Drunk Beaver's Tornado V2 2-4-6 Stage Dual Range OTA Phaser is one of the most practical and versatile superior sounding Phase-Shift Modulators

The Tornado Phaser is much improved in its V2 iteration - with a beautiful gold sparkle enclosure and stylish geometric graphic. The same 4 knobs and core functions as before, but even more flavour via new 6 Stages option, In and Out-of-Phase Modes, and some cool refinements throughout the circuit.

I campaigned for a vertical orientation of enclosure and got my wish with this edition - which is nigh perfect in its configuration.

What’s more I even quite like the Ring Modulation voicing here - which starts off as a beautiful chorus at low Rate settings, and steps up through some interesting octave effects on its way to that familiar sort of Ring tone!

Controls - Effect Level, Resonance, Rate A, Rate B, Stages : 2/4/6, Mode : Phaser 0 (In-Phase) / Vibrato / Phaser 1 (Out-of-Phase), Sweep : Shallow / Wide, Range A : Slow / Ring / Normal, Range B : Slow / Ring / Normal, A/B Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

This is such a fantastically transitional device in how it operates gliding between textures - with the 3 different Stages options - adding gradually more flavour and texture, and then you have the further variations of 3 Modes :

• Phaser O - Dry & Wet Signal Out-of-Phase
• Vibrato - 100% Wet Signal
• Phaser I - Dry & Wet Signs In-Phase

For Vibrato Mode you typically need to max out the Effect Level, while for Phaser O and I you can get away with the Level at circa 2-3 o’c. I actually really like all 3 Modes - while I tend to live mostly on the Phaser O - which is slightly brighter and more forward in the mix, the Phaser I In-Phase Mode is slightly bassier and muddier - but still really cool sounding.

I typically start by selecting the Mode, and then Ramp the flavour up through the Stages. Sweep is in effect another textural element along with Resonance - where those are typically set Wider and High - but I’m fairly flexible in how I apply those. And then Rate A tends to be the Slower one and Rate B the Faster Modulation - where it really depends what mood I’m in as to which of Slow, Ring and Normal I set. The Ring Mod is often selected on a low rate on A, with a faster phasey flutter on B.

I really can’t fault this pedal - all the dials have decent range and have predictable tapers - E.Level and Resonance are typically around 3 o’c, Rate A for me is 9 o’c and below mostly, and Rate B is 2 o’c and above!

A cool future update here would be to see some additional waveforms on a separate rotary selector - while as is this pedal is pretty much perfect in its current configuration. Those 4 x AK317 chips really deliver the goods and sound superb, and Vitalli has calibrated the circuit so well - it truly sounds as gorgeous as it looks!

Available right now on the Drunk Beaver Reverb.com Store, and imminently at selected International Dealers - where it goes for $200 + Taxes & Shipping.