Emulating Van Halen's MXR EVH Phase 90 with an Axe-Fx II

Andrea Sacerdoti

Andrea Sacerdoti

Member
Hey guys, I recently bought an Axe-Fx II after selling my Ultra, and chose to just stick with it for every amp simulation I may need live or in the studio, and I'm now planning my pedalboard, which will include an MFC-101 (Behringer FCB1010 is good but not as versatile), a custom switch I'm working on, a TC Electronic PolyTune 2, an Xotic SP Compressor, a TC Electronic Dreamscape, two Mission SP-1 and - maybe - an MXR EVH Phase 90.
I'm going to stick with the SP 'cause I just LOVE the way it compresses (and I still couldn't find that "punch" into the Axe's comps) and the Dreamscape for similar reasons, it's a great pedal and very useful both live and in the studio. One thing I would gladly avoid is the EVH Phase 90. Unfortunately, I love it's sound. I'm desperately looking for a way to emulate it, or at least getting pretty close, to avoid throwing money away and keep some free space in my pedalboard for the future. You just never know.
Could you guys help me about it? I could emulate pretty good a stock Phase 90 but still not the EVH sound...
Thank you in advance!
 
I haven't had any luck... I had the evh mxr and it sounded way different, almost added a low fi element to it, hard to explain, almost like the axe is too clean. Might build another pedal drawer in the future.
 
What is it that your having a problem with? I mean it's pretty straight forward with respect to settings. More detail om how your signal chain is setup would help.
 
Sixstring said:
What is it that your having a problem with? I mean it's pretty straight forward with respect to settings. More detail om how your signal chain is setup would help.
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The problem is that I can't get a similar sound, I tried many settings and still can't find that feel. I'm using a simple in1-phaser-amp-cab preset to try getting it right. May you suggest me the right settings?
I also read elsewhere in this forum that you may need to put that in parallel with an EQ and Comp to properly emulate the EVH Phase. Is that true?
 
Axe-fx Effects

Andrea Sacerdoti said:
No ideas? :-|
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New to community, first post. Just got an XL a week ago..so take this for what it's worth. It would be really cool if future sw updates included specific pedal copies, much like what they've concentrated on with amp models. No two "stomp" echo or distortion pedals sound exactly the same. And all of the great pedals have a specific tone. I've seen Clyde in the wah's and script and block in the phasers. But it would be cool, and profitable, if Fractal could demonstrate that you don't have to buy a separate Memory Man, Deja-Vibe, or even Klon stomp boxes....without having to reinvent the sound to the best of you're ability. Not sure if current tone modeler would accomplish this (haven't dug in yet), but I'm guessing a separate effect would be necessary. Just a thought.
 
Sixstring said:
What is it that your having a problem with? I mean it's pretty straight forward with respect to settings. More detail om how your signal chain is setup would help.
Click to expand...

Petrucci still uses his MXR EV Phase 90 so I guess it's not that straight forward after all. Otherwise he would have ditched that pedal by now.
 
Petrucci has a revolving door when it comes to phaser pedals, swapping in/out within his pedal drawer.
Another thought is JP does get help from FAS Pros that spend a day or so with his setup, adjusting his AxeFXII.
Stuff that'll never see the light of day on good ole Axe-Change.

As far as matching or getting close to the MXR EVH Phaser/Flanger I gave up and just settled for "close enough" because I haven't found the formula.
 
Ciao Andrea, try a overdrive block before phaser (similare setting as Yek suggested), set as clean od (fet-od, for example) and adjust the slew rate. The higher the rate, the lo-fi-ish the dynamic... I like it to "vintage up" the sound, and to emulate the non linearity that real phaser stomp box has. :)
 
That's a damn fine recipe, Yek. Now to search for an EVH Flanger setting that's better than what I'm using now...
 
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