Stepping far beyond the polite sweep of vintage phasers, the Mask Audio Neckbrace MkII is a three-stage OTA modulation engine built to deliver a richer, more expansive sound than traditional circuits. While the original version laid the groundwork, this MKII iteration introduces a complete digital LFO architecture, unlocking vastly expanded capabilities—including a glacial 17-second maximum cycle time for slow, creeping textural shifts.
The primary upgrade centers on an intuitive footswitch ramping feature. By holding down the bypass switch while engaged, the pedal dynamically alters its LFO rate based on your current knob position: setting the rate below noon causes it to jump to maximum speed, while settings above halfway pull it down to minimum. Secondary internal controls let you adjust the ramp time from instant snaps to a slow 10-second fade, or reconfigure the hold switch for momentary bypass operation.
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Flexible Blend: The Mix control sweeps fluidly from dry to fully wet phase vibrato, finding traditional sweet spots right at noon.
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Multi-Range Speed Toggle: Shifts the LFO from deep, glacial sweeps down low, to rapid modulation up high, or pushes into audio-rate territory in the center position for pseudo ring-mod textures.
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Under-the-Hood Tuning: Includes an internal “Loud” trim pot for adding substantial output boost, ensuring your signal never gets lost when engaged.
Trading standard retro limitations for precision digital control and deep expressive performance, the Neckbrace MKII offers a thoroughly modern take on analog-hearted phase.
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Mask Audio Neckbrace MkI
The Mask Audio Neckbrace is a simple-looking 3-stage phaser pedal inspired by the classic orange phasers of yesteryear, but with a lusher sound and a much longer cycle time, extending to 17 seconds at its slower setting for truly slow-motion effects!
Two knobs control Mix and Rate and a toggle delivers two different speed rates.
The pedal was released in mid-March 2023 (we missed the release because we were deep into production of the launch of our London show, sorry about that!) and it’s been getting a really good reception, which is pretty much anything you can ask to a two-knob pedal, besides being affordable, which this unit almost is, at $170.
You can hear it in the videos below. We added the Neckbrace to our comprehensive article about the best phaser pedals.
Mask Audio Neckbrace, Builder’s Notes
Neckbrace is a three stage OTA based phaser that lives where most phasers don’t. With it’s simple interface, it’s extremely easy to create subtle to extreme jet-star-screaming modulation to inspire your creative endeavors. Those who are looking for an alternative to the classic orange box will find a more full and lush sound. And for those of you who love that slow creeping modulation you will be smitten with Neckbrace’s 17 seconds cycle time at the slowest.
Controls
Mix: Goes from your full dry unaffected signal to fully wet phase vibrato. Traditional phasing sounds can be found with the knob around noon.
Rate: Controls how fast the modulation is. Goes from fast to slow.
Speed toggle: Sets the speed range for the LFO. Down goes from a glacial pace to moderate amounts of movement. Up goes from pretty fast to near ring mod. The slower setting may take a moment to begin to work on startup
Loud (internal trim): Output gain of the pedal. Can be used for quite a bit of boost if desired
