Jed's Pedds Phase 45

The Jed's Pedds Phase 45 is a DIY guitar effects pedal kit: a two-stage phaser that the maker says "compares to the MXR P45"¹. It is sold in six options, from a bare PCB to a pre-built pedal, and Jed's Pedds describes it as a circuit that "works equally as well with an acoustic through it as it does an electric"¹. The kit is priced at £40.00 GBP on the maker's product page¹.

The original it references is the MXR Phase 45, a two-stage phaser MXR released two years after the Phase 90, described by Dunlop as "a mellower version of the effect favored for its ability to easily blend into a band's mix"². Where the Phase 90 is a four-stage unit, the 45 is a two-stage phaser, as Tim Mahoney put it in Premier Guitar³. The Phase 45 was short-lived and discontinued in its original form⁴, though Dunlop now makes a reissue, the '75 Vintage Phase 45, with hand-matched FETs and a hand-wired circuit board⁵.

What the Phase 45 sound is

The Phase 45's place in phaser history comes from having fewer stages than its bigger brother. JHS Pedals' history of MXR notes that the Phase 45 "has less stages than the Phase 90. This is a less dramatic phasing sound"³. Pedal of the Day found that "the Phase 45 was preferred by some over the other classic MXR phaser, the Phase 90, due to its more subtle sounds"⁶. Dunlop describes the reissue's voice as "subtle and musical"⁵.

For a builder, that character is what the Jed's Pedds kit is after: the same two-stage topology, built from JFETs. The maker notes that "thru hole Jfet's are becoming harder to source so this PCB also has spots for SMD Fets"¹, a practical detail that matters when stocking parts for a build.

Premier Guitar's review of the '75 Vintage Phase 45 reissue gives a sense of what a player can do with the sound, finding that "the Phase 45 can also enliven funk grooves and add a tipsy swagger to Keith Richards-style leads"⁷. Waylon Jennings used a 2-stage Phase 45, per Premier Guitar³⁸.

Kit options, from PCB only to pre-built

A few things a buyer should know before choosing:

• You supply the knob yourself: "You will need 1 knobs for this kit. I suggest you get a big one"¹.
• The Full Kit's JP1590B enclosure comes undrilled; drilling is the optional extra¹.
• Pre Built Kits have a 1 to 4 week build time¹.

The circuit and the JFET question

The Phase 45 and Phase 90 are FET-based circuits, as MusicRadar's Alex Lynham noted⁹, and the JFETs are central to how the phasing sounds. General Guitar Gadgets, which sells its own P45 replica kit as a separate project, makes the point plainly:

That project ships with a matched set of 2N5485 transistors, where the original units had 2N5952 JFET transistors¹⁰. The Jed's Pedds board takes a different route to the same sourcing problem, adding SMD footprints alongside the through-hole spots¹. Matching and tuning the FETs is what makes a two-stage phaser sound right rather than washed out.

Making it vibe-ish

Jed's Pedds says the circuit can be pushed toward another classic sound: "You can also tweek it a bit to make it vibe-ish"¹. The idea has precedent in the DIY world. General Guitar Gadgets has demonstrated a UniVibe mod on its own Phase 45 kit, with JD Sleep calling it "a good demonstration of what the 'UniVibe' mod sounds like on the Phase 45 ™ Kit" and pointing builders to the details on its project page¹¹.

Where the Phase 45 sits among phasers

On That Pedal Show's Five Fantastic Phasers episode, the MXR Phase 45 appears in the pedals covered, with a segment at 4:25 on "45, 90 and how phasing is done"¹². The two-stage design remains the draw for players who want phasing that sits under the note rather than sweeping over it, and the kit route lets a builder match the FETs and voice it themselves.

Questions