The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm thinking of buying a phaser pedal for using with PSG and regular guitar.

For PSG I'd like to get a "reasonably" Sneaky Pete sound a la Christine's Tune or Take it Easy etc (I have no grandiose expectations of sounding exactly like him... )

I tried out the EHX Small Stone and MXR Phase 90 in a shop with a telecaster which I liked but am unsure what they're gonna sound like with PSG.

Am I barking up the right tree here or was Mr Kleinow using a flanger rather than phaser or something else??

he definitely used a tape echo of some kind - maybe that gave some of the phase effect

Great price, lots of tweakability: Ibanez Tonelok AP7.
4,6 or 8 stages, speed, depth and feedback controls (positive or negative).
I think you`ll find most of the usable phaser sounds you need here.
Kind of like having the MXR 45, 90 and 100 in one but with a lot more control.
Sneaky-Tone is in there, too... Although I`ve read that he used the Mu-Tron Biphase.

I've tried that as well with a number of phasers including the MXR 90 as well as the Mutron Biphase however a lot of the sound was the Fender that he was playing thru as well as his touch~

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. Like I said I only wanted to get a vaguely similar phase sound rather than attempting the impossible task of sounding just like Pete. I'll try out some more phasers next time I get to a guitar shop.

How are you doing Jim? My better half and I met you and your friend Rick at your shop when we were on holiday in California last October. It was almost a year ago so you might not remember ha ha! (I asked you about your Sweetheart Of The Rodeo t-shirt?) Anyway, hope you are well!

MuTron Phaser II is MUCH less expensive and more available than a Bi-Phase AND is the best sounding phaser still, after all these years. IT will get you the sounds you're looking for. Be patient and look on Craigslist, eBay etc.

There are a lot of great phasers out there and I've owned about a dozen different ones. The MuTron Phasor II is great, but I think it has a different characteristic than what you're looking for--it's actually maybe a little too hi-fi, although it is my favorite. The Maestro Phaser PS-1A is great, but a little pricey. MXR Phase 100, Electro Harmonix Small Stone, Big Jam, Boss PH-1R--they will all get you there.

Lastly, some amps have great phasers built in--the Music Man RP models, as well as certain Peavey amps. I really liked the sound of the Music Man and i used it quite a bit on the last record i did.

Pretty sure there was no flanger or phaser on Christine's Tune. Just a tape delay.

My friend Joel Meredith is a pretty big Sneaky Pete-o-phile. He wrote me in an email a while back: "I got this crazy phase shifter, the Electro-Harmonix "Flanger Hoax", and it's a dead-ringer for the "Take it easy" phase shifter..."

Joel plays a Fender with Pete's B6 copedent and he's spent a lot of time searching for Sneaky tones. I trust his judgement on all things "Sneaky Pete"

Cool, I've now got a lot of phasers to try out!

They appear to have the Flanger Hoax in my nearest guitar shop, looks pretty crazy, will try and get down there on Saturday.


Yes, Christine's Tune was probably a bad example of what I meant. Another forumite has pointed out that if anything it's probably a bit of tape flanging on the whole recording during that solo.

Yeah, the EH Flanger Hoax is a real crazy pedal and depending on the settings you can get pretty close to that "Take it Easy" sound. I've heard for a long time that on the recording of that song he used a Mutron BiPhase.

The thing is that it's kind of expensive and hard to dial in and I've been told by Jim Sliff, another Sneaky Pete guy (more like a Sneaky expert), that you can get pretty close with an MXR Phase 90 and a chorus pedal.

Christine's tune didn't have any phase on it, maybe just delay...he did often have his two pickups out of phase, if that's what you're thinking of, but that's a different thing altogether.

If you end up finding a phaser that nails the Take it Easy tone, let me know because every few months I'll try in vain to get that tone and eventually quit in disgust after getting kind of close.

The phaser in the Pod XT works pretty good, plus you can route it through a delay on the same patch. I haven't tried to match Sneaky Pete's sound exactly, but it works pretty well when I want that country rock sound.