STOMPBOXES
Rating...
5.0
MSRP $249.99
Wampler Pedals
wamplerpedals.com
Phaser
Mad Professor Tiny Orange Phaser
Mad Professor has been quietly responsible for some of the most nuanced, usable
effects to come out of the boutique scene
in the last few years; the Tiny Orange
Phaser in no exception. Much like their
other pedals, things are kept clean and
utilitarian, with three white knobs atop
a shimmering orange body. The Speed
knob has a respectable range, from slow
and floating at its leftmost point to shimmery vibrato at its rightmost—the manual
suggests parking the knob at noon for
“classic” phase sounds, and I found this
spot to be a common stopping point.
The Resonance knob adjusts the peaks of
the phase effect, allowing you to get a
little more “sharpness” and cut out of the
effect—note that this pedal is midrange-focused to give the effect more cutting
power; if you’re looking for a greater
range of tonal versatility, you’ll definitely
want to test this before purchasing.
The Mix knob is the most unique feature
here—turning the knob to the left rewards
you with deeper, lusher phasing, while
turning the knob past noon and to the
right provides a more subtle, organic effect
(parking the Mix knob at noon effectively
turns the effect off, the utility of which I
still don’t grasp). No matter which setting
you find the mix knob on, the Tiny Orange
Phaser has a full, vocal quality to it, almost
like a good wah. Very tasty.
I would have liked to see a little more variation in the Resonance control and more
phase depth. Of course, I’m still having
daydreams about my singular encounter
with Moog’s 12-stage phaser, so take that
as you will. Those points aside, if you’re
looking for a way to add some smooth
and subtle movement to your lines, check
out the orange offering from Finland.
– AM
Buy if... you want a nuanced effect to add
movement to your signal
Skip if.. you don’t want the midrange focus
Rating...
4.0
MSRP $398
Mad Professor
mpamp.com
Chorus
Visual Sound V2 Liquid Chorus
Visual Sound’s Liquid Chorus circuit uses
analog Visual Sound “bucket brigade”
chips, created using the same process as
the legendary Panasonic Bucket Brigade
Delay (BBD) chips. The fact that the company produces its own chips rather than
using rare, expensive “New Old Stock”
(NOS) allows Visual Sound to offer an analog chorus at a lower, more “digital” price.
Some chorus pedals offer only two controls, Speed and Depth. To these, Liquid
Chorus adds Width and Delay Time. The
Width knob thins or thickens out the chorus sound, while the Delay control sets
the time of the delay sweep. All of this
allows you to create a wide range of classic chorus effects. Unlike the H2O from
which it is derived, the Liquid Chorus is
“true stereo.” Rather than just emitting a
dry signal, the second output emits a fully-chorused sound, 180 degrees out of phase
with the first output’s effect.
I found that cranking the depth and width
with a shorter delay time recalled the
lush top-forty sound of two decades ago.
A longer delay time combined with a
reduced width conjured up the EH Small
Clone. Fiddling with the Speed and the
other knobs created a variety of Leslie-type effects. All I missed was a blend control that would allow me to add dry signal
to the chorus.
The Liquid Chorus offers dead quiet
operation, lots of low-end and rich analog sound. Combine this with a street
price of under $150—in a market where
some analog choruses top out in the $300
range—and you have a pedal that is a
good bet for adding a world of swirl to
your rig. – MR
Buy if … you want a versatile, warm
analog chorus.
Skip if … you are “so over” chorus, or
need a blend control.
Rating...
4. 5
MSRP $207
Visual Sound
visualsound.net
Flanger
Hartman Analog Flanger
The Hartman Analog Flanger promises to
be a faithful recreation of the old seventies EH Electric Mistress Flanger/Filter
Matrix, based on a supply of the original
chip type (SAD1024). Before plugging
it in, I opened it up to inspect the build
quality. The originals were poorly built and
had lots of problems, but they did sound
great when they worked. Based on my
experience with other Hartman products, I
was not surprised to see a well-laid-out
