ROSS Electronics are back with a little help from JHS Pedals
The legendary '70s stompbox brand is back in business
4,6 / 5,0 | 
ROSS Electronics has been brought back to life by Josh Scott of JHS Pedals. The range of new stompboxes remains faithful to the original design. Reissues now come with two modes and an effect that never officially existed as a standalone pedal…
ROSS Electronics
Charles “Bud” Ross was the man behind the original late 70s effect pedal range ROSS Electronics and some of those designs are now considered true classics in the world of effect pedals.
For example, the famous grey-coloured ROSS Compressor is a design that every boutique pedal maker has had a stab at in the last 25-30 years.
The legendary Grey Box compressor is back · Source: ROSS Electronics
Josh Scott
Now, Josh Scott has relaunched the brand and there is an accompanying documentary video below which tells the whole story of the ROSS Electronics company.
The new ROSS effect lineup · Source: ROSS Electronics
The Pedals
The new lineup consists of the Compressor, Distortion, Chorus, Fuzz and Phaser. Each one looks very close to the originals in terms of design, with the recessed knobs and simple two-control knob layout. However, they now have two modes courtesy of a side-mounted switch.
What’s new?
With the standard mode being the ‘normal’ vintage circuit and an added modern mode with a variation. They have also added modern soft switching, and top mounted jacks and the original colours have been tweaked slightly for the pedal cases.
Plus, there is the brand new ROSS Fuzz which pulls its circuit from a 1960s Kustom amplifier. This pedal was never available in the original run and so this is something completely different, yet in keeping with the ROSS brand.
The Effects
The ROSS Chorus is a true-analogue bucket-brigade chorus, utilising a V3207 chipset. With this one, side mounted button selects between Chorus and Vibrato modes. It has two main controls for Rate and Depth.
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- Chorus · Source: ROSS Electronics
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- Phaser · Source: ROSS Electronics
Plus, the ROSS Phaser is a versatile OTA-based phaser and is a faithful reproduction of the original ROSS circuit. With controls labelled Rate and Recycle (Feedback). The side button chooses either a classic analogue phaser mode or a ‘60s Shin-Ei-esque Uni-Vibe.
Then there is the famous ROSS Compressor which is an OTA-based, vintage-style compressor. This pedal is a faithful reproduction of the much coveted “Era 2” Gray Box ROSS Compressor circuit. This is the one everyone will get excited about. And with this version the side-mounted button to choose between Vintage and Bright modes. The two main compressor controls consist of Level and Sustain.
Distortion · Source: ROSS Electronics
Finally from the original pedal range, there is the ROSS Distortion; an op-amp, hard clipping distortion built around the classic 1970s topology seen in pedals like the MXR Distortion Plus, the DOD 250 and the ProCo RAT.
It has two main controls for Level and Distort.
With this one, it switches between an Era 2 germanium mode and Era 3 silicon mode via the side button.
A completely new fuzz pedal · Source: ROSS Electronics
FUZZ!
Then there is the all-new ROSS Fuzz and this circuit was pulled from the Kustom amplifiers made by Bud Ross.
It was an amplifier famously used by John Fogerty, who used the Kustom amp’s distortion for hit songs like “Run Through the Jungle” and “Fortunate Son.”
This effect has controls for Level and Fuzz.
With this new one, the button toggles between Vintage and Modern voicing, the latter adds more low-end.
Pricing
All the new pedals retail for USD 189 each and it will be really interesting to hear what guitarists and bass players think of this relaunched pedal brand.
The demo videos below give a good indication of what to expect and the documentary is also well worth checking out.
More Information
Video
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One response to “ROSS Electronics are back with a little help from JHS Pedals”
Still waiting on a JHS Klone re-release.