Pulse Doppler
104
GUITARIST AUGUST 2021
IMAGES TO BE SHOT
A
drian Thorpe’s latest venture is
an analogue phase-shifting pedal,
designed in conjunction with
Dan Coggins, formerly of Lovetone and
Dinosaural. Dan was behind Lovetone’s
much sought-after Doppelganger phaser/
vibrato from the 1990s, which surely
donated some of its DNA to this new project.
The pair’s idea was to create a dream phaser
pedal to deliver some of the effects heard on
classic records, but also take things further
still. The Pulse Doppler is based around a
four-stage, two-notch phaser design, but
comes with a set of controls for an extended
range of sounds with variations on phasing,
vibrato and tremolo.
IN USE
Besides the standard bypass switch, you get
another footswitch that instantly toggles
between phasing and vibrato/pulsing
effects by adding/removing dry signal.
When incorporating dry signal, the Blend
knob sets the dry/wet ratio with a 50:50
mix at noon, which produces the deepest
notch. There’s milder phasing to the left,
moving towards vibrato on the right.
As standard on many modulation
pedals, you get Rate and Depth controls,
but the Depth knob here works closely
in conjunction with a Manual knob that
sets the notch filter frequencies. Basically,
the Manual knob has an effect over a
particular arc of its movement that varies
with the Depth setting, having less control
as the Depth control is advanced. With any
set Depth, you can move the Manual knob
in its effective arc to dial in the ‘sweet spot’
strongest effect or more subtle variations
of it – not just phasing with an obvious
sweep or wobble, but also that which
offers a sense of altered tonality.
Resonance is added by the Enhance
knob, which feeds back increasing
amounts of phase-shifted output signal
to the phase-shifting notch filter path
input. This increases the depth of the two
frequency notches, the result being an
increased ‘wow’ effect.
More variation is provided by a pair of
toggle switches. The Dual switch inverts
the notches so they are either in sync
or move in opposition to one another
for a different flavour. All the action is
easy to see as each notch has its own red
LED that pulses at the set rate. A further
three-way switch offers the alternate
tonalities provided by having the straight
and phase-shifted signal in phase for the
fullest sound, or by inverting the phase
Turn up the rate knob of this all-analogue phaser to quicken your Pulse
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis
PEDALBOARD
Pulse Doppler
CONTACT
WWW.THORPYFX.COM
MODEL
PULSE DOPPLER
PRICE
£264
MANUFACTURER
THORPYFX
THORPYFX
GIT474.peds_thorpy.indd 104GIT474.peds_thorpy.indd 104 08/06/2021 20:2608/06/2021 20:26