JHS Pedals JHS 3 Series Flanger

The JHS 3 Series Flanger is an analog flanger pedal from JHS Pedals, built to chase the sound of the vintage flangers players now pay collector prices for. JHS says it is "inspired by the classic (and absurdly expensive) analog flangers of the past like the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress"¹, and press coverage names the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, the Tycobrahe Pedalflanger and the MXR M117 Flanger as the specific circuits it is voiced after²³.

It is also a first for the builder: Delicious Audio notes that "this is the first flanger ever released by JHS Pedals"². The pedal arrived in November 2021 as part of a three-pedal expansion of the 3 Series line, alongside the Hall Reverb and Phaser, each priced at $99⁴⁵.

An analog flanger after the Electric Mistress and MXR M117

Flanging works by mixing a delayed copy of the signal back with the original, with the delay time swept up and down so the two copies slide in and out of phase. That produces the sweeping, jet-like whoosh associated with the effect. The classic analog flangers of the 1970s that this pedal chases, the Electric Mistress, the Tycobrahe Pedalflanger and the MXR M117, now sell for prices that put them out of reach for most players, which is the gap the 3 Series Flanger is aimed at. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio wrote that the pedal "can deliver the sound of those classics at a fraction of the cost"².

MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley described the lineage in the launch coverage:

JHS says the 3 Series Flanger is "inspired by the classic (and absurdly expensive) analog flangers of the past like the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress"¹, and the circuit is voiced after classic analog flangers including the MXR M117 Flanger and the Tycobrahe Pedalflanger.

For a player comparing circuits, that puts the 3 Series Flanger in the same family as modern analog options like the Walrus Audio Polychrome Analog Flanger and the Chase Bliss Audio Spectre Analog TZ Flanger, but at a much lower price point.

Three knobs and a tape-style toggle

The control layout follows the formula every 3 Series pedal shares: three knobs, one toggle, one footswitch⁷¹. JHS says the three controls and one toggle "offer a wide range of sounds, perfect for beginners and professionals"¹.

The toggle is the interesting one for players who want the vintage flavor. Tape-style flanging is the sound of the original studio trick, where an engineer pressed a finger against a tape reel so the delayed copy drifted against the original. Delicious Audio reported that the toggle switch "adds tape-style flanging to the Flanger"⁷.

Power and specs

The pedal runs on 9V DC negative center power and consumes 70mA¹. MusicRadar's launch report confirmed the same figures for all three pedals in the November 2021 expansion: "All three take a 9V DC power supply and draw 70mA"³.

The enclosure measures 4.42" long by 2.38" wide by 1.22" high¹, a compact footprint that fits standard pedalboard spacing.

The first flanger from JHS Pedals

JHS launched the 3 Series as a budget line of $99 pedals⁸⁹¹⁰. The range was expanded just over a year after launch to include the Hall Reverb, Flanger and Phaser¹¹², and the Flanger was the first flanger ever released by JHS Pedals². Guitar World noted that "the range was expanded just over a year later to include Hall Reverb, Flanger and Phaser units"¹¹.

The Flanger holds a specific place in that history: it is the first flanger JHS Pedals has ever released². Its sibling, the 3 Series Phaser, earned the same distinction as the company's first phaser¹². Every 3 Series pedal is built in-house. JHS states that "each 3 Series pedal is made by us in Kansas City, MO"¹.

Price and the 3 Series line

The list price is $99.00 USD on the maker's product page¹. At launch, MusicRadar reported it available at £/$99³, and in December 2021 Delicious Audio noted a Sweetwater sale price of $84.15⁷. The whole 3 Series line holds the same $99 tag, which gearnews described at the line's launch as "a new line of made-in-the-USA pedals called the Series 3 range" priced at "USD 99 each"¹³.

The line now covers most of a pedalboard: overdrive, distortion, fuzz, delay, tape delay, chorus, compressor, reverb, and more experimental fare like the Bitcrusher, Glitch Delay and Ring Modulator. The Octave Reverb, a $99 take on the Shimmer effect that marries a long ambient reverb with an octave effect in the decay, carries the same three-knob, one-toggle layout with a toggle that switches between octave-up and octave-down¹⁴.

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