JHS releases Oil Can Delay Blackout Edition through Reverb series
November 1, 2023 · 3 sources
JHS released the Oil Can Delay in a Blackout Edition as part of Reverb's 2023 Blackout Series, a promotion in which Reverb partnered with six companies on limited editions and new releases12. JHS's Josh Scott described it as "a brand new pedal this is like a huge brand new JHS release"2. It is the first non-white pedal in the company's 3 Series1.
The pedal is a digital delay voiced after the vintage oil can delay, a short-lived technology that the write-up says has been rediscovered for its unique sonic character1. The controls are Mix, Speed and Feedback, with an added +/- toggle that switches between modulation intensities1. In a later video, Scott described the toggle as always-on modulation, with the down position, called minus, giving less mod and up giving a more drastic mod3. He called the effect "like a rotary trapped inside of a tape delay"3.
There are 500 units, marked at $329.992. The idea came from a meeting between Scott and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, who raised it when the two met at Wilco's 2022 Solid Sound Fest1. In the video, Scott recalled Cline saying he could not find one of the vintage units that did it the right way3.
"there are 500 of these units and they are at marked at $329.99"
The same circuit was released as part of the regular 3 Series in a white case in 20251. In a February 2025 video announcing three new $99 3 Series pedals, Scott said of the Oil Can Delay: "originally released this blackout Edition with Reverb everyone's like please put it out in the normal line and so here it is"3.