2 New Pedals
Last week I got 2 new stomp pedals from my friends over at Sweetwater. I’ve been wanting to add a little dimension to my electric guitar sound, so I ordered the Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe and the MXR ’74 Vintage Phase 90 re-issue.
I’ve used the Micro Vibe before, as a guitar player friend of mine let me borrow his for a gig that I played on at the UIC Forum. I absolutely loved the sound and tone of the pedal, so it was really a no-brainer. I was particularly excited to see that the latest version of this pedal has an LED indicator light. The one that I borrowed from my friend didn’t have one, and I sure could have used that feature when playing the gig. I had to start out a song with a solo guitar riff, and I couldn’t tell if the pedal was activated or not. Fortunately it wasn’t, but when you’re playing for a couple thousand people, you want to be sure.
I haven’t used a phase pedal much, but I’ve tried them, and I know I love the sound. I called a well-known, giant guitar retail store here in Chicago to see if they had the ’74 Phase 90 re-issue in stock, but they informed me that none of their Illinois locations had one in stock – nor did another instrument retailer I had been turned on to. Without being able to try one, I did some listening to some comparison videos on YouTube and decided I would really like this pedal.
The unfortunate thing about the ’74 Vintage Phase 90 pedal is 1) there is no LED indicator light and, most importantly, 2) there is no way to hook up a 9V AC adapter to the pedal – it only runs on batteries. Definitely retro across the board. This is pretty lame. I didn’t even realize this until I got the pedal out of the box. Since I’m not extremely picky about the sound of the pedal, I may opt to return the ’74 vintage model and instead get the MXR Script Phase 90 – you know, ’cause I gotta have that unmistakable script on my pedal!
So, why both a Micro Vibe and a Phase 90? Don’t the pedals make basically the same sound? Uh, no. The difference is subtle, but there definitely is a difference.
Stay tuned. I’ve also been turned on to the Xotic pedal line. I may be picking up an AC+ pretty soon.