Pedals I Wish I Made — The JHS Show

In this article, I want to walk you through six pedals that I wish I had created. Let me be clear: this isn’t a pity party. I’m not stuck with a case of the woulda-coulda-shouldas. This is just me being honest about six pretty fantastic pedals that I wish I’d thought of first. I think we’ve all been there.

The fact that these pedals exist period is the main thing. It would just be cool to see a JHS Pedals sticker on the back of a few of these. You get me?

Cool. Let’s dive right in.

BOSS VB-2 Vibrato

First up on the list of pedals that I wish I had created is the BOSS VB-2 Vibrato. This was originally released in 1982. During its initial run, I don't think it really caught on, which is a classic case of a baller product being ahead of its time.

Basically, this thing was and is a genius piece of gear. It’s fantastic.

This pedal is meant to simulate the movement of pitch vibrato, basically the bending of a tremolo vibrato arm where you hit a note and it goes up or down a few cents. It has different settings like latch and bypass. You also have a few different ways you can play with it. For instance, instead of turning it on and walking away, you can actually hold the switch down so it ramps into a vibrato sound. It's awesome.

It's also much different as a modulation than the CE-2 chorus pedal, which was out around the same time and was very popular. Chorus is technically vibrato, but your clean signal mixed into that as well gives you that glassy tone, whereas the VB-2 Vibrato is pure effect, no dry signal, so all you hear is the actual vibrato modulation going on. I like to put these in subtle settings with a slow speed and kind of a minimal depth, just leave it on all the time. It's very 3D. I've played gigs where I just leave this on for the whole set. People don't even know that it's on, but it sounds really great, plus it adds texture.

The original units are very expensive because they didn't make them for long, but they did rerelease the VB-2 in the Waza Craft line. The Waza Craft version is fantastic and actually has an extra mode, so I highly recommend it. If you're a collector and/or have your heart set on playing the original VB-2, good luck finding one of the vintage units. They’re pretty rare.

EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master

Next up is the EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master. Jamie, if you're reading this, you know I'm a fan. Maybe your biggest fan, but not like Syndrome from The Incredibles. Let me just be honest with you: I have secretly always wished I had done the Dispatch Master. Maybe if I’d been a better friend, I would have owned up to this sooner.

I think I just need to admit that you did this, not me. You beat me to the punch, and that’s okay.

In all seriousness, I love this pedal. There’s a reason that this device has come up on multiple episodes of the JHS Show. It’s just a quality piece of gear. It's a beautiful ambient reverb/delay. The reverb sound in here is fantastic, like a big, mystical hall reverb kind of thing. It's dark around the edges. It feels natural, but it also feels unnatural. You perfectly walk the line of crazy big reverb. TLDR, this is an amazing pedal.

And it’s really okay, Jamie. I'm not jealous anymore. The Dispatch Master is a great delay. I'm happy for you. I've moved on.

...ish.

Pro Co Rat Overdrive, Distortion, & Fuzz

Next is a pedal that I not only wished I had come up with, it's one that I'll probably take to my grave, King Tut style. I’ve put in my will that I’d like several versions of this pedal in the casket with me, so I can have them handy when I get to the next life. It's not weird at all.**

**I’m aware that if you have to clarify that something is not weird, it’s probably a little weird.

I’m talking about the Pro Co Rat. And it's just so good. Scott Burnham in Kalamazoo, Michigan drops this pedal in ’78, ’79 and changes the world. It's genius. It's an amazing overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedal, and arguably one of the most popular pedals ever created. The odds that your rock hero has some version of this pedal on their board is pretty much 100%.

Now, I don't believe in weird conspiracy theories. You guys know me. I've never really gone in for that kind of thing, but isn't it weird that the Rat was invented in Kalamazoo and the first pedal ever, the Maestro Fuzz Tone of ’62, was also made in Kalamazoo? Is it weird that two iconic pedals were made in a city that definitely is not Memphis, Nashville, or Chicago? I’m not sure I can overlook this coincidence. Maybe Kalamazoo is some hub of alien activity, ’cause Gibson Guitar is also based out of there. That’s three coincidences in a row.

I’ll paraphrase a popular adage on this: “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably aliens.”

Eventide H9 Harmonizer Multi-Effects Pedal

Next up is a pedal I've used on my personal board now for years and years. Like, it's still on the board. I definitely wish I was smart enough to have created the Eventide H9 Harmonizer Multi-Effects Pedal. This is essentially a genius-level guitar effects computer that sits at your feet. It's unreal. And it does so many sounds.

Do yourself a favor and look up a YouTube demo of this. It doesn’t even have to be mine. I don’t care. You just have to appreciate the sheer versatility of this pedal. For the number of settings this thing has, it could reasonably be the size of a 1950s-style B-movie computer and take up half the stage, yet it sits comfortably at your feet. That’s bananas.

If you watch this episode of the JHS show, you’ll see me go through some of these settings, and produce some Pink Floyd sounding effects, shimmering reverb, and choppy tremolo, which are by no means the only sounds you can pull out of this insanely versatile pedal. I even pull off a crazy octave distortion just to prove that digital distortion can sound good. Because it can.

Univox Super Fuzz

Next on the list is the Univox Super Fuzz. Now, this has gone through a few different incarnations. It started as this giant crazy thing called a Psychedelic Machine (feel free to google a photo for reference, but let me just say it’s definitely bigger than a breadbox). Later on, some engineers at a company in Japan called Teisco decided to strike out on their own, they formed a new company called Honey, and they re-released the pedal as the Honey Baby Crying Super Fuzz. And then you see Honey evolve into a company called Shin-Ei. Shin-Ei made stuff for everyone.

So, I’ve got a few different versions of this pedal in my collection. The Honey Baby Crying pedal I have is actually not a vintage unit, but is an amazingly faithful reproduction of that very first 1968 edition. And I just have to brag on Shin-Ei for a second here. When I say they faithfully reproduced the original, I mean they nailed it. This pedal has the original stamp, the battery connector, and they even went as far as to keep the misspelling on the original back label, which says, “Connect the battery to the batter snap.”

That’s some Adrian Monk style attention to detail, and I can respect that.

Ibanez DML Digital Modulation Delay

Okay, I’ll admit that I’m cheating a little bit with this last pedal. The last pedal that I wished I had created is technically three pedals, but the three pedals are one pedal. Let me explain.

It all started in 1985 when Ibanez released the DML Digital Modulation Delay, which was originally from their L Series. The L Series didn't do that well, but they felt it was a quality pedal, so the digital modulation delay was moved to the Power / 10 Series as the Modulation Delay DML-10 II, but then they dropped a Modulation DML-20 III. Just stay with me for a second here. Three different names and a few slight differences between them, but they’re all basically the same pedal. These are all made by Maxon. They're fantastic. They just look good.

So for the sixth pedal, I wish I had created these three pedals. All three of them. I created the rules, so I think I’m allowed to bend them.

At the end of the day, I’m just glad these pedals exist. I’m glad that someone had the genius idea to create these pedals, and that we can all enjoy them. The fact that I can’t get up every morning, look in the mirror, and say, “Good morning, dude. You created the DML Digital Modulation” is just something I’m going to have to live with.

There are worse fates.