Guardians of the analog
Well-known member
- Build Rating
- 5.00 star(s)
This week's build reports in my boss collection comes by way of Aion and is the emerald phaser and is a clone of the ph1-r phaser. The ph1-r is in a lot of ways the evolution of the phase 90 4 stage jfet phaser. I have been using ota phasers for years and I revisited the phase 90 earlier this year and built one with many of the features that this circuit features. I like 4 stage phasers. 2 is too subtle for me, more an on/off switch. 6 or more stages is too synthy for my taste, so this one works well for me.
I like having the depth to control the width of the phasing and the resonance knob can add the feedback of the output back into the input and can make it more dramatic or subdued depending on the the mood you want to set. The range of the speed knob is broader than a phase90 but not as extreme as a small stone. A very versatile phaser. One common complaint of the ph1-r like the phase90, is the perceived volume jump caused by the mixing of the dry and wet signals at the output stage This is made more apparent with higher resonance settings, as the higher peaks will drive the output more. This is handled with the volume knob. Full CW is the stock setting and rolling back will attenuate the volume to unity depending on what settings you have.
The build itself was simple and straightforward. I decided to order the matched set of jfets because I did not want to go thru all my smd jfets. Word of advise to anyone who builds this, watch the mounting of jfet adapter boards to the main board as there is a 100n cap under them. I like things neat and clean so I addressed this with headers and angled pins to clear the cap and keep everything lined up. This is also the cleanest wiring I have done on an Aion build and will do it this way from here on out. I went with a lawn green tayda enclosure and UV print. Instead of doing the typical green characters I went down the road less traveled and used Dr. Theodore "Ted" Sallis aka the Man-Thing.
If you're looking for a smooth versatile jfet phaser that has more options and tones than the typical phase90 then this is a great project you should check out.
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