The Gilamondo is not your average phaser: for starters, it has eight stages of sweep, which offers a thicker, smoother tone than your old Phase 90.
"It's a funky swirl, which gets hollow at the bottom and almost flange-like"
It's a funky swirl, which gets hollow at the bottom and almost flange-like with judicious use of the bonus (ie, regen) control.
However, take the width knob to its minimum and the phase frequency freezes, leaving the bonus knob to tweak the freq.
It's like using a Q filter, and running it after distortion creates honky tones that are perfect for recording. Bonus, indeed!