4 Phaser Pedals Every Guitarist Should Consider

In today's video, we shootout four different phaser pedals: the Mutron Phasor III, the Walrus Audio Lillian Phaser, the MXR Phase 90, & the JHS Series 3 Phaser. If you're a guitarist shopping around for best phaser pedal in 2023, you should be able get a good idea of how these four pedals compare to each other. I provide tonal examples of each phaser and I also review of each phaser; sharing my thoughts on each pedal's tone, feature set, & value. The phasers were first in the signal path after the guitar. Any overdrive that was utilized was located after the phaser in the signal chain.

This video is NOT sponsored, nor was I compensated to make this video. The opinions expressed are my own and just that; opinions.

Details about the gear used in this video can be found below.

Gear & Settings

Guitars:
• ’17 Mario Martin Tele (Don Mare Hayride pickups),
• ’19 Fender ’62 Reissue Strat (Custom Shop Fat 50’s pickups w/ Ilitich SSCS),
• ’60 Gibson ES-345 (Ron Ellis Signature Humbucker pickups).

Amp Setup:
• Two Rock Classic Reverb Signature
• Two Rock 2x12 with two TR1265-Bs (Neumann U87ai - Left)
• Germino Bass 35 (Bright Channel, Low Gain Input)
• Germino 2x12 with two 25 watt UK Celestion Greenbacks (Beyer Dynamic M160 - R)

Audio interfaces:
• Universal Apollo x8p
• Universal Apollo 8

Recording Signal Chain:
• Capi FD312WHR4 mic pre for U87 on Two Rock
• Capi VP28 mic pre for M160 on Germino
• Universal Audio LA-3A Compressor Plugin
• EMT 140 Plate Reverb Plugin
• SSL E Channel Strip Plugin for voice

Recording Software:
• Universal Audio Luna
• ECamm Live

Video Gear:
• Fujifilm X-H1 mirrorless digital camera with 23mm lens
• Aputure 120d for key lighting
• GVM-672S-B for backlight
• LIFX 80” LED strip + 40” LED strip for background lighting.
• Adobe Premiere

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:17 - Tele Funk
00:58 - Strat 90s Alt
02:46 - ES Rotary Blues
04:36 - EQ Response Visual
05:23 - Tele Chicken Pickin
06:52 - ES Rotary 90s Alt
08:07 - Phaser Backstory
08:46 - Mutron Review
11:34 - Walrus Audio Review
12:54 - MXR Review
14:29 - JHS Review
15:43 - Final Thoughts

[Branbreakers]

Had been on the fence about picking myself up a phaser for awhile, this video comparison solidified to me that I should definitely pick up a Phase 90 (if it was good enough for EVH, it's good enough for me)! I am now your 420th subscriber hahah, cheers man! Very informative and straight to the point comparison!

[jjdelta]

This video was so helpful. I've decided on JHS. You saved me a ton of time!

[tyleredwardsofficial]

Excellent review, and thanks for the free visual/tutorial on how to play Paranoid Android and Blackhole Sun 😂 I’ll be back to just learn that here

[WayneMemphisMojo]

Hey now, thanks for taking the time to review these phasors for us, they each had a slightly different character but still did the job great! I also wanted to let you know we appreciate the editing/production job you do on these videos, most EXCELLENT!

[TheGazDooks]

Wow. More channels need side by side comparisons like this. Especially with the EQ displays. I'm currently upgrading my phaser, so this was really helpful 😊

[doofinator]

I came for confirmation to buy the phase 90 (or 95)…I ended up getting swayed with the versatility of the JHS. The even volume when engaged and the slight warmth were nice. And yea, Josh’s knowledge and enthusiasm are unparalleled.

I loved the back to back shootout with tone controls shown. Thank you so much

[doomerius]

Came for Lillian, bought JHS. Damn, it's 3rd jhs pedal already 😅

Awesome vid!

[jezmez]

Great demonstration here. I had already done a video with some sounds for my Boss Super Phaser, but this video and some others where people were discussing how the demonstrator never covered the knobs when they were in minimum positions made me go back and do a more meticulous exploration of sounds on that phaser, my Ibanez DFL, and my Walrus Slö. Thanks for the inspiration!

[jeffashley]

Very thorough and helpful review! I lean toward the phase 90 due to its simplicity and great sound, but would probably use the script version.

[markharwood]

Solid demo. Four units each with its own personality. It's the Mu-Tron all the way for me.

[MattChmielecki]

I liked the MU-Tron the best as well. As you said, the most neutral. I have always loved the Phase 90, so in this context against other phasers, it was surprising to hear how much it accentuates the upper mids and winds up sounding nasally as compared to the others.

[adeptgopnik]

Ive got a Strymon Zelzah and love it. Its digital, but it nails a bunch of different types of phasors also does a pretty good chorus and a great Flange. I love it.

[ew]

For me, no doubt in what I like, definitely the MU-Tron as well because of the smoothness. Great to hear them all side by side to really hear the nuances. I'm not much of phaser or even a chorus user so I don't have either type on my pedal board. Excellent comparison demo!

[stratsrule]

Killer playing and excellent sounds to dial in and demo!

[model_number_band]

If you have a bit more to spend, the greatest phasers I have ever found (that additionally offer ramping from slow to fast, fast to slow) are the two following pedals:
Castilleja Phaser (new)
Maestro Stage Phaser (vintage)

[boonatuna]

I just wanna shoutout to the super underrated Subdecay Quasar V4 . It has multiple phaser voicing options and sounds great. Andy McCee recommended them to me and I also have their tremelo now, really great company that I had never heard of.

[psymetal]

I have a mutation phasor which is a copy of a mutron. It is very versatile and has a vintage vibe. I also have a mxr phase 95 mini which is a little more versatile than the regular 90. Haven't tried the JHS phasor which im sure is great. I have the 3 series reverb and delay which are good quality sound

[jezmez]

It took me a minute, but you didn't change the pictures of the pedals when you changed the sounds. I kept thinking "Boy, that Phase 90 sure seems to make a lot of different noises even though the knob stays in the same place! That's so weird!"

[jazzercise]

Mutron probably sounded the best but I also have a gift for blindly favoring the most expensive pedal when listen to gear demos lol honestly tho I bought a phase 95 and it's great. Pretty cheap, easy to use, does the thing. I usually end up upgrading pedals if the effect is import enough to me but the phase 95 is pretty solid, idk what else I'd want. 4 phaser tones, it's small, solid build, not very noisy at all, doesn't suck tone, no volume change. I love when large pedals brands (boss, Ibanez, ehx, mxr) have fantastic pedals. I love my boutique shit as much as the next guy but I'd rather have every guitarist have access to nice fx because honestly a lot of guitarists don't care that much about fx. For every guy who's A/Bing klon centaur clones there's 10 guitarists that just buy a tube screamer or ds1 and are content.

[adeptgopnik]

Hey man, I saw your JMI 30 video and it was great info. Have you heard of Psionic Audio? He is an amp tech that has a youtube video and builds a 64 era jmi style vox thats looks pretty damn good. He does videos on the engineering and building process from a few years ago and it was fun to watch it being born. I havent bought one, but someday when I get the cash its the goto JMI era Vox Ive known of before your JMI 30 video. Just thought id throw out that info in case you hadnt heard of him. Have a good one.