JHS Pedals 3 Series Rotary Chorus

The JHS Pedals 3 Series Rotary Chorus is a compact chorus pedal that simulates the sound of a Leslie rotating speaker for guitar. It belongs to JHS Pedals' 3 Series, a line of affordable three-knob pedals built in Kansas City, Missouri, and it launched in February 2025 alongside the 3 Series Tape Delay and Oil Can Delay, expanding the range from 13 to 16 pedals¹²³.

The effect it chases has a long history. The Leslie was a rotating speaker originally designed for Hammond organs, and its spinning horns and baffle created the recognizable Doppler effect that guitarists later adopted. JHS describes the Rotary Chorus as bringing "this classic, spinning chorus tone in an affordable, easy-to-use pedal"¹. On the JHS YouTube channel, Josh Scott noted the pedal had been a long time coming: "the rotary chorus this has been much requested over the years it simulates lesli rotating speaker for the guitar"².

A Leslie-style rotary chorus

Where a standard chorus pedal mixes a delayed, pitch-wobbled copy of your signal with the dry sound, the Rotary Chorus aims at the specific character of a spinning speaker cabinet. In JHS' own demo of its chorus and vibrato lineup, Nick of JHS Pedals described the difference in character between the company's two chorus boxes: "the rotary chorus has a little bit more of a slithery texture. It's adventurous." He noted it becomes more classic-sounding chorusy at low intensity and high speed, while the regular 3 Series Chorus is "just a classic chorus style pedal it'll do like the old school 80s chorus or even a modern thing if you want"⁴⁵.

MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley covered the February 2025 launch and described the pedal plainly: "It is a chorus pedal that emulates the sound of a Leslie rotating speaker"⁶. The three February 2025 additions were positioned as throwbacks to vintage modulation sounds, arriving at the $99 price point the 3 Series has carried since the line began³⁷.

One point JHS makes explicitly: the pedal is not connected to the brands whose hardware inspired it. The company states the 3 Series Rotary Chorus "is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hammond or Leslie"¹.

The controls

Like every 3 Series pedal, the Rotary Chorus keeps it to three simple controls and one toggle⁸.

The Room toggle is the pedal's one extra trick. JHS says that in the up position it "adds a roomy, reverb ambiance to the sound, much like the ambient 'room' microphone" used when recording a real Leslie¹. In the JHS demo video, Nick also showed a secondary use for it: with the volume up, intensity down and speed all the way down, "Now you just have a room reverb"⁴.

Power and connections

The pedal takes a single ¼" input on the right side and a single ¼" output on the left¹. Power is the standard 3 Series arrangement: 9V DC, negative center, drawing 65mA¹. MusicRadar noted at launch that all the February 2025 pedals "take 9V DC from a pedalboard power supply"⁶.

At 65mA, the Rotary Chorus draws noticeably more current than the simplest 3 Series analog pedals (the Overdrive runs at 12mA) but sits in line with the line's other modulation and delay pedals, such as the 3 Series Chorus at 70mA and the 3 Series Delay at 71mA¹⁹¹⁰⁷.

Where it sits in the 3 Series

The 3 Series began in October 2020 with seven pedals: Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Compressor, Chorus, Delay and Reverb, each $99 and USA-built⁷¹¹¹. The Rotary Chorus arrived in the February 2025 expansion that took the range to 16 pedals, alongside the Tape Delay and Oil Can Delay³. Within the lineup, it gives players who want the Leslie-style flavor an alternative to the standard 3 Series Chorus, whose Vibe toggle instead removes the dry signal for a true pitch vibrato sound⁹.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

News

Questions