“What does it all mean?” - Schoolhouse Rock
Three is a magic number. Ask any Nirvana, TLC, or Bee Gees fan and they're sure to agree with you. However, among the many (many) great trios of music history, there are few to dial into the trinity quite like De La Soul. The groundbreaking hip hop trio originally hit the scene in 1989 with their debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, a truly innovative record in their contemporary hip hop climate.
A DIY, somewhat ramshackle effort, the album is an extensive showcase of the trio's mastery of homegrown rhyming, sampling, and aestheticism. The album drew from hip hop's longstanding influences of funk and soul while welcoming psychedelic and more esoteric influences into the fold. Notably bright, sunny, and to the point, De La Soul cut through many of the musical and lyrical tropes becoming prevalent in the late '80s. Critic Robert Christgau hailed the group as the "new wave to Public Enemy's punk".
There's a simplicity to three. There's a barebones, essential quality to three. "Every triangle has three sides – no more no less." In celebration of the undeniable utility of three, we have a new release on the platter for you today. Let's talk about it. These are the JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay, Rotary Chorus, and Tape Delay.
A Rule of Three
Introducing the JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay, Rotary Chorus, and Tape Delay
Making a name for themselves over the past couple years, the JHS 3 Series has certainly made themselves known. The 3 Series, a line of pedals dedicated to bringing essential effects down to accessible and affordable units, has already touched on your basic basics – distortion, reverb, chorus. Just take a look at the existing 3 Series pedals and there's likely already a plain, white model waiting for you to tap into a classic effect.
JHS has undoubtedly already shaped your favorite effect into a 3 Series model. Because of this, that they’ve covered so many bases already, the 3 Series has since branched out into more niche and specialized effects, landing us where we are today. These latest entries to the 3 Series hearken to more specific types of effects brought on by specific analog effect devices from across the twentieth century.
If you've been after the great tones of analog oil can, rotary speaker, or tape reel devices in a streamlined and accessible package, then you're in luck. The 3 Series welcomes these specialized effects in a clean and no-nonsense fashion to extend the legacy of these classic flavors. We've got three to run down, so let's get into it.
Three's Company
JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay, Rotary Chorus, and Tape Delay Effects
So, let's do a little bit of a shootout with these three effects, shall we? How about this: some history, some controls, some sounds for each of the three and we can call it a day. Deal?
Let's start with our JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay.
JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay
Shop the JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay
The Story
The 3 Series Oil Can Delay actually exists from a chance meetup between JHS founder Josh Scott and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline. Sharing a mutual love for weirdo, analog delays, Cline had asked Scott if JHS had ever made an oil can delay – a specialized delay tone from the '50s. JHS went on to produce a one-off oil can delay circuit for Cline (which he then used on Wilco's Cruel Country and Cousin albums) and eventually considered bringing the circuit to the 3 Series, and well, here we are.
"Oil can delay" refers to a specific type of audio device first patented in the late '50s as a smaller, more practical version of tape reel delay devices. These units utilized oil within a tuna can-shaped drum that was moved by a belt mechanism with a special disk apparatus on which the audio "charge" was written and played back.
The Controls
Like all 3 Series entries, the JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay drops in with three parameter controls and a two-way control switch. Onboard, we have Mix, Speed, and Feedback controls, your usual delay effect settings. With Mix, you can control the amount of the effect present in the signal while Speed controls the time between repeats and Feedback controls the number of repeats in the signal – easy, right?
The Sounds
Consider the Following:Now, one thing about the Oil Can Delay (and all the effects in the lineup today) is that it is an inherently murky and modulated effect due to its original analog nature. Throwing back to their original designs, the finicky and physical nature of the devices' designs would cause some natural artifacts in tone. These artifacts would manifest as some pitch modulation and fidelity degradation, among other things.
The JHS Oil Can Delay might not save the Tin Man, but it absolutely can save your sound if you're looking for keen analog delay tones without breaking the bank on vintage delay devices. This comes to form with the Oil Can Delay's murky and modulated delay tone. These tonal characteristics are immediately present in the effect, even at the most modest of parameter settings.
With this delay, there are plenty of vintage-inspired delay tones in reach. For one, you can crank the Feedback, Speed, and flip the dedicated Modulation switch upwards to go absolutely wild at square one. The Oil Can Delay will definitely show off its more devil-may-care tonal quirks at higher settings, no surprise there, though there is more to the story.
Rolling back on the Oil Can's Time and Feedback settings can result in it producing a pretty reliable slapback sort of sound. Perfect for your country-style picking, there's plenty of warm space to splash around in once you start to explore the more reserved spots of this delay. Alternatively, pushing the delay and modulation to its limits can also land you in lo-fi, woozy indie territory with plenty of sick movement, bordering on vibrato.
Secrets, SecretsOne thing we'll let you in on is that the Oil Can Delay comes loaded with a secret, experimental mode that can be accessed from the delay's front-facing settings. To access this secret mode, all you have to do is turn all three dials to zero and flip the modulation switch down (or up and then down, if it's already down). From here, you can roll your settings back up to work in this new, experimental mode akin to a multi-head delay. Get crazy, get wild – you just didn't hear it from us.
JHS 3 Series Rotary Chorus
Shop the JHS 3 Series Rotary Chorus
The Story
The Rotary Chorus gets its name from rotary speaker modulation, originally coming from church organs. These rotary speakers would rotate, as the name implies, and create distinct Doppler effects for listeners, ultimately spawning a new flavor of modulation altogether. This natural modulation became a pretty big deal by the time of psychedelic and blues rock, where a wavering, wobbling and spacey kind of sound became irresistible.
The Controls
Our 3 Series Rotary Chorus dials in with your usual modulation Volume, Intensity, and Speed controls. These act as you would expect with Volume harnessing the presence of the overall effect and Intensity and Speed warping the modulation by speeding it up, slowing it down, and making the effect more drastic or shallow.
The Sounds
Your classic rotary speaker sounds are fully intact in this 3 Series entry. With the Rotary Chorus, you have access to your classic, cool, dreamy chorus tones on lower settings, if that's where you're looking to be. There's a good presence of classic chorus tones onboard this 3 Series no matter where you land, making it an incredibly reliable choice for distinct chorus sounds.
The Rotary Chorus can summon all your favorite chorus sweetness as you would expect. However, its real specialty lays in its ability to veer from the beaten path. If you're a fan of those lazy, wobbling, lo-fi choruses you hear across your favorite "slacker" indie catalogs, then you've got something to be excited about with the Rotary Chorus. Your Intensity dial will play a pivotal role in this overall experience as the Rotary Chorus can quickly tap into wavering, back-and-forth movement like a vibrato or a drastic chorus effect. However you slice this speaker, you've got a standby effect to bring just about anywhere.
JHS 3 Series Tape Delay
Shop the JHS 3 Series Tape Delay
The Story
Believe it or not, this might be the effect of the bunch that goes back the furthest. You've likely seen a big, clunky box of tape reel (hey, remember tape?) and a host of complicated, Space Age motherboard controls on it at one point or another. That kind of device was actually relatively prolific between the 1940s and the advent of musical effect devices more optimized for consumer use. We'd call that a tape reel delay.
You're likely familiar with the various Echosonics, Echoplexes, and Space Echoes from across music history and how large, cumbersome, and expensive they can be today compared to more modern devices. There's been a number of dedicated pedals devoted to capturing their distinct analog tape reel tonality, but one never quite like the 3 Series, if we could wager. Naturally, tape recording has gone the way of the dodo but thanks to pedals like the 3 Series Tape Delay, the wonderful analog sounds of tape are here to stay.
The Controls
For this 3 Series entry, we have a classic lineup of delay controls. Onboard, we have controls for Mix, Tape Speed, and Repeats. Mix will control the level of the effect in the signal while Repeats will increase or decrease the number of repeats in the trail. Tape Speed, a fancy name for the time between delay repeats, alludes to the mechanisms within a physical tape reel delay that would lengthen or shorten the delay times by slowing down or speeding up the movement of the tape reel. Altogether, these controls function how you'd suspect, so no worries.
The Sounds
One thing that you're sure to notice when you switch on the 3 Series Tape Delay is that it is a pretty prominent effect. Even off the bat with more modest control settings, the Tape Delay is a very present delay effect that can produce very prominent delays from the word "go". For one, the Repeats control is notably very influential to the whole effect experience in that you do not have to push the control very far to get long delay repeat trails. This forms the basis for the Tape Delay being an incredibly effective tool for spacey, drawn out, noisy effect concoctions irresistible for your psychedelic-leaning tunes.
What makes the Tape Delay shine especially is its Tape Speed and two-way Flutter switch. Let's talk about Tape Speed for a second. If you're looking for a tighter, more responsive effect, try reeling back in on Tape Speed and Repeats for a surfy, slapback sort of delay – the kind you'd hear on vintage surf records. Working with the Tape Speed control and exploring its full range of settings is sure to bring you to some pretty interesting conclusions as to discover the versatility of an analog-style delay.
The final aspect to the Tape Delay is its onboard Flutter control. Flutter, a term used to refer to the natural pitch modulation that can occur from the wear-and-tear of physical tapes running through mechanical components, can play a large role in this tape reel delay effect experience. Click the switch up and enable some moderate movement in the delay trails that can introduce some great analog character to the mix. Try to use this effect differently by zeroing out the Tape Speed to create a pseudo-chorus effect through the Flutter's modulated character.
JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay, Rotary Chorus, and Tape Delay Final Thoughts
The JHS 3 Series offers a warm welcome to these three effects. Focusing in on classic analog effects, there's a definite care for quality and authenticity that comes with these pedals while still remaining streamlined and accessible. There's true love on display here for some classic, more nuanced analog effects and it certainly translates as they are played.
Like the other 3 Series pedals, these units are incredibly easy to implement into any rig or board and are ready to go at a moment's notice. They operate on standard nine volt DC power, so your usual power supply will do just fine. With these 3 Series entries, these analog effects, normally prohibitively expensive or cumbersome, earn a new way to proliferate throughout the pedal community. What better way to lengthen their legacy and celebrate their timeless tones?
With the 3 Series, we're reminded of the ease of three. And why overcomplicate it?
"Now you may try to subtract it, but it just won't go away. Three times one? That's a magic number."
