Many phasers are way more simple and with less features, the most famous ones being one know wonders. With PH-3 you get the basic phaser and lots more. Not only getting 4, 8, 10 or 12 step phase, it also includes very cool sounding Rise and Fall modes, plus quirky but useful-to-taste "Step" mode. (Put it on your analog synth and enjoy...)
Controls are for rate, depth and resonance of the effect, so you get a lot of tools to tweak your desired effect sound. If that's not enough, there's an expression pedal input for controlling the rate with your foot - the feature I'm especially fond of and what I use too little. Since the enclosure is well known Boss build, you get lots of bang for your buck in quality, lifetime and features of the effect.
The phase effect in itself sounds good. You get nice sounding simple phase effect out of it - arguably and subjectively there are devices that do this sounding better, tastes differ. When going towards the freaky modes in more than 4 phase stages and rising / falling effects, the pedal gets its opportunity to shine. Many or at least some one-or-few trick ponies may beat it, but PH-3 has nearly all the tricks up its sleeve.
The reason for PH-3 being more "nice to have in reserve" phaser for me than a must-have in my board is simple: most of my needs from a phaser are simple, slow sound wave type, and I have device(s) that do it more to my taste than this. However, during the years I've found this one a keeper for its versatility and the capability to get me out of a rut when song writing or arranging. It's such a delightful bag of tricks I just can't resist from time to time.
I heavily recommend PH-3 for its versatility and for the musician who loves to experiment and has need for many kinds of phase sounds. Also, an expression pedal is heavily recommended. (It does want a TRS cable to function properly, FYI.)
