Sonic Death Ray 14 Stage Phase Shifter
I’m pretty obsessed with phasers, built dozens, searched and searched for the ‘most swooshy’, didn’t ever find it – so I designed it! Most phasers stop at 4 stages, a few dare to go to 6 or maybe 8 – Sonic Death Ray is a 14 stage FET based phaser with some nice added extras. When I first built this phaser I swore never to build another, because it’s a huge circuit (and therefore a tight build), and because I have to match 14 FETs for each unit – no mean feat in itself.
Sonic Death Ray has a bangin’ feature set:
Firstly, there are multiple regen taps available, sending the phased signal back to an earlier stage of the phaser for sonic emphasis – this is not a feature found on any other phaser I’m aware of, and a phaser needs to have a large number of stages to make it a viable option to add. In Sonic Death Ray the regen path can be selected over 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 stages by using the Regen Taps rotary switch in combination with the Parity Switch. Each and every regen tap makes the unit sound like a different flavour of phaser – really versatile.
Secondly, Sonic Death Ray features Parity Modulation, found on no other phaser in the World. A second LFO allow the number of stages in the regen path to be toggled automatically between an odd and even number, imprinting another layer of cool on an already cool effect. Sometimes it’s like adding a kind of vibrato on top the phasing, sometimes it’s like the thing is talking! Parity Modulation has it’s own footswitch – it deserves no less.
My good friend and tame shredmaster Rich Russell did some great soundclips for me.
Sonic Death Ray soundclip by Rich Russell
The soundclips was recorded directly into a Valve Junior. Rich used a USA Fender Telecaster. A Big Muff was used for the distorted parts. No other effects except a touch of reverb. Microphone was a Shure SM58.
…..and there’s more…..
Here’s my own demos of what this baby can do. Signal path: Tele Custom (bridge HB) >>> (Big Muff on the dirty bits) >>> Sonic Death Ray >>> VJ Clone >>> Shure SM58.
Sonic Death Ray costs £350 GBP plus shipping. Please contact me by email at the following address if you would like to reserve one for yourself:
frequencycentral@yahoo.com