Ok, so the Behringer pedal plunge isn't half bad.... (pics inside)

[ugly_guitar_guy]

Howdy fellas. Well, the Behringer PH9 phaser showed up in the mailbox today.  Naturally before even plugging it in I gutted it to see how intense the circuit was. Here ya go!!




Looks like IC 1 is a CoolAudio V4558M and IC 2 is a Texas Instruments TL064C. No DSP here.

After I took the pics I put it back together and plugged it in. Stock blue LED gives good mojo (my LED of choice of course), and it actually sounds pretty decent. Not an overbearing effect in either switch position (but I like the "vintage" down position better. It seems to have more range). Oh, and it IS in fact a metal casing too... 

So waddya think? Does this look like a Phase 90 clone to any of you guys?

[theehman]

I wouldn't think there's enough op-amp stages for a Phase 90.  Maybe a Phase 45?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I think there are -just! - enough op amps for a phase 90. Four for the four fet stages, one for the lfo, one for preamp. I'm going by RG's version.

[theehman]

My error.  I was thinking the TL062 was a dual op-amp.
I picked up the VP1 Vintage Phaser (Small Stone clone) recently.  It uses surface mount LM13600 ICs like the oddball Small Stone version.

[ugly_guitar_guy]

Well, I used it with my Mesa Roadking II last night and it pretty much rules for a $20 pedal. I ran it through one of the programmable effects loops so that I dont really need to worry about true bypass because when the loop is off the signal is routed away from the loop. If anyone has a phase 90 schematic they could send me I would love to compare the 2 and see if any of the phase 90 mods would correspond to this piece. Cheers!

[PurpleStrat]

I've got one to and to me it is a Phase 90 clone. Not as good, but not bad. That trim pot is your freind!

[ugly_guitar_guy]

I've got one to and to me it is a Phase 90 clone. Not as good, but not bad. That trim pot is your freind!

what does the trim pot control?

[petemoore]

  LFO bias.
  If like phase 90 there's a small sweet zone where phase actually occurs, and a *slightly smaller one where phase is best for you, try to find the one side where the sweep cuts out, and the other, set it in the middle.
  Or fiddle with that darn pot, as far as I could tell there was fine phase over most of the sweet zone of that pot [within the small area that actually produces sweep sound]...hitting near the middle has to be good enough.
  I fiddled with that pot all day, then for a few days, towards either side of where phase phases out didn't seem to be of any practical advantage to the tone afaict.

[darron]

metal casing you say? i bought the acoustic simulator years ago and it was noisy as... ahmm.. something really noisy. by my standards anyway. it had plastic casing, but i probably wouldn't put t down to that. true bypassed it took out a lot of his. even though cheap smd pedals don't seem right, you're making me accept them a little bit more as just something mass produced by a large company and available at a reduced cost for higher sales.

careful with some cheap trimpots, they can only be turned so many times before they start to go. the cheapest ones only give like 200 turns i'd hope they used something better though.

[PurpleStrat]

metal casing you say? i bought the acoustic simulator years ago and it was noisy as... ahmm.. something really noisy. by my standards anyway. it had plastic casing, but i probably wouldn't put t down to that. true bypassed it took out a lot of his. even though cheap smd pedals don't seem right, you're making me accept them a little bit more as just something mass produced by a large company and available at a reduced cost for higher sales.

careful with some cheap trimpots, they can only be turned so many times before they start to go. the cheapest ones only give like 200 turns i'd hope they used something better though.

Yeah that little trimmer could go but as you can se from the pics it's an easy canidate to be upgraded to a reagular pot and move to the out side. I plan to get around to that one day....

[StephenGiles]

What is being forgotten here is that the pedal contains a bunch of components connected in a certain way - and from the photo the pcb (break for hay fever remedy, one month early in England!) looks well made. So if the components are connected in a phaser format then it will sound like a phaser - even dire examples such as the Phase 45 and 90. So I am always surprised to read the folks find Behringer pedals don't sound too bad. They are not going to sound any worse than your diy phaser crammed on to the smallest board imaginable, especially at 9v!!

[darron]

Yeah that little trimmer could go but as you can se from the pics it's an easy canidate to be upgraded to a reagular pot and move to the out side. I plan to get around to that one day....

i suppose. i'd imagine your idea of where that trimmer should be would be slightly better for you than someone else's who spent 5-10 secs on in in the factory.

[Roobin]

Can I ask how does the actual bypass switch work, mechanically? I have 1 or 2 of the plastic pedals, but looking at the photos here, I can't visualise how they do it.

[darron]

Can I ask how does the actual bypass switch work, mechanically? I have 1 or 2 of the plastic pedals, but looking at the photos here, I can't visualise how they do it.

it's that little SW2 at the bottom there. it's a momentary switch which works similar to the boss design.

[Paul Marossy]

I don't know how on earth they can sell pedals like that for $20. I have a 12 channel Behringer mixer with built-in effects and stuff that is a pretty good performer for a very small amount of money. I can't believe that they can sell this stuff for so cheap. 

[gez]

I can't believe that they can sell this stuff for so cheap. 

I can.  I have a Berhinger Graphic EQ and the quality, construction wise, is a piece of **** (insert swear word of choice).  Cheap, plastic enclosures; a bizarre system for getting at the battery (darling, reach into my gig bag and pass me two ball-point-pens would you?); cheap jacks that aren't going to last long; likewise with the slidders.  Probably Chinese made, too (can't remember), which is always going to keep the overheads down.

I bought my pedal at a time when it was all I could afford that month, and it got me out of a fix, but never again.  I feel dirty, I need to shower...

[liddokun]

Behringer specs on the site and every ebay site for the PH9 say its hardwired true bypass. 

[Marcos - Munky]

a bizarre system for getting at the battery

At least you found the battery. I bought an FX-600 Digital Multi-FX (cheap ) and didn´t got to the battery yet !!!

But it´s a nice stompbox. You have (digital) delay, chorus, flanger, tremolo, phaser and pitch shifter in one pedal. I didn´t liked the phaser and flanger, the others sounds good. And a cool thing is that in the pitch shifter you can have the shifter signal ONLY. It´s cool to adjust it to octave up and hear the octave sound only .