Behringer Dual-Phase - Sand, software and sound

I was a Mu-Tron enthusiast back in the day, and I still am an enthusiast today. More so, after buying a Behringer Dual-Phase.

I didn’t have the bucks for a Mu-Tron Bi-phase in the 1970s and I sure as heck cannot afford a vintage original. Mu-Tron offer their own re-issue at an affordable $479 USD. The Behringer Dual-Phase set me back $100 — almost an impulse purchase.

Vintage Mu-Tron units are $2,000 and up. I have two vintage Mu-Tron pedals — Micro V and C-200 Volume/Wah. Frankly, I’m scared to turn them on, especially the AC-powered Volume/Wah. I don’t want to see money go up in smoke!

The Dual-Phase has a bit of a checkered past for a young product. Behringer called it the “Behringer Bi-Phase”, ran into difficulty with the name, and paused the product. Eventually, it was released with the “Dual-Phase” moniker. No doubt there was a legal tussle somewhere.

Used Behringer units with the “Bi-Phase” graphic are commanding a premium — like a collectable penny with a misprint. The Behringer Dual-Phase is the same electronics and low selling price, so I don’t care if they call it “Uli’s phaser” or whatever.

When my Sweetwater sales engineer warned me that the Dual-Phase is discontinued, I bought one from Perfect Circuit. If you want a Dual-Phase, act immediately.

After hearing the Behringer Dual-Phase, I’m more than happy. Here are a few quick observations.

Behringer preserved the overall aesthetic and layout of a vintage Bi-Phase. I guess Behringer naming their thing “Bi-Phase” was one step too far. I always dug the look of Mu-Tron products. Even though I couldn’t afford an original Bi-Phase, I bought a Mu-Tron T-shirt, which I still have with the rest of my 70s memorabilia and Halloween attire. 🙂

Behringer gets a bad rap for reliability and quality. Yeah, some Behringer gear is priced super-low with quality to match. I’m thinking of their plastic fantastic guitar pedals.

However, Behringer do make some rugged, well-priced products and the Dual-Phase is one of them. The Dual-Phase has a solid, heavy metal chassis with 1/4″ jacks affixed by metal hex nuts. The controls feel reliable and the foot switches are sturdy. My only niggle concerning build is the ON/OFF switch. It’s just a bit retro-flimsy.

Speaking of power, the Dual-Phase does not come with an AC power adapter (even though the spec sheet says there should be one). Stated current consumption is a beefy 700mA. Fortunately, I have an adapter for every occasion and a 1SPOT 9V power adapter does the business.

Behringer Dual-Phase (Yamaha MODX6 background)

The original Bi-Phase is an enormous beast: 13¾”W X 10¾”D X 4¼”H. The Behringer is much smaller: 7.87″W x 6.87″D x 2.48″H. The image above shows the Dual-Phase perched on the upper right corner of a Yamaha MODX6.

Since I don’t have an original Bi-Phase for A/B comparison, I cannot make claims about authenticity. The Dual-Phase does sound very good and is in the right sonic territory. I’ve seen and heard reviews which give the Dual-Phase good marks for authenticity although settings do not line up one-for-one. I’m OK with that because the Dual-Phase is meant to be tweaked and played by ear.

This is a fun hands-on effect unit. I haven’t explored the expression pedal (CV IN) input as yet.

Most on-line reviews cover use with guitar. We play keys, here. Dual-Phase adds musical, dynamic motion to electric piano and organ.

One of my first experiments is putting the Dual-Phase on a dry Hammand organ sound. I pulled up an every day MODX6 organ patch and disabled the internal rotary speaker effect. The fun really began when dialing up a Leslie-ish effect. The picture shows the settings with Phasor A feeding Phasor B in series. Sweep Generator 1 drives Phasor A and Sweep Generator 2 drives Phasor B independently. Rate, Depth and Feedback are set separately for each A and B stage.

Here is a hastily thrown together demo — put up the Roland R-07 and hit RECORD. You’ll hear me hit the pedal switches after each line:

First, totally dry organ.
Next, Phasor A alone.
Next, both Phasor A and Phasor B.
Finally, Phasor B alone.

The decrease in volume at the very end is due to the R-07 gain control kicking in.

The result isn’t half bad. Is it a Leslie? Oh, hell no! If this is the droid you’re looking for, you found it. More interesting than dry? Yes!

There you have it. If you can snap up a Behringer Dual-Phase before they are sold out, by all means, do it. Otherwise, consider the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase re-issue. You will be rewarded.

A few products of interest…

The Behringer Bi-Phase has done its Houdini act and has returned as the Behringer “Dual-Phase”.

I was a lover of all things Mu-tron back in the day. I still have a Musitronics MU-TRON Micro V poor man’s envelope-controlled filter, a MU-TRON C-200 volume-wah pedal, and an original MU-TRON T-shirt! The C-200 is robust enough to double as a storm shelter. The Micro V and C-200 have achieved heirloom status since I await a puff of smoke every time I apply power to either device. Old electronics is just that way.

I never could afford a MU-TRON Bi-Phase and always lusted after one. Thanks to Behringer ($159 USD), I may get my chance. I’m very glad that Behringer retained much of the original livery after their negotiations with [whomever].

I hope there is still love between Behringer and the Musitronics (MU-TRON) heirs as I would love to see an inexpensive MU-TRON III filter re-issue.

Roland/Boss are continuing along the Bluetooth wireless control path with the Boss FS-1-WL Wireless Footswitch. Here are the basic details in a nutshell:

Three footswitches
Configure via FS-1-WL app
Ports galore:
- Full-size USB-B
- MIDI OUT (3.5mm)
- Expression (1/4″ TRS )
- Control 1 and 2 (1/4″ TRS)
- DC IN
Two AAA batteries or PSA adapter (optional)
Weight: 10 ounces (258 grams)
$129.99 USD

I have the Boss EV-1-WL wireless expression pedal which is integrated into my wireless iPad rig.

The new FS-1-WL goes beyond the EV-1-WL and I wish the FS was available before the EV. The FS adds proper footswitches to expression pedal capability. I have expression pedals in hand already and would have appreciated button control for page turns, patch changes, etc. Boss/Roland are finally thinking outside of the guitar player box.

One potential drawback is the narrow spacing of the footswitches. I have trouble hitting footswitches accurately on the EHX Lester K with its closely spaced switches. Since I play in a sitting position, I can’t see my feet and need to hit switches with confidence. Looking down is not an option.

The other big question is how well the FS-1-WL would integrate with synths and software instruments. Most programming details are covered in the FS-1-WL editor user guide. Basic MIDI message types are supported: continuous controller (CC) and program change (PC). There is a third mode, “PC+CC”, and provision for BANK MSB and BANK LSB messages. What is not clear from the user guide is the ability to send a full BANK MSB, BANK LSB, PC message sequence which typically is needed to select a patch in a modern synth.

If anyone gets their hands on an FS-1-WL, please confirm the ability to send a full three message patch change sequence. [Thanks in advance.]

As a keyboard player, I would go straight to the FS-1-WL and use my own expression pedal. The quick start guide calls out the Roland EV-5 explicitly, so I would simply pull out one of my old Roland/Boss pedals and plug in.

I hope Roland continues to explore Bluetooth wireless control. Now, if we can get two synths to communicate over Bluetooth without the need of a computer (or USB host box) in between…

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Review: Behringer Dual-Phase

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