JHS Pedals has expanded its budget conscious 3 Series with the Octave Reverb and Harmonic Tremolo pedals – both featuring all-new circuits from the Kansas City guitar effects pedal company.
And they arrive by popular demand; as JHS Pedals supremo Josh Scott reveals in the video, these are the effects most requested by the general public. So, what do they do?
The clue, of course, is in the name, but with a secondary switchable mode there these pedals offer two takes on their effects. The Octave Reverb is inspired by the shimmer reverb pioneered by Brian Eno and popularised by U2’s the Edge. Shimmer 'verb has become a popular mode in all kinds of multi-reverb pedals these days.
It applies an octave-up effect to the reverb’s decay for a dreamy, glassy, and indeed shimmery sounding wash of ambience. A flick of the switch, however, and the pedal applies an octave-down effect to the decay.
The Harmonic Tremolo, meanwhile, is inspired by the tremolo circuits found in vintage Fender guitar amps such as the Bandmaster and Vibrasonic. It takes its name from how the pulsing tremolo effect sounds, in which the signal is split into high and low frequencies and these ebb and low out of phase for a washy sound that’s not too dissimilar from Uni-Vibe.
A click of the mode switch accesses a regular tremolo pedal effect in which the volume is modulated.
JHS Pedals’ 3 Series is hard to beat for value. You get US made pedals from one of the biggest names in guitar effects pedals for £/$99, each arriving with a simple three-knob layout (hence the name, 3 series), with a mode switch to double your electric guitar tone options.
The black text and knobs on the white enclosure might be an aesthetic nod to supermarket basics lines but just because these are a little more stripped down than JHS Pedals’ high-end offerings does not mean these lack tone, or features and control over them.
The Octave Reverb has controls for Verb, Octave and Decay, while the Harmonic Tremolo has Volume, Rate and Depth controls, with the Volume offering boost and cut functionality – and if you really dime it might even push your amp into overdrive, which is always a cool thing to have as an option.
To hear how these sound, check out the video at the top of the page. Both the Harmonic Tremolo and Octave Reverb are available now, and retail at the magic £/$99 price point. With their arrival, the 3 Series now comprises 13 effects, with JHS Pedals also offering a Chorus, Compressor, Delay, Distortion, Flanger, Fuzz, Hall Reverb, Overdrive, Phaser and Reverb. See JHS Pedals for more details.
