Shame
JHS has a fair sized collection of effects that bare there name. Overdrives, distortions, Delay, Reverb, Boosts and more. All of them pedals demand a price that fans of boutique pedal are accustom to. $250 for an overdrive and boost is middle of the road for the market, but I've notice a few new faces in the line up that seem not to fit in the typical 'JHS' mold. There are half a dozen or so utilitarian type pedals that seem affordable next to the other offering by JHS. So if they are a fraction of the cost of the others, then what's the problem?
Shame
These pedal include a Remote (Tap), Stutter (kill switch), Amp Box, Mute Switch, A/B, Buffer, and Splitter. "Great!" You say. Cheap boxes that do little jobs. That's not an ugly truth, that's just a good heads up. I'm sure that's what any JHS fanboy would think, but let look a little hard at the little boxes. When we do, we discover that there is little in these boxes that make it worth what they want for them. I know that the 'cost of materials' debate is not a new one (ie it only cost $40 for all the parts that go into a pedal. why do I have to pay $200 for it). Lets take the Red Remote for example. It is literally a footswitch wired to a 1/4" jack. A few dollars of materials and an equally few minute of work, but put JHS on it and it's a $35 pedal. The Stutter is no different. It is just the same switch between two jacks. The Mute switch adds an LED to the formula and charges an extra $10 for it. Wire that up slightly differently and you get the JHS A/B Box. The buffer does add some actual signal processing, but for the few part that it cobbles together you pay another $25 for it. Sad. Just Sad.
Shame
I know what JHS is thinking. Not everyone can afford their pedals, but they want everyone to own a piece of their gear and represent JHS on their board. Make something for the little guy or the beginner. Simple tools of the trade that everyone needs. Or they might just feel like they can charge a premium for simple boxes filled with mostly air. It kills me that I know you can get the same pedal for half of what they want for the JHS version. Maybe I'm missing something here. Maybe there is more to it. But from what I can see, this is just a case of taking advantage of you customer. I wish there was something redeemable about this 'pedals', but I just don't see it.
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interesting write up. Hey this is Steve from JHS Pedals... I handle most of our business operations and I'd like to kick in just a few thoughts that you may not be aware of. Did you know that roughly 95% of our JHS Pedals are actually sold to Dealers and then resold to the masses? Did you know that Dealers only buy the pedal for about 2/3 of the retail price? That is standard retail business model and prices and margins have to be reflected in those calculations and we have to base our entire operating budgets on those types of numbers. When it comes to building pedals, we've been doing it 10 years and our line of utilities has been around for about 6-7 of those years...all our pedals come standard with lifetime warranty that sticks to the pedal instead of the original owner. Can you buy a $25 buffer some hobbyist built of perf and sold on Reverb.com? ...Sure, and years down the road when you want to get it fixes you may or may not have issues getting it services let alone finding the guy that sold it to you originally. At JHS, we stand behind our products and service them even years later for as long as we are in business. Speaking of... we have almost 25 employees now at JHS Pedals... all our pedals are populated, assembled, and tested in the USA and we pay "living wage" or better to all our employees that work for us here in Kansas City. Keep in mind that the overhead of running a small business also goes into account when we determine our prices...things like advertising in 5-6 major publications per month, traveling and exhibiting at NAMM shows twice a year, producing killer video content for new releases, the list could go on and on. Switching gears...interestingly enough, many of the well established and well known companies have just now gotten around to offering a buffer or A/B box in just the past 2-3 years. A pretty well known company is just putting out a full line of utility pedals later 2017, some of which we've been making or have made for over 5-6 years. Like you said, we make utilities because they are useful in solving basic everyday issues for guitarists and there is plenty of market demand for them and we also run a business that exists outside of a vaccum. Last but not least when you run a small business one of the largest cuts that is taken is by the government... yep.. payroll taxes and income taxes... did you know that payroll taxes alone are about 12%? For every 10,000 we pay into our employees payroll we actually have to give the government $1200. Gross profits are taxed at rates up to 20%, 30%, even as high as 40%. Do you realize that of every dollar of gross profits a company makes, up to 40¢ is paid to the government. Sooooo at the end of the day, sure a guy could build one of our utility pedals with a little bit of time at the fraction of the cost, but be sure to be comparing apples to apples before calling our company ugly, shameful, or suggesting that we are gouging the market (which by the way, we released a free DIY tutorial of how to build our Red Remote..did you see that by chance?) A quick look at buffers at Chicago Music Exchange...and you'll quickly notice that our Buffer pedal is actually one of the cheaper market ones on the market. https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/search?view=spring&type=product&q=buffer#/?_=1&page=1
ReplyDeleteHey Steve,I found your comment. It was flagged as Spam. Must have been the length... Thanks for Sharing!
DeleteFirst off, I think JHS has produced some of the finest pedals I’ve played. They are well-put together, sound great and have sweet paint jobs. They also were gracious enough to fix an internal circuit of my Emperor pedal free of charge, without proof of purchase (bought off reverb.com). I highly doubt a large company like Boss would ever do that for you. Good customer service in my experience.
DeleteIf there have been issues with quality in the past, that does suck, but it was probably during the earlier years of their business because I have opened up some pedals to look at the circuits and everything is very well-assembled, wires tucked away neatly without any issues.
I see guitar pedals similarly to cars. No one accuses Hyundai, Ford, Honda, etc. of stealing blueprints of producing a basic sedan, suv, truck, etc. A car is a car, and there are different takes on cars from different companies.
That said, as someone who has tampered with building pedals (nowhere near engineer level), I know that there is an engineering and particular combination of diodes, resistors, capacitors that create a different sound like a basic mid-emphasized overdrive (tube screamer), delay, tremolo. If I’m a pedal company, wouldn’t I have very few ways of creating a basic delay with those components since it is, after all, a certain combination of components that create a certain sound, namely, delay or overdrive? I feel like all this JHS hate is like telling a car company they can never make anything that resembles an engine because Karl Benz made it first. What happens then? A monopoly? We’ve seen what monopolies do to countries in our history of robber barons in the US. Bigger-picture-wise, it doesn’t help to have only Ibanez to produce the tube-screamer.
Now is it wrong to copy other circuits part for part? Absolutely. Is it wrong to tweak a few resistors, capacitors and have your own take on a very basic circuit that was designed like 25 years ago? I don’t see a problem with that, because I’m sure someone took the Ford Model T automobile and made it better with their own take on it. What I’m trying to say is monopolies are illegal in America for a reason, and that’s probably why it’s legal for all these stompbox companies to produce their own takes on basic stompbox circuits. The Walrus Bellwether is based on the Boss DM2. So is the JHS Panther Cub. I haven’t come across hate for Walrus Audio, so why is JHS singled out?
Just my two cents.
I find it odd '' lifetime'' is not mentioned once in the reply I received from JHS which is posted below.
Delete'' All repairs are subject to our warranty policy which is 4 years and non-transferable. To register your pedal please visit the warranty registration page here. If your pedal is not under warranty we will be happy to take a look at it for you and give you a quote to repair your JHS Pedal. The cost for non-warranty repairs is between $35 and $65 depending on the repair. This cost includes return shipping.''
Steve from JHS you are just giving terrible excuses for your high prices.That can seems like a good explanation for your naive fans but for anyone who ever did any sort of business it is clear that you milking those naive people. It's legal of course and it's your right to do it but pls don't blame others for your greediness.
DeleteDude you have no shame to sell a simple volume pot in a box for like 60$US! Yo continue to poison people over your media how you have some uber HQ compered to some mass made pedals, but you are also mass producing pedals.From what i see you even try to attack OP how they deleted your comment you are ugly Ego maniacal company but one thing is for sure your boss have chosen you adequately for that job.
jk1802 i tried some JHS and never had any wish to own any of them, maybe the reason is that i make my own pedals sometimes and for 35 years of plying i learned when someone is hyping their products. Fact that something is poplar thx to their marketing doesn't mean it's good, also why would i pay more for the same or worse pedals, just due to their name? No way, not me. Companies like JHS have ruined guitar music, in later years they sort of trying to make it up with some small things or videos ''get cheep pedals'' but still it's to little to late and above all it doesn't boost the quality of their products.
DeleteIn age when We can have a good lap top for 600$ to give that sum for 2 of their pedals is crazy.
hmm.. did you delete my comment? this is Steve from JHS Pedals.
ReplyDeletepretty disappointed that it appears you deleted my comment earlier today, I also responded to you via our official JHS Pedals twitter. I'd encourage you to consider un-deleting my comment and allow a full scope of information to be presented to your readers and those casually perusing the interwebs.
ReplyDelete-Steve, JHS Pedals.
Haven't deleted anything. Please feel free to comment as you like. I always invite everyone to further the conversation. Honored to have you reading Steve from JHS Pedals!
ReplyDeleteDifferent Steve (I'm not from JHS). MXR are doing similar things with their tempo switch pedal. but then again if you look at the cost of the box. paint,decal and switch you $20 DIY range. So for the remote switch i'm not to bothered about the cost. That seems fair and reasonable to me. Looking at other Buffer pedals from other vendors and your looking at about the same cost
ReplyDeleteHey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely return.
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Steve from JHS Pedals, I am with you on this - I get it. Unfortunately, it's the moronic Socialists that ALWAYS want Free-Stuff. Not unlike the Snowflake OP (Carl Harris), most are still living in Mommy's Basement. They endlessly blather on about how unfair life is. Of course, the produce nothing (other than human waste), and suck dry every available teat. Ignore them!
ReplyDeleteI own a small business. I report on irrigation water in California. I make articles and I have input costs: gasoline (taxed up like no where else in California) and vehicle costs as I travel a lot. Computers, internet hosting, email marketing, consultant expenses like accounting and the occasional legal opinion so I don't get sued. I pay for office space, telephone, utilities and pay free lance contributors. And let me repeat - taxes out the wazoo. I pay for all this plus support my family by selling advertising and consulting services. Anyone who thinks JHS is charging too much should buy gear made in China. But don't cry if it breaks and you can't get it fixed or replaced. They're not capitalists in China and don't care. I pay extra for a JHS pedal if it provides me the features and quality that add up to the value reflected in the price. Long live free enterprise, long live JHS.
ReplyDeleteI find it hilarious that people seem to think JHS shouldn't make a profit, or less profit. He's got a right to charge what he wants, just like all companies. If you don't like the price, don't buy it. I used to work music retail, and one day these kids were being obnoxious. One of them said "All you guys want to do is make money". Ya THINK? I said "What did the sign say when you walked in here". He said Guitar Center". I said, right. Did you see anything that says we're a not for profit organization"? That's because we're NOT. People have to make a living. I'm not surprised that people have had negative experiences. The guy was still learning. Good for Josh that he's running a successful business.
DeleteLong live JHS indeed ! Great builds, great sounds, and great services. Enough with the crying already !
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a lack of even a basic understanding of capitalism and the fundamentals of a demand economy among many people like the OP in this day in age. There is nothing "ugly" about a small business turning a profit by selling goods and services to people that want them, and at a price they are willing to pay for them. That's called good business, and it used to be a respected American ideal. Steve's response was spot-on. Carl Harris, if you think JHS pedals are too expensive there's a very simple solution for you - don't buy them.
ReplyDeleteYou are right!! I made my own passive A/B box just buying a 3pdt switch, two mono 1/4 jacks and a box and it took me 15 minutes to ensamble. I think that paid like $10 for all materials
ReplyDeleteThe guy that does the Jhs videos is awesome..... he has taught me more about pedals than any snobby clerk at the music store ever has. If people are willing to buy it good for them. The guy will tell you about cheaper options all the time on YouTube. Green isn’t a good color on you.
ReplyDeleteLol “the guy” is the owner Josh Scott.. agreed though he makes awesome videos and runs a great business
DeleteLol “the guy” is the owner Josh Scott.. agreed though he makes awesome videos and runs a great business
DeleteThe guy is literally JHS lol. His name is Josh Scott, agreed though awesome videos from a great business
DeleteThe guy is literally JHS lol. His name is Josh Scott, agreed though awesome videos from a great business
Delete