The JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay is part of JHS's affordable, simplified 3 Series range, built by JHS in Kansas City, Missouri, with three simple controls and one toggle. How We Got the Oil Can Delay: After being discharged from the army in 1946, Ray and Marv Lubow formed Tel-Ray Electronics, specialising in television and radio repair. As the company grew, Ray also began experimenting with audio inventions, specifically delay. Les Paul had already pioneered an effect called tape echo, but people were trying to work out how to make a smaller, more practical version of this oversized effect. Aiming to do just that, on 30 June 1959 Ray submitted the patent for an electro-static delay apparatus known today as the oil can delay. These delay units contained oil in a tuna-can-shaped drum that was moved by a belt mechanism turning the drum, while a special disk apparatus on which the audio signal "charge" was written and read through rubber wiper "heads". Playback speed was directly related to the drum's rotation speed. The oil acted as a protective layer keeping the audio signal's "charge" electrons in place, creating a distinctive echo effect with elements of vibrato and slapback delay. Ray Lubow began licensing the oil can delay technology to amplifier companies, including Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker. In the late 1960s, Ray and Marv decided they wanted to start selling their devices under their own brand name and launched the effects company Morley - Ray chose the name as a dig at their competitor Leslie: "Why settle for less with a Leslie when you can get more with Morley?" Morley manufactured oil can delays up until 1989. Why Are We Making One? At Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in 2022, JHS founder Josh Scott found himself in a discussion with guitarist Nels Cline. Nels brought up the subject of weird delays, leading to an in-depth discussion of the strangest pedals they'd ever played. Josh received a message from Nels a few days later asking if JHS made an oil can-style delay, and Nels began explaining the particular sound he wanted from this type of echo. Though JHS didn't have one in the official lineup, Josh and the team developed a one-off oil can delay pedal. When they presented it to Nels as a gift, he liked it so much that he used it through the recording and touring process for Wilco's Cruel Country and their release Cousin. Though the JHS Oil Can Delay isn't a signature artist pedal, JHS remains grateful to Nels Cline for inspiring it.

Highlights

• Mix knob blends the echo and clean signal (left is less, right is more)
• Speed knob sets delay time from 100ms to 330ms
• Feedback knob controls the amount of repeats in the delay signal
• +/- toggle switches between light and heavier modulation intensity, with modulation speed tied to the delay time
• Based on the original electro-static "oil can" delay technology patented in 1959 and later produced by Morley
• Built by JHS in Kansas City, Missouri, as part of the affordable 3 Series range

Specifications

All our pedals are tested on arrival, and regularly after that. Fast, tracked delivery to Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Melbourne & Australia-wide.

You may also like

JHS 3 Series Bit Crusher Pedal

JHS 3 Series Chorus Pedal

JHS 3 Series Compressor Pedal

JHS 3 Series Delay Pedal