 | |
| Company type | Limited Liability Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Guitar Effects Pedals |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Joshua Heath Scott |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Products | Effects units |
Number of employees | 35 (April 2021) |
| Website | https://www.jhspedals.com |
JHS Pedals is a guitar effects pedals manufacturer with headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. [1]
JHS Pedals was founded by Joshua Heath Scott in Jackson, Mississippi. He began by repairing and modifying his own pedals, [2] and then sold modified pedals at the local guitar shop before designing his own. Among his early models were the Morning Glory overdrive and the Pulp 'N' Peel compressor. [3] [4] In 2009 Scott moved the company to Kansas City, Missouri, eventually expanding to 10 employees. [3] JHS released the Panther analog delay in 2011 and also the SuperBolt overdrive and Prestige booster/buffer/enhancer in 2012. [5]
In 2015 JHS collaborated with Keeley Electronics to produce a combined compressor and overdrive pedal, the Steak and Eggs. [6]
In 2018, Scott and Nick Loux released the first episode of The JHS Show, a video blog about guitar pedal history, products and inventors; Scott's screen persona has been described as "the Bill Nye the Science Guy meets Mister Rogers of guitar". [7]
JHS manufactures and sells pedals with a variety of effects, including the Morning Glory V4, the Muffuletta, the 3 Series, the Pulp'N'Peel V4, the Andy Timmons AT+, the Paul Gilbert PG-14, the Legends of Fuzz series, the Unicorn Univibe, the Lucky Cat, the Double Barrel V4, the 1966 Series and the Colour Box preamp. [8]
JHS Pedals has developed custom pedals for artists including Andy Timmons, [9] Butch Walker [10] (who has produced songs for acts like Katy Perry, Weezer and The All-American Rejects), Stu G of Delirious?, [11] Drew Shirley of Switchfoot, [12] [13] Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, [14] Paul Gilbert, [15] [16] and Madison Cunningham [17] [18]
JHS Pedals products have been used by guitarists such as the Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett, [19] John Mayer, [20] [21] Mutemath's Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, [22] Muse's Matt Bellamy, [23] Beck, [24] Jessica Dobson (Deep Sea Diver and The Shins), [25] Amber Bain (The Japanese House) [26] and U2's the Edge [27]
In 2017, JHS collaborated with BOSS to produce the Boss JB-2 Angry Driver, [28] which combines the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver and JHS Pedals Angry Charlie.
In 2017, JHS collaborated with Tim Marcus of Milkman Sound to produce the Milkman [29] boost/slap delay.
In 2019, JHS severed ties with Ryan Adams and stopped production of his signature pedal, the VCR, after Adams was accused of sexual misconduct. JHS announced they would be rebranding the remaining pedals to the Space Commander and using the proceeds to support work against sexual abuse and assault. [30] [31]
In April 2023, JHS, Electro Harmonix and graphic designer, Daniel Danger collaborated and released the Lizard Queen, an octave fuzz pedal inspired by the 1970s [32] A big box version of the Lizard Queen was released and was limited to 1,000 units, 30 of which featured inverse colors. [33] [34]
In August 2023, JHS partnered with Ross, Inc. to reissue, licence, produce and sell five new effect pedals. [35] The first four are the Compressor, Distortion, Chorus and Phaser and are reissued models from Ross, Inc's old collection. The new Fuzz pedal has been taken from the fuzz circuitry from Kustom amplifiers, [36] which were made by Ross, Inc. at the time.
On 13 and 14 March 2021, JHS Pedals debuted Pedals: The Musical, a musical comedy about guitar pedals (starring Josh Scott, Rhett Shull and Nick Loux) as a live YouTube JHS Show event. The production specifically focused on the first seven guitar pedals, invented between 1960 and 1970. Peter Kirn of CDM said that the production was "not quite Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat so much as its own Red, White and Blaine . But it is historically accurate." [1]
Josh Scott has announced plans for follow-up productions in the vein of Pedals: The Musical including performances focusing on the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s, and the 2010s. Scott has been quoted saying "We want to do a prequel about the invention of the electric guitar from roughly 1931 through 1960. We want to do some straight plays – meaning just acting, no singing – about the lives of inventors like Les Paul, Leo Fender, George Beauchamp. All these people that have amazing narratives and stories, I could see us doing this for a long time; I’m pretty committed to it because I think it’s a fantastic avenue for teaching." [37]
Beginning in 2021, Josh Scott began writing a series of articles [38] for Guitar.com chronicling the history of the electric guitar and, by extension, guitar pedals. In the series, Scott notably tied historical figures like Mark Twain, [39] Benjamin Franklin, [40] Henry Ford [41] and Charles Darwin [41] into the guitar history narrative.
JHS and Josh Scott have been at the center of several controversies. Scott was a worship leader with the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC), a Christian evangelical movement and missions organization, based in Kansas City, Missouri. [42] [43] IHOPKC were the subjects of the 2013 documentary film God Loves Uganda, which suggests that they were responsible for Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill. [44] IHOPKC's webstore sold an album by Scott. [45]
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