more expensive soon, once the word spreads. Would I replace it? Sure I would.

The rating isnt so much a reflection on the design as to say that, by it's very nature, this is harder to use than most phasers. A phaser pedal might have a max of 4 or 5 knobs - the PH16 has 11 not counting the input gain so mastering it is going to take a bit more time. That said, the front panel is laid out logically and follows the signal flow from left to right, everything is clearly labelled with no jargon, and the manual is good. Once your familiar with it it wont take more than 20 secs or so to get the sound your after, although longer periods of experimentation usually bear fruit too.

I've had to be harsh not to give this a 10. To my ears it's damn near perfect. Beautiful, rich phasing across the stereo field. Hearing a Rhodes through it is heaven. I'm not a total analogue freak but I do think top notch analogue gear has a rich, oozy texture that no digital emulation can recreate - i can only compare it to painting in oils. The PH16 is firmly in that catagory. The only possible gripe is that it doesnt sound nice when it clips, but as it's not in any way marketed as a distortion box that is being very very picky on my part.

I dont gig with it and it's bolted into my studio rack at home where not much harm can befall it (hopefully). That said it's never let me down in any way and I do use it quite a bit. So it's another fence-sitting 7.

Never had to contact Vermona. Their website is helpful, but I cant offer any more insight than that.

I make a broad range of electric music - I do a lot of media commissions and sound design so everything in my studio has to have a distinctive character yet not be too niche. I also insist that all my outboard gear has a quality that cant be emulated in software, to justify the resources it consumes (rack space, power, audio channels etc). I originally got the PH16 because it came up at a good price and at the the time I was working on a project that required a lot of Electric Piano. I was skeptical about how much use it would be once the project ended but two years later it's still here, and I've been really suprised by how useful it is for all sorts of stuff. Because it's so flexable, you can take it well out of the range of a standard phaser - you can disconnect the modulation and use it like a boost only EQ because it has seperate tune controls for each filter. It has an envelope follower so you can mangle beats with it, as well as getting really cool wah wah. And it's stereo - I regularly stick submixes of backing vocals and synth pads through it to give them some more movement between the speakers. the CV is also well implemented and it works well with my other modular stuff. And as I've said, it sounds superb. To sum up, it seems to be a toss up between the PH16 and the Big Briar for quality analogue phasing - I cant comment on the Big Briar sound because i havent used on but i cant how it could really improve on the PH16s sound and for flexability and useability the PH16 wins hands down. I would recommend the PH16 to anyone who plays electric piano, psychadelic guitar, want to liven up their digital sounds or just wants a unique and versatile new effect.

The controls are easy to use and understand. The Phase knob controls the fixed amount of phase shift that you get before you add the LFO, EG or CV. This is missing on many phase shifters. It's very powerful but you need to pay attention to setting it right. Often, it's best to have the two channels tuned together: crank the Feedback for both channels and adjust Phase 'til they scream the same note.
I like the way many of the knobs "go to 20", especially the LFO depth, which can go insanely high. One exception is the EG modulation of LFO depth and speed--it's good but it could be more intense.
You can plug a guitar directly into the front input.
The EG follows a summed signal of input 1 and 2.
Most of the manual has been translated into English. :) But it's all clear and easy to understand, even if you don't know any German.
Minor point: the positions of the Feedback and Phase knobs for Phaser 2 are reversed compared to Phaser 1, for symmetry, but it would be less confusing to use if they weren't reversed.

My favorite setting (so far) is the true stereo 8-stage-per-side phasing with the LFO in opposite phase on each side--a lush, rich, sweet Leslie-like sound. The Phase knobs for the two channels should be tuned together to make this work best.

I've had it a few months. So far it looks solid.

Out of the box, the two channels responded differently to the EG and external CV (but not to the LFO). Vermona sent a schematic and PCB diagram the next day, and I found the problem--an extra resistor on the board that wasn't in the schematic. I jumpered it. Strange problem, but they've probably fixed that now. They were very responsive and helpful.

It's a quirky instrument, with a lot of potential for strangeness and beauty. The nearest competition that I know of is the Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser. The Moogerfooger can make some very nice sounds but doesn't have as many options: it's not true stereo and opperates in 6- or 12-stage rather than 4-, 6-, 8-, 12- or 16-stage.

This rackmount unit is pretty well equipped with loads off knobs and functions but is reaaly easy to operate. Everything is clearly labeled and is pretty straight forward. Remember this is an analog unit and not digital so hands-on is the case. No little LCD screens to get all confussed with. The manual is also helpful with graphs inside describing the effect possible. There is a CV connection so the effect can be controlled by a pedal.

Excellent sound quality. This is a very high quality rackmount phaser and that shows in its aound. Top notch phasing sounds from thick cream to fast spins and everything in between.

This unit is quite heavy. Much heavy than digital multiFX so should last forever. The knobs are all chrome and chunky. I would use it at gigs in the studio even in the desert it's that reliable

Great customer support, I bought mine in England. They are made in Germany but have dealers in the UK & US.

Overall the phaser has fantastic looks [sky blue with chrome knobs], sounds just like a great phaser should [and more], I would always recommend this to other fans of phasers, guitar players, sound engineers [this works great over drums, vox, and fantastic on Fender Rhodes], singers, the lot! It also has a CV control so you can plug in a volume pedal and it will speed up at the swip of the pedal, ace.