ratherdashing
Kablamminator
Phasers are far and away my favourite effect. I already have a Maxon PT999 which nails the Gilmour/EVH script logo creamy swirl, but I found myself craving something waaaay less subtle; something that sounds almost synth-y.
I narrowed it down to two choices: the Pigtronix EP2 and the Empress Phaser. The Empress won because:
- tap tempo
- with all the waveform options and auto modes, it can do so much more than the Piggy
- it sounds f___ing amazing
Empress's philosophy is to build high quality analog effects that are digitally controlled (the Superdelay is a fully digital pedal though). This gives you all the tonal benefits of analog with all the versatility of digital. It's an expensive way to build a pedal (and the price reflects this) but the result is a great unit.
At its heart, this green thing is a four stage phaser (same as a Phase 90) that can be switched down to 3 stage (unique to Empress) or 2 stage (Phase 45). I leave mine in four stage for a full, fat phase. Three stage is very interesting, but I find two stage to be too subtle. I got this pedal to freak my tone, not gently caress it.
That's where the similarities to the classic phasers end. Speed can be knob controlled, or tapped in on the tap tempo switch, in which case the speed knob becomes a ratio knob. Being able to sync the phase swishes to the beat is a great feature, especially with more dramatic settings. The width control covers a ton of ground, and is what you use to go from "wow" to "OOUUUUWWWAAAAAIIIIIAAAAOOOOUUUUUHHHH". It can get very wide, obnoxiously so if you want, so I tend to be conservative with this control. There is no depth control, but the resonance switch accomplishes something similar, and works a bit like the feedback knob on a Ross phaser. Set it to no resonance for a Phase 90-ish effect, or turn up the resonance for an edgier, more aggressive phaser. I like it with a little resonance.
Also in the non-typical controls category are a blend control, and a gain control. Blend can be used to reduce the amount of wet signal in the output. This makes it possible to dial in a huge powerful phase that acts as a subtle colouration ... or you can do what I do and just turn up the blend all the way for big phasey drama (this gives a roughly 50/50 blend, but if you want even more you can turn the blend control into a mix control using an internal DIP switch). The gain control solves the "phaser is too loud/quiet when it's on" problem, and it has enough linear gain to turn this thing into a boost pedal if you wanted.
(Wave forms and auto modes coming up in the next post!)
I narrowed it down to two choices: the Pigtronix EP2 and the Empress Phaser. The Empress won because:
- tap tempo
- with all the waveform options and auto modes, it can do so much more than the Piggy
- it sounds f___ing amazing
Empress's philosophy is to build high quality analog effects that are digitally controlled (the Superdelay is a fully digital pedal though). This gives you all the tonal benefits of analog with all the versatility of digital. It's an expensive way to build a pedal (and the price reflects this) but the result is a great unit.
At its heart, this green thing is a four stage phaser (same as a Phase 90) that can be switched down to 3 stage (unique to Empress) or 2 stage (Phase 45). I leave mine in four stage for a full, fat phase. Three stage is very interesting, but I find two stage to be too subtle. I got this pedal to freak my tone, not gently caress it.
That's where the similarities to the classic phasers end. Speed can be knob controlled, or tapped in on the tap tempo switch, in which case the speed knob becomes a ratio knob. Being able to sync the phase swishes to the beat is a great feature, especially with more dramatic settings. The width control covers a ton of ground, and is what you use to go from "wow" to "OOUUUUWWWAAAAAIIIIIAAAAOOOOUUUUUHHHH". It can get very wide, obnoxiously so if you want, so I tend to be conservative with this control. There is no depth control, but the resonance switch accomplishes something similar, and works a bit like the feedback knob on a Ross phaser. Set it to no resonance for a Phase 90-ish effect, or turn up the resonance for an edgier, more aggressive phaser. I like it with a little resonance.
Also in the non-typical controls category are a blend control, and a gain control. Blend can be used to reduce the amount of wet signal in the output. This makes it possible to dial in a huge powerful phase that acts as a subtle colouration ... or you can do what I do and just turn up the blend all the way for big phasey drama (this gives a roughly 50/50 blend, but if you want even more you can turn the blend control into a mix control using an internal DIP switch). The gain control solves the "phaser is too loud/quiet when it's on" problem, and it has enough linear gain to turn this thing into a boost pedal if you wanted.
(Wave forms and auto modes coming up in the next post!)
