Recording - September 2017 - 61

on most amps (including the Supro), and it affects the amount
of input gain, which in turn affects the Drive level. The
second toggle is the Engage/Bypass toggle, which is basically in place of the stompbox's Bypass switch. Last but not
least, the SuperBolt 500 is rounded out by a 1/4" input for
direct/overdriven recording of instruments like guitar, bass,
and keyboards.

Like a Bolt out of the blue

I am not a guitarist, nor do I play one on TV, but I do work
regularly with a guitarist who had an original SuperBolt as part
of his rig for a while. As a result, I'm quite familiar with the pedal's
vintage fullness, breakup and aggression, and it's all there in the
SuperBolt 500. That means that when the module's used on guitar
sources, it is a very familiar sound and one that works very
predictably. Move away from guitar to voice, keys, and drums
and it opens up a whole new and unpredictable sonic frontier!
I say "unpredictable" because small knob movements can
and will react in ways that you may not expect, based on
your source, its dynamic range, and its timbre. While you can
dial back and tickle the gain, be warned that the SuperBolt
500 does not really do "subtle" or "just a touch". When it's
engaged, you will know it's there! Then again, that's the point
of a distortion pedal... I would assume that if you want to use
such a beast in a mix situation, it's because you're looking to
add drive and distortion. I say all of this to note that this is not
a subtle 2nd or 3rd-order harmonic saturation, tube, tape or
warming device; it distorts the signal, always and everyways.
As such, I loved it on distorted vocals, from full-on Nine
Inch Nails destruction to more low-spectrum driven sounds like
those found on Dawes and Rival Sons records. I also loved it
for livening up drum elements from snare drum to mono room
mic smashing. On the DI side, it is awesome for direct injected
distorted guitars, which is no surprise.
I found it a bit too over-the-top, even at minimal settings, on
keyboards like Rhodes or Wurlitzer. In those cases, as well
as with bass guitar, I preferred using it in a parallel setup or
on an effects send. This brings me to the only thing I wish this
device had: a blend/mix knob.
While there are other 500 Series distortion and saturation
style boxes already, such as the elysia Karacter 500 (reviewed
June 2016), the SuperBolt 500 is still unique in the world of
500 Series fare. Nothing distorts and drives with the same
sonic signature or ease as this unit.

JHS Emperor 500

The original JHS Emperor is a double-size analog pedal
that offers a choice of chorus or vibrato. In function and style,
it's in the same vein as the old Roland/BOSS CE1 pedal.
The Emperor pedal was sonically modeled after the 1980s
Arion SCH-1 pedal, which is long out of production. All of
the above units, including the Emperor, are devices that use
analog bucket brigade chips for delay. This includes the 500
Series version of the Emperor, which uses a 3207 chipset.
This lavender-colored beast crams five knobs, four toggle
switches, a push button and a 1/4" control pedal input onto its

faceplate. If you have ever used a chorus pedal, rackmount
or plug-in chorus before, all of the knobs will make perfect
sense. Volume is the overall level and can boost or attenuate
the signal, Mix is the wet/dry effect blend (a feature of the
module that's absent on the pedal), Tone gooses the lows or
highs to fit the mix, Speed is the rate of the modulation, and
Depth is how extreme the modulated wave gets.
The first three toggle switches are Engage/Bypass, Chorus/
Vibrato, and Wave Choice, which gives you a choice of sine,
square, or triangle waves for modulation. Note that the actual
waves are slightly different for chorus than they are for
vibrato. The last switch is labeled EXP/Tap and controls the
function of the external pedal that you plug into the 1/4" input.
Tap is self-explanatory; along with the LED-equipped pushbutton
on the front panel, it overrides the Speed control to put the
modulation in time with your music. You can also use an expression pedal to manually sweep the rate with your foot.

Purple creamy goodness

The Emperor 500 is a mono device, and I would suggest
setting it up in your DAW/mix in one of two ways. It can be
run as a insert device, where you can blend in the effect with
a dry signal using the Mix knob. If you want to run multiple
sources into it, or better yet, use it as a stereo device, I would
put it on an effects send and return. "Wait, did he say stereo?"
Why, yes, I did. Interestingly, many early vintage chorus units
and pedals were considered "stereo devices" because they
sent the full wet modulated signal to one side of the spectrum
and the dry signal to the other. This illusion of stereo chorus
worked well then, and still does now, in a mix. To me, it's superior
to chorus pedals that create fake stereo by presenting the
modulated signal on one side and an inverted modulated
signal on the other; they sound great on stage, but when
panned to center they vanish.
The Emperor 500, like the pedal, offers a broad spectrum
of modulation choices. Switching between the Waves and
between the chorus and Vibrato effects gives the user a
fantastic palette of sounds. In a modern context, the Tap button
is a Godsend, and the Tone control is great at blending the
unit tonally into the mix. This unit is great on pretty much any
source; I have had great results on electric and acoustic guitars,
real Rhodes piano, and vintage analog monophonic synthesizers...
and I also love it on vocals.

Wrap up

I have been excited about the new JHS 500 line since seeing
prototypes a few NAMM Shows back. It is great to finally see
these analog effects in the 500 Series format, and I can't wait
to check out the rest.

PRICE: SuperBolt 500, $399; Emperor 500, $599
MORE FROM: JHS Pedals, www.jhspedals.com/
products/500-series/
RECORDING September 2017

61


http://www.jhspedals.com/products/500-series/ http://www.jhspedals.com/products/500-series/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - September 2017

Contents
Recording - September 2017 - Intro
Recording - September 2017 - Cover1
Recording - September 2017 - Cover2
Recording - September 2017 - 1
Recording - September 2017 - 2
Recording - September 2017 - 3
Recording - September 2017 - 4
Recording - September 2017 - 5
Recording - September 2017 - Contents
Recording - September 2017 - 7
Recording - September 2017 - 8
Recording - September 2017 - 9
Recording - September 2017 - 10
Recording - September 2017 - 11
Recording - September 2017 - 12
Recording - September 2017 - 13
Recording - September 2017 - 14
Recording - September 2017 - 15
Recording - September 2017 - 16
Recording - September 2017 - 17
Recording - September 2017 - 18
Recording - September 2017 - 19
Recording - September 2017 - 20
Recording - September 2017 - 21
Recording - September 2017 - 22
Recording - September 2017 - 23
Recording - September 2017 - 24
Recording - September 2017 - 25
Recording - September 2017 - 26
Recording - September 2017 - 27
Recording - September 2017 - 28
Recording - September 2017 - 29
Recording - September 2017 - 30
Recording - September 2017 - 31
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Recording - September 2017 - 33
Recording - September 2017 - 34
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Recording - September 2017 - Cover3
Recording - September 2017 - Cover4
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