With its 10 modes, the stereo and compact Alexander Pedals Luminous Phaseshifter is in all likelihood the most comprehensive phaser pedal you’ll find on the market today.
The modes (aka “engines) include a bonanza of different phasing effects, from the classic phaser with a selectable number of stages (from 4 to 12) to dual phasing or more creative options like delay-phase, pattern-based ones and other completely original modes – you can see the full list here.
Tweaking is done via four knobs, three of which control mode-dependent parameters, while the bottom right one is also a push button and controls the LCD screen menu. The two footswitches deal with presets, tap tempo, and momentary effects.
Like all the other Alexander pedals in the company’s Leap Series, the Luminous Phaseshifter has all the features of modern digital pedals including presets, stereo out, trails on/off functionality, momentary effects, expression control, USB port, just to mention a few – you can find the full list here.
We added this pedal to our article about the best phaser pedals.
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Alexander Pedals Luminous Phaseshifter, Builder’s Notes
We sent a team of sonic scientists deep into the arctic circle on a secret mission: to capture bits of the Aurora Borealis so we could transmute them into a pedal. What emerged was Luminous, equal parts phaseshifter and swirly glowing haze machine. It dances and hovers with the utmost mystery, occasionally imperceptible while frequently vivid. And it glows in the dark, because of course it does.
You may have heard the joke that “phasers are just boneless flangers,” and that’s kind of true! We like to think of phasing as a more round and liquid sound, one that sits in a mix a lot better than the sharp / angular tone of flanging. Luminous gives you ten distinct flavours of phaser, from very subtle to incredibly intense. Then we add in the ability to save your favourite sounds to instant access presets, making for an incredibly useful musical tool.
The Leap Series improves upon our popular Neo Series platform in lots of ways, including:
- Stereo audio input and output with phase correction
- Low-noise direct-coupled audio path
- Improved audio headroom and frequency response
- FXCore DSP with more than 8 times the processing power than our previous Neo Series pedals
- 32 onboard presets (4 banks of 8 presets each,) all accessible on the pedal without the need for external controls.
PHASER ENGINES:
CLASSIC: Versatile and powerful studio phaser, configurable between 2 and 24 phase stages. Try a 4-stage phaser with low resonance for stompbox-type phasing, or a 12-stage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msoqxF6Rclsphaser set to slow sweep for studio style phasing.
DUAL: Two independent phase shifters, configurable as SERIES (A into B,) PARALLEL (A and B summed together,) STEREO (A on left, B on right,) or SPLIT (stereo inputs to each phaser.) Phaser B may be LOCKED or INVERTED to the LFO for Phase A.
PHASE DELAY: Clean digital delay (up to 800ms) with an 8-stage phaser on the delay trails. The delay is controlled by the tap tempo in this mode instead of the phaser.
K-TREM: Inspired by vintage tuck-and-roll amps, this is phase vibrato combined with tremolo. Try 2 stages with low Image settings for amp-type effects, or 3 stages for more of a vibro thang. Sync sets tremolo to mute during high or low phase sweep.
DYNAMIC: 8-stage phaser controlled by your playing dynamics. Dynamic engine may control phaser RATE, DEPTH, or set to MANUAL mode to control the phaser directly like an auto-filter.
INFINITE: This one will spin you right round! Combines a Bode-inspired frequency shifter with phaser bank to produce infinitely rising or falling phase using the DIR control on page 2. The Rate and Depth controls affect the phaser bank to add motion.
FLYING PAN: Classic ‘70s style panned phaser. Warning – this one only works to its full potential in stereo, but it’s still a cool tremolo phaser in mono. The phase signal may be placed anywhere in the stereo spectrum before it hits the panning engine.
PATTERN: Rhythmic step-sequenced phaser with 8 selectable patterns. Pattern 8 is user-definable using MIDI CC commands.
UNIQUE: Special mode inspired by an incandescent-powered Japanese effect from the 1960s. The second page has controls to go way beyond the original effect, set these at their minimum position to start at the vintage sound. Set the Mix control to 50% for “chorus” or 100% for “vibrato.”
PHLANGER: Takes inspiration from a classic DIY kit. While the original was just a funny spelling of “flanger,” our version combines phaser and flanger in a single mode. Use the Time control to mix and swirl between the two effects.
FEATURES
PRESETS
THIRTY-TWO built-in presets (four banks of 8) allow you to colour with all the crayons in the box. Hold the Bypass / Preset footswitch to select the next preset, or hold both to go back.BYPASS TRAILS
Bypass trails (for modes with echo or delay) are configurable for hard bypass, full trails, or auto trails. In auto trails mode, the delay or reverb will decay normally and then seamlessly ramp to zero volume for the lowest possible operating noise. Modes without reverb or delay will behave as normal hard bypass.EXPRESSION AND RAMPING
Seamlessly morph between different knob settings on the fly using the built-in ramp footswitch, expression pedal, footswitch, or MIDI controller.STEREO INS AND OUTS
The input jack is selectable for standard mono or TRS stereo signal input without opening the pedal. The output jacks are usable as either mono, two-cable stereo, or TRS stereo. Connect all your Venture and Leap Series pedals in stereo with TRS cables for a neat and tidy pedalboard!MULTIJACK
Connect an expression pedal, footswitch, or MIDI controller to this jack to add performance control to your pedal. Also compatible with our ALEXPANDER performance control switch!USB PORT
Every Leap Series pedal features a USB port for MIDI control and firmware updates.
