10 Weird Guitar Effects You Need To Try

Sometimes you need a curveball in your rig to get the creative juices flowing. Here's some of my favorite weird pedals. Let me know your favorite weird pedal. #weirdisgood

Check out the gear in this and past episodes here:

Josh's guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top

Gear in this video:
0:51 Matthew Effects The Whaler Fuzz (Black out edition)
2:01 EarthQuaker Devices Arpanoid
3:07 DOD Gonkulator Modulator FX13
4:27 ZVex Instant Lo-fi Junky Vexter Chorus/Vibrato
5:35 Zvex Ooh Wah (2001)
6:32 Mattoverse Electronics Tetrastep MKii
7:59 Lovetone Flange with No Name
9:25 Boss DF-2 Super Feedbacker and Distortion
10:16 Korg Miku Stomp
11:09 Boss DS-1 JHS Mod
12:33 Fender Runaway Feedback Expression

Honorable Mentions:
15:29 Walrus Audio Janus
15:40 Death by Audio Echo Dream Delay 2
15:46 Way Huge Ring Worm
15:48 Dr. Scientist Bitquest
15:54 SubDecay Noise Box
15:56 ZVex Fuzz Probe
16:16 DigiTech DOD Gonkulator Ring Modulator

Record Time:
Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart

Josh’s record player is by U-Turn Audio:

#jhs #thejhsshow #weirdguitareffects

[maxkutner]

Hi. I'm one of the guitarists in the present version of the Magic Band and I just wanted to thank you for mentioning "Trout Mask Replica". The only original alumnus presently involved is John "Drumbo" French but John was one of the longest serving members of the band and appears on all of Trout Mask. I highly recommend reading either his book called "Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic" or Bill Harkleroad's (guitarist from TMB who was called "Zoot Horn Rollo") book called "Lunar Notes". Finally, so-called weird albums for you to check out: "Music of Guatemala" by the San Lucas Band and "Basic" by Fred Maher/Robert Quine. Maybe also "Bitches Without Britches" by Kevin Blechdom. Thanks. Love the videos.

[EdSantilli]

Please plug in that Miku Stomp, grab a slide, and play The Great Gig in the Sky.

[bitcools]

Top Ten Weird Pedals

1:58 Earthquaker Devices Arpenoid
3:05 DOD FX13 Gonkulator Modulator
4:23 ZVEX Lo-Fi Junky
5:32 ZVex Ooh-Wah
6:30 Mattovere Electronics TetraStep MKII
7:49 Lovetone Flange (with No Name)
9:14 Boss Super Distortion and Feedbacker DS-2
10:06 Korg Miku Stomp Vocaloid
11:05 JHS Mod to DS-1, Synth Drive
12:25 Fender Runaway Feedback Expression Pedal

Honorable Mentions:

15.28 Walrus Janus – Fuzz/Trem with Joystick
15:35 Death By Audio Echo Dream 2
15:44 Way Huge Ring Worm
15:46 Dr. Scientist Bit Quest
15:53 SubDecay Noise Box
15:56 Zvex Fuzz Probe
16:13 DOD Gonkulator Reissue

[jts]

I saw Captain Beefheart at Ludlow Garage in Cincinnati when I was in college. It was on a freezing day and a group of us waited outside the stage door to see if we could walk in free with the band. When he walked up with his band I said, “How ‘bout it, Captain?” He looked around and replied, “It’s so cold the birds won’t fly... come on in” in a gravelly voice, and put on a great show.

[Cauldronofbats]

it’s really cool how you talk about every type of guitar effect out there. instead of just pedaling your own. (no pun intended). you’re clearly very passionate about guitar sounds and it’s very fun to watch.

[RCAvhstape]

2:00 Earthquaker Devices Arpanoid
3:10 DOD FX13 Gonkulator Modulator
4:24 Zvex Lo Fi Junky
5:30 Zvex Ooh Wah
6:30 Mattoverse Electronics Tetrastep MkII
7:50 Lovetone Flange With No Name
9:13 Boss DF-2 Super Distortion & Feedbacker
10:05 Korg Miku Stomp
11:10 JHS-circuit-bent Boss DS-1
12:23 Fender Runaway Feedback Expression
14:00 Record Time!
Honorable Mentions:
15:22 Walrus Janus
15:38 DBA Echo Dream 2
15:43 Way Huge Ringwork
15:46 Dr. Scientist Bitquest
15:43 Sub Decay Noise Box
15:55 Zvex Fuzz Probe
16:13 DOD Gonkulator reissue

[panhandlegeardemos]

Also, put that miku pedal infront of a volume pedal and then use delay/reverb and you got yourself an interesting swell sound.

[robertlibutti]

This dude has a lot of Sovtek MiG 60 amps. I had one of those in high school that I got new for $250; 60 watt all tube head. Biggest gear regret was selling that amp.

[davewebb]

DOD FX22 Vibrothang. It's a trem, it's a phaser, it's neither, and if you're not careful, it will start talking to you. Very usable at less extreme settings.

[simonv]

Hey man, I never tried a JHS pedal before and fell on your channel by surprise. I want to give you praise for this channel, it’s good to see such recognition and optimism.
I’m talking about your praise of your competitors, it is a noble passion. The rainger video is the perfect exemple.

As a diy enthusiast who likes to mess with pedals, MIG-50 owner, and beefheart fan (is it « through the eyes of magic » you’re talking about at the end?) I feel like a brother from another mother. And your enthusiasm cheered me in a rough patch so cheers to that.

Oh and I will absolutely buy a clover

[gordrock]

Adult Themes for Voice is an album recorded by Mike Patton (vocalist for Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom) in hotel rooms during a Faith No More tour. It consists of vocal noises by Patton himself. The 34 tracks are not considered singing in any conventional sense, as they consist mainly of Patton shouting, screaming, clapping, squeaking and moaning. These elements were then spliced and edited in a fashion that resulted in a dramatic ebb and flow of bizarre, albeit organic sounding compositions. The compositions do not adhere to traditional song structure. The tracks are named after hotel and room he was staying in.

[themikeaustin]

John Coltrane's "Ascension" album was weird for me. I went into Sam Goody on 5th Ave and 42nd Street back in the mid-60s and asked an employee to recommend a Coltrane record. "Ascension" is what he chose. For lack of a better word, it's "free" jazz. There are ~10 musicians on the record. I used to bet friends that they couldn't listen to the record all the way through. I never lost. Later, I worked in a pizza place and would play this music when we wanted patrons to leave at closing time. The person who wrote the liner notes stated that the music was so intense that non-musicians in the recording studio were screaming and the writer was amazed that the screaming didn't bleed over onto the recording.

[pankomitch]

there’s a gonkulator for $85 at a little pawn shop in quebec city that buddy said he’s had there for years and no ones bought it. it’s probably still there if you care to look

[stacysublett]

"Weird is good" That's been our family motto for years. We adopted 6 kids to go along with our 3 bio-kids. At one point we were reminding our then 9th grade daughter "Weird is good!" She replied, "yeah, mom, but sometimes weird is just weird." Good pedal stuff. I've watched several episodes today, and I think I'm going to send you some stuff to mod.

[skyviewdesign]

EQD Rainbow Machine is definitely one for the weird list. Love their stuff! So many weird & unique effects coming from Akron!

[groovydjs]

Super Groovy Channel. Spending most of my time here now.

[Kohntarkosz]

A few a great "weird" records:
Henry Kaiser: many of his records, notably Aloha, Outside Pleasure, It's A Wonderful Life, Blue Water Ascent, Garden Of Memories, and too many others to count.

Fred Frith: Another one who's made too many albums to count, but one really good place are the three Guitar Solos albums from the 70's. Actually, the second and third ones are various artists compilations (which were curated by Frith), but they're all pretty wild records. Guitar Solos 2 was my introduction not only to Frith, but also Hans Reichel and Derek Bailey (all of whom I had read about in Guitar Player), and to this day the only recording I"ve heard from one G.F. Fitzgerald.

Elliott Sharp: Another guy who's been around forever, Elliott's a fantastic composer and multi-instrumentalist who's actually invented and built a few of his own instruments. He appeared on the old Night Music show in the late 80's, performing a track called Free Society, where he triggers vocal samples of Pat Robertson from his MIDI guitar. Among his many records I'd check out are Haptikon, Sakuraza, and Isosceles.

Hans Reichel: late, great German guitarist who designed and built this own guitars that, quite simply, could do things off-the-shelf guitars couldn't. For many years, he played guitars that had a stretch of fingerboard on the "wrong" side of the bridge, which he'd use to get some very strange, very beautiful sounds. And he did most of it without effects. He also invented an instrument called the daxophone, which he used to make what some even stranger sounds (many of which sounded like animals). Check out his albums Bonobo Beach, Cocobolo Nights, Dawn Of The Dachsman, and Lower Lurum.

Derek Bailey: another guitarist who almost never used effects, apart from a volume pedal and the occasional distortion pedal, Bailey is considered one of the founding fathers of "non-idiomatic improvisation". He did many great records, a lot of which you can find right here on Youtube. A few that I like in particular are Topography Of The Lungs (which features saxophonist Evan Parker and percussionist Han Bennink), Dart Drug (a duo record with percussionist Jamie Muir), and and Wireforks, his duo album with Henry Kaiser. And I'm apparently one of the very few people (even in "free improv" circles) who likes the 3 CD set The Sign Of Four, his mid 90's summit meeting with Gregg Bendian, Paul Wertico and Pat Metheny (yes, THE Pat Metheny).

Sonny Sharrock: Sharrock considered himself a "jazz" guitarist. Well, I guess you could call him that, though his playing owed more to the more "out" efforts of sax players like John Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders. The albums he made in the 80's and 90's featured rock and funk oriented backing, but with this insane wailing guitar on top. Seize The Rainbow, Ask The Ages (which features both Sanders and legendary drummer Elvin Jones). If you ever watched the TV show Space Ghost: Coast To Coast during the 90's, that was Sonny's over the top guitar playing on the opening theme music, and that's also him playing the wild, uncredited Echoplexed slide guitar solo on Miles Davis' A Tribute To Jack Johnson.

Sun Ra: Saturn's ambassador to Earth, and one of the greatest band leaders of all time. Ra did a LOT of really crazy records. He was one of the great innovators of "free jazz" (though he hated that term, because "True Freedom doesn't exist in this universe", one of the first jazz musicians to play an electric piano in the mid 50's, and then later one of the first to use a synthesizer. Some of his mid 60's records featurign him playing a Selmer Clavioline (notably on side one of The Magic City and Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy), which was an early electronic keyboard, and later he used early Moog synths (heard on My Brother The Wind Vols I and II and other 70's era recordings), and made use of combo organs such as the Gibson Kalamazoo (check out side two of Atlantis) and a couple different Farfisa and Yamaha organs in the early and mid 70's. He was also the star of one of the strangest movies ever Space Is The Place, the greatest sci-fi/blaxploitation/concert B-movie ever made. He and his band could play the most straight jazz big band imaginable and then turn on a dime and "take you into deep space" with their improvisations before bringing you back to Earth (I'm reasonably certain this is where the Grateful Dead got some of their modus operandi from). All of the albums I've named here are awesome, so are the three albums made by their appearances at the Ann Arbor Jazz And Blues Festivals in the mid 70's, Life Is Splendid, Outer Space Employment Agency, and It Is Forbidden. Nidhamu and Dark Myth Equation, recorded during a trip to Egypt in the early 70's, is another great record. And have to mention Black Myth/Out In Space also.

Karlheinz Stockhausen: One of the strangest of all 20th century composers, Stockhausen was a true eccentric. He supposedly claimed to have live a past life near the star Sirius, and developed all kinds of maddening ways of notating and performing his pieces. He reportedly had a piece that asked for the musicians to play notes that were in tune with the rotation of the galaxy, or something like tha, and when one of the musicians "How are we supposed to do that", Herr Karlheinz condescendingly told him, "I will TEACH you how". Great albums including Sternklang (a piece for five groups of musicians, traditionally performed in a large park), Hymnen (a double LP tape piece, mixing recordings of the national anthem of "all nations" with electronic music and other sounds), Mantra (piano duet piece featuring ring modulators), and Mikrophonie (two mid 60's, the first featuring a 60" tam-tam being played by two musicians and being processed through filters, the second featuring a choir, Hammond organ, and ring modulators).

Morton Subotnick: One of the original innovators of live performance electronic music, Subotnick and a couple of his compatriots commissioned Don Buchla to design and build an early synthesizer for them (Buchla hated the world "synthesizer", preferring instead to call his instruments "Electronic Music Boxes"), which Subotnick put to brilliant use on records like Silver Apples Of The Moon, The Wild Bull, Touch, 4 Butterflies and Until Spring.

Magma: the legendary French band who created a sound so unique and singular that an entire genre of progressive rock was coined to describe groups influenced by Magma. Their early albums tell the tale of the descendants of a group of humans who fled the Earth and found another planet to settle on, which they named Kobaïa. The lyrics are all delivered in the native language of these peoples, known as Kobaïan. Subsequent albums voyaged into other conceptual pieces, mostly still sung in Kobaïan. Some of their albums consist of one single piece of music. I like to describe it as "French jazz musicians playing a rock music version of Wagner or Stravinsky", but really even that doesn't do them justice. If you don't see God while listening to Magma (or while attending one of their concerts), you never will!

[stbreal]

One of my favorite weird records and just plain favorite records is Torture Garden by Naked City. John Zorn is at his punk rock Jazz Thrash best in this record. He enlists an insane Japanese vocalist named Eye from the band The Boredoms and don’t forget Bill Frisell on guitar. Nirvana took them on tour at one point. Great stuff!

[bardobro]

Love the Captain Beefheart shoutout, especially from a young whipper-snapper! You give me hope for the future of weirdness in music!

[JasminBellavance_Music]

Fantomas - Fantomas (1999) is pretty epic! Saw them live one time and the show lasted only 50min...on that 50min, Patton played at less 10min of cymbales (on Dave's drums)! He then said "You like that assholes?" and when on with 5 more minutes of cymbales as an encore and leave....wow!