JHS Overdrive Preamp (Classic Yngwie Malmsteen Tone?)

JHS Overdrive Preamp (Classic Yngwie Malmsteen Tone?)
I really like JHS pedals. I've tried a bunch of them, and while not all have been my cup of tea, they've all been well made, and most of them I've really liked. So imagine my excitement when JHS announce the JHS Overdrive/Preamp. This should be nice.
I'll also be comparing it to the Fender Yngwie Malmsteen overdrive, as well as the Mosky D250X.
Enjoy
0:00 Intro
0:35 What is this thing?
1:28 What I'll be comparing it to
2:42 The rig
3:45 Sounds
6:00 As a clean boost
6:43 Adding gain
8:05 Even more gain
9:15 Maxing out gain
13:38 Comparing it to the Mosky D250X
14:55 Trying it with a boost
16:31 Messing up
17:34 Verdict
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[@MrPolevaulter]

Check out some of my lessons: kzbin.info/aero/PLNaLwTdlpQNEQQfdhdttHV5rjmy7tmYCy Or my music: kzbin.info/aero/PLNaLwTdlpQNHKlg8ALZfM3AINC20WMp8s

[@ingve77]

So happy I bought one of these pedals a few months ago. Absolutely love it. The clarity even under heavy overdrive is amazing.

[@ingve77]

Elmo, have you ever tried an Overdrive 250 Grey Edition LM741 by TSL Studio Equipment? They are hand made in Greece. I'd be interested in your opinion of them, I just got one and am very impressed indeed.

[@swangonzalez4797]

I think the Fender OD, much like the YJM 308 had a lot of trebly scream to the sound. More Yngwie character. The JHS was a bit more mellow. Perhaps closer to the old gray or yellow boxes Yngwie used in the 80s. But those had lots of variations in components and sound from unit to unit.

[@joebolick112]

JHS is definitely a more usable option, I can hear more than YJM tones from the JHS. Great old school pedal!

[@ΑβρααμΠαπαδοπουλος-β9χ]

Jhs with both volume and gain maxed out, was one the best tones you have ever achieved.

[@TheTubeDude]

Hi Elmo. You looked like a master, you comported yourself like a master and you played and sounded like a real master in this video. Such a joy to watch, listen and learn. I got the JHS pedal when it was first available. I like it very much. But I still want the Fender YJM pedal. Give you $5 for yours.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Haha :D Cheers :)

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

Great video. I had a great 250 many years ago. I don't remember what happened to it. I bought it cheap at the time. ♥️🤘 Hope all is well kind sir. ♥️🤘

[@MrPolevaulter]

Cheers! All good. Hope you're doing well too :)

[@beachboyvince]

Being completely honest here; when you maxed out both knobs on the JHS that was the best tone I've ever heard from you

[@MrPolevaulter]

Fair enough :)

[@dean828]

Fender forgot to name it the "Yngwie J. Malmsteen" overdrive...

[@MrPolevaulter]

:D

[@Playloudstube]

Definetly good sounding pedal, thank You for review!

[@ThisOldGuy3]

Another great Demo Thanks Elmo, Keep Rockin'🤘🎸😎

[@MrPolevaulter]

Cheers!

[@glennhughes2664]

I like that pedal, this will be the first time I've ever bought anything after watching a KZbin clip, I know it will sound different in a room but I have the Fender Malmsteen OD as a point of reference as you say, & man its noisy. I still will continue with the boss overdrive , the original Japanese one with only a level & gain knob is in great condition & then I saw how much they are going for second hand ( you should google it ) & I put it in a safe place and bought the super overdrive which is what I like ,but still there is a certain sound that simple original one had that the new one doesn't , so I went back to it & Im glad I haven't abused it but using a pedal thats now so expensive really makes you look after it & I guess thats how I should treat all my gear , but I tend to abuse pedals luckily Boss pedals are built like tanks . Looking forward to the JHS, Great Vid as alway's. Take care . 🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶

[@MrPolevaulter]

Take care Glenn :)

[@glennhughes2664]

Hi Elmo, there is a guitar company called " Fire Fly guitars " & make from what I have heard really good budget friendly guitar's & they are quite cheap , under $250 USD . they have explorer shapes, flying v's The quilted maple top's look really good. You should check them out .

[@DJBuglip]

Agreed, I liked the Fender pedal better too. Great review as always, Elmo.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thanks!

[@vladimirmilic9372]

Dude, I love your videos!!! Thanks!!!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thanks!

[@MrTwangstaable]

His old roland delay the boost Elmo, the thing is, it's just silly to chase the exact formula down to the overdrive as well, but you are doing us a great service demoing this unit. I'm was certainly curious and am happy this is a possibility option in a bind. It does get close to the early days, but a lot has to do with the amp and preamp tubes, cab and pickups. Thanks for this review, you stayed true to the Maestro.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thanks!

[@austinfailz]

Well, Elmo -- time to get a Reissue DOD 250 (the sparkly one from 2014 or whenever it was released) as well as the YJM 308 for a big shoot out between the JHS, Yngwie Malmsteen Overdrive, DOD 250 RI and YJM308.

[@christophermannmanno6318]

You ever play that Brad Paisley telecaster with the secret agent neck pickup? Man it's freaking amazing!! Great video as always brother 👍

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thanks! Never tried that one, no.

[@christophermannmanno6318]

@@MrPolevaulter kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpzKmHp9q7yjiaM

[@larrygreene6522]

Hey, Elmo I actually own yngwies actual original dod 250. The few times I’ve plugged it in to play it,I put a boss super overdrive before it with the gain turned down to about 9ish the level up. Sounds amazing like that(first albums) without ear bleed volumes. Cheers!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Think I might try that.

[@austinfailz]

What'd you have the SD-1 set to?

[@daniellarson3068]

Interesting demonstration. Which box is the best at "creative distortion?" I built a Heathkit TA-28 distortion booster many years ago when I first tried to learn the guitar as a teenager. Other than the fact that my Heathkit used a transistor for amplification and the JHS unit uses an Op Amp, I don't think these things have changed all that much. Lucky for me that the old Heathkit unit still works so I have no need of the JHS unit. Thanks for another great video.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Cheers!

[@stephanematis]

:D It does sound good. I appreciate JHS pedal geekery.

[@tizianoregazzi2452]

Mega Video. My Set up is marshall 20 vintage Plexiglas yjm fender jhs ov.preamp and ns2 boss. The yjm fender is incredible. You can Player blues or Hendrix style and of course yngwie at full, the jhs is more g moore and Old yngwie, fantastic Elmo you are great

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thank you :)

[@austinfailz]

I want one, but I also have a feeling they'll eventually do a Bonsai/PackRat version with the Grey, Yellow, 2012 (or whatever year) RI, Micro Amp, etc. all in one box.

[@vfamily2406]

Great review EJK. I wonder what OD pedal would work well as a clean boost for my Peavey 6505+. Perhaps this?

[@MrPolevaulter]

Only one way to find out I guess. Try it.

[@soldierbreakneck771]

Holy...I don't know is this grey dod 250 or not but this sounds better than Fender YJM overdrive 😆😆😆

[@jeffreylazzarinisr7419]

Great vid as always! What settings on the Plexi & did you "jump" the inputs? Thank you!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Bass 7-8, mid 8, tre 6, pre 4 if I remember correctly. Volume on full. Just channel 1.

[@danpena7922]

What's strange is the hiss is always apparent even when playing. That's why I got rid of my 5150 head. Even with a noise suppressor, the noise is still apparent when the gate opens.

[@OgamiItto70]

First! 😁 To me, it sounds a bit more ingveonic than the Fender Yngwie Malmsteen pedal, at least for, say, the tones on _Rising Force_ and the older albums. I don't know what speakers you have in your cab. I believe Yngwie said he used the old Celestion G1275s because they didn't break up as easily as the lower-powered greenbacks and he was concerned about getting "mush." I wonder if it would be less hissy if you dialed the "Gain" knob down a hair and made up the difference with a little more level on the LPB? I agree with you: it's a very good-sounding pedal.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Maybe it would.

[@nick_be9159]

you use the line booster like Yngwie used his line level on his boss Space Echo on max?

[@MrPolevaulter]

Something like that.

[@liamballsculpture]

Nice pedal, doesn’t sound like a later 250 at all , much more open and natural sounding, which is a good thing in my opinion! Nice demo Elmo 👍

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thanks!

[@koonsickgreen6272]

the jhs seems to have replicated the dull/fat sonic character of the 250 very well. When you did the 250, 308, YJM pedal guessing vid, I was quite surprised at how much thicker yet dull the 250 sounds. I should think you could compensate with the dials on the ampl. The good thing is for a strat's rather thinner bridge pup sounds the 250 can do some beefing up. Thank you for the review, Elmo.

[@ThrashMetalAJM]

I recently bought a fender YJM pedal on eBay. Funny thing is I live in Los Angeles area and I’m about 2 hrs away from the corona, CA factory where they makes these pedals and the one I bought on eBay came from Greece 😂. And yeah I dropped $250 for it

[@MrPolevaulter]

They go for crazy prices these days.

[@ThrashMetalAJM]

@@MrPolevaulter yes I agree! And just a month ago I bought the DOD yjm 308 for $120 brand new. That’s a man I met who owns 11 of them new 👀. I’m just fortunate to own these things

[@SteveMavronis]

Yes you played some Stone Cold by Rainbow!

[@MrPolevaulter]

I did indeed :)

[@NeonAstralOfficial]

Frets seems to be a lot thicker than on a classic strat

[@georgeallison6228]

Is it just me .?? Or has anybody else noticed when Elmo does pinch harmonics he faithfully recreates THE FART PEDAL??? 😂. KEEP ROCKING MY MAN!! Not a bad JHS pedal. Works well for your style of playing anyway. I'd say keep it. Least I'm thinking JHS has a little better quality control than mama san working for Mosky behind the hooch in the kitchen. 😆

[@MrPolevaulter]

:D

[@mikewick77]

mxr micro amp plus or jhs 3 series overdrive, after the preamp, acts as rangemaster treble boost, nothing before.

[@mikewick77]

just get the JHS 3-Series Overdrive, everything at max & compare that. its a Dumble Rangemaster, with a treble boost bleed threw, the tone knob is a third drive, not EQ.

[@mikewick77]

forgot to mention, the JHS 3-Series Overdrive right drive knob is very high gain, middle knob is so hot it will self oscillate, and the volume is hot as well.

[@notreallysure9]

As yngwie has his knobs at full position, u gotta use a noise gate on these DOD 250 pedals.

[@notreallysure9]

what are your delay settings?

[@MrPolevaulter]

I have it programmed, so I can't remember.

[@stefanofestinese506]

hi Elmo good job and very good playing! You nail that tone and attack! I am a 'yngwie classic tone' fan as wall I just doing a long time research about his tone: if all marshalls are maxed out (10 on every control) and even dod preamp is maxed out... how do yngwie switches live from solo volumes to rhythm volumes, I mean expecially when he played with bands like alcatrazz.. is the answer only in volume pot control?

[@Nghilifa]

IMO, to get a "proper" Malmsteen-ish tone, you need to run the amp hotter (ie Max out the Volume on Channel 1), then boost that with the gain at aroudn 9 o'clock and the level on full, as Malmsteen did with his Grey 250 (or maybe it was level on 9 and gain maxed out). There really isn't a substitute for proper poweramp saturation, then again, if you don't have a reactive load or something like that, I understand that you don't want to damage your hearing, or worse, get the police sicked on you!

[@sviatoslav_k]

True!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Yeah, those things get really loud.

[@MrTwangstaable]

Absolutely agree.

[@MrTwangstaable]

@@MrPolevaulter PPIMV for the win. Ther are three types. I forget which one is the best. Ask Kevin from rockitt retro.

[@gstube1]

As you said it is a copy of the first version which became before the grey one

[@sotiristsallis]

Ok..i know that 99% believe that if it is expensive then it is good. If it is too expensive then it must be too good. Though...try the nux plexi crunch...it is better than many butique pedals and costs 50 euros...a great jcm 800 tone..

[@catzndolz61]

Did I hear a bit of a SADE track?

[@MrPolevaulter]

Maybe. I didn't play one, but you might have heard one :D

[@NicanorVillanueva.]

12t-75s for the tone

[@Bowietrope]

Ah Mighty Elmo, I had the original grey spec when it first came out and was super cheap (although I'd swear mine was green)....why I traded it for a black painted MXR Distortion +....though I recall that MXR sounded fantastic (Schenker) just had no idea the DOD would become crazy valuable, sigh, Bruce

[@MrPolevaulter]

Ouch. That seems a bit of a mistake in hindsight.

[@Bowietrope]

@@MrPolevaulter So true Elmo, and this guy who was a fantastic guitar player was actually a friend of Yngwie's...although I later heard that Yngwie stole his girlfriend, so who knows what happened (around 1984 in Hollywood) I paid about $70.00 for that brand new DOD 250 back in the day, Bruce

[@VISIONQUEST-t8v]

Ita actually a replica of the dod pedal that came before the gray 250 they have a whole video explain this .

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

u sure can pick the hell out of that fiddle, 😁

[@MrPolevaulter]

:D

[@MercutioUK2006]

In an odd coincidence I literally just finished watching your review of the Mosky d250x.......which is a brilliant unit without reservation. The JHS however, might have the edge.....tonally at least. It certainly needs a bit more gain which may have come from the space echo? Hrrrm. Back away from the rabbit hole....

[@almostliterally593]

could þe JHS OVERDRIVE PREAMP accompliſh a randy rhoads ſtyle tone when blended wiþ ſay, a marſhall ſtyle diſtortion?

[@MrPolevaulter]

Probably quite close, yeah.

[@robertclinger7351]

I recently bought the small Wampler Tumnus. VERY happy! Check it out.

[@MrPolevaulter]

I have. It's good.

[@tommyjoe4310]

I prefer the fender, more articulate and cleaner

[@romzen]

I prefer the Fender a lot over the JHS. I'd rather go for a Tube Screamer than the JHS and make sure to boost mids and highs. The JHS sounds too dull and overly compressed.

[@tasteapiana]

When I was 4 and first heard Paganini's caprices (played just feet away from me at violin lessons at SIUE university) it blew my mind. When I was 10, and had heard the caprices performed by dozens of individuals literally hundreds of times over and over and over and over again, it began to give me an instant headache and nausea within seconds. That same year (1983) I switched from violin to guitar and Yngwie hit the scene and instead of his playing blowing my mind it gave me the creepy suspicion that super annoying mindless speed music for un-musical geeks was following me. I have since learned that it's just a condition for people who were born with no taste, only the idea that it's all about receiving a pat on the head for making a technical ''achievement''. Sadly, that geeky element of society is now balls out for AI and bitcoin and telling us that everything will be fine - exactly as they told us 20 years ago that JOBS OF THE FUTURE were data centers and web design. Nothing translates from the chalkboard to reality, what is perfect in theory is always an annoying dick pull when applied to anything flesh and blood. There is nothing ''classic'' about Yngwie.

[@abelfierro465]

oh brother...

[@liys540]

This kind of pedal is better with single coil

[@distortionclubla]

Pls use 2 cams simultaneously … you 1 pedals 2 ✌️ thx in advance

[@heavymetal6910]

The jhs has too much low end and sounds flubby

[@cylonhibrid]

The Malmsteen sound better, on my sound system,

[@SICK789]

Är du finsk jag är svensk

[@MrPolevaulter]

Jo.

[@SICK789]

@@MrPolevaulter coolt😀😀

[@SICK789]

@@MrPolevaulter 👍

[@steveblease]

Can't say it sounds anything special to be honest.

[@Dicktopus]

JHS all day compared to the Fender, but man the price...