4 Ways to use a Phaser Pedal

This week, set your phasers to "user-friendly" and "insanely versatile," because we're going to showcase just how many awesome sounds you can get out of this effect. Spoiler: it's a lot.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:38 An introduction to phaser
1:46 Jerry Garcia joined The Beatles
3:12 "I've Got a Jam Band"
4:31 A homage to Nick
5:19 "Almost Solitude is Bliss"
6:20 Dark Side of Santana
7:45 "Almost Breathe"
9:20 An attempt at Van Halen
10:23 "Van Posers"
12:32 Record Time
13:33 Thanks for watching!

Gear used in this episode:
JHS - 3 Series Phaser
JHS - 3 Series Compressor
BOSS - DM-2w
JHS - Smiley
JHS - Angry Charlie

Record Time:
Tame Impala - InnerSpeaker

Josh’s record player is by U-Turn Audio:

The jams from this episode are on BandLab! Head over to the link below to jam with us, download the stems, and create your own samples from our sounds... or all of those things.

#jhs #thejhsshow

[anthonymichael]

Josh’s ability to play convincingly in whatever genre he’s attempting isn’t talked about enough. Kudos!

[deanoplym]

I never see anybody mention the quality of the drum sounds on these recordings. amazing guys

[risingtide_official]

I own MANY phasers. Can't imagine never having phasers.. Sometimes they're set to kill, sometimes they're set to stun.

[michaelsnydermusic]

It was nice to actually hear some JHS pedals on the JHS show! Oh and Nick, you nailed the scream for the Floyd song. That was awesome!

[charlesrense]

This phaser set was stunning!

I'll see myself out.

[RobertFisher]

Having grown up in the ‘80s, I always thought chorus would be the only modulation I’d ever need. 🙂 But as I’m also a child of the ‘70s, you’ve now shown me that I need a phaser.

[Creed_fan_]

Josh has gotten a lot better at guitar over the years. That first jam really shows that he got chops.

[gingerAV]

my gf accidentally ordered me a 3 series phaser when i’d asked for the chorus.
honestly, a perfect accident. love this thing!

[markhammer]

Some hot tips for phaser use.

1) All FET-based phasers - which is everything pretending to be just like a Phase 90 and a bunch of others - will have a small trimpot inside to adjust where in the spectrum the unit sweeps. This is also used to get the FETs into a range where they all "row together" rather than some rowing and some freezing up at the highest or lowest point of the sweep. That trimmer does not have an exceedingly wide range of adjustment, but there is usually a bit of leeway, that allows you to move the phasing up a bit to be more "swirly", or down a bit to be more "gurgly". If it's a one-knob phaser, then that trimmer will be adjusted for every single pedal out of the factory to sound the same and sweep in the same range of the spectrum. But you CAN play with it to get a different sort of sound, without destroying anything. Make a point of noting where it started out, though, so you can return it to the default. Better phasers, with more than 3 knobs might have a Manual or Offset panel control that allows the user to nudge the sweep range this way and that. MXR went with a compromise setting that worked for all speeds, and hid the possibilities from end-users.

2) TWO phasers in series can yield some really interested sound, especially if one is sweeping much slower than the other. It produces a phasing sound that can appear to gradually move up and down in its range. Look for the Youtube demo of my Double Vision phaser for an example of this in action.

3) As has undoubtedly been described and demonstrated by countless Youtubes from people like Brian Wampler, phaser *before* distortion yields different sounds than phaser *after* distortion. Why? Pedals that distort do so by exceeding the headroom limits of the circuit and clipping the signal. When a phaser is located *after* a distortion of some kind, the swept notches filter out, or downplay, the harmonics added by the distortion. When the very same phaser is situated *before* the distortion, those swept notches move parts of the signal further away from or closer to the clipping threshold as the unit sweeps, producing different degrees of extra harmonic content in this or that part of the spectrum. The result sounds more "animated" than "filtered".

[streetwisehercules]

As a deadhead, Jam 1 was simultaneously hilarious and impressive. Good job!

[notarealperson]

for the EVH phase sound you gotta run the phaser into the distortion, since Eddie didnt have an effects loop and used amp distortion. it's also how you keep the phase sound subtle so you can leave it on all the time.

[eddie]

Back in the seventies the phase shifter was the second pedal I got after the fuzz box ! The chorus pedal kind of replaced the phase shifter ! I loved my phase shifter, pedals where rare and slowly picked up momentum, the wah pedal was another early pedal from the 60's !

[Mini]

My favorite phaser is by far the Small Stone. InnerSpeaker is what drew me to that fuzz into phaser sound, and Kevin has almost always used a Small Stone. For like $50 used, you seriously cannot go wrong with that pedal.

[Trentstone]

I use the best type of phaser ever made. I use a univibe. Regular phasers are just not enough for me anymore. I've moved on to harder phasers. I mainstream my univibe directly into my heart intravenously.

[icepop]

If you're into Shoegaze, I highly recommend the song "Ocean" by Lush, on their album titled "Spooky" from 1992. It's a pure embodiment of 90's Phaser with a wonderful stereo effect thrown in there at the end.

[thejolt]

I have this weird Maestro phaser ph-70 I got for like $50. It does absolutely nothing for the majority of the range of the rate pot and then blooms into this incredible, wide, weird sound and I love it so much. It's the only phaser I've ever used and is one of the few modulation effects I really enjoy. This was an awesome episode, put me in a better mood watching you guys. Thank you for everything you do.

[flipdry]

Recently bought a Behringer VP-1, copy of a vintage small stone and I love it on my bass!

[jonnust]

I love how stereo phasers sound on synths, it tickles my brain in just the right way

[maxwellblakely]

I have learned more about pedals, how they sound, how to tweak them, and which ones I should buy from your videos than any other place. Keep up the great work!

[samsewall]

I don't usually comment on the jams, but I think this was some of the best jams you've done. And now I really really really want a phaser. Looks like I am trucking myself to the music store to grab a 3
Great phaser uses was Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy, used on his bass. Check out Dancing in the Moonlight from the absolutely stellar album Bad Reputation.