About 15 or more years ago, Mike Matthews gave an interview to a business magazine. One of the things he noted in the interview, aside from business issues and relocating some things to Russia, was that in the 70s, you could take any 4 consecutively made Big Muffs off the assembly line, and they would all sound different from each other. Basically, he was scoring parts from different sources, and if the cap value was nominally 0.1uf, that was good enough for him. There was NO hand-selection of components. So what is the "classic" Big Muff sound? You tell me. And tell Mike while you're at it, because I doubt he knows either.
Taper shmaper. You have to pay bigger money than what a Big Muff costs to get two pots of the same *nominal* taper to measure the same at any given position. They are certainly in the ballpark, but they won't be exactly the same just because the knobs are pointing to the same position.
That is why they usually attempt to source a dozen or so of the best sounding original units, and then try to narrow it down to an approximation of what the typical unit probably sounded like upon release. Sometimes, I assume they just pick whatever the best sounding unit is in the office and start making reissues from that jump point. I’m fairly certain the Rams Head Muff reissue I have doesn’t sound like the majority of real Ram’s Head Muff. So I agree that it’s really impossible to ever make a true recreation.
@@thomascunningham2919 That's a good strategy for resurrecting a product people want. I get a little skeptical, though, whenever I see a video of someone doing a "shootout", or comparison of different issues, using only a single example of each pedal. Are the characteristics being touted or noted true and consistent across ALL pedals of that kind/issue or is the one being demoed unique in some manner? Maybe , maybe not. We don't know, and maybe the presenter doesn't, either. Not a criticism of the person. Just a reason to be more meticulous and systematic in such comparisons. That said, 40 years ago, using 1% resistors for pedals simply didn't happen, and caps had huge tolerances. Components are a lot more consistent these days, and pedalmakers able to turn out products that all sound consistent. Assuming we're still interested in pedals in 40 years from now, we won't have to look for a "good" example of something made in this decade, merely one in working order.
Aura and magic attaches to the desirable, and rare objects of any collector of anything you can name. Good thing Martin guitars don't have the Muff inconsistencies. There's no joke there, I was careful.
I can confirm that Joshua is a sweet person. I sent a long, rambling email to the JHS email a couple of years ago and his response was very nice. If you see this, Joshua: I'm sorry for not responding back, but I really appreciated it, and also congratulations on your Masters.
guys are buying vintage pedals with older components because they care about that 5% difference in tone. will always be people who think that small difference isn't worth it, and some who think that it is. You (Josh) should be a little more upfront and honest about the fact that older pedals used a different component spread. Most of those parts are no longer available. Most of the time newer pedals are just fine, depending on your purpose. I use a mix of both on my board. There are a million A/B comparison videos and you can tell a difference. It's a dumb argument at this point. You either care about the difference or you think its too insignificant. To deny it exists is stupid.
I agree. It's easier to make a circuit and have better choice of components. I know many here, with the notable exception of Josh Scott, the Behringer version is one of the best especially with the 3rd position switch with boost.
The way Josh had to step and give a disclaimer after the words “Succulent flavors of a $5 foot long” might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve been laughing for a solid 15 minutes, and my wife is looking at me like I’m crazy.
I finally got my first JHS pedal yesterday! I got the space commander, and I absolutely love it. It’s been my meditation sound to just forget the past few months. Thank you guys so much for making musical gear. It’s truly been therapeutic watching, and now playing your pedals. Y’all have no idea how much laughing and comfort I’ve gotten from a few friends just playing music together. It’s helped so much.
These were a lot easier than ep1, they did the obvious thing of the "vintage" pedals tended to sound less gainy and not as modern overall, and were also more likely to have the ability to set the controls to get a bad sound. So far the hardest one was still the Rat from ep 1. One thing I would add is, don't do the above the table camera of Josh when he's moving the pedals or plugging them in, because the clunk of a large pedal being set down or the chonk of when the cable clips in to a big old pedal, is audibly different from plugging into a tiny pedal, so I could tell one of them by what side his hands were on when he dropped the pedal / plugged it in. Regardless, all the less expensive pedals sounded great, and could do the main thing the vintage pedal was known for. It does add difficulty to have someone have to tell someone else what to play, to roll off volume, etc, and telling Josh how to set various knobs.
As a non-muff/fuzz guy - I never liked them (because they disappear in-the-mix, with a live band) until I got the Thorpy Fallout Cloud. It's like a hi-fi Big Muff = love it.
I always liked the deluxe big muff because it has 2 knobs and a switch dedicated to mid range frequency, amount of mids, and whether the eq peak is wide or sharp
My two cents: it would be more fun to watch this series if the pedals were pre-dialed in to sound as close to each other as possible. When you watch a “kemper vs real amp” video, the amp and the kemper aren’t set to completely different settings, they don’t sound like completely different components, one isn’t 75% louder than the other - they are as close to exact as possible so that the “blindfolded” person trying to guess, real has to listen for nuances. What makes those videos fun is that it’s basically impossible to actually tell the difference. I thought this series was supposed to be that: get the pedals as close as possible and see how well the cheaper versions stack up to the way more expensive legends they were modeled after. But only giving 60 seconds to someone and neither pedals are ever really dialed to their “best sound” or even volume matched is just kind of a train wreck, maybe that’s what you’re going for but if you’re looking for feedback from a fan, I’d retool this format a bit and see what happens 🤷♂️
The whole point of this is for the listener to not know which pedal is which, not to see how closely a vintage and a re-issue sound to each other. Trying to make them sound identical is not the point here.
I would argue that part of the comparison/shoot-out is to see how the pedals react overall. There’s a bunch of crappy knock-offs or cheap pedals that sound great but only in one position, and if you change the knobs from that it falls apart, whereas the nice pedals are useable and good-sounding throughout the range of the knobs. Think about it this way: you could probably get a Porche and a Camri to feel the same backing out of the driveway, but what about when you’re taking a curve at 90 mph?
@@zachary963 but all of that is irrelevant when they force everything to be done in 60 seconds. that’s no where near enough time to explore everything you just outlined
I feel like, without the pedals being keyed in before hand, it's kind of a mess. That being said, the Supreme and the Super Fuzz were essentially identical.
You guys should do a comparison video between linear and audio taper pots and demonstrate the difference. Like A:B the same pedal, one with linear taper and one with audio taper pots. That's super intriguing, I think.
@@srfrodoxd ??? you can't measure the experience of a pot with a multimeter. The difference between tapers is the ease of use for selecting different tone or volume positions
When I built guitar pedals I much preferred using linear pots for volume, as opposed to audio taper, which seemed to be the norm. But my philosophy was that if your pedal only reaches unity gain at 03:00, it's time to rip out the audio taper pot and stick in a linear. Similarly, unity gain at 09:00 with a linear pot? Audio taper might be better. 12:00 is the ideal position for unity gain in my opinion. Plenty of room to dial back or add if you need too.
In the good old days, stereo and guitar-amp makers would use linear taper volume pots, even though it was by that point common knowledge that log pots were required for volume. The reasoning seems to have been marketing. The innocent consumer would turn the volume control up to the 9:00 position, impressed with how loud it was, and thinking there was so much more volume to be had. Meanwhile, because of the pot taper, the amp had already hit about 85% of its maximum volume.
Holy cow, that Super Fuzz was just uncanny. When he was switching back and forth quickly trying to get a tell, it really sounded like you were just feeding him the same line bound to two inputs. Excellent reproduction!
Joshua repeatedly chose the slightly worse sounding pedal as the vintage one... I agreed in that sense. It'd be good to do a 3 way compare the real cheapest cheap (£20) with a normally affordable pedals (£50-£200) with a silly posh version (£300+), but not vintage but rather the "super boutique" shiz.
Yeah i would like to see a "how much tone does your dollar buy" kind of thing... like a $20, 100-200, and then some kind of ridiculous boutique thing... already set up to sound similar and then the player has to go by the feel of how it responds etc.
Josh lost the third round because his head wasn't in the ACTUAL game! He was thinking more about how the answer would not be "B" three times in a row and let it determine his answer, rather than making his decision based solely off the sound of the pedal... Master's Degree... REVOKED!
Looking in awe at my boxed Bluesbreaker that is now apparently valued at more than I paid for my 2002 PRS Cu22 10 top. It got knocked off my board by a Sixty buck KOT clone...
I have watched the JHS demo on the four vintage JHS Fuzz units. However I do not remember the JHS Supreme sounding so good. Because of this video it's on my next purchase list. Loved and enjoyed this show. Thank you Josh.
How about EQ pedals? Fish and Chips or Joyo vs Boss vs MXR. Boost or cut the same frequencies on both pedals. I also think with the Klon you can keep going because there are so many Klones. Also how about comparing some digital spring reverb pedals to analog spring tanks? Specifically the Fender 63 outboard spring unit.
Joshua, you nailed it. Since you now have a masters degree your guesses are really educated. Poet slam. Et cetera. I was going to make a joke about sub standard, but I draw a blank.
Subway originated in Milford Connecticut in the 70s. Some friends of mine had a very successful local band called Little Village. They did Subway's first radio jingle. I still remember it. "When you're hungry,make tracks for Subway.." done to a Bo Diddley beat. It was quite catchy.
I just want to say, that I love your guys' show. Not only is it super entertaining, but really informative and just makes me want to try making pedals more and more. Its also my favorite thing to put on while I draw. Keep it up! I love all the live streams! No matter how nerdy they get lol
I think it's time for the Josh t-shirt release for us Josh fans - "If it sounds good, it is good! .... I have a masters degree." Or maybe a nice sticker? "Kansas City - Home of Josh' "
For anyone curious, Mooer and Donner both have a triangle muff clone as well (Mooer Triangle Buff or Donner Stylish Fuzz). And in this demo the reissue and vintage definitely did not sound the same, but that could have been due to the settings.
I love how they complete ignore that Joshua just got a freaking Masters Degree, who cares what in, that is some serious commitment, and all they care about is pedals, and tone, Joshua and his Master Degree be damned, well Congrats to you Joshua, are you Doctor Joshua now??
JHS supreme was noisier than the 40 year old Superfuzz! My Shinei Superfuzz was that Noisy before I got it fixed does that mean it’s not worth as much as the JHS?
These were pretty easy because the levels were so massively different. It would be better if you made them sound as similar as possible before the guesser hears it.
Yes, but should volume, be the deciding factor? There are several ways to boost volume. These comparisons should be based on tone. A very slight bit if preparation would allow them to set volume levels to take that out of the equation.
I bought a big white square piece of paper, and a role of Gaffer's tape, and taped a piece low horizontal and a piece left vertical, with the piece of paper laying with one of its corners down. Then i painted the litte triangle made by the two pieces of tape dark blue. It cost me about 10 dollar and 5 minutes to do and it's as good as any painting of Mondrian.
Sorry agqin for writing in wrong episode. Your musik is out of sight, even if you strrt for fun or you play seriously. Don't know how you see it, but the guitar is perfect, drums, bass and even poems fit perfect. Tell me truth, do you often hear that quality on radio or in records? And you just improvise! Love your job guys
I’m saying it - the other Josh - the faux politeness and passive aggressive interaction said with a ‘smile’ between every one and him is a now major mojo sucker, and his ‘oh sorry I missed all that what am I meant to be doing please explain it all again even though all the viewers are waiting’ is a rhythm killer for the show and for us. It makes all your hard work only mostly awesome.
Aren't all vintage pedals inherently a bit quieter than modern pedals? Surely you could just max out the volume every time and give a pretty accurate guess
Yeah. Things in general back then had lower output as far as guitar pickups and pedals in general go. A lot of people mod vintage circuits to reach unity gain
Tried a few old a new Muff pedals and ended up going for a simple solution. Big Muff Pi Deluxe, which can sound like a 70's, Ramshead, Triangle or Op Amp Muff on top of having a usable gate that does not suck tone nor cuts when it shouldn't and a boost with adjustable frequency. Although I just found a sound I like across several guitars and stick to that. Not using the expression input which can be used to have a WAH alike effect either, sticking to my trusty old DIY modified VOX for the WAH sounds. Reminds me. Josh, if you ever decide to build a good TB Mk1 alike Fuzz that has some tone control and without the originals idle noise, I'm all in. :D Did build one myself which works fine, but the idle noise and lack of some frequency control is a bit annoying. Guess that there is something modern that can be used instead of the germanium transistors that sounds the same but without the idle noise. You may wonder why the Mk1 instead of 1.5, 2 or 3, well, I don't want the sustain those add.
Everyone complaining about the volume thing is, I think, doubly missing the point. Firstly, this, like all of their content is at least half piss-take/train wreck humour, not science (and that's what's great about it) and secondly, it's the point partially that paying a zillion dollars for something is more likely to get you a less reliable pedal that sounds the same.
@JHS_Pedals How does one tag someone if their name has a space between it? More importantly, can you tell me/everyone what pedals would be most necessary if you only play/ed individual notes, like with a solo. Does distrotion help get that clean anyway sound with the overdrive?
agreed how much pot taper impacts the overall impression of a circuit, i've played pedals that are unity with the volume at like 7 o clock, comically loud (hello w@mpler)
The person who guesses should be the person playing the guitar. We are for the most part people that might put this on our pedal board and the feel/sag of the pedal make a big difference.
I got all 3 right, but I'm in the UK and I'm gluten intolerant so it really could not matter less. it's not actually all that hard, modern pedal builders tend to match/standardise the volume output better than the originals because they'll catch hell if they don't (probably shouldn't have typed that because , if it's true, it's a game ender.)
i could definitily tell b was the univox fuzz but during the test i loved the sound of the jhs so much more.. that break up on b in the beginning screamed vintage to me though although not a fan of it compared to the jhs ... josh definitely dialed them in to sound pretty identical in the end though. think i know what pedal is next on my list.
“Let’s hear A with the mode switch engaged”. Kinda gave it away in the last one, and no one picked up on it…. For the record, I couldn’t really tell which was which for any of them just by listening to the tones.
I hope you'll do pedals you have already done, but have other people play them. I want to know of Josh can tell a Klon from a Klone, can Joshua tell a Rat from a Rat clone, etc
You should do more comparisons of a cheap pedals vs expensive pedals by retail price (chase bliss, strymon). These rare pedals are collectible and most of the value comes from that. Nobody expects a “real” klon to sound 50x (whatever that means) better than a tumnus.
the muff round would have been tough without the volume drop from the broken bypass switch. Round two, cheap overdrive is always too bright. The super fuzz round was fun. The difference in bias on the super fuzzes was the only tell. My gut said the vintage one would sound more gated and the jhs one would let more noise/sustain inti the signal. Dwarfcraft necromancer is a super fuzz clone with a bias knob. (and a ridiculous bypassable active eq...)
With no intended disrespect to Joshua, the first episode of this series was more competent as a comparison/test than this episode. This is because Addison (the first test subject) had a depth of pre-existing knowledge and expectations of the Klon's tonal characteristics, based on extensive use of the effect. Thus, when he incorrectly chose the $35ish Klon at the end, the experimentation (the first episode's content) had significance as well as being fun. This second episode only had the latter.
I think it's better if the person guessing is the person actually playing. I think judging an effect is in part how the player hears it and in part how it feels under the fingers. And then (the beloved) Joshua was guessing before the minute was up, and talking over the performance. I'm going to be real -- this was much better when Addison was guessing. I wrote the first paragraph after the first pedal comparison. The more I watch this, the more I don't like Joshua's approach compared to the first video. Pedals will sound different set at noon -- he's trying to guess based on which is louder, but I don't care. It's better if Josh sets the levels with minimal input from the guesser. The point should be, can the less expensive pedal replicate the more expensive one, or can it sound even better doing a similar thing. I'm watching because, if a $100 pedal can be set so it fools an experienced player, then I might buy the cheaper pedal. Joshua has defeated the point of watching these videos.
Sorry to write in wrong episode, there is explanation for that. I want to refer about music of yours that I heart in many episodes. Even without voice, that helps people to understand or to connected, I can characterize your music as "first devizion", something you don't find easily in our days. I know you must care for many things, the show, structure, pedals and many others, music is a beacon.... You should make records, few things deserve to get that title, a wonderfool music group! I don't know if is a acomblish od Josh or of all the musicians, and it's an other story. Important is this music deserce credits, it's a big thing. Please don't leave in amateur level (sorry for my poor English) but something big is going on here! Please give us this gift and we pay back to you your efforts. I am musician, same hobbies with Josh, electronics etc. I am 60 years old, Greek muses Ian, I pledge my life to music, so I can have a opinion. I write music, I know the prosedure. PLEASE DON'T LEAVE BEHIND THE MUSIC! You got a lot to give, even you got so many products on the way. You are in godd age, but you don't have time to lose, time passes so fast....
About 15 or more years ago, Mike Matthews gave an interview to a business magazine. One of the things he noted in the interview, aside from business issues and relocating some things to Russia, was that in the 70s, you could take any 4 consecutively made Big Muffs off the assembly line, and they would all sound different from each other. Basically, he was scoring parts from different sources, and if the cap value was nominally 0.1uf, that was good enough for him. There was NO hand-selection of components. So what is the "classic" Big Muff sound? You tell me. And tell Mike while you're at it, because I doubt he knows either.
Taper shmaper. You have to pay bigger money than what a Big Muff costs to get two pots of the same *nominal* taper to measure the same at any given position. They are certainly in the ballpark, but they won't be exactly the same just because the knobs are pointing to the same position.
LOVE this.
That is why they usually attempt to source a dozen or so of the best sounding original units, and then try to narrow it down to an approximation of what the typical unit probably sounded like upon release. Sometimes, I assume they just pick whatever the best sounding unit is in the office and start making reissues from that jump point. I’m fairly certain the Rams Head Muff reissue I have doesn’t sound like the majority of real Ram’s Head Muff. So I agree that it’s really impossible to ever make a true recreation.
@@thomascunningham2919 That's a good strategy for resurrecting a product people want. I get a little skeptical, though, whenever I see a video of someone doing a "shootout", or comparison of different issues, using only a single example of each pedal. Are the characteristics being touted or noted true and consistent across ALL pedals of that kind/issue or is the one being demoed unique in some manner? Maybe , maybe not. We don't know, and maybe the presenter doesn't, either. Not a criticism of the person. Just a reason to be more meticulous and systematic in such comparisons.
That said, 40 years ago, using 1% resistors for pedals simply didn't happen, and caps had huge tolerances. Components are a lot more consistent these days, and pedalmakers able to turn out products that all sound consistent. Assuming we're still interested in pedals in 40 years from now, we won't have to look for a "good" example of something made in this decade, merely one in working order.
Aura and magic attaches to the desirable, and rare objects of any collector of anything you can name. Good thing Martin guitars don't have the Muff inconsistencies. There's no joke there, I was careful.
I can confirm that Joshua is a sweet person. I sent a long, rambling email to the JHS email a couple of years ago and his response was very nice. If you see this, Joshua: I'm sorry for not responding back, but I really appreciated it, and also congratulations on your Masters.
Thanks! It's me!
guys are buying vintage pedals with older components because they care about that 5% difference in tone. will always be people who think that small difference isn't worth it, and some who think that it is. You (Josh) should be a little more upfront and honest about the fact that older pedals used a different component spread. Most of those parts are no longer available. Most of the time newer pedals are just fine, depending on your purpose. I use a mix of both on my board. There are a million A/B comparison videos and you can tell a difference. It's a dumb argument at this point. You either care about the difference or you think its too insignificant. To deny it exists is stupid.
$4000 isn't that expensive. That's only about 3-4 cups of coffee
"It's a Big Muff, Michael. How expensive could it be? Four thousand dollars?"
It’s only a few gas fill ups
This comment will eventually become true.
Glad to see this series returning. On the Fuzz - I preferred the JHS pedal. I'm NOT sponsored, nor was I paid to say this or do I own the pedal. YMMV
I agree. It's easier to make a circuit and have better choice of components. I know many here, with the notable exception of Josh Scott, the Behringer version is one of the best especially with the 3rd position switch with boost.
No fair, that missing screw changed the tone of the vintage Big Muff!
😂
I can yell
I like that at 6:40 you can actually see it shedding the screw.
The way Josh had to step and give a disclaimer after the words “Succulent flavors of a $5 foot long” might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve been laughing for a solid 15 minutes, and my wife is looking at me like I’m crazy.
Joshua was very professional and polite when I contacted JHS concerning a shipment.
Glad to see him on the show often.
🤗
I concur
I finally got my first JHS pedal yesterday! I got the space commander, and I absolutely love it. It’s been my meditation sound to just forget the past few months. Thank you guys so much for making musical gear. It’s truly been therapeutic watching, and now playing your pedals. Y’all have no idea how much laughing and comfort I’ve gotten from a few friends just playing music together. It’s helped so much.
Awesome!
Just make it a podcast Josh!!!! Give the people what the want!
Yeah!
The way Josh dons his white gloves...you can really tell how much he enjoys doing so. It's endearing in a way.
So glad you're doing more of these. Hope you do reverbs and delays eventually
For sure. I'd love one for chorus.
These were a lot easier than ep1, they did the obvious thing of the "vintage" pedals tended to sound less gainy and not as modern overall, and were also more likely to have the ability to set the controls to get a bad sound. So far the hardest one was still the Rat from ep 1.
One thing I would add is, don't do the above the table camera of Josh when he's moving the pedals or plugging them in, because the clunk of a large pedal being set down or the chonk of when the cable clips in to a big old pedal, is audibly different from plugging into a tiny pedal, so I could tell one of them by what side his hands were on when he dropped the pedal / plugged it in.
Regardless, all the less expensive pedals sounded great, and could do the main thing the vintage pedal was known for. It does add difficulty to have someone have to tell someone else what to play, to roll off volume, etc, and telling Josh how to set various knobs.
As a non-muff/fuzz guy - I never liked them (because they disappear in-the-mix, with a live band) until I got the Thorpy Fallout Cloud. It's like a hi-fi Big Muff = love it.
I always liked the deluxe big muff because it has 2 knobs and a switch dedicated to mid range frequency, amount of mids, and whether the eq peak is wide or sharp
Stack it?
My two cents: it would be more fun to watch this series if the pedals were pre-dialed in to sound as close to each other as possible. When you watch a “kemper vs real amp” video, the amp and the kemper aren’t set to completely different settings, they don’t sound like completely different components, one isn’t 75% louder than the other - they are as close to exact as possible so that the “blindfolded” person trying to guess, real has to listen for nuances. What makes those videos fun is that it’s basically impossible to actually tell the difference. I thought this series was supposed to be that: get the pedals as close as possible and see how well the cheaper versions stack up to the way more expensive legends they were modeled after. But only giving 60 seconds to someone and neither pedals are ever really dialed to their “best sound” or even volume matched is just kind of a train wreck, maybe that’s what you’re going for but if you’re looking for feedback from a fan, I’d retool this format a bit and see what happens 🤷♂️
This.
Totally agree, this is pretty much a waste of time.
The whole point of this is for the listener to not know which pedal is which, not to see how closely a vintage and a re-issue sound to each other. Trying to make them sound identical is not the point here.
I would argue that part of the comparison/shoot-out is to see how the pedals react overall. There’s a bunch of crappy knock-offs or cheap pedals that sound great but only in one position, and if you change the knobs from that it falls apart, whereas the nice pedals are useable and good-sounding throughout the range of the knobs.
Think about it this way: you could probably get a Porche and a Camri to feel the same backing out of the driveway, but what about when you’re taking a curve at 90 mph?
@@zachary963 but all of that is irrelevant when they force everything to be done in 60 seconds. that’s no where near enough time to explore everything you just outlined
It would seem that when in doubt, always pick the loudest pedal as non-vintage.
Seems like it!
Which is normal I assume, as modern replicas-tributes often try to improve on the original designs..
Congrats on your masters degree, Joshua! You rock!
Thanks!
@@jhspedals What's it in?
@@maschoff69 A really nice envelope.
@@maschoff69 Masters in Sass
I feel like, without the pedals being keyed in before hand, it's kind of a mess. That being said, the Supreme and the Super Fuzz were essentially identical.
You guys should do a comparison video between linear and audio taper pots and demonstrate the difference. Like A:B the same pedal, one with linear taper and one with audio taper pots. That's super intriguing, I think.
You can just measure pots with your multimeter, it would be less painful to pull off and self explanatory imo
It makes a huge difference. I built a Klone but used an A taper for the volume pot and it's a much smoother transition.
@@srfrodoxd ??? you can't measure the experience of a pot with a multimeter. The difference between tapers is the ease of use for selecting different tone or volume positions
When I built guitar pedals I much preferred using linear pots for volume, as opposed to audio taper, which seemed to be the norm. But my philosophy was that if your pedal only reaches unity gain at 03:00, it's time to rip out the audio taper pot and stick in a linear. Similarly, unity gain at 09:00 with a linear pot? Audio taper might be better. 12:00 is the ideal position for unity gain in my opinion. Plenty of room to dial back or add if you need too.
In the good old days, stereo and guitar-amp makers would use linear taper volume pots, even though it was by that point common knowledge that log pots were required for volume. The reasoning seems to have been marketing. The innocent consumer would turn the volume control up to the 9:00 position, impressed with how loud it was, and thinking there was so much more volume to be had. Meanwhile, because of the pot taper, the amp had already hit about 85% of its maximum volume.
I thought the Blues Crab was sparklier. I liked it better.
Holy cow, that Super Fuzz was just uncanny.
When he was switching back and forth quickly trying to get a tell, it really sounded like you were just feeding him the same line bound to two inputs. Excellent reproduction!
Joshua repeatedly chose the slightly worse sounding pedal as the vintage one... I agreed in that sense.
It'd be good to do a 3 way compare the real cheapest cheap (£20) with a normally affordable pedals (£50-£200) with a silly posh version (£300+), but not vintage but rather the "super boutique" shiz.
Yeah true... cause a lot of the vintage stuff is expensive due to it's collectable value... not always cause it sounds "better".
Yeah i would like to see a "how much tone does your dollar buy" kind of thing... like a $20, 100-200, and then some kind of ridiculous boutique thing... already set up to sound similar and then the player has to go by the feel of how it responds etc.
I love the show man
You guys have been saving my life at work this week
Thanks for watching! :)
New rule for this game: If the "contestant" loses, everyone in the chat has to purchase a JHS product.
The butcher knife on the table really sets the tone for how high the stakes are.
Josh lost the third round because his head wasn't in the ACTUAL game! He was thinking more about how the answer would not be "B" three times in a row and let it determine his answer, rather than making his decision based solely off the sound of the pedal...
Master's Degree... REVOKED!
😲
Looking in awe at my boxed Bluesbreaker that is now apparently valued at more than I paid for my 2002 PRS Cu22 10 top.
It got knocked off my board by a Sixty buck KOT clone...
Hahahahahahahahha gold.
I have watched the JHS demo on the four vintage JHS Fuzz units. However I do not remember the JHS Supreme sounding so good. Because of this video it's on my next purchase list. Loved and enjoyed this show. Thank you Josh.
Se
Nice!! Thanks for watching :)
That masters degree is REALLY paying off in subway cards 😍
I love this show, keep doing this! I’m waiting for digital vs analog delays.
How about EQ pedals? Fish and Chips or Joyo vs Boss vs MXR. Boost or cut the same frequencies on both pedals.
I also think with the Klon you can keep going because there are so many Klones.
Also how about comparing some digital spring reverb pedals to analog spring tanks? Specifically the Fender 63 outboard spring unit.
Honestly love the extra chatter in between
Why is Mayer such a market influencer? He's a very standard player outside of a few unique fingerpicking pieces.
Jhs singlehandedly exposing the vintage pedal market 😆
no. he isnt. he is just misleading people who don't know any better.
Joshua, you nailed it. Since you now have a masters degree your guesses are really educated. Poet slam. Et cetera. I was going to make a joke about sub standard, but I draw a blank.
Lol, thank you.
Subway originated in Milford Connecticut in the 70s. Some friends of mine had a very successful local band called Little Village. They did Subway's first radio jingle. I still remember it. "When you're hungry,make tracks for Subway.." done to a Bo Diddley beat. It was quite catchy.
I just want to say, that I love your guys' show. Not only is it super entertaining, but really informative and just makes me want to try making pedals more and more. Its also my favorite thing to put on while I draw. Keep it up! I love all the live streams! No matter how nerdy they get lol
Glad you enjoy it!
"It definitely doesn't make me feel uncomfortable." Laugh of the Week
😂
this episode made me giggle like a sweet little innocent baby boy
I think it's time for the Josh t-shirt release for us Josh fans - "If it sounds good, it is good! .... I have a masters degree." Or maybe a nice sticker? "Kansas City - Home of Josh' "
Hm just wrote a song/poem with : Nothing works at noon... Joshua was never so funny before! Keep it up man.
For anyone curious, Mooer and Donner both have a triangle muff clone as well (Mooer Triangle Buff or Donner Stylish Fuzz).
And in this demo the reissue and vintage definitely did not sound the same, but that could have been due to the settings.
I’ll hit u up for one
@@michaelpacinus242 ? Not selling any.
Too late
@@michaelpacinus242 You off your meds, buddy?
@@BlueBarrier782 you mean my custom medication that gets delivered in discrete packaging? Yes
I love how they complete ignore that Joshua just got a freaking Masters Degree, who cares what in, that is some serious commitment, and all they care about is pedals, and tone, Joshua and his Master Degree be damned, well Congrats to you Joshua, are you Doctor Joshua now??
JHS supreme was noisier than the 40 year old Superfuzz!
My Shinei Superfuzz was that
Noisy before I got it fixed does that mean it’s not worth as much as the JHS?
These were pretty easy because the levels were so massively different. It would be better if you made them sound as similar as possible before the guesser hears it.
Agreed. A little pre-production would go a long way to making this a better show.
I agree
Yes, but should volume, be the deciding factor? There are several ways to boost volume. These comparisons should be based on tone. A very slight bit if preparation would allow them to set volume levels to take that out of the equation.
I bought a big white square piece of paper, and a role of Gaffer's tape, and taped a piece low horizontal and a piece left vertical, with the piece of paper laying with one of its corners down. Then i painted the litte triangle made by the two pieces of tape dark blue. It cost me about 10 dollar and 5 minutes to do and it's as good as any painting of Mondrian.
🖤🖤🖤
"Even if I get the next one wrong, I have a Master's degree." Missed opportunity.
Sorry agqin for writing in wrong episode.
Your musik is out of sight, even if you strrt for fun or you play seriously.
Don't know how you see it, but the guitar is perfect, drums, bass and even poems fit perfect.
Tell me truth, do you often hear that quality on radio or in records?
And you just improvise!
Love your job guys
don’t mind the old phone and the Slinky but that massive hunting knife had me on edge😀
I used to make good money going backstage at John Mayer shows and making him look at blues breaker pedals, until his security staff got wise.
Great one, pretty funny when 4 of you are together
Xy
It's like a quiz show where peoples' lives will be changed forever if they win.
Heartfelt and poignant. Kudos
I’m saying it - the other Josh - the faux politeness and passive aggressive interaction said with a ‘smile’ between every one and him is a now major mojo sucker, and his ‘oh sorry I missed all that what am I meant to be doing please explain it all again even though all the viewers are waiting’ is a rhythm killer for the show and for us. It makes all your hard work only mostly awesome.
I literally didn't know. They didn't fill me in on any details before the show and I didn't see the first one!
Aren't all vintage pedals inherently a bit quieter than modern pedals? Surely you could just max out the volume every time and give a pretty accurate guess
Yeah. Things in general back then had lower output as far as guitar pickups and pedals in general go. A lot of people mod vintage circuits to reach unity gain
@@knives_on_static that's exactly what I was thinking. I bet you next show, that's what they'll do
"Because I live in a realm where I have a Master's degree." Missed opportunity.
You guys should get J. Mascis for a big muff episode, he probably has the biggest collection of vintage muffs.
I second this.
Get all the Bigmuff guitarists on here at the same time. Billy Corgan, J Mascis, idk who else. Have them all shoot out and compare their collections
@@knives_on_static yeah that'll never happen
@@knives_on_static Mark Arm from Mudhoney
Hell probably carry them all in his cargo shorts too.
ooh wish i had caught this live. GREAT SHOW Y'ALL!
You guys are so hilarious and entertaining!!! Love it.
Please at some point compare the fz-2 with the Behringer sf300 super fuzz- love this series
Best pedal show period!
Got a nice show, a good reference of knowledge. Is a compressor is the same on bass and guitar or is there a frequency issue?
Tried a few old a new Muff pedals and ended up going for a simple solution.
Big Muff Pi Deluxe, which can sound like a 70's, Ramshead, Triangle or Op Amp Muff on top of having a usable gate that does not suck tone nor cuts when it shouldn't and a boost with adjustable frequency.
Although I just found a sound I like across several guitars and stick to that.
Not using the expression input which can be used to have a WAH alike effect either, sticking to my trusty old DIY modified VOX for the WAH sounds.
Reminds me.
Josh, if you ever decide to build a good TB Mk1 alike Fuzz that has some tone control and without the originals idle noise, I'm all in. :D
Did build one myself which works fine, but the idle noise and lack of some frequency control is a bit annoying.
Guess that there is something modern that can be used instead of the germanium transistors that sounds the same but without the idle noise.
You may wonder why the Mk1 instead of 1.5, 2 or 3, well, I don't want the sustain those add.
Everyone complaining about the volume thing is, I think, doubly missing the point. Firstly, this, like all of their content is at least half piss-take/train wreck humour, not science (and that's what's great about it) and secondly, it's the point partially that paying a zillion dollars for something is more likely to get you a less reliable pedal that sounds the same.
Huge knife on the table was a bit menacing haha!
I keep it on me.
I cannot believe I sold my Blues Breaker for $100... I shall be a gear hoarder forever now!
I use the Russian big muff on my board sounds awesome, stack it with the Blues driver gives it a bit more crunch
Love the campness of this episode don't know why i just do 🥰
Are these coming back? I love this segment.
@JHS_Pedals How does one tag someone if their name has a space between it? More importantly, can you tell me/everyone what pedals would be most necessary if you only play/ed individual notes, like with a solo. Does distrotion help get that clean anyway sound with the overdrive?
"Time is an illusion. Lunch time, doubly so."
Because nothing works at noon, really.
A masters degree in fearlessness
🙏🏼
agreed how much pot taper impacts the overall impression of a circuit, i've played pedals that are unity with the volume at like 7 o clock, comically loud (hello w@mpler)
The person who guesses should be the person playing the guitar. We are for the most part people that might put this on our pedal board and the feel/sag of the pedal make a big difference.
I got all 3 right, but I'm in the UK and I'm gluten intolerant so it really could not matter less.
it's not actually all that hard, modern pedal builders tend to match/standardise the volume output better than the originals because they'll catch hell if they don't (probably shouldn't have typed that because , if it's true, it's a game ender.)
Nice episode, could you do a silver screw Boss CE-2 next?
How the hell was A the JHS Supreme? Tons of extraneous noise . The vintage was quieter than the modern remake?!
i could definitily tell b was the univox fuzz but during the test i loved the sound of the jhs so much more.. that break up on b in the beginning screamed vintage to me though although not a fan of it compared to the jhs ... josh definitely dialed them in to sound pretty identical in the end though. think i know what pedal is next on my list.
One question remains for me, masters in what? Kitchen appliances? Astrophysics?
“Let’s hear A with the mode switch engaged”. Kinda gave it away in the last one, and no one picked up on it…. For the record, I couldn’t really tell which was which for any of them just by listening to the tones.
I cheered out loud when I saw a new episode
Can we get 10 more seconds for more shred from Addison please?
I hope you'll do pedals you have already done, but have other people play them. I want to know of Josh can tell a Klon from a Klone, can Joshua tell a Rat from a Rat clone, etc
I have an original 1974 MXR phase 90 everyone swears sounds better than the production models. They may be crazy. Please add this one next!!!
I never saw one of those actually sell for $4k.
Edit. I didn’t realize there was a perfboard version. I don’t care. 😀
Well, now everything in my life gets a "This is not a podcast."
Joshua is the man! Love this episode!
Thanks!!! 🥰
You should do more comparisons of a cheap pedals vs expensive pedals by retail price (chase bliss, strymon). These rare pedals are collectible and most of the value comes from that. Nobody expects a “real” klon to sound 50x (whatever that means) better than a tumnus.
Once again you make fun and games party with fine gentlemen. Good to hear Pink Floyd lyric,
congratulations on the masters degree
Thanks!
the muff round would have been tough without the volume drop from the broken bypass switch. Round two, cheap overdrive is always too bright. The super fuzz round was fun. The difference in bias on the super fuzzes was the only tell. My gut said the vintage one would sound more gated and the jhs one would let more noise/sustain inti the signal. Dwarfcraft necromancer is a super fuzz clone with a bias knob. (and a ridiculous bypassable active eq...)
With no intended disrespect to Joshua, the first episode of this series was more competent as a comparison/test than this episode. This is because Addison (the first test subject) had a depth of pre-existing knowledge and expectations of the Klon's tonal characteristics, based on extensive use of the effect. Thus, when he incorrectly chose the $35ish Klon at the end, the experimentation (the first episode's content) had significance as well as being fun. This second episode only had the latter.
Well, I do love fun.
Yes! I have the Blues Crab and love it.
I think it's better if the person guessing is the person actually playing. I think judging an effect is in part how the player hears it and in part how it feels under the fingers. And then (the beloved) Joshua was guessing before the minute was up, and talking over the performance. I'm going to be real -- this was much better when Addison was guessing.
I wrote the first paragraph after the first pedal comparison. The more I watch this, the more I don't like Joshua's approach compared to the first video. Pedals will sound different set at noon -- he's trying to guess based on which is louder, but I don't care. It's better if Josh sets the levels with minimal input from the guesser. The point should be, can the less expensive pedal replicate the more expensive one, or can it sound even better doing a similar thing. I'm watching because, if a $100 pedal can be set so it fools an experienced player, then I might buy the cheaper pedal. Joshua has defeated the point of watching these videos.
Number 1: Don't make your pedal purchases based on anything I (Joshua) say.
Number 2: I don't really play the guitar, and that was the point.
I'm book smart, not guitar smart.
@@jhspedals Just promise you won't be the one doing the guessing in future and all is forgiven. :)
Suggestion for next episode.
Ibenaz TS vs DemonFX Tube screamer
Timmy vs Caline pure sky
Subway should totally sponsor this show…through $5 gift card reimbursements… as they are won in the show 😂😂😂
I guessed that B was the vintage every time, but I much preferred the newer one in every test.
YES so glad this is back.
Sorry to write in wrong episode, there is explanation for that.
I want to refer about music of yours that I heart in many episodes.
Even without voice, that helps people to understand or to connected, I can characterize your music as "first devizion", something you don't find easily in our days.
I know you must care for many things, the show, structure, pedals and many others, music is a beacon....
You should make records, few things deserve to get that title, a wonderfool music group!
I don't know if is a acomblish od Josh or of all the musicians, and it's an other story.
Important is this music deserce credits, it's a big thing.
Please don't leave in amateur level (sorry for my poor English) but something big is going on here!
Please give us this gift and we pay back to you your efforts.
I am musician, same hobbies with Josh, electronics etc.
I am 60 years old, Greek muses Ian, I pledge my life to music, so I can have a opinion.
I write music, I know the prosedure. PLEASE DON'T LEAVE BEHIND THE MUSIC!
You got a lot to give, even you got so many products on the way.
You are in godd age, but you don't have time to lose, time passes so fast....
triangle big muffs are on sale at sweetwater rn for $64!
I have a Vintage 70s Ibanez OD850, said to be a Muff clone, I wonder how it compares to a real one?
These game show-esk videos are pretty dope!