Colt and the crew at Walrus Audio are continually popping up with new pedals that change the way you think about certain effects, and how to use them in your rig. Today’s featured pedal takes a classic effects and essentially turns it around, flips it upside down and magically creates a powerful phaser tool that’s sure to make your playing improve and your tone sparkle. The Vanguard Dual Phase is a series phaser, with 2 separate phasers working together for layer upon layer of constantly evolving sound – let’s give it a go!

The top row of controls lets you adjust the sound for the first stage phaser, which is a single 10-stage phaser that can be run on its own or mixed with a 2nd phaser (more on that in a second). Dry Mix lets you adjust how much of your guitar’s unaffected sound comes through the pedal, Rate controls the phaser’s speed and Depth adjusts the overall intensity of the Vanguard’s phase effect. Regen is a control found a lot on flangers, and has a cool application here as well, mixing the phased effect back into the phaser filters, resulting in a wide range of sounds from mellow and subtle to engaged and all over the spectrum. Finally, the Wet Mix controls how much of the phaser effect is output and mixed with the dry signal.

The second row of controls relates directly to the 2nd phaser available on the Vanguard, and is really where this pedal opens up and blows past most other phasers. First off, you can select from 3 different modes, and then control them with 3 different knobs, for endless sonic possibilities. Option #1 is a 10-stage phaser with regeneration, Option #2 is a 6-stage phaser with pitch shifting and Option #3 is a 4-stage phaser with filter. Each of these modes has their own unique flavor, and you can turn Phaser One down all the way, set Phaser Two to your liking, then mix the two together as needed. With 3 different modes to do this in, and all the knobs from both levels of phasing control, the Vanguard produces a slew of unheard, random, sweeping phase tones that will keep you engaged for years to come.

There’s also the ability to use the Preset footswitch to preemptively set 3 separate tones you want, then select them on the fly during a show, or easily while you switch parts of a song in the studio. You can run the pedal in full stereo as well, with 2 Output jacks, and the Input jack possessing the ability to accept a stereo in signal via a TRS splitter cable. If for some reason you thought those weren’t enough options, there’s an Expression pedal jack on the back as well, letting you adjust whichever parameters you choose using your foot, for even more in-the-moment adjustments and control over your pedal.

This is truly a pedal that you need to sit down and experiment with to realize its full potential, but check out the video below for a slight hint of what it’s capable of, then go grab one and see for yourself what it can do! Thanks as always to Colt and Walrus Audio for their continued support of Pedal of the Day, and for constantly coming up with creative and extraordinary ways to make us all think about music. With a slew of new products coming down the pipe this year, Walrus shows no sign of slowing down, which just puts bigger smiles on our faces, and will yours as well. Go check out their website and see what all they can bring to your sonic table – cheers!

Submitted by Mike B, Website

Demo Rock pedalboard by West Coast Pedalboard