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JHS hate
- Thread starter Kipp Harrington
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When I worked at Sweetwater JHS was one of the more fun sales meetings I attended. Granted, that is a low bar as most of those meetings are a giant waste of time, but I always enjoyed it when JHS showed up. Josh was always there and was always incredibly thoughtful and his presentations were a good time. He also taught a class at Sweetwater University; the 3 month SE training program you have to go through, and it was one of the most insightful and fun classes I took. He spent hours talking to us about pedals and none of them were JHS pedals. My main takeaway from the class was that all pedals are the result of a handful of pedals from 50+ years ago. My personal opinion is that It's not healthy to allow anonymous people on the internet to dictate how you feel about something. If you like that pedal, buy it.
Find whatever dirt pedal you like and get a clean blend pedal like the BOSS LS-2 to mix in your dry signal.
Well said. I'd much rather draw conclusions from folks like this and from my own personal experiences rather than something some rando said on the internet 12 years ago.
devnulljp
Supporting Member
And it'll still be a garbage clone of someone else's work made by a bigot from an organisation pushing murder in Uganda. No thanks
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There will always be haters. If circuits weren't copied we would have exactly 5 pedals to choose from. Also, nobody is complaining about the digital modelers and their copies / captures.
OTOH, not having to discern one TS clone/mod from the next would be super helpful in me avoiding them at all costs. So I have to admit, I'm torn.
I've never seen him say that. In fact he frequently says the opposite in that there are only a few truly original circuits out there for each effect. Every other one is a clone or slight variation upon them. Or an interesting combination of separate effects.
I find his JHS vlog to be extremely educational and mildly entertaining. You can tell he is simply a fan and lover of all things pedals and does more to promote other companies than his own. Of course, by simply doing that he promotes his own as well. But at any rate I believe he is sincere about trying to educate the pedal buying community.
edit: and if he ever DID claim such a thing, he has apparently learned his lesson from it and certainly doesn't do it anymore. He openly explains exactly what pedals he derives his own circuits from these days.
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Yeah, just a pile-on thread. So I'll bite (despite knowing better), what is the cause of JHS hate? I hear a lot of "get off my lawn" without any reasons. Is it because he clones other pedals?
Sorry, after the 2nd page I started rolling my eyes. I don't care enough to do the research because its most likely subjective BS.
Evidently this was something he had done to Devi Ever, if I’m remembering correctly. He is very transparent about what his designs are based on now.
I will say that I enjoy the JHS show, even if he’s gotten increasiny negative (likely because of stuff like this and his personal investment in the brand). I’ve learned a lot from him and would gladly have a coffee with Josh.
That said I don’t really want to be associated with the brand. If the rumors are true - I don’t know, but those kind of transgressions matter to me. If he addressed the subject head on and didn’t side step the matter not only would that garner a lot of respect but it could make a difference.
I know for certain if folks were accusing me of such things I’d be damn sure to speak up and let my feelings on the matter be know.
If you have a different opinion than me that’s ok. I’d like to think we can talk about this kind of thing while being cool to one another.
Over the years, if you count the average number of people that I played for at a gig, and multiply that by the number of gigs, there are hundreds of thousands of people that I've played for. Do any of them have any accusations against them? Am I wrong for having played for them? When Sinatra played for gangsters (everyone who played Vegas in that era did), does that mean he (and every other musician in that town) is a gangster? We have to be really careful about who we tie to what - the rumor mill is really good at making tenuous associations seem significant.
Josh is pretty up front about what pedals he took inspiration from, and he does his own twist(s) on the circuit - a couple of his latest pedals are multiple versions of an old standard in one housing. You can compare, if you want, the "original circuit" to his modded version (and Keeley's). He also does original stuff - I have one of his Haunting mids pedals, which was originally done on a lark - a Halloween thing, but it turns out, it's a very useful device, so they re-issued it.
Ignoring the fact that Fender’s original amp came straight out of a circuit provided by a tube manufacturer and published in a circuit encyclopedia.
Same goes for effects pedals. Most are just riffs off circuits that go back to the golden age of radio. There’s very little original design in the effects world. One big reason why virtually no effect pedal is patented.
Devi wasn't exactly a saint and her transgressions really aren't worth getting into either.
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