Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:57:47 -0400
From: "John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>
For no particularly good reason, I was fooling around with a Retro-
Sonic Phaser pedal. 3 knobs: Speed, Depth and Level. I was
surprised to find that turning up the speed (2 o'clock and above) and
turning down the depth (9-10 o'clock) while boosting the level
slightly produces a fat, warm, somewhat overdriven tube compression
sound without any crunch or harshness--sort of like James Cotton's
sound on Muddy Waters' "Live at Mr. Kelly's" album (on which he's
credited as Joe Denim).
Interesting effect. If the Depth control is turned up much past 9
o'clock, there will be a low throb in the tone if you hold a long
note or chord, which is certainly not a traditional Chicago blues
sound, but sounds pretty cool. But, if you keep the depth control
set very low, there is no audible throb and the overdrive effect is a
little more pronounced.
This would allow me to set up for the cleaner tone i prefer, but have
a warm, fat, overdriven tube compression sound (without harshness or
crunch) every now and then on demand for certain tunes. The pedal is
true by-pass so when it's not engaged it's like it's not there.
There is a slight click or pop when you step on it, but not loud
enough to be audible at performance volumes. Very intriguing effect
and not at all what i was expecting from a Phaser.
Anyone else have experience using a Phaser this way?
JP