Electro Harmonix Small Stone Reviews

Does the job

A n frills phaser, works great on stoner type riffs. The only caveat in my opinion is that it dips the volume quite severely everytime the frequency shifts down, which makes it hard to get a consistent volume. Other then that, it's a lovely pedal

Good alternative to the classic MXR series

I ordered this and the MXR to compare and for me the EVH MXR 90 won but this was a close contender

Another iteration of the classic phaser.

The small stone is one out the 3 classic phaser sounds and as such is beyond opinions. Is true that minimal sound differences exist between all successive iterations, but in this case (which I did wait for, since this black box looks killer, at least to me) is impossible for me t/o find any /difference, no matter how minimal, compared A/B to the 2017/18/19 versions.

The simplicity of controls border the absurd. Just a know for rate and a brigthness mini switch and will deliver the tones you expect, as your are used to hear in records from 1974, which is no other than the classic sound of a 4 stage phaser. Please note that both the MXR Phase 90 and this Small Stone are both four-stage phasers, which is easily distinguishable from others offering two, three, six, ten, 12 or 16 stages. In this case, more is not necessarily better, just different sounding, and chances are that the sound in your head when it comes to phasing is that of a 4 stage (think classic Van Halen).

Pedal is not dead quiet, but not annoyingly noisy. If your juice is fine, this will not be an issue. Construction overall is impeccable and the unit seems indestructible.

I am plenty satisfied with this one. With its new looks, is something you gotta have is phasing is your thing.

It's a good phaser pedal. I really liked solos with prominent phaser mixed with distortion, delay and some reverb, like Van Halen's Eruption and, specially, some from Jeff Waters (Annihilator). I firstly discovered that sound in a presentation of his Annihilator V guitar and I was intrigued by it.

When I discovered that it was a phaser and tried to emulate it with a flanger, with moderate success, I searched for a good not expensive Phaser. The most used to get that sound was the MXR Phase 90, but it was too expensive for the few occasions in which I planned to use it. I decided to look to the EHx nano series, because I had an amazing experience with a Neo Mistress.

I found this one and the Bad Stone and, since I thought the rate control was everything I needed, I opted for this one.

I am happy with my purchase, I can use it to do the lead effect I was after, to make a creamy sound paired with a flanger or to inject live into a slow distorted part. But the minimalist controls makes it not very customizable, although very versatile, since the rate knob is really effective in going from annoyingly slow to furiously fast and the color switch makes the effect more pronounced if needed. The pedal sounds very good, although sometimes it feels to subtil with the color switch off and to intense with it turned on. Contrarily to what I read about other phasers, this one doesn't make picks or drops in volume along its sound wave, at least with a clean sound and before distortion, after distortion I really don't like the sound, not only of this pedal but phasers and flangers in general.

It is a very competent pedal, but it lacks some magic that, for instance, the Neo Mistress has despite being a miniaturized version of a more complex pedal. I wonder if the Bad Stone goes that extra step from good to great. The Small Stone, though very good, is a small step away from greatness.

Classic phaser pedal with some minor drawbacks

I bought this product because it is used by Kevin Parker of Tame Impala for their very iconic sound.

Pros:

- Very nice tone, the phase is psychedelic and smooth

- You can switch between "color" modes - up makes the phase much deeper with higher cuts to lows. Down makes it more smooth and equalized.

- Durable and doesn't take too much space

Cons:

- Requires sufficient power or it will produce weird sounds and crackles. It work weirdly with some of the adapters I've tried.

- I've tried two of these pedals in various setups, and with the color set to up, it produces huge volume boost at the top of the phase which is very irritating. Even if I put it before the compressor.

One thing to note - set the color to down if you want to use it with heavy distortion. If it's set to up, it will sound ugly.

Solid

Solid pedal that does exactly what it says!

My first phaser, very happy about it

This is my first phaser ever, and I am really happy about the sound I'm getting out of it.

It sounds very 70s which is my kind of things so yeah it is perfect for me.

My only complaint which might be my own mistake, cause I'm dumb, maybe, would be that when I put this after my big muff (while the muff is on) then turn on the small stone, my signal loses volume considerably.

This is not sexy at all, so I came up with a workaround plan. I set my dirty channel to sound pretty much the same as my clean channel from my amp, the only difference is that I cranked up the master volume of the dirty channel, so what i do is that every time I am playing my big muff on the clean channel, and I want to turn on the phaser, I stomp on the phaser and my amp footswitch to change to the dirty channel at the same time. All this alleviates the issue, and now it's kind of sexy to switch from muff to muff+phaser

Anyway this is not a deal breaker at all, maybe it's normal for phasers or maybe I'm doing something wrong, who knows, I dont know.

A trip to wonderland

This is in my experience the first phaser that sounds good. I've not played around with any that I liked the sound of before. I've spotted it at a concert - one of the bands was doing some trippy solos with it. Couldn't resist, bought it. No regrets!

Ok, down to business:

The metal casing is sturdy and the 2 controls available will never confuse you. It also seems to provide a sort of a boost on some frequencies, that helps add a punch to a solo when switching it on.

The knob:

The rate range is very wide, and goes from sloooow to superfast. There's no troublees controling it tho.

The color switch:

When down, phaser seems to affect less frequencies and generally is friendlier. When up though, it will go all out, encompassing the whole range and really putting the psy into the psychedelic :D

I've had no troubles with it what so ever. I see why it is deemed a legendary pedal! Plus the fact that it's much smaller than its predecessors is a superplus, since it really doesn't take up too much space on the pedalboard.

When less is more!!

I decided to buy this pedal after listening to a lot of different models. I was searching for a phaser that could give different tonal shape possibilities with a very simple layout and vintage flavor. Also, i wanted a phaser that could be used in different musical contexts, from metal guitar craziness to lush ambient synth soundscapes.

When I plugged it in my amp for the first time, i was blown away by how awesome it was, both in rhythmic playing and soloing! I then tried it with a novation mininova synth, and that helped me understand how actually cool the color switch is. It gives you a much deeper and washy phaser effect, perfect for getting Jean Michel Jarre-like timbres.

In a metal guitar context by the way, I suggest to disengage the color switch, because it creates a very deep phase shifting that could give less definition .

Pros:

Excellent Sound

True Bypass

Easy to use

Cons:

In my personal experience, none.

Fine

I wasn't that impressed with this. I think there are better phasers about.

standard EHX build quality whic is fine, but limited features and only one sound really. It is a reasonable price tough, but I think the game has changed and this feels old fashioned now.

Great sounding, simple phaser

If you like thick, 70s style prog type of phaser, this does an amazing version of that.

I love the sound

I use it on my acoustic aswell and I love it. Not feature-packed, simple pedal. The switch is somewhat redundant and I find myself setting it once, and rate is9-10 o'clock for my sound.

Quality 3 stars because we've had one fail on me once that we couldn't fix and also the output is slightly lower when engaged, but sound is beautiful, BUY ONE thank me later

https://www.facebook.com/Xarulu-acoustic-duo-123476364489412/?fref=ts

great sound, user-friendly, reliable,

I bought this pedal 2 years ago and it never failed me. I use this pedal almost everyday, for rehearsals and concerts.

What I like about it is its simplicity (only one knob and a switch) as well as its solidity and compact shape. It's really easy to insert between two pedals on your pedalboard.

The only downside to this pedal would be the fact that, to my opinion, when the color switch is put to the upper position the effect is very hard to use in any composition because of the big change of dynamics (volume, then). But it's typically what you can expect from a phaser when you use extreme settings.

So, not much to say except it's a good pedal.

Best phaser pedal!

I had an mxr 90 and change to this and for the price, and all of the features i would go to this little monster!

The conrtols are very basic, but it`s just everything you`l need, because with this pedal you wil certanly have a good sound in all settings!!!

I recommend this pedal for everyone!

Beautiful sounding and robust phaser.

This here is a great little phaser. Compact, cheap and it sounds wonderful. I have been using this guy for a couple of months now and I am still really satisfied.

I really enjoy the way this thing sounds. It is a bit more subtle than a Phase 90 and sounds a bit more vintage-y to my ears. The speed knob has great range, this thing kan do everything from super slow psychadelic sweeps to a super fast almost wobbly sounds. Every setting sounds great.

The build quality is really stabile, this thing can take a good stomping. Although some parts do feel kind of cheap and plastic-y the pedal as a whole feels really solid.

Great phaser on the cheap!

Excellent!

I love this thing. Yes, I think the big-box small stones are probably warmer, but this thing is small, true bypass, uses a standard power adapter, and is a bargain. Chances are you'll never really notice the difference, and this one won't suck your tone. Personally, I greatly prefer the tone and flexibility of the Small Stone to the Phase 90.

Great little phaser

I bought two Harley Benton Vintage Phase models and returned both of them because the 9volt plugs were faulty on each. Finally got this one. The reason I got this one was I recently purchased a TC Electronic Looper pedal and was blown away by the quality of that pedal - it had become the nicest thing on my pedalboard.

Back to the Small Stone Nano. The sound quality is definately better than the Harley Benton and the physical quality is superb. I am much happier now I got this on my pedal board. Everything felt solid when I plugged it in and turned it on. I knew it was right in that moment, I didnt even need to listen to it.

The price difference between this and the cheaper pedals is nothing really, especially when you consider these small stones nano versions are probably going to be future collectors items, like all their other versions.

Highly recomended.

Great phaser

This is a great sounding phaser, I just wish it had a blend knob so I could tone it down a little bit. This might not bother you, or you could use a different means to blend in a dry signal, but just be aware of that.

Incredible phase shifter.

EHX are great pedal makers, and the Small Stone is no exception. The "color" switch changes it up noticeably, and can be put to great use by itself, or with other effects active.

Makes you feel stoooooooned

This is a pedal that sounds more expensive than it is. Basically, this cheap pedal sounds AMAZING!

It has a classic look to it and feels really robust. I don't mess around with the "color" switch that much, doesn't really do much for my style of music. The rate however is great. The varieties in sound you can get by changing the rate is great

Sounds amazing, feels robust and is cheap!

A definite recommendation to anyones collection of pedals