00:00if you buy pedals at all you've noticed
00:02mojo hand and you've probably wondered
00:04what's the deal well let's talk about it
00:19in 2003 a guy named Brad fee started a
00:23pedal company and he called it tone
00:25factor they made some really cool stuff
00:27later on he got so into pedals that he
00:30opened an online guitar shop called tone
00:32factor and that caused him to want to
00:34change the name of his pedals as a
00:36matter of fact that tone factor store
00:37was one of my very first dealers and
00:39they were pretty good at selling stuff
00:41so Brad took his branding ability
00:44rebranded the pedal line that was called
00:47tone factor and turned it into mojo him
00:49this was around 2007 pretty much when I
00:52started JH s then in 2015 he sold the
00:56entire thing the pedal company to John
00:59Cusack I'm Cusack music and now they're
01:01made in Holland Michigan up there and
01:02John does all the new designs so that's
01:05a little bit of the deal with mojo Han
01:06but we need to hear them for you to
01:08fully understand how good they are and I
01:11think we just need to jump on into it
01:13the first mojo Han I want to cover it's
01:15definitely one of my favorites that they
01:16make it comes from the transitional
01:19period where Brad's sold the company
01:20over to John Cusack and it is this guy
01:25the sacred cow now here's the story it's
01:27kind of distantly connected to me in a
01:31weird way I was working on the clover
01:33preamp that you all know and the
01:35original title was gonna be the
01:37stockyard and I just finished the
01:39graphical icon um Nick did you put that
01:42up so they could see what I had worked
01:44on for my pedal but then I saw this yeah
01:49so as you can tell I didn't go with that
01:51because they did the same thing great
01:53minds think alike maybe I don't know but
01:55here's the deal the sacred cow is based
01:58around the mighty clone centaur and for
02:01this clip I'm actually gonna shoot him
02:03out because I'm feeling festive I'm
02:05feeling peppy I'm not gonna do it on all
02:07the pedals but the clown is so hyped I
02:09just want to show that it's not complete
02:11rocket science and they did a really
02:13good job and to do that I'm gonna use
02:15the switch back and basically when I
02:19click this it'll go between green and
02:20red green is the Mojo Han red is the
02:23clones synth our professional overdrive
02:26you let me know what you think let's do
02:53next up is the overdrive I think it's a
02:57medium game distortion as well it is an
03:00extremely modified tube screamer circuit
03:02tons of base content 3-way clipping
03:05selection if you like the tube screamer
03:07but you like more distortion more
03:10hardrock sounds this thing is phenomenal
03:12and while rummaging through all my
03:14pedals I found an older version I don't
03:18have too many pedals I almost do and
03:20this was hidden but I found it and the
03:22good news is I'm just gonna give it away
03:23over on the patreon page so if you're a
03:26patron of the show you can win this it
03:28probably sounds better because it's
04:08where would any petal company be without
04:11a good fuzz-face design and that's
04:13exactly what mojo has in the Crosstown
04:16it is a reference to a Hendrix song if
04:18you don't know that song I'm gonna take
04:20a moment to shame you the shaming is now
04:23over listen to the song you're forgiven
04:25this is a good old fuzz face but it's
04:28kind of unique I open the back up here
04:30q1 is a silicon transistor and q2 is
04:34germanium so it's this hybrid thing it's
04:36really cool it does a lot of sounds and
04:39it has really nice controls one thing
04:41that's always annoyed me is when people
04:43make fuzz faces and they put like four
04:46or five controls and when I first played
04:48this a few years ago I think is when I
04:50bought it I was like this is gonna be
04:52one of those pedals but nope every turn
04:55every position of the knob is totally
04:57usable it's fantastic
05:48next up I'm gonna do something that's
05:51never been done I'm gonna play - mojo
05:54hand pedals at the same time no it has
05:58it not today I'm playing the magpie this
06:01is a light gain overdrive it's a
06:03Bluesbreakers style circuit think king
06:05of tone and Morning Glory it even kind
06:07of looks like Good Morning Glory it's
06:09kind of cool and it's darker so it leans
06:12more on the king of tones side around
06:15the edges it's a little bit like less
06:17present in the mix and that's a good
06:19thing for some people and I think it has
06:21a little more gained in the Morning
06:23Glory and then we have the Park Theatre
06:24so this is one john design this is a
06:27digital reverb that emulates a really
06:29famous historic theater in Holland
06:32Michigan where Cusack and mojo hand are
06:34located now and basically profits from
06:37this go to help restore that theater so
06:39when you buy this amazing reverb you get
06:42a good feeling as well and that's like a
06:44two-for-one that's priceless so here we
07:18there are no more controversial words
07:21than claun and Dumble and mojo Han is
07:25going to for two because the extra
07:28special is a take on a crank
07:31distorted humble tone I'm gonna change
07:34guitars from my very indie offset built
07:38I'm gonna pick up a Collins 335 style
07:41and I'm gonna take a stab at playing
07:43some weird math jazz that people who
07:45play these amps tend to play I think
07:48it'll be okay I haven't ever played that
07:50style and honestly I don't even know
07:52what I'm talking about but we're gonna
07:54hear this and I will say this having
07:55played eight or nine real dumb bowls
07:58this one sounds really good and it
08:01sounds very accurate to the dirty styled
08:05humble amp so you're not gonna get your
08:06clean john mayer kind of still string
08:08sound out of this you're gonna get more
08:11of the dirtier Larry Carlton one of
08:14Keith Urban's amps that I played on an
08:15earlier episode last year kind of
08:17sounded like this pedal so it's really
08:18cool and really versatile
09:01next up RV T it is based around an old
09:06Gibson amp called the GA RV t 15 and
09:10this is some of John Cusack's finest
09:13digital work in my opinion the reverb
09:15circuit on this is spot on to a really
09:18cool kind of quirky reverb tank and
09:22that's a hard thing to do from a coding
09:24perspective and with the software that
09:25he's using it's a fantastic design if
09:28you click this button it goes between
09:30the trim and vibrato you can mix in the
09:33verb it's really really great dare I say
09:35magical dare I say amazing and I might
09:38even add epic on tonight
10:32in 1962 the ventures recorded a smash
10:35hit called the 2000 pound B that is
10:39probably the greatest song title ever
10:41and it had a fuzz tone on it and there's
10:42a little bit of mystery here because
10:44this was before the internet believe it
10:46or not and we just don't know what
10:48happened there are no pictures we do
10:50know that the maestro fuzz tone was
10:52released in 62 but we're almost all
10:54definitely sure it was not that circuit
10:58that we hear on the recording we know
10:59there are several people that were
11:01around the ventures one guy particular
11:03was making DIY fuzz circuits maybe it
11:06was one of those we think that that guy
11:09possibly had something to do with the
11:11mosrite fuzz right there are two
11:13versions the early version there's about
11:14200 of them made there germanium they're
11:17rare as hen's teeth but this one's kind
11:20of easy to find still rare and it's
11:22silicon as opposed to the germanium
11:25that's a long story just to tell you
11:27that the mojo hand one ton be math joke
11:30two thousand pound be by the ventures
11:33one ton be by mojo han it's probably
11:38some mixture of something going on here
11:41a to knob fuzz that's real bright
11:44slightly annoying and possibly amazing
11:47so I'm gonna shoot it out with this
11:49using the switch back again green light
11:51is this red light is this and you're
11:53gonna hear something that I want you to
11:54hear the insanely crazy harsh nature of
12:00this fuzz compared to the way they
12:02modified this to make it more modern and
12:04usable and I'm gonna play spirit in the
12:06sky because there's also a rumor that no
12:08one will ever prove that one of these
12:10was disassembled and put inside a Norman
12:12Greenbaum's guitar I don't know no one
12:14knows but we get to hear this and this
13:08this next mojo hand pedal mysteriously
13:12arrived in my mailbox with a single note
13:16that said hey Josh would you release
13:20this on your show thanks John I didn't
13:25even know what it did I called John and
13:27it's stinking amazing it is the Mojo
13:32this is network television history going
13:37on right here on YouTube no one's ever
13:40seen this do you understand that right
13:43now you're the only person that's ever
13:46seen this think about it it's crazy what
13:49is it you ask it's a delay but not just
13:52any delay it's a memory man so I pulled
13:54a few of my memory men off the shelves
13:57some are missing cuz reverb barred them
13:59I'm not angry I tried this one I don't
14:04know it didn't work I tried this one
14:06once just Jeff Tweety's I couldn't find
14:10the power supply I don't know if I
14:11actually tried that one this one worked
14:13but it doesn't have the vibrato pooris
14:16John put that on here tried this one
14:20same thing but then when I plugged in
14:25the 24 volt classic line them up put the
14:29switch back up there green light red
14:32light pure magic and you're gonna see it
14:35first time ever history of Earth and
14:38world the brand new mojo hand dream
14:41endure delay it feels good to just
14:44release someone else's pedal I don't
14:46know if that's ever been done but I feel
14:48good about it so go buy this it's on
14:50reverb and mojo hands website just go
14:53right now this is a release day
14:54literally I'm not joking
16:00today's record time is brought to you by
16:03sand pit on the second thought a really
16:06really cool record is released in 1998
16:08it was on the front end of a new genre
16:11called shoegaze and actually the band
16:15sent this in they watched the show
16:17really really cool I had never heard
16:19this I put it in and was completely
16:21blown away it's right up my alley and
16:23one of my favorite things about this is
16:26the back I'm gonna read it to you stuff
16:29like this makes a record even better
16:31it says Brendan Webb played Fender
16:34guitarists do an orange head vox ac30
16:36and fender twin ebo and he sang main
16:39vocals that's amazing just put it on the
16:43Stephanie Ashford played a music man
16:45sterling bass do an ampeg svt and sinks
16:47and backing vocals Greg Wells played an
16:49old Pearl kit and some shaker type
16:52things if you do it a new record just
16:54put all your gear on the back for people
16:56like us check this out let me know what
16:59you think I'm a big fan of it and in the
17:02comments let me know some records that
17:03remind you of this or that feel like
17:05they're in a similar genre thanks so
17:07much for watching this episode it was a
17:09blast going through the Mojo pedals that
17:12I liked the most and telling a little
17:14it was also super cool to release this
17:17pedal on here the dream mandir i really
17:20really found myself impressed at how
17:22accurate it lines up with that 24-volt
17:25version i've always been a fan of the
17:27memory man and I've always had it on a
17:29board here there and then take it off
17:31because the knobs are so sensitive and
17:34they do break and the bypass is bad
17:36there's all kinds of reasons that a
17:38memory man is difficult but John has
17:40fixed all of that a smaller enclosure
17:43three simple controls a nice easy chorus
17:46vibrato toggle I can't say enough good
17:48stuff about this it's sonically
17:50fantastic and it's mojo Ian so go to
17:53that website look at all the things they
17:55have to offer I just covered the pedals
17:57that I like the most but they have a lot
17:59of other designs that are super cool so
18:01if you liked this episode hit like
18:03subscribe and there's a bell icon to get
18:05notifications of future episodes if you
18:07are a patron of the JJ show patreon
18:11gonna give this away over there as well
18:13if you're not there's a link in the
18:14description below basically you give a
18:17monthly fee and we just cover some extra
18:20material for you and that helps us raise
18:22money for travel and all the things we
18:24do we're interviewing people and
18:26building an archive of peddle history
18:27and kind of preserving all these cool
18:29stories so it's really fun I dive deep
18:31into a subject you know a long-form kind
18:35of talk it's super nerdy so if you're a
18:37super nerd you'll really like it go over
18:38there there's also the JHS show.com
18:41website you can buy shirts and things
18:43that you might want I don't know
18:45but have a great day and play some mojo
