NPD x3

[OffYourFace]

I was very irresponsible and bought 3 pedals today. All 3 were $80 each... so not too bad.

1.) Xotic AC Booster - the original yellow one, found used on CL near my house. A classic OD... never knew these were gooped tho.

2.) JHS 3 Series Chorus - new, on sale. It sounds amazing, I was shocked. I can replace both my CE-2W and VB-2W on my board

3.) JHS 3 Series Hall Reverb - new, on sale. It's very lush, especially with the modulation setting. My only complaint is the Dampen knob doesn't darken up the initial pre-delay hit, just the trail. It'll do the infinite thing and can be quite subtle.

I had zero interest in the 3 Series stuff or any JHS stuff at all but I was blown away by how great these sound at this price point.
What are your opinions on the 3 Series line?

[sal paradise]

Wow, that’s big praise!

I’ve read good things from random forums, and heard good things from shops who sell them - but was always skeptical & never tried them.

I did order the reverb super cheap in a sale along with a notaklon preorder, but I cancelled in the end. I often find myself just wanting an ehx holy grail type pedal for simple, great sounding reverb.

Not a popular brand on here for obvious reasons. Having owned two other JHS pedals (pink panther delay & overdrive preamp), I can confirm that they are both great sounding pedals and would have been massively overpriced had I paid normal retail price for them. So maybe the 3 series is a bit of a no brainer as it hopefully retains the first truth & eliminates the second (unless your dislike of Josh means you won’t buy his pedals, which is an equally valid view).

[OffYourFace]

Yeah I'm not exactly a JHS fanboy. I wasn't expecting to like them at all. Walrus Audio has a similar budget line (about $20-30 more) with slide pots instead of rotary pots. They sounded pretty good (chorus & reverb) but the 3 Series sounded better to me.

I almost bought the Ross Chorus (which is JHS related too). It was on sale for $150. The chorus mode sounded amazing but I didn't like the vibrato mode because it was too Triangle-wave choppy sounding.

The 3 Series Chorus has a much nicer Sine wave for its Vibrato mode and I actually prefer it to the VB-2W. It gets slower and the Depth control works nicer somehow. The Chorus mode is really nice sounding, very analog-y but not really Boss sounding to my ears. I might have preferred the Ross Chorus a tiny bit more but the 3 Series has an extra use I wasn't expecting... The Volume knob. It works great as a Boost! You can add in a little chorus or vibrato (or none at all) to a lead sound after your dirt pedals.

The Hall Reverb is a bit more exciting sounding than my RV-6 but we'll see how it does in rehearsal... which isn't until Sept 12.

[JVG]

Replacing the CE-2w is quite a statement - I love the Waza chorus.

It’s always nice to get new gear that exceeds expectations, especially if it’s cheap. I like the idea of the 3-series, not just because ofthe price, but due to the simplicity: 3 knobs, no fancy artwork or gimmicky names.

That said, the only 3 series I’ve tried is the delay. It was a few years ago, and I remember it being fine although not particularly noteworthy.

[OffYourFace]

Replacing the CE-2w is quite a statement - I love the Waza chorus.

I like the idea of the 3-series, not just because of the price, but due to the simplicity: 3 knobs, no fancy artwork

I think the CE-2w will still be preferred by most people in terms of the just the chorus effect. It has more of an animated sound with its use of triangle waves. I love the CE-1 modes, that’s all I ever use. The 3 series is just the most versatile chorus I’ve ever had and I like the sound quality of everything portion of it; chorus, vibrato and boost. The CE-2w will also outlast the 3 series in terms of reliability and durability.

I like the simplicity too but having a chorus and a reverb pedal that look alike is annoying. I need to put some colored stickers on them.

Oh I also tried the octave/shimmer reverb. It was really good. But I don’t use that sound much. Let’s face it, it’s been overused in the last 15 years.

Yeah the Delay pedal is whatever.

[OffYourFace]

the sale ended at midnight last night but I bought one more 3 series pedal online at 11:55pm

I got the Screamer. I just picked it up and it's definitely the best TS pedal I've ever had. (Especially with the compression cut switch, way better than the Full-Drive I had in the early 2000s). Anyway I'm sorry

[countertext]

Uh oh. The check from JHS is in the mail, huh? [Includes Paid Promotion]

[OffYourFace]

Uh oh. The check from JHS is in the mail, huh? [Includes Paid Promotion]

Hahaha never. $79 (on sale) pedals that really sound great in 2024 is pretty hard to beat.

[countertext]

True.

[blacktiger]

I don’t own any of the JHS pedals, but I’ve watched plenty of demo videos. The fuzz, trem, and reverb pedals all sounded pretty good. I was pretty close to buying the fuzz, but I ended up buying a hand-built FF/TB 1.5 for $80 that sounded a little wilder than the JHS.

[OffYourFace]

I don’t own any of the JHS pedals, but I’ve watched plenty of demo videos. The fuzz, trem, and reverb pedals all sounded pretty good. I was pretty close to buying the fuzz, but I ended up buying a hand-built FF/TB 1.5 for $80 that sounded a little wilder than the JHS.

That's good, the fuzz was my least favorite. When it comes to fuzz (which i don't use anymore) it's better to go for quality and vibe.
The harmonic tremolo is nice but I don't buy trem or delay effects that I can't sync with TT, Midi or gate these days.

[blacktiger]

I don’t own any of the JHS pedals, but I’ve watched plenty of demo videos. The fuzz, trem, and reverb pedals all sounded pretty good. I was pretty close to buying the fuzz, but I ended up buying a hand-built FF/TB 1.5 for $80 that sounded a little wilder than the JHS.

That's good, the fuzz was my least favorite. When it comes to fuzz (which i don't use anymore) it's better to go for quality and vibe.
The harmonic tremolo is nice but I don't buy trem or delay effects that I can't sync with TT, Midi or gate these days.

I’m very picky about dirt in general, and the JHS just didn’t quite do what I wanted. What I’m really after is something in the range of a Tone Bender MK I or a WEM Project V, but I’m hoping the 1.5 will be in the ballpark of where I’m trying to go.