Josh Scott's JHS Pedals ushers in the 5th Era of Ross Electronics

So this past year or so (in fact back to September of last year) has seen a slew of classic pedal ’Revivals’ starting with the Orange Amps 1977 ’inspired by’ revivals, then the Marshall 1998 / 1992 square box series - very exacting nigh identical reproductions, then the SGFX Diamond Pedals Revival, and now another 1977 ’original’ series revival.

Only the Marshall ones are proper and exacting reproductions, the Orange trio was a modern range in that same sort of original enclosure - but with entirely modern electronics and not really intended to sound exactly the same - more of an improved variation on that theme. I thought the Diamond Pedals revival was particularly successful - modernising and moving that brand into contemporary proper tour-grade formats. And then we have this Josh Scott Ross Electronics revival - which is sort of similar to the Orange one to a degree - at least superficially. 

So modern components replicating a best-fit line of best all-time versions of those circuits - sometimes with two voicings from those classic originals - as in the case of the Distortion - but mostly leaning into modern inspired secondary voicings. The format, not the shape - is actually reminiscent of the Legends of Fuzz series - where those also have a left-mounted push button that allows you to switch to a second voicing along with just 2 or 3 knobs.

ROSS CHRONOLOGY

• 1964 : Bud Ross creates Kustom Amps
• 1977 : Era 1 Ross Electronics : Lakewood, Colorado - Compact MXR-alike pedals in same Bud Box type Enclosures, Bud Ross moves on from Kustom to create the Ross Electronics Pedal Line
• 1978 : Era 2 : Chanute, Kansas - Iconic Medium Enclosure Type with Recessed Knobs introduced
• 1980 : Era 3 : Taiwan / IMC - 2 Versions / Bracketed Logo / Black Enclosures / later with accent colour
• 2018 : Era 4 (1st Revival) : Chicago, Illinois / Ross Audibles - Grandson Cameron Ross Revival
• 2023 : Era 5 (2nd Revival) : Kansas City / JHS Pedals / Ross Electronics Revival

I’m no expert on Ross Electronics pedals - but the only one to me that has ever seemed to be historically significant to the world of pedals - was the Ross Compressor - which was so much copied and adapted by various brands. I’m not particularly aware of the appeal of its Phaser vs the MXR Classics of that time, or Chorus verse say Boss’s CE-2. The Compressor thought like most of that early line copied MXR’s circuit with just a few parts differences - which in this instance produced a brighter more spanky output which so many still love. Many say that those pedals were mostly just MXR rip-offs in every way in the early incarnations - copying the circuits, formats and even colours from the MXR range. As to how much difference the slight parts variances made across the rest of the range - the Ross Compressor was for sure a somewhat different beast to the DynaComp it supposedly copied.

This to me is another nostalgia fest really - particularly for Americans of a certain age. I totally admire Josh Scott’s research and archival dexterity here and it’s a good thing to bring back certain flavours and milestones of the past. While these don’t really hold that much appeal for me - say compared to the Marshall proper reproduction reissues, or the Diamond Pedals revival - where I felt both those were kind of more pertinent and more called for really.

When you look at the quality and innovation of just recent compressor pedals for instance - I fail to see how a Ross sort of modern revival - even of its most celebrated Compressor pedal - stacks up against even the recently revived Diamond Compressor or Keeley Compressor+, let alone class-leading Becos FX CompIQ Stella, CTC Phi Golden Ratio V2, DryBell Module 4, DSM & Humboldt ClearComp, Empress Effects Compressor MK2, Jackson Audio Bloom, Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe, Wampler Wong Compressor, and Walrus Audio Mira!

The Diamond pedals ramped and compacted up to contemporary standards - while Ross still seems to have one foot in the past. I can understand all of Josh’s decision making here, and I can’t fault the choices he’s made. While where I totally got the relevance and demand of the Marshall revival, and the cool update and simultaneous upgrade of the Diamond Pedals - both the Orange 70’s pedal revival and this Ross revival falls a bit flat for me.

Don’t get me wrong - Josh has done a brilliant job here - with his incredible eye for detail - and the new Ross pedals are beautifully packaged and everything - they just don’t hold any appeal for me. Whereas with the Marshall reissues - I could have sprung for a Guv’nor or ShredMaster - I did not because I already have better pedals in that area - more compact, versatile and actually better sounding. 

In that sense it’s the Diamond Pedals revival that is the most successful for me as I can see myself picking up a Tremolo and Drive form that range at some stage - there’s proper innovation in those pedals - they are proper workhorse tools really - and wholly practical for professional pedalboard action!

I’m not sure the Ross ones are quite so practical or versatile as just 2-knob varieties at that size and at the $189 price point. I would probably prefer to see an early DOD range revival or say a DigiTech HardWire revival - those are far more practical and usable pedals for me - particularly the Lexicon infused Reverbs.

Also in the Ross range revival - we have a Chorus, Compressor, Distortion and Phaser - and then a total retro-fabrication of a Fuzz - which somehow harks back to the Kustom Amps days. Within all that rich history and attention to detail - it seems a touch odd to in effect ’revive’ a pedal that never existed and include it in the first batch. I would have thought revive the classics first, and then bring on the new recruits. What with this nostalgia feast - that random totally new Fuzz is a weird outlier.

I would be interested to hear what your thoughts are here.

These are in effect the pedal details - all of which retail for $189 (Order per visual) :

• Chorus - Rate + Depth - Alternative Button Voicing is Pitch Vibrato
• Compressor - Level + Sustain - Alternative Button Voicing is ’Bright’
• Phaser - Rate + Recycle - Alternative Button Voicing is Univibe
• Fuzz - Level + Fuzz, Alternative Button Voicing is More Gain / Bass
• Distortion - Level + Distort - Alternative Button Voicing is Si Clipping vs Ge Clipping Primary

More pedal details can be found on the - Ross Electronics Website.

Here follow the key references and the best of the Demos :