Are there many JHS stompboxes based on other circuits from the diy community ?

[mdc]

I never heard about that, may I ask what are you referring to ?

He has or had close ties to an evangelical church whose "missionary work" involves (or at least at the time this all came out, "involved") trying to "eradicate" homosexuality in African countries. According to internet detectives, some/most/all JHS employees have come through that church. When he was pressed about it he distanced himself from the church itself ("i was never that involved" "i haven't been invovled in a while") but hasn't afaik ever come out with a clear statement of support for LGBTQ+ folks. I think it's been more along the lines of love the sinner/hate the sin which at best would put you in the category of being not-NOT homophobic.

This stuff comes up all the time, it would be easy to put a stop to it, he chooses not to, so draw your own conclusions I guess. The controversy around Devi Ever I think plays into this a bit as Devi Ever is a trans woman.

 

[jimilee]

He has or had close ties to an evangelical church whose "missionary work" involves (or at least at the time this all came out, "involved") trying to "eradicate" homosexuality in African countries. According to internet detectives, some/most/all JHS employees have come through that church. When he was pressed about it he distanced himself from the church itself ("i was never that involved" "i haven't been invovled in a while") but hasn't afaik ever come out with a clear statement of support for LGBTQ+ folks. I think it's been more along the lines of love the sinner/hate the sin which at best would put you in the category of being not-NOT homophobic.

This stuff comes up all the time, it would be easy to put a stop to it, he chooses not to, so draw your own conclusions I guess. The controversy around Devi Ever I think plays into this a bit as Devi Ever is a trans woman.

If Joshua isn’t gay, I’ll eat my hat.

 

[gonzo]

View attachment 46275
View attachment 46276

Still up

imagine receiving your box with a butt imprint
View attachment 46277

Ha that's my YouTube account. Funny. I've had a cordial email back and forth since yesterday with Josh. I'm hoping he ends up doing a show on diy builders. I'll hand it to him for at least contacting me.

 

[Fama]

JHS Charlie Brown = General Guitar Gadgets BSIAB

I don't think that's accurate? It's listed as a Distortron later on. It sort of removes trust in the list in general if some of it is just guesswork at what might be similar?

Does anyone know if there are similar lists for other pedal companies?

 

[Feral Feline]

I don't think that's accurate? It's listed as a Distortron later on. It sort of removes trust in the list in general if some of it is just guesswork at what might be similar?

Does anyone know if there are similar lists for other pedal companies?

Really, even I don't have "trust in the list"!

The list was made by compiling others' lists, NOT by me verifying each circuit. I'm sure a lot of it was indeed guesswork and wasn't even made by pedal-bulders but rather just pedal-users on TGP etc: that's why I asked for corrections. I made a few corrections back when I first compiled it several years ago, before I even started building pedals myself. In fact, I didn't even give it much more than a glance before posting it here!

 

[The Gator]

There are very few "original" designs.
Have you ever come up with an improved solution to a task just to find out later you genuinely came up with something so extremely similar to another person's solution? I have. Then later after a rather unscrupulous person saw my design, the company he went to work for came out with an almost identical design to mine.
Granted this was all early on in the world of paintball before electronic guns took over. When electronic guns took over, I just moved on and made my own electronic designs. Now days I create things in the RC world.
My point is, you're gonna have to think way outside the box to come up with a circuit that nobody has made already. Yeah you can change values and tone stack circuits or whatever. But somebody is gonna dig with a microscope just so they can tell you that you ripped off someone else. Even though you genuinely tried to be original.
So what really is the point here? Josh is not forth coming? What should he say?
Does he need to spell it out? I personally don't care. I don't own any jhs pedals or feel slighted by him or JHS.
I am not sure if I like Josh or not. I have never met him (even though he lives a few mile away). I have decided ya pretty much have to really meet someone to know how you feel about them. Or at least have some significant personal interaction.The youtube channel makes me like some of what he does talk about when it is about history of guitars and effects.
I quit trying to invent things for other people. I don't take kindly to someone trying to tell me I'm stealing my ideas. Now, I invent simple things I want that I am not sure exist at the time I make them, if I "invent" anything at all.
Really, invent is a strong word to me. Perhaps create is the word.

 

[Laundryroom David]

I respect all views on JHS, pedals, art and the act of creation. If a copy is as perfect accurate to the original as we can make it, is it any less art than the original? Is my Kliche any less a Centaur? How do we tell the difference? Is it the connection between the human hand that placed the oil paint on the canvas and scraped it across? Why does the original matter?

I just don’t like Josh. Sometimes I don’t like people I’ve never met. People grow and change and we shouldn’t necessarily judge folks now based on who they were or shit they did 20 or 30 years ago … that’s a test I really don’t want to face. Maybe he’s a stand up guy with integrity and similar values to mine. I dunno. My gut says no bueno.

I avoid JHS pedals because I’ve bought them in the past for $275+ (Canadian dollars), been very underwhelmed and sold them. Then I’ve built the pedal the JHS was “inspired by” (Crunch Box for example) and really liked it. I do not mind paying for a boutique pedal if it scratches an itch - I paid a lot for a Skreddy Giant Meat Pie and an original Jersey Girl Fulltender. Expensive, impeccably well-made and blew me away. Also, YABM and YATS respectively

In a nutshell, for me, JHS products rarely walk the talk. Notable exceptions are the Pulp n Peel (it has a friggin Rat you blend in with the comp) and the Crayon. The Crayon is fantastic. For me.

edited to add: the 3 series reverb is shockingly good. Like way better than I expected for a pedal at that price point. The early run had a wonky resistor value in there causing a noticeable volume boost when engaged. But that was really the only fault.

 

[coltonius]

Here's my old list, @eh là bas ma, it desperately needs updating:

JHS​

JHS 4 Wheeler = Zvex Wooly Mammoth​

JHS '73 Ram's Head Replica = EHX Big Muff​

JHS 808 = Ibanez Tube Screamer​

JHS All American = Fuzzrocious Rat Tail (Proco Rat Clone)​

JHS Angry Charlie = MI Audio Crunch Box​

JHS Astro Mess = Devi Ever Hyperion​

JHS Bun Runner = Devi Ever Hyperion + Tone Bender​

JHS Charlie Brown = General Guitar Gadgets BSIAB​

JHS Colour Box = Neve console preamp​

JHS Double Barrel = Ibanez Tube Screamer + Marshall Bluesbreaker​

JHS Firefly Fuzz = Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional MKIII​

JHS Honey Comb = EA Tremolo​

JHS Honey Comb Deluxe = Ian McDermott’s Chopper​

JHS Morning Glory = Marshall Bluesbreaker/KoT halve​

JHS Mr. Magic = Zvex Super Hard On​

JHS Panther Cub = EHX Deluxe Memory Man​

JHS Pulp ‘N’ Peel = Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer​

JHS Superbolt = Run Off Groove's Supreaux​

JHS Sweet Tea = Ibanez Tube Screamer + MI Audio Crunch Box​

​

Traced​

4 Wheeler Fuzz - Zvex Woolly Mammoth​

73 Rams Head Replica - EHX Big Muff​

808 - Ibanez Tube Screamer with clipping mod​

Andy Timmons - Mi Audio Crunch Box​

Angry Charlie - Mi Audio Crunch Box​

All America - Pro Co RAT​

Alpine - Sky Pedals Cloud 9​

Astro Mess - Devi Ever Hyperion​

Bass Mini Bomb - Tim Escobedo's Duende JFET(Bass version)​

Banana Boost - ROG Omega​

Blender - ROG Splitter-Blender​

Bun Runner - Devi Ever Hyperion + Tone Bender​

Charlier Brown - Zvex Distortron​

Double Barrel - Marshall Bluesbreaker + Ibanez Tube Screamer​

Emperor - Arion SCH-1 chorus​

Feedback Looper - diy Feedback Looper with volume control added​

FireFly - Sola Sound ToneBender MKIII(Madbean PastyFace)​

Green Tea - Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer(Bass) + ROG Splitter-Blender + Tim Escobedo's Duende JFET​

Honey Comb - EA Tremolo​

Kilt - Bixonic Expandora + Booster(booster not traced)​

Lime Aid - Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer (Bass version)​

Low Drive - Ibanez Tube Screamer w/ fat & clipping mods (“bass” pedal rebranded as moonshine)​

Klon Replica - Bill Finnegan Klon Centaur​

Mini Bomb - Tim Escobedo's Duende JFET​

Mini Foot Fuzz - Bazz Fuss​

Moonshine - Ibanez Tube Screamer w/ fat & clipping mods (was “Low Drive”, didn’t sell, rebrand sells well)​

Morning Glory - Marshall Bluesbreaker​

Mr Magic - AMZ Mosfet Booster​

Muffuletta - EHX Big Muff​

Pandamonium - Zvex Wolly Mammoth + ROG Flipster​

Panther Analog Delay - BOSS DM-2​

Panther Cub V 1.5 - BOSS DM-2​

Pink Panther Delay (OLD and NEW) - pt2399 digital delay(tonepad rebote delay)​

Pollinator - Dallas Arbiter/Dunlop Fuzz Face(Germanium)​

Prestige - AMZ Mosfet Booster​

Pulp n Peel - Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer​

Ruby Red - ROG Superaux Deux + booster(booster not traced)​

Steak N Eggs - Marshall Blues Breaker + Keeley Copmressor​

State Line - Zvex Distortron + Marshall Blues Breaker​

Superbolt - ROG Superaux Deux​

Sweet Tea - Ibanez Tube Screamer + Mi Audio Crunch Box​

The Calhoun - Eighty Seven Percent - De Stijl + Sola Sound ToneBender MKIII (Madbean PastyFace)​

Twin Twelve - Eighty Seven Percent - De Stijl​

Unicorn - Uni-Vibe + tap tempo​

Warble Tron - Uni-Vibe (Madbean Harbinger One)​

​

​

​

​

​

Not Traced Yet​

Colour Box - not traced​

Crayon - not traced​

The Milkman - not traced looks like tp2399 delay + boost​

VCR - not traced looks like pt2399 chorus + btdr reverb + boost​

To give you an idea of how old that list above is, see the last entry, the VCR.
VCR has been traced and of course is a FV-1 circuit...


Hit me up, people, with your corrections and updates.

I don’t take issue with the list, because it’s factually correct in most cases. What I take issue with is the way some of those circuits, like the Tonebenders and UniVibe, were always clearly marketed as modern clones of vintage units.

If this list were to be used for the purpose of criticism, I’d expect a few different categories:

• old, out of production circuits (modified or not)
• clones of current production, mass produced pedals
• boutique ripoffs
• circuits whose origins were concealed or lied about

 

[cdwillis]

I never heard about that, may I ask what are you referring to ?

In my humble opinion, that's a stretch, or at least a big shortcut. I know that's not what you meant, but it could imply that as long as you are making money, every mistakes made in the process are justified.

I am sure there are many different ways to look at it, but I'd rather say that good companies exist to serve a purpose aligned with the common good. Bad companies are those which only exists for money, and they are often responsible for all sort of bad consequences, including destroying the environment... I mean just making money can't be enough, otherwise it gets quickly dangerous. Money is supposed to be a mean, not an end, at least in the big economical theories.

This point might look slightly off-topic, but I think it could be part of this conversation. The JHS economic model certainly has an impact on their work.
I don't know if there are shareholders and such, but i am sure they are somehow influenced by the dominant ideology, and it's helpful to consider it in order to understand what's happening, why they do what they're doing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/94ahqs

That is a few years old and summed up a bunch of it at the time. That and like a hundred pages on diystompboxes (or was it freestompboxes?). A lot of people are only familiar with the side that is presented on the youtube channel, which is was great PR move. I don't have an issues with Josh or JHS really. People can grow and change. Whether you think someone's past is something they've atoned and move on from is up to you.

Would I call the Lizard Queen an original circuit? Probably not, but the line can be a little blurry when most guitar pedal circuits are a combination of previous circuits or building blocks. It would be nice seeing JHS talk about Tim Escobedo or interviewing some DIY titans like RG Keen or Mark Hammer.

 

[Feral Feline]

I don’t take issue with the list, because it’s factually correct in most cases. What I take issue with is the way some of those circuits, like the Tonebenders and UniVibe, were always clearly marketed as modern clones of vintage units.

If this list were to be used for the purpose of criticism, I’d expect a few different categories:

• old, out of production circuits (modified or not)
• clones of current production, mass produced pedals
• boutique ripoffs
• circuits whose origins were concealed or lied about

I have similar lists for other things, such as my list of all the pedal-companies that make a Klone, or my list of Guv'nor-based PCBs offered by various DIY-vendors; I have an entire table of ROG circuits available as PCBs and what each circuit is about; Or the abandoned-because-it-became-too-big list of which pedal companies' offerings are just YATS... All of which was/is for my own edification.

In trying to pay forward the vast amount of help I've received from the community along my path, I've provided information to my fellow forumites here in the form of lists (such as my list of PedalPCB transformer-based projects) and other similar offerings in hopes to inform, enlighten and edify.

How people want to use the information is up to them.

 

[coltonius]

I have similar lists for other things, such as my list of all the pedal-companies that make a Klone, or my list of Guv'nor-based PCBs offered by various DIY-vendors; I have an entire table of ROG circuits available as PCBs and what each circuit is about; Or the abandoned-because-it-became-too-big list of which pedal companies' offerings are just YATS... All of which was/is for my own edification.

In trying to pay forward the vast amount of help I've received from the community along my path, I've provided information to my fellow forumites here in the form of lists (such as my list of PedalPCB transformer-based projects) and other similar offerings in hopes to inform, enlighten and edify.

How people want to use the information is up to them.

I think that kind of information is invaluable, and I wish I had been in tune with the DIY community sooner after discovering the wide and wonderful world of pedals. As I said earlier in this thread, at one time I had 3 overdrives on my board that were essentially tubescreamer variants. That was kind of a bummer.

One of my favorite things to do is to use lists of circuits with a particular topography and “borrow” ideas from one to modify another.

 

[Feral Feline]

I saw the post about your TS variants and it reminded me of when I, too, had that realisation of "Well, that's just another...".

It is a bummer, or was until recently. I love bread, and I made the realisation that the basic ingredients are the same from bread-type to bread-type: water and flower.

When I'm in the mood for a bagel, I don't want a croissant even though I love croissants. When I mention naan, it immediately conjures images and expectations of having some curry even though now that I think about it, naan shouldn't be confined to just those parameters as its a tasty version of bread that could go with so many other foods. Sometimes I reach for a bun other times I'm reaching for a baguette...

The basic ingredients of YATS (and other categories such as BBs, Klones or JAMs) are the same, and I'm starting to appreciate the subtleties of circuit-variations and savour them.

I just hope my deep-dives don't devolve into cork-sniffing condescension!

 

[eh là bas ma]

When I'm in the mood for a bagel, I don't want a croissant even though I love croissants.

Sometimes I reach for a bun other times I'm reaching for a baguette...

water and flower.

I beg your pardon, dear friend... I am speechless. Are we really 100% sure about this ?

Aren't croissants and baguettes far above all the other kinds of eccentricity and weirdness based on water and flour ? I mean unless you are using flowers instead of flour, of course.... and assuming you are talking about real croissants and real baguettes, cloned accurately, not some poor emulations of those.

Otherwise, your personal tastes would be falling into the "particular conventions" category. The 6th article of the Civil Code is very clear about this category...
Fortunately, i happen to know the 6th article very well : "One Cannot derogate, by particular conventions, from the Laws which relate to public Order and good Morals.", nothing less I'm afraid. I always found this soothing article very fulfilling, liberating.

Surely, you were caught in the heat of a poetic metaphor, and you didn't mean any of this ?

 

[Feral Feline]

AND THAT, everybody, is why we all need a copy-editor and why I should never post when sleep deprived!
Merky Buckets, eh là bas ma!


Ouch! That really hurts me to my core, a self-inflicted wound.
Indeed !



Pees, loave and FLOUR POWER !
FF

 

[HamishR]

I have to admit to being of the same mind as Laundryroom Dave. I don't have any particularly strong feelings on the matter in general but Josh is just annoying. He has a smugness which annoys me. He may well be a lovely fella who doesn't come across well - I don't know.

As far as originality is concerned, well sure, i think it's better if a manufacturer is open about the "inspiriation". I don't mind people using an existing circuit to base a design on as long as their version does something substantially different enough to justify it. For example I prefer the Protein Blue over the Bluesbreaker because it takes the BB and makes it better. It sounds similar but different and is louder - recognising a shortcoming of the original. I don't really see the point in all the TS clones which are around, but if someone builds a really well voiced one I don't have a problem with it.

There are some builders who are quite open about what they do and in fact make excellent, quite possibly better than the original circuit pedals. Skreddy and Basic Audio are like this. Mythos is not.

I don't mind the Timmy but find it a bit bland. However there are some excellent Timmy-based designs around (as well as plenty more less inspired). Of course I see the Timmy as being what happens when you remove the transistor stages from a Tubescreamer, improve the tone control and add a bass pot. The TSV 808 is an excellent if overpriced Timmy variant. Is it original? I don't really care. I would never pay the asking on one because I don't have to. I have taken the circuit and changed it some more to suit my needs and am happy with that.

One recent design intrigues me... The PRS Horse Meat. It is designed to sound like a Klon but isn't a Klon. Can anyone tell me what it is "based on"? I have no idea! Yet still I have made a few little changes to mine to make it suit me better.

 

[jesuscrisp]

Can anyone tell me what it is "based on"? I have no idea!

Is there a schematic yet? PPCB one is "coming soon" of course.

On topic: the JHS Bender is a slightly modified Hot Silicon/Basic Audio Scarab. It wouldn't be so bad if Josh didn't explicitly state that JHS engineered the circuit specifically... (trigger warning: Josh Scott, lack of eyebrows, marketing bullshit)

 

[maxamendel]

I have similar lists for other things, such as my list of all the pedal-companies that make a Klone, or my list of Guv'nor-based PCBs offered by various DIY-vendors; I have an entire table of ROG circuits available as PCBs and what each circuit is about; Or the abandoned-because-it-became-too-big list of which pedal companies' offerings are just YATS... All of which was/is for my own edification.

In trying to pay forward the vast amount of help I've received from the community along my path, I've provided information to my fellow forumites here in the form of lists (such as my list of PedalPCB transformer-based projects) and other similar offerings in hopes to inform, enlighten and edify.

How people want to use the information is up to them.

would you share the ROG pcb list? I love the Bazz Fuss. rog is great

 

[maxamendel]

Is there a schematic yet? PPCB one is "coming soon" of course.

On topic: the JHS Bender is a slightly modified Hot Silicon/Basic Audio Scarab. It wouldn't be so bad if Josh didn't explicitly state that JHS engineered the circuit specifically... (trigger warning: Josh Scott, lack of eyebrows, marketing bullshit)

I hate to sound like a JHS apologist here, but...

is it at all possible that Josh just doesn't spend any time on forums in the DiY scene and just builds his own stuff? that wouldn't explain every time this comes up, but like... some circuits are good. So good, that they're the best. So good, that if they hadn't been discovered before, they'd be discovered in exactly the same way. Especially simple stuff like fuzz.

with like the Devi situation, im willing to bet Josh ripped a circuit out of a devi pedal and put it in an enclosure with another circuit to get the bunrunner, and people liked it a lot so he started selling the astro mess separately. (getting this from its origin. The bunrunner was a 2-in-1 he made for the dude from Switchfoot.)

he has taken a lot from ROG, but idk, maybe he thinks it's online so its fair game? does ROG even sell pedals?

But in this case, it's a tonebender. isnt there only going to be so many different mods from clone to clone? so if two clones are similar, is it really they copied each other or is it that the same mod sounds good on the same circuit?

Finally, this is just how Christian people like Josh are. Theyre in their own bubble and they see the world through a glass bowl. So Josh probably doesn't participate in the diy scene, or even know anybody in the scene, unless they try competing with him. But he sees what DIYers do and says, "oh thats good, I could manufacture that." And he doesn't think to give credit to anybody cause he doesn't consider himself part of the diy scene, so he doesn't follow the diy ethic. It's definitely not good, and people ought to give credit. but when he finds a pedal or circuit online, he doesn't see the person who made it, he just sees the product.


Just my thoughts. im not a mind reader so I dont really know. (I do know that Christian culture, especially in music, is built on copying everything else). But just good to give the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Robert]

Josh used to be relatively active in the DIY scene / forums, years ago.

 

[CR0SSBL4DE]

The Ultimate JHS Guitar Pedal Clone List [2023 UPDATED]

We have gone and compiled a list of guitar effects pedals that JHS have based their products off of. Come check out our JHS guitar pedal clone list!

www.tonestart.com