4 Ways to Use Phaser
Phaser is a type of modulation that many guitar players love. It can be used to add a swirly, almost Uni-Vibe esque sound to clean passages or some EVH style pick attack to lead lines. It’s a very simple effect to use but it can be an extremely versatile tool to have in your effects arsenal.
Phaser works by duplicating the guitar signal that gets fed in. It then adds some filters to the duplicated track and then uses an LFO to modulate these filters pushing the sound in and out of phase.
In this video we will be discovering some great ways to use Phaser in your own sound.
All the Phaser tones are coming from the Amped 2.
There are 3 controls you can use to affect your Phaser tone:
- Time – The speed of the phaser effect
- Depth – The intensity of the effect
- Level – The output level of the effect
Swirly Cleans
Phaser is great to add to clean tones to add some swirl and movement to simple chords and picking patterns.
If you set the time slow with a very subtle depth, you get a slow movement to your chords. This sort of sound gives you the swirl of a chorus but with a little more of a flanger style movement. You can use the depth control to make the movement a little more intense.
EVH Style Lead Licks
One of the most famous uses of a phaser is how Eddie Van Halen used it ontop of guitar solos. Set the time slow and the depth at around 2 o’clock. The level can be set to taste, but in the video it’s set to full for maximum effect.
When your playing fast lines with this effect, you get a little ease of picking attack each time the phaser swirl comes around.
60s Psychedelic Tones
You can also use a phaser to add some 60s Uni-Vibe or Rotary speaker style textures to your playing.
With the depth and level up full and the time set to taste, you can create some great 60s style psychedelic guitar tones. The time can be set slow for a swirly effect on cleans, or you can set the time higher for faster more extreme sounds, great for when you want to get a bit crazy
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About the Author
This article on how to use phaser in your guitar tone was written by Leigh Fuge. Leigh is a professional guitarist and content creator and also works alongside musicteacher.com to create guitar focused, educational and entertainment content.
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