11 Best Phaser Pedals for Your Pedalboard

Why you would choose this one: You want quintessential, vintage phase.

Bear with me here for a second. If you want an MXR phaser, you’re going to have to do a little homework. There are (at least) six different MXR phasers on the market right now, largely thanks to the vagaries of vintage pedal design.

Among bankruptcies and loose production controls, things could change with a favorite effect from year-to-year, sometimes officially and sometimes randomly. That resulted in especially savvy (and picky) guitarists identifying the ones they liked best and buying them up, occasionally for exorbitant prices on the second-hand market.

As component availability stabilized and manufacturing costs fell, pedal makers reissued original circuits using hand-chosen parts to recreate each specific model. In the specific case of MXR, it took Jim Dunlop buying them up to restart the production on this storied device.

The original MXR Phase 90 is the four-stage “script” version released in 1974, reissued here as the CSP026. This is meant to be the true reproduction, and is hand-wired using new old stock to the exact specifications of the original. There is only one knob which controls the Speed. Basically, if you don’t like the sound of the Phase 90, you should move on from here. For you purists chasing iconic tone, this is the machine for you.

Now for the variants. You can get the script Phase 90 with an LED for less than the vintage reproduction. For even less than that, you can get the block logo version that is the modern standard, first issued in 1977. At the same price as the ’74 reissue, you can get the Eddie Van Halen EVH90 version, which includes a switch that toggles between the script logo and block logo phasers, in addition to the LED and signature design. There is also the reissue of the 1975 Phase 45, which is a two-stage phaser that generates a more subtle effect.

For a modern take on the EVH version, consider the Phase 99, which also includes a vintage toggle, but is essentially two independent phasers in one with greater control. There’s also the Phase 100, with Intensity and Speed controls and a little something for people who like interpreting strange symbols.

The most recent, and perhaps most useful, addition to the family is the Phase 95, which packs the 45, block 90 and script 90 all in a mini enclosure. It’s a pretty amazing piece, but many folks are looking for the real-deal vintage masterpiece, so the ’74 script is the way to go.

Hear a comparison between the original ’74 and this reissue.

The ubiquity of this pedal means that used copies are relatively cheap on Reverb.