Triungulo Lab Black Pearl phaser (based on Moog Moogerfooger MF-103)

[Quatschmacher]

Well this is exciting news:

https://triungulolab.com/en-gb/products/12-stage-phaser-mf-103

[HoorayForAnonyms]

Very exciting. Coincidentally, I downloaded the Moog plugins a few days and have been playing around with the MF-103. It’s really nice and this is so tempting. Not within my budget at the moment though. 

[HoorayForAnonyms]

Well I’ve succumbed and placed an order. Will report back once it arrives. 😊

[HoorayForAnonyms]

And it looks like JFX are about to release their own MF-103 clone. Roughly the same price as the Triungulo but much more in keeping with the Moog aesthetic. Suddenly we have options! 
 

https://jfxpedals.com/products/jf-103-12-stage-phaser
 

 

 

Edited April 19 by HoorayForAnonyms

[admiralchew]

The Black Pearl has now moved to preorder only. I’m glad for Will that they seemed to sell quickly!

[HoorayForAnonyms]

I messaged Will saying the same. He was pleasantly surprised the first batch sold well. 
 

They are on the way. Courier estimate for my one is Tuesday, 7th. 
 

 

[admiralchew]

8 minutes ago, HoorayForAnonyms said:

I messaged Will saying the same. He was pleasantly surprised the first batch sold well. 
 

They are on the way. Courier estimate for my one is Tuesday, 7th. 
 

 

Excellent and the same! My Barbanera went walkabout for a bit when it hit the UK (it showed as back on the Continent in the Netherlands on the day it was delivered here) but hopefully FedEx will deliver this time (sorry for the inadvertent pun). I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the pedal!

[Quatschmacher]

On 19/04/2024 at 17:58, HoorayForAnonyms said:

Well I’ve succumbed and placed an order. Will report back once it arrives. 😊

Has it yet?

[HoorayForAnonyms]

On 28/05/2024 at 22:54, Quatschmacher said:

Has it yet?

Yes it did about a week ago. First impressions are somewhat mixed. It does produce a dark and warm sound as  you might expect from a 6-stage analogue phaser.
 

However, I’m finding that overall it is rather subtle and despite being able to adjust a number of parameters, the actual impact is surprisingly minimal. I haven’t been able to produce a deep phase effect despite spending considerable time with a looper and making micro adjustments. Perhaps that is just the overall character of the circuit. Further exploration is needed. 
 

It’s been a few years since I actually had time with the MF-103 but I do recall that it wasn’t subtle and produced a rich deep phase. 
 

There are some shortcomings that, whilst minor, are worth mentioning. Firstly, the clipping indicator light has been moved internally - as opposed to it being external on the MF-103. It is only visible from an angle and is quite dim which requires me to cup my hands around it to see when it moves from green to clipping. It is supposedly tricolour but because it’s recessed so far inside the pedal, it’s only possible to make out green and red. It really should have been mounted externally or omitted entirely.

Secondly, the range of rate control is wide but doesn’t offer the same level of fine-grained adjustment the MF-103 has with its additional range selector switch. This could have easily been included on the Pearl and something that the JFX version has retained.
 

Finally, the pedal defaults to on when powered up and you need to turn it off at the start of each session. I have only one other pedal that does this and that’s the EBS Uni-chorus. It’s somewhat annoying. 
 

I do wonder how accurate a clone this might be. My only reference at the moment is the MF-103 plug-in and while there are some similarities in the general character, adjusting certain parameters on the plug-in - like frequency - yield very different results when similar adjustments are made on the Pearl. It might well be that it is the plug-in that is very different from the original MF-103. 
 

Overall, it is certainly not a bad sound and I haven’t spent enough time yet to conclude whether it will end my analogue phaser search. 
 

Im trying to find somewhere to rent a MF-103 for a direct comparison but I don’t know how successful that will be. 
 

In the meantime, I did manage to find a Mu-Tron Bi-Phase II circa 2020 for a sensible sum at a Cashconverters of all places! I’ll be picking it up from the post office tomorrow. 
 

I plan to do a direct comparison this weekend alongside my trusted EBS phaser along with your @quatschmacher Phase 90 and Orbit C4 patches. A battle of the phasers! 
 

Coincidentally, a video was released today demoing the Pearl on guitar. It’s the only demo released so far. compared to the JFX demos, the Triungulo sounds a little underwhelming. 
 

 

Edited May 29 by HoorayForAnonyms