Warm Audio’s dead-on homage to the Moog Moogerfooger MF-102 ring modulator is a source of everything from rich tremolo pulses to haunted bell tones and alien voices.
Very accurate reproductions of MF-102 tones and functionality. Deep and colorful modulation textures. Satisfying to use intuitively. Invites unusual playing techniques.
Finding precisely the same tone twice can be tricky.
$219
Warm Audio RingerBringer
warmaudio.com
When Moog released the Moogerfooger pedal line around the turn of the century, there were few musical devices I lusted after more. They were beautiful objects, built in the spirit and aesthetic of Moog’s legendary, lovely wood-clad Minimoog and other synthesizers in the company’s line. They also made amazing sounds and were, in every way, instruments in their own right. But they were pretty expensive for a young person minding their pennies, and since their discontinuation, prices for secondhand specimens climbed to ever more stratospheric heights. That exclusivity made the Moogerfoogers logical targets for Warm Audio, who excel at authentically replicating vintage circuits as well as the physical, tactile experience of working with them. And the new RingerBringer, Warm’s take on the Moog MF-102 ring modulator, is an experience indeed.
Earthy Elements and Starbound Sounds
You could confine your activities to intuitively tweaking the RingerBringer’s controls and find your way to countless fascinating places. But in mastering the device, it can be helpful to think of the RingerBringer as a little synthesizer instead of a guitar pedal, and get to know the principles behind the basic effect.
Ring modulation occurs when the RingerBringer’s carrier frequency, a sine wave that’s tuned via the frequency knob, interacts with the signal from your instrument. At the pedal’s lower carrier frequencies (selected via the hi/lo rocker switch), those interactions tend to sound like tremolo. At higher frequencies, the combined signals can generate intense modulations with bizarre harmonics and overtones.
The LFO section of the pedal oscillates the carrier frequency within a range of as many as three octaves (which is determined by the amount knob), and the rate knob governs how fast that oscillation happens. The waveform selector plays an enormous role in shaping this oscillation, too. In square-wave mode, the LFO will effectively move between the two extreme points in the oscillation, creating a choppy modulation. In sine-wave mode, the oscillation sweeps between those extremes, producing a comparatively smooth and vocal sound. The RingerBringer also features a drive control at the pedal’s input that kicks up cool low-gain distortion and generates sharp, resonant peaks. All of these controls are highly interactive. And even if you only use the four knobs and six switches, you can uncover troves of freakish and lovely tones. But you can also assign an expression pedal to any of the four knobs, which opens a whole new realm of possibilities, particularly when you add unconventional prepared guitar techniques.
Of Flutters and Faraway Worlds
The tremolo-like effects that live in the low-frequency range are among the real joys of the RingerBringer, though you’ll encounter some very crooked takes. Various combinations of square and sine waves, frequencies, rates, and drive levels yield pulses that are deep, rich, resonant, and rubbery, but also percolate with hiccups, odd accents, burbles, and subdivisions that can color or craze a picking pattern, depending on the wet/dry mix and your intent.
The high-frequency range is where the aliens and Daleks live. But depending on the frequency and rate controls, you can also create the toll of haunted trans-dimensional church bells and the whir of UFO engine rooms. These frequencies are highly reactive to changes in picking intensity, and even the point along the string’s length where you pluck a string. They can also drive other effects in cool ways. For instance, if you use a low effects mix and pair the pedal with a delay setup for a long sequence of slapback repeats, you can generate dissonant notes that subtly shadow the true notes from your dry mix as the delay manufactures whistling sheets of overtones and compound notes. These settings free you to chase intuitively fashioned note clusters that generate off-kilter harmonizing chords—a liberating exercise that can make you look at the fretboard in totally new ways.
The Verdict
It probably goes without saying that the RingerBringer won’t be for everyone. Though it’s capable of pretty sounds—generally the ones on the tremolo-like spectrum—it might be a candidate for the pedal most likely to get you kicked out of your cover band. But if your musical inclinations are more experimental, you’ll find the RingerBringer overflowing with sounds that can shift the mood of a song from neutral to haunting, futuristic, alien, or unsettling—or recast it into an altogether different musical entity. Players with more conventional tastes should take my ratings as highly subjective. I relished almost every sound here and many of them sparked fresh musical ideas, so my tones and value ratings might be higher than they would be for folks down to pick a few James Taylor jams. But at just $219, this very authentic take on a Moog classic will be a righteous deal for those that regret missing out on scoring the real thing.
Warm Audio RingerBringer and Warm Bender Demo | PG Plays
Let the warped side of your creativity erupt with a phaser's magic modulation.
It's synonymous with the likes of Gilmour, Hendrix, and Van Halen—to name just a few. The addition of a phaser to a 'board is almost guaranteed to step up one's game in the hypnotic tone department. Here, we've gathered 10 phaser pedals for subtle to space-age modulation experimentation.
WAY HUGE
Atreides
Inspired by a 1980s mini-synthesizer, this "Analog Weirding Module" was designed to deliver growly sub-octave, expressive vocal envelope, swooshing phase, and gnarly fuzz sounds.
$199 street
jimdunlop.com
IBANEZ
Phaser MINI
Offering a variety of sounds, from subtle texture to deep saturation, this analog Phaser was dreamt up to retain the clarity of dry signal, even when set to the highest effect intensity.
$119 street
ibanez.com
PIGTRONIX
Moon Pool
This 4-stage analog phase shifter and tremolo has independent speed controls that change the rate of one or both of the effects in either direction, corresponding to how hard you play.
$179 street
pigtronix.com
MSL
Night Witch
This combo fuzz and ramping phaser is the company's take on the Roland AP-7 Jet Phaser, housing a circuit that's been modified and updated for today's pedalboards.
$300 street
mslpedals.com
WARM AUDIO
Jet Phaser
Boasting the same control set as the like-named original from the '70s, this phaser was created to drum up gentle modulation to distorted phase-drenched cacophony.
$199 street
warmaudio.com
MXR
Phase 90
From delicate, spatial shimmer to full-on high-velocity swooshing, this well-known orange box has been a mainstay for many thanks to its distinctively warm modulation.
$79 street
jimdunlop.com
SVI SOUND
Techno-FA
This mini-sized optical phaser can be switched between 2- and 4-stage phasing, while its four controls (frequency, range, depth, and bright) fine-tune modulation that ranges from vintage to modern shift sounds.
$169 street
svisound.com
ELECTRO-HARMONIX
Small Stone
Whether you're after a rotating speaker effect for blues, adding seasoning to your chicken pickin', or a jet-plane swoosh for metal, this phaser was built for sweeping shifting with liquid transparency.
$71 street
ehx.com
WALRUS AUDIO
Lillian
This multi-stage pedal is packed with a wide array of analog-phaser goodness to dial in, from slight amounts of movement from your dry signal to all sorts of unheard phase/vibrato combinations.
$199 street
walrusaudio.com
SOURCE AUDIO
Lunar Phaser
Offering three styles of phase modulation (vibe, classic, and multi), this MIDI-compatible pedal also synchs with the company's Neuro mobile app for an extensive list of downloadable algorithms.
$149 street
sourceaudio.net
The masters of affordable analog mimicry resurrect one of Roland’s most far-out ’70s effects.
RatingsPros:Complex 8-stage phase tones. Unique, characterful fuzz. Rangeful resonance control. Cons: Can’t use otherwise excellent fuzz without phaser. Fuzz could use a touch more output gain. Street: $199 Warm Audio Jet Phaser warmaudio.com | Tones: Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
If the Warm Audio name looks familiar but you can’t quite place it, maybe you’ve been hunting for vintage-style studio gear on the cheap. If so, you’ve probably noticed Warm makes many enticing reproductions of classic Neumann microphones, Neve preamps, Urei compressors, and more—all at very accessible prices.
Until recently, Warm Audio’s focus remained in the studio lane. But it seems the company’s affinity for vintage design made the big guitar stompboxes from the 1970s an irresistible target for its resurrection efforts. And apart from a few massive Maestro and Mu-Tron oddities, I can think of few big ’70s pedals more deserving of full-size reproduction than the Roland Jet Phaser—a lovely but nasty fusion of 8-stage, FET-driven phaser and fuzz that Warm has impressively mimicked in its own Jet Phaser.
Woody and Wild
The original Roland Jet Phaser was packaged in a cast-steel enclosure similar to the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble and DM-1 Delay Machine. Warm took some liberties with the Jet Phaser design in this respect, borrowing moves from the Moog playbook by using wood sides to lend a dose of vintage synthesizer style. Otherwise the design is fairly faithful to its inspiration.
Functionally speaking, the Jet Phaser is an odd bird. Modulated fuzzes are more common now—particularly among small, experimental builders—but for the most part, modern players and pedal builders seem to prefer phase and fuzz as independent effects. Here, the fuzz and phase are integrated, save for the two fuzz-less phaser voices.
The controls—which, except for the battery/DC adapter switch, are identical to those on a Roland original—are easy to understand and operate once you acclimate to their operational quirks and idiosyncrasies. The “jet” in the pedal’s name is shorthand for the sound of the combined fuzz and phase effects, and there are four jet modes to explore. Number one is a combination of bright fuzz voice and a less intense phase voice. Number two combines the bright fuzz and a more intense version of the phaser. Modes three and four combine a darker, filtered fuzz with the lighter and powerful phase voices, respectively. The two clean phase modes are mellow and full-strength versions of the phaser.
The jet level knob regulates the output of the combined effects, but it’s important to know that—in true vintage style—most of the knob’s range produces sounds quieter than unity gain. Personally, I find a lot of utility in these textures in studio situations, but to effectively use the Jet Phaser in performance without a signal drop, you’ll likely have keep the jet level close to maximum. The resonance control is sensitive and has great range, which makes fine-tuning the intensity of the phaser voices easy and exponentially expands the palette of available phase colors. It’s also very effective at taming resonant peaks that can occur at certain bright-and-heavy fuzz settings.
The slow rate knob determines modulation rate when the pedal is in slow mode, whereas modulation rate is fixed in fast mode. That limitation is a bit of a bummer, even if it’s vintage-correct. On the other hand, if you use the fast/slow foot switch to toggle between the two modes, the faster speed is an ideal departure or end point for replicating the accelerating/decelerating ramping effects of a Leslie.
Phuzz Sandwich
By itself, the 8-stage phaser produces beautiful, rich modulation tones. Slower rates in particular highlight complex overtones in shifting phases rather than obscuring them in waves of whoosh. And if the Jet Phaser doesn’t produce the deepest, most radical phase tones in the cosmos, it certainly makes some of most detailed. (Some of this extra detail may be down to the 18V power.)
The mellower phase voice is especially lovely—adding subtle animation and shimmer at the lowest resonance levels and a classy dose of rotary speaker-style wobble with resonance up high. But the phaser’s capacity for detail and overtones shines in the more intense mode, too, and it’s fun and rewarding to carve out and highlight specific resonant frequencies in this very colorful mode with the resonance control.
It’s possible that the original Roland designers made the phaser relatively subdued to accommodate the fuzz—which isn’t even vaguely subdued. It’s not an easy voice to pinpoint relative to other common fuzzes. There is some of a Big Muff’s mass, particularly in the midrange, but there is also a great deal of a Tone Bender’s focus. And depending on where you situate the resonance control, you can dial in many variations on filtered, cocked-wah tones, and buzzier, more feral Bosstone and Fuzzrite sounds.
I liked the harmonically excited bright voices best, but there are many amazing smoky and mysterious sounds to be found in the darker, filtered jet modes, too—particularly when you use guitar volume and tone attenuation with the resonance control to sculpt niches in the lows and low mids. Add de-tuned strings and you can create massive waves of low-end modulation that sound weighty and surreal when situated right in a mix.
The Verdict
Warm Audio’s commitment to authenticity means the Jet Phaser suffers some of the practical shortcomings of its inspiration—big footprint, relatively low output from the fuzz, and the inability to use the excellent fuzz in isolation from the phaser. Then again, Warm’s take on the Jet Phaser is a reminder of how unique and just plain good two effects can sound when tailored to suit each other’s respective strengths. For those who can get past its period-correct quirks, the Warm Jet Phaser will reward with complex, tasteful, and downright mental waves of phase.
Watch John Bohlinger demo the Warm Audio Jet Phaser: