The Asheville Music Tools Analoger APH-12 is the North Carolina company’s take on Jimi Hendrix’s favorite modulation effect. True to its name, this fully analog phaser with the unique feature of offering up to 12 stages of phase-shifting, selectable via a 12-position rotary knob.
Designed by the brain behind the legendary (but now discontinued) Moog Mogerfooger pedal series, the APH-12 builds on the tradition of high-stage-count phasers while introducing unique elements for creative sound shaping.
Although the APH-12 can deliver beautifully authentic phaser tones, its main peculiarity is the low-count (1-2-3) or odd-number (5-7-9-11) phase stage settings, something rather unexplored in the pedal realm before this circuit. Experimenting with them triggered some interesting discoveries reminiscent of other effects:
Did you know that a 1 stage phaser is a high pass filter and makes for a great tremolo sound? Or that a 2-stage phaser is a notch filter? Or that 3 stages (with envelope control) can challenge any auto-wah out there?
Leslie-style warble, vibrato, envelope-filtered tones, and multi-peak EQ shaping are other effects you can get out of this device, while the three types of LFO waves (via the left toggle) and three mix modes (via the right one) further expand its tonal palette.
