DIY Phase 90 < MXR Phase 90

[Danny G]

Well poo.  I built the tonepad Phase 90 and Phase 45, but my MXR Phase 90 just sounds much better than either one.  Richer, fuller, deeper.  

I did the R28 toggle switch mod, but wanted to get two phaser sounds in one box (slow and gainy, faster and more subtle).  Enter the Phase 45 and Phase 90.  But I tried them both next to the MXR and the MXR blew 'em both away, slow/gainy and fast/subtle.

Anything I can do to get a deeper (more MXR) phase out of these two DIY projects?  Or will I just need to get side-by-side MXR's?

[Arno van der Heijden]

match your FETs

[Danny G]

I did.  2 perfectly matched 2n5952's for the '45.  3/4 of the 2n5952's of the '90 were perfectly matched, the fourth was a leetle off.  

Would it sound fuller with BF244A's?

[Danny G]

Anybody else build the tonepad Phase 90?  How does yours stack up against the MXR?

[Fret Wire]

Yes, sounds much better than an MXR unit. They don't match jfets as closely as we can, nor do they spend as much effort adjusting the bias. If I remember right, you said in another post you had to max the trim just to get useable phasing. Did you try a different zener diode? You may have to change it depending on the shutoff range of the jfets you selected.

[Danny G]

Yeah, had the wrong diode.  I ordered some BF244A's for the 90, hopefully I'll get a better sound out of it.  I'd really like to have my dual-phase on the pedal board.

What's a good drain voltage for 2n5952's, or does it not matter as long as they're matched?  The Phase 45 could sound a little stronger too.

[Fret Wire]

Around 3v shutoff (vgs off) is good. It's a combo of good matching and the right shutoff range.