MXR 74 Phase 90

clarkefan

I'm seeing lots of posts about the Mooers and Rowins, etc, just thought I'd post about a recent experience for balance. 

I have always hated phase, like, even more than chorus. Phase seemed to be all over everything from the 70's,  I was polluted with it. 

*Except* early Van Halen, I love early Van Halen.

So over the years I've bought maybe 5 different Phase 90 knockoffs and real ones trying to get just that sound.

Recently @Professorben posted how much he liked the Rowin Phase 90 copy for similar reasons, so I bought one.

Same deal as always to my ears, to me it sort of phased, but not enough for me. Maybe I got a duff one.

I came into a gift voucher and decided to scratch the itch once and for all and buy the real thing, a CSP026 MXR 1974 reissue Phase 90.

I am stunned by this thing. I spent an hour just playing "the four notes" from Floyd's Shine On.... before I even tried any Van Halen.

Bloody thing just sounds amazing. Even my wife went what the f...?

Yes it comes just like the original, no led, non true bypass, battery only, but the sound... man..I have to try remember to turn it off occasionally All my (limited) mod needs in one box.

So, the point I'm getting to, yes the cheapies have their place, but this pedal (now true bypassed) has taught me not to ignore the originals, cos sometimes they just blow the pants off anything available, including all the other options available from the same company

Oh, and yes, it does the Eddie thing very well

FelineGuitars

So actually better than the EVH branded one?

clarkefan

Night and day.  One is wrong, one is right. IMO anyway.

clarkefan

Sorry should have finished that thought, the hand wired 74 copy of the original has a sort of full organic richness, the others I've tried are sort of flat, harsh, 2 dimensional in comparison,  if I'm making sense. 

Totally worth a try anyway, you may or may not agree, I'd be interested in other people's opinions.

professorben

Dammit.......
how much? 

clarkefan

Ah yeah, that's the problem, they're like 110 or so new. Not as much as I expected for a hand wired US box to be fair, but, 6 times what you paid for the Rowin...

I would seriously suggest you compare them. Difference might be worth it to you, might not  But it's there

zepp76

I have the Whirlwind Orange box, it's basically the '74 phase 90 except it's true bypass, has an led and can be powered by a psu. The MXR is great but the few little extras of the Whirlwind won it for me.

Branshen

Playing four notes for an hour sounds incredibly dull...

dogload

EVH? MXR? Pah!

Take a look at Eric Jenkins and tell me you don't need a Fender Classic Phaser!

clarkefan

Branshen said:

Playing four notes for an hour sounds incredibly dull...

Ah but they're good notes I'd never heard that sound coming from my speakers before,  very atmospheric when slowed right down, trying different reverb and delay settings, it was fun

DesVegas

Happy days. Great post

joeyowen

To be fair, I've played the block phase90, mooer clone, another clone. Line 6 phaser

I know have the 74 Script Reissue (TB and LED)... it's simply a cut above.  It's a stunning pedal.

I would recommend to anyone to avoid compromise on a phase 90, it's a classic!

However, this is me sat playing in my bedroom, live mix may sound identical

Sassafras

Branshen said:

Playing four notes for an hour sounds incredibly dull...

Lucky you never came to any of my gigs.

Dave_Mc

joeyowen said:

To be fair, I've played the block phase90, mooer clone, another clone. Line 6 phaser

I know have the 74 Script Reissue (TB and LED)... it's simply a cut above.  It's a stunning pedal.

I would recommend to anyone to avoid compromise on a phase 90, it's a classic!

However, this is me sat playing in my bedroom, live mix may sound identical

I have that one too.

Are you sure yours is true bypass? The earlier ones weren't (mine's not ). Also I don't want to burst your bubble, but as far as I'm aware it's actually the regular block circuit without the feedback (so the "script" (inverted commas very much implying sarcasm ) setting on the EVH phaser).

I do agree it sounds good, though. I got mine for a good price so I'm not too annoyed, and I could be bothered with no DC power etc. for the one @clarkefan bought- though as far as I'm aware it does seem to have the vintage-accurate circuit so it might be worth it for some people. Personally I wish they'd release one with the right circuit but with the modern upgrades like DC power, true bypass, LED etc. which make it easier to use but which won't affect the tone, but what do I know?

And that whirlwind one does sound good, unfortunately by the time I realised I possibly wanted one they seemed to not be available any more. And that new Phase 95 sounds good too (though I'd want to know what all the switches actually do since I'm not sure I trust that it's a genuine phase 90 and 45 in the one box).

clarkefan

I took @joeyowen to mean he has the 74 that he modded for true bypass and LED.  You're right though, it's pretty stupid stuff, I think there are 6 different variants currently available from MXR including 2 custom shop models, only one of which has the original circuit, model no CSP026. It's the only one with 1974 in the name.

I added a true bypass switch to mine, it makes a big difference in the chain of pedals.  Not bothering with an LED, and I use a battery patch and power from the Power Plant Jnr. Not ideal but it works

merlin

Try this, if you like vintage script logo... 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/83780/genuine-vintage-script-logo-mxr-phase-100-reduced#latest

joeyowen

It's this one:




I love it, a lot.  But are you telling me I can do better still?

JezWynd

joeyowen said:

It's this one:

That's the best of the mxr Phasers that I've tried (90, 45, 100,'74), I preferred it to the '74 rerelease which seemed a bit too warm and insipid in comparison. The rerelease DOD 201 is my personal fave for 6 string while the Maxon Rotary does it for bass.

clarkefan

That's the other custom shop model. I hear them the other way around, the 74 is smooth and organic (sorry) to me while that one has a more er robust "harsh" tone. That sounds like it's aggressive or something and it's not, I'm just trying to describe the difference between them.

clarkefan

Better to think, subtle/ slightly less subtle.

Dave_Mc

clarkefan said:

I took @joeyowen to mean he has the 74 that he modded for true bypass and LED.  You're right though, it's pretty stupid stuff, I think there are 6 different variants currently available from MXR including 2 custom shop models, only one of which has the original circuit, model no CSP026. It's the only one with 1974 in the name.

I added a true bypass switch to mine, it makes a big difference in the chain of pedals.  Not bothering with an LED, and I use a battery patch and power from the Power Plant Jnr. Not ideal but it works

ah yeah i suppose you could use one of those battery adaptor thingies with a power supply, i didn't think of that.

i just stick a buffered pedal in front of mine. not ideal but less faff than anything else.

joeyowen said:

It's this one:




I love it, a lot.  But are you telling me I can do better still?

hahaha

yeah i think so. i haven't tried the mojo one but i have that one and when i was looking up about it it turned out it basically has the block circuit but with the feedback resistor not connected (or snipped, whatever, same thing in effect).

as i said, i got a pretty good deal in one of those boss gone mad sales iirc so I can rationalise it that way, but i was still a bit miffed (both that mine didn't have true bypass and also that it wasn't the correct vintage circuit, both of which i think i found out about after i bought the thing)- i'd looked up before buying it and on the mxr site there's a blog post where it lists what bypass most of their pedals have and it lists the script with LED model as being true bypass (or at least rev B which I assumed mine would be since I bought it a fair bit after it had been released). http://www.jimdunlop.com/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-true-bypassing/ Also IIRC you had to actually open the back of the pedal to see which rev it was, and there was a very similar looking code on the outside of the box which suggested mine was a rev B IIRC, which was a bit sneaky IMO.

Also I note on the MXR/Dunlop website that it says this about the script 90 with LED:

"Original circuit design for smooth and lush 4-stage phasing"

(http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/custom-shop-script-phase-90 )

That's the very first line of the ad copy. I guess that's just a lie, then.

I mean, I know that sounds like I'm quite annoyed, and I am, but at the same time I haven't bought anything fancier either, and you can obviously worry too much about this kind of stuff- i mean, it does sound good, and as @JezWynd's post suggests, it's not 100% guaranteed that I'd like the more vintage-accurate circuit better . But yeah just on principle it's fair to say I wasn't best pleased- especially since i'm aware of this kind of stuff going on, know where to look up online to see what's a clone of what or whether a pedal is what it says it is etc., and i still got caught.