(see rating details)

Verified Purchaser zZounds has verified that this reviewer purchased this specific product from us.

Okay. Disclaimer time...I'm not the most objective person when it comes to MXR phasers since I already have the mid 80's 'Series 2000' Phaser, along with the Phase 95, Phase 100 and the incredible Custom Shop Vari-Phase 'X' model; the upgraded version with the toe-down on/off switch.Now having said this...I ordered this only days after Zzounds had it in stock. I'd read that it was MXR's take on the EHX Small Stone Phaser. Having never used the Small Stone I had no point of reference but I quickly ordered it because I phind phasers, well, stunning. (Bad Star Trek pun there. Sorry.)It arrived quickly in typical Zzounds fashion and I couldn't wait to try it out.First off, it is NOTHING like the Phase 90 which is perhaps the Greatest Phaser Ever.But...It's a marvelous little pedal with a great many sounds contained therein.The response is 'attack sensitive' meaning the harder you pick/strum......well, the first notes to come through will have a quicker sweep speed then it slows down. This is a new thing to me and I'm still adjusting to it. But I like it. On arpeggiated patterns it adds a nice effect that creates a, uh, sonic diversity.The speed control gives you sweeps which go from comfortably subtle to insanely fast, almost to the point of being unusable. If you're into scary sci-fi sounds then there's a lot here to work with in that vein.This pedal has a switch to toggle between four stage and eight stage phasing. (Personally I find the slower speeds to be better in the eight-stage setting.)What REALLY sets this phaser apart from MRX's other phasers is that it has knob to control the Feedback. (I think that is the amount of the signal that is fed back into the effect. The old "Script Logo" phasers had very little Feedback where the "Block Logo" version had an increased level of Feedback.) Whatever it is, I find I get better, more musical tones, when the Feedback isn't set too high - below 12:00.I was disappointed after my first time using this pedal and I resolved to return it as quickly as possible but something told me to play with it some more.The end result is that after having had this pedal for a few weeks, I find that it's a really nice addition to my phaser collection.If your only experience with phasers is the Phase 90 then you'll find this to be something like a weird flanger but if you play with it for a while then I honestly think that you'll grow to like it. (I've owned several flangers and sold off every one of them. They distort the base tone a bit too much for me which is why I almost gave up too soon on this pedal.)While it may not be to everyone's taste, I find myself definitely recommending it to guitarists looking for a different phlavor of phaser.My only criticism is that this is the first MXR 'Mini' pedal I've purchased that didn't come with the 9v power supply.

Musical Background:

Musical Style: