Sometimes you get a great pedal in.
This pedal only had the ‘Maxon’ sleeve glued in place, had three jacks and a potmeter under the treadle . No wires, no switches. From the writing on the outside maybe this pedal was used as a volume pedal? From Tonehome we can see that two versions were available: One with PT-900 circuitry and one with PT-999 circuitry (and LED). As this unit has no LED (and has PT-999 circuitry) maybe this is a (rare) third version?
(as for the PT-900 and the PT-999, I wrote an article on it here)
The circuit
The pedal is housed in a beautiful blue wah pedal like enclosure. A single switch is located underneath the toe position to switch the pedal on and off. The treadle determines the speed of the phase effect.
When opened up the Maxon ‘Sleeve’ holds the PCB. This sleeve was glued in place, yet some force removed it from the enclosure. Inside is a PCB with the markings ‘999’ on them. This should refer to the Ibanez PT-999, a similar phase effect I wrote about in the past. These PCB’s are identical!!!
Using my PT-999 as a guide I connected all the wires to the designated places. And voila, the unit works.
Now the side switch;
This pedal has a switch on the side to select a fast phasing effect or a slow phasing effect that you can control with your feet. No schematic is available for this model. On various places on the internet I found pictures of the inside of this pedal; I could spot the wiring and the values of the extra resistors; with this I tried to replicate the design.
(Little note: I’m not sure if the solution is also the same circuit as designed but it works like a charm)
I decided to add these changes to the schematic.
The mods
- As the pedal is not true bypass you can replace the footswitch with a DPDT / TPDT.
- As the pedal can only be fed with a battery, a DC jack can be installed to use it with a power adapter.
- You can set the desired speed range by changing the position of the potmeter in the heel- or toe-down position. Just undo the washer behind the geared lug to set the potmeter.
The sound
I really enjoy my PT-999 and this PT1000, well, is just like my old PT-999. It is a lush, vibrant, BIG sounding phaser that is just really apparent in the final mix. On slow speeds it just tweaks that clean sound to be more interesting and on higher speeds faux Leslie sounds can easily be made.
The treadle does add something to the enjoyment of this pedal and yet, the function is rather limited. The whole range of the treadle is limited but by switching between the slow and the fast setting makes it easier to dial in your sounds!
A great vintage sounding phaser with a twist! Great to use.
Links
Homepage 
Leave a comment