So many varied ways to phase for days.
Sweet, distinct phase voice. Resonance, mix, range, and volume controls expand tone-shaping possibilities significantly. High quality.
Expensive.
$279
Spaceman Explorer
spacemaneffects.com
Spaceman effects tend to be cherished, treasured, and, in some cases, driven to insane resale market prices because they reliably sound fantastic. But Spaceman pedals are also rare creatures. And even its most popular pedals tend to come and go—often disappearing before real players can beat collectors to the punch. The analog, 6-stage optical Explorer phaser, however, is the unusual Spaceman pedal that is reappearing in the wild after a hiatus. It returns in a more compact enclosure. But this time out the Explorer offers access to six additional waveforms that build on an already expansive modulation vocabulary.
Not So Simply Red
I love one-knob phasers. They are a sure-fire means to mindless fun, and one less thing to worry about when drifting off amid some psychedelic-jam reverie. That mindlessness comes at a cost, of course. A classic Small Stone or Phase 90 tends to sound just like it’s supposed to and little more. So while you can extract everything from rotary speaker sounds to staccato pitch shifting with such a circuit, they’re usually imprinted with a specific voice and phase coloration—what you hear is what you get.
The Explorer brushes aside those constraints in very cool fashion. For starters, the mix control helps you render the phase effect nearly subliminal. That enables you to use pretty extreme phase voices in low-key ways—a beautiful means to apply the effect to add motion in a spare mix. The Explorer also comes with an output volume control. This means you can overcome any perceived volume loss when using intense waveforms. But it also gives your signal a slight—and slightly dirty—bump even when the effect mix is low. The volume gives you options in that direction, too. And although there probably won’t be hordes of players dying to use the Explorer at less than unity gain, the ability to do so opens up interesting arrangement possibilities in which you can move from straight-ahead clean passages to quieter effected chapters in a song without missing a beat. It also gives you a means to mate the Explorer more easily to an unruly or unpredictable fuzz.
The Explorer’s wave-shaping options are abundant and powerful. The rate control generally falls in line with most classic analog phasers in terms of range—moving from molasses sweeps to insectile stutters. Resonance, of course, adds vowelly emphasis to the waveforms. Its effect is strong enough that I tended to leave it in a modest 8 to 10 o’clock range. But it can also help put a phase over the top in a crowded effects mix and help add rhythmic emphasis. The Explorer’s range control is, perhaps, the hidden gem. There’s nothing magical about it. It’s essentially a filter that enables you to thin out or add a low-end bump to the signal. But the extra low end can be a beautiful sweetening agent with slower phase rates (which get chewier and dreamier with more low end) and gives you extra wiggle room for tailoring the Explorer to different guitars, amps, and effects in your chain.
The extra low end can be a beautiful sweetening agent with slower phase rates.
Crest-to-Trough Awesome
The Explorer isn’t the only contemporary phaser with the option for multiple waveforms. But there is something about the essential sweetness and clarity of its voice that makes the differences among these wave types feel more distinct. The sine wave is smooth-snaky and sounds dreamy at slow rates and sitting low in the wet/dry mix. Ramp-up and ramp-down waves have a pronounced “reset” pulse at the peak of each wave that tends to reinforce certain rhythm-based approaches. Triangle generates pretty, precise, and steady heartbeat pulses that make lots of room for picking detail at dryer mix levels, but it also sounds awesome at more stroboscopic rates and higher intensities. The square wave at a 50-precent rate and with a healthy heap of low end from the range control is another favorite—and with the resonance just right, you can get a very bubbly auto-wah effect. The alternate phase patterns, which are accessed by powering up while holding down the footswitch, are all worth investigating as well. And the arpeggiated phases, in particular, are especially cool—lending textures that evoke everything from bouncing ball bearings to tinkling glockenspiels.
The Verdict
The Explorer often distinguishes itself by living at a cool intersection of organic and mechanical precision pulses and sounds. But the abundant tone-shaping options mean you can fine tune these tone crossovers like a surgeon. It’s fun, too. The right sound rarely feels out of reach or impossible on the Explorer, so the search seldom feels like work. For anyone that has suffered the limitations of 1-knob phasers but been intimidated by more complex alternatives, there are a lot of cool compromises here. The Explorer is expensive. But it’s a high-quality U.S.-made pedal that reflects a lot of thought and experience. It may just tempt you to sell the rest of the phasers in your collection, too—a smart, constructive way to offset the cost, if you ask me.
The pedal features a unique, discrete analog circuit, with a meticulously selected vintage germanium transistor at its heart.
Portland, OR (March 1, 2018) -- The Mercury IV is a dynamic tone enhancer created to bring out additional harmonic character from instruments and amplifiers. The pedal features a unique, discrete analog circuit, with a meticulously selected vintage germanium transistor at its heart.
The boost control of the Mercury IV offers a staggering 35 dB of gain, with nine tone-shaping options to gently or aggressively boost tube amplifiers. The real magic however, resides in the harmonics control; bringing more dimension and life to ones’ tone. Subtle sparkle, complex textures, and octave-like overtones can all be found here. With a sound and response like hot tubes on the edge of breakup, these even-order harmonics are independently generated, giving you full control over the mix.
Features:
- 35 dB of boost on tap
- Nine tone combinations via two three-position Bass & Treble toggle switches
- Independently generated even-order Harmonics, blend-able with your dry signal
- Vintage Germanium transistor at its heart
- Five signed and numbered Limited Editions: Chrome, White, Brass, Black and Silver
- Completely hand-soldered and hand-wired by craftsmen in Portland, Oregon
- Heavy duty engraved vinyl faceplate
- Unique, discrete all-analog circuit
- Large “jewel” indicator light
- True-Bypass switching
Silver Edition: $299
Watch the company's video demo:
For more information:
Spaceman Effects
A deviation from fuzztone convention brings explosive and inspiring results.
It’s not for nothing that Spaceman Effects enjoys a following that verges on cultish. The pedal builds are typically immaculate. The designs—loving homages to early-’60s aerospace control panels—make you feel like a test pilot when you’re just dialing in a little extra treble. Above all, Spaceman’s effects usually deliver sonic originality that’s rare amid the clone clutter in the stompbox cosmos.
The Titan II is more straightforward than many Spaceman fuzzes, at least in terms of controls and circuitry. And while you hear hints of familiar fuzz touchstones at many settings—early Big Muff, MkIII Tone Bender, and RAT textures are all part of the Titan II tapestry—it is never quite any of those things. Through its combination of burly, spitty, gruff, and even sophisticated voices, the Titan II delivers sounds and tactile feedback that feels fresh, open-ended, and inspiring.
Built for the Outer Limits
Even if you never open a stompbox except to change a battery, it’s worth a look at the inner workings of the Titan II. Like all Spaceman effects, it’s a textbook study in how to make a stompbox circuit clean, serviceable, and attractive. The discrete circuit is carefully and flawlessly laid out on a through-hole circuit board, which Spaceman glams up with star-engraved silvery overlay. Many of the components themselves look cool, like the gleaming Fine Gold capacitor that’s typically used in hi-fi applications. The part count is appropriately small for a 3-knob fuzz, though six silicon transistors drive the Titan II—presumably to generate the copious gain we’ll discuss in a minute.
The circuit board is mounted so it seems to float free within the enclosure. This design also insulates the vital components from the force of blows on stage and during travel. Even the wiring from the enclosure-mounted footswitch and jacks is fastidious—routed in readily traceable right-angle routes from their points of origin to the circuit board. The 9V AC jack is side-mounted, but that location keeps it far from the circuit board and makes it easy to replace in the unlikely instance of failure. You can also power Titan II with a 9V battery.
The pedal’s exterior is classically Spaceman. It uses the same engraved-plastic-faceplate-over-steel-enclosure configuration that you see on mid-century avionics as well as a red Fender-amp-style indicator lamp. The pots turn with precision and satisfying resistance. And like every Spaceman pedal, it’s fitted with a cool aluminum label that’s stamped with the unit’s serial number.
Full Thrust Fuzz
The Titan II is not a subtle fuzz. Even at the lowest gain settings, it still exudes the menace of a growling dog on a chain. That doesn’t mean it’s incapable of nuance, as we’ll see. But you learn fast that Titan II is louder and more explosive than a lot of standard-bearing fuzzes.
With gain and tone controls at noon, unity gain arrives with the level between 9 and 10 o’clock. What’s really impressive, though, is how much ceiling and boost the Titan II makes available beyond that mark, and incrementally increasing output can feel a little hairy as Titan II drives your signal to speaker-rattling volumes. The remarkable thing is that, beyond whatever natural compression your amp generates in response to this much signal, the tone of the Titan II feels uncompromised—making the level control feel more like a floodgate than a simple potentiometer.
Ratings
Pros:
Unique, versatile fuzz sounds you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. Beautiful build quality.
Cons:
Expensive.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$249 for silver version
Spaceman Effects Titan II
spacemaneffects.com
Titan II balances all that high headroom with a fuzz flavor that’s varied, rich, and certifiably nasty. It’s particularly mean at extreme gain settings, where it takes on some of the spitty, fractured-harmonic overtones of amp and speaker pushed to their limits. That said, these aren’t the compressed tones that you associate with, say, a Fender tweed at the verge of implosion (though there are hints of it). Instead you get a unique composite of Shin-Ei Super Fuzz octave-up fizz and triangle Big Muff heat (among other things). It’s a splintered and huge sound, but with a surprising amount of air and detail, and a fat wide-spectrum foundation.
This latter feat is what makes Titan II sound distinctive when you A/B it with other fuzzes. It also helps the Titan II shine when you attenuate your signal via guitar volume and tone controls. And while the Spaceman may not have the same warm overdrive growl as, say, a germanium Fuzz Face in these situations, it delivers a brawny, complex overdrive sound and exhibits uncommon sensitivity for a silicon fuzz.
Though it might seem obvious, it bears mentioning that Titan II’s high-gain sounds are usually best communicated through bigger speakers. Out in front of a piggyback Bassman with a 2x12 cabinet, the Titan II’s balance between relatively bruising low end, sizzling, chaotic top end, and growling midrange was very impressive. That balance translates less well in small-speaker, low-wattage combos, however. And where I can typically extract a quintessentially Big Muff- or Tone Bender-like sound using one of those pedals and a Champ, the Titan II felt constrained when paired with the smaller amp and speaker.
The Verdict
The real beauty of Titan II is its distinctiveness. I love the idea of using it to lend contrast and dimension on one side of a stereo recording rig, or for doubling leads or bass lines. And though the very sensitive controls can almost feel vague in certain situations, they lend a lot of flexibility. With practice you can find tones that approximate familiar—and easier-to-control—Big Muff and Tone Bender sounds. What’s more, it stacks beautifully with these types of pedals to generate massive Frankenstein tone concoctions. But Titan II’s airy, open, and harmonically complex sounds are just as powerful on their own. And I won’t be surprised if many players make this pedal a launch pad in pursuit of their own signature sounds.