Red Witch Moon Phaser Deluxe (Review)

Greymire · Not So Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2004 Posts: 8

Effect : Phaser/Tremolo

Purchased from : Tonefactor (Internet)
Price : $279.99 shipped new

Uses : A phaser and tremolo. I really wanted a nice phaser for the Praise Band at church as well as some side stuff we are working on.

Construction: Outstanding. This is a high gloss Chrome pedal that you could shave in. It is absolutely beautiful and is built like a tank. It is heavy duty. It should hold up real well. It came with a green led and 3 rotary knobs and a heavy duty stomp switch. The inside is excellent. The boards are meticulous and high quality parts are used. Space is maximized to get you a lot in a decent sized space.

Features: 4 flavors of phaser, 1 tremolo and 1 Tremophase Stage. The Deluxe version features stereo or mono out, the ability to run off of a 9 volt adapter and a status led. It 3 simple knobs that are as listed:

Velocity - determines the rate of the phase/
tremolo sweep - from an incredibly
slow rise and fall to a super fast
pulse.

Trajectory - A unique control which adjusts the
shape of the phased wave.

Cosmology - a six position rotary switch which
selects the phase, tremolo or tremo-
phase stage.

Did I mention it comes in a really cool Denim bag?

Sound : Fantastic. I love phasers and this one sounds incredible. One word comes to mind and that is "ORGANIC". That word is not one of my favorites to use, but it really describes this pedal. To me, the word "Organic" means natural. Many modulation effects, especially digital pedals, sound mechanical or unnatural. This analog pedal, made by a small company in New Zealand, sounds as natural as they come. All of the phaser stages sound great. It is actually hard to chose between them at times since all have their own benefits. The tremolo is sweet. It is better than many stand alone tremolo's. And the Tremophase has to be heard to appreciate it. It is a subtle blending that really sounds fantastic. It is a unique sound, but is not over the top in anyway and is very usable. The velocity effect offers many different speeds and trajectory offers a very nice change up to the standard switch that picks one wave form or another for your phaser or tremolo. If you can't find a sound here that suits you, then you may not be trying hard enough. This pedal is clean, no hiss, no noise, just pure tone. It really sounds super with electric or acoustic guitar. I was amazed how nice it sounded with my acoustic. Rich sweeps and killer tone. With the trajectory knob at full counter clockwise, it acts like a notch filter and again, with the acoustic, it enhanced my tone. I had the pleasure of using it this morning with my Carvin Bolt T electric and my Peavey amp. I was running a Crucible Fuzz, into a VTP Range Voodoo into the clean channel of my Peavey Classic 30 (I found that the Crucible can't handle the pump from the VooDoo so this order works best..I didn't use the fuzz this morning anyway). I had the Red Witch in the effects loop this morning. I used Phaser shape 4 with Velocity around 11 o'clock and the trajectory around 2 o'clock. We played a song called Potters Hand (a slightly rocking version). The Red Witch was fantastic. It handled my switching from picking to chords with each sounding great. Comments ranged from, that sounded awesome, to "how did you get that cool sound in that song". This thing is a must for boutique buffs. Playing through a tube amp is where this thing really shines. Tons of warmth.

Reliability : I can not imagine a problem with this. Their construction is top notch and the warranty they offer is rock solid. The extend the warranty if you email them the info they want on the instruction card. I sent this in as well as a couple of minor suggestions (not sound or construction related. You will see in the cons of the review) and the designer, Ben Fulton, responded immediately and was very kind and helpful. I believe him to be as top notch as the pedal.

Cons: The cons here are all manual/instruction related. Making a decent manual. or instruction card, can be more daunting than making the actual pedal. The content is ok, but I did have some complaints. First, it was a tri-fold, purple, construction paper type card. The writing was black, and it used a fancy, small, script type font. It was a bear to read. Us older types with bifocals really need to squint and peer to make heads or tails out of it. Once I got in the right light, it was finally readable, but better color combinations and a clearer standard font would have been appreciated. Second, the mention a six position rotary switch that toggles between 4 phasers, tremolo, and tremophase. The thing is, they do not tell you what positions achieve those effects. It isn't marked on the pedal so you have to assume that they are the order listed, phasers/trem/tremophase, or play with it and figure it out. They are in that order by the way. I sent in the suggestion that they actually use phases on the moon on the pedal face to mark the positions with a T for tremelo and a moon face transposed over a T for the Tremophase. Now that may add too much to the cost for them to do it, but they should have been specific on the card in any event. The final con is the price. This pedal is well worth the cost since you are getting two pedals for one with a neat new effect thrown in. So while it is very expensive, it is really just a slight con here.

Overall : What can I say? Every pedal board should have one of these on it. I love my Electro Harmonix Pulsar, but tremelo on this is superb. I will probably keep the Pulsar since it is slightly different sounding, but it will take a back seat to this. The Phasers are the best. Very very nice. And Tremophase now takes a place next to some of my favorite effects sounds.

SCORE : 9.8 out of 10 I give it a .2 deduction (I have been watching far too much Olympic action) for style and design of the manual/instructions. Solid 10 in sound.

owwdatune · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:02 pm Post subject:

well......that is definately a REVIEW

owwdatune · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:04 pm Post subject:

and WELCOME to our owwda the way board greymire...hope to see your smiling face around here often.

Greymire · Not So Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2004 Posts: 8