Asheville Music Tools APH-12

The Asheville Music Tools APH-12, also sold as the Analoger APH-12, is a 100% analog 12-stage phaser pedal built around an all-pass filter network with a selectable number of stages from 1 to 12, with odd stages out of phase¹. Where a classic phaser gives you a fixed stage count, the APH-12 lets you choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 or 12 stages from a switch, which changes the character of the effect from a subtle notch filter to a deep, multi-peak sweep¹².

Asheville Music Tools describes it as a pedal that "nails that classic 12 and 6-stage phaser sound with warm overdrive on tap," and the maker lists phaser, vibrato, tremolo, envelope filter and multi-peak EQ among the effects it can produce¹. It is built in North Carolina and designed by Hawker, with filters based on an OTA style filter IC from designer Dave Rossum¹³.

A phaser with 1 to 12 selectable stages

The core of the pedal is an all-pass filter network whose stage count you select from the front panel. The Stages switch is an 8-position control giving the choice of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 or 12 stages of all-pass filtering, with odd-numbered stages out of phase¹⁵. Delicious Audio's coverage describes it as "this fully analog phaser with the unique feature of offering up to 12 stages of phase-shifting"⁶.

What the stage count means for a player:

• 1 to 2 stages: Delicious Audio notes that "a 2-stage phaser is a notch filter," and the maker says lower stage counts act as tremolo or a notch filter⁶⁵.
• 2 to 4 stages: Premier Guitar's reviewer found the pedal "capable of 2- and 4-stage phasing as well as single-stage and odd-numbered staging that yield unusual" sounds³.
• 6 and 12 stages: the maker says the pedal nails the classic 12 and 6-stage phaser sound¹.
• 9 and 12 stages: Premier Guitar's reviewer found the 12-stage mode "excels at shaping intense modulations that can be slotted surgically in a mix," while the 3-stage setting "sounds more focused in a multi-instrument mix"³.

Beyond straight phasing, the same circuit covers other ground. Delicious Audio lists "Leslie-style warble, vibrato, envelope-filtered tones, and multi-peak EQ shaping" as other effects you can get out of the device⁶, and Premier Guitar's reviewer called it "an outstanding modulation, filtering, and noise machine" capable of "radical filtering and EQ effects, vibrato, tremolo, ring modulation"³.

The controls

The front panel is built around a handful of knobs and switches, with the maker describing the pedal as having deep functionality in a compact footprint¹.

The LFO itself is a sine wave². In the MOD switch's envelope position, the pedal applies positive sweep control of modulation with fast attack and medium release, so the phase sweep follows your playing dynamics⁷⁵.

The Expression/CV jack is a TRS jack usable with a CV source or an expression pedal, with the control input on the tip. A 4-way switch assigns Sweep, Regeneration, Rate or Amount to external control, additive to the front panel knob and extending its range; the ring supplies a current-limited roughly 5V output¹.

Power: 9V, under 125mA

The standard APH-12 runs on 9V DC at under 125mA, drawing 70 to 100mA typically and up to 200mA at start up, through a standard center negative 2.1mm x 5.5mm barrel connector¹.

The APH-12 Plus draws more: under 140mA, 90 to 115mA typical, with the same up to 200mA start-up figure and the same 9V DC center negative barrel⁷.

Launch Edition and APH-12 Plus

The APH-12 has shipped in more than one version, and a player shopping secondhand may meet any of them.

The Launch Edition carried the same core circuit, an all-pass filter network with selectable stages from 1 to 12 and over 400 high-quality components, and the maker's sound sample demos for it included Shakedown Street, IKO IKO, Crimson and Clover and If 6 Was 9⁵.

The APH-12 Plus, which the maker calls a Dynamic Phase Shifter, was released in limited quantities as part of the small batch series, limited to one per customer or household for individual use rather than resale⁷. Its key changes over the standard pedal are the expansion switch adding stages 7 through 11, and a CV input that now accepts bipolar modulation, with a CV range of -5V to +5V⁷.

Where it came from

It sold quickly: by late April 2025 it had sold through most of its initial run, priced at $397 on the Asheville webstore⁸.

The circuit has a clear lineage. Premier Guitar's editors note that "the likeness to the beloved Moog Moogerfooger MF-103 is not entirely coincidental"⁴, and Delicious Audio describes the pedal as designed by the mind behind the Moog Moogerfooger series⁴. The filters are based on an OTA style filter IC from Dave Rossum¹.

What reviewers said

Reviewers have been positive, with one qualification about ease of use.

• Premier Guitar's reviewer found the conventional phaser sounds "deeply satisfying and, in terms of depth and character, rival or better my own favorite phasers"³.
• The same reviewer noted the pedal "lacks the one-knob simplicity of a Phase 90," a trade-off for its flexibility³.
• Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson found it "a really quite easy pedal to dial in" and liked the Purple Sparkle finish².

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