“Yes, it does the Mk.Gee thing!”: Lo-fi lovers rejoice as JHS launches new pedal inspired by the classic Tascam Portastudio 424
After a recent teaser campaign set off a spiral of speculation in the guitar gear community, JHS has finally revealed its anticipated new pedal, the 424 Gain Stage.
A series of riddles posted to the brand’s Instagram account got people guessing. It wasn’t long before keen-eyed gearheads landed on the assumption that the upcoming pedal would be based on the vintage Tascam Portastudio 424, a portable multitrack recorder known for its lo-fi flavour.
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And as it turns out, they were right. The new 424 Gain Stage is heavily inspired by the Portastudio 424, so much so that JHS says it’s a “historically accurate recreation”.
Why now to release a pedal inspired by the Tascam Portastudio 424, you might ask. Well, it couldn’t be anything to do with the rise of Mk.Gee, the Eric Clapton-touted lo-fi guitar maestro – who has a Portastudio 424 in his guitar rig – could it?
With the 424 Gain Stage, JHS hopes to offer guitarists that lo-fi sound without having to cram a Portastudio 424 into their backpack every time.
In terms of its controls, the $249 pedal has a relatively simplistic layout, with a single footswitch and controls for Volume, Bass, Treble, Gain 1 and Gain 2, harking back to the workflow of the original Portastudio 424.
In terms of I/O, the 424 Gain Stage sports regular jack input and outputs, as well as a balanced XLR output.
“In 2024, an artist named Mk.gee released an awesome record, and the guitar world exploded,” JHS founder Josh Scott says, introducing the new pedal and, of course, talking about Mk.gee’s Two Star & The Dream Police. “Tone chasers everywhere had to know how he was getting this really incredible and unique sound.
“We all realised he’s not using a guitar amp. He’s using a Tascam 424. I also realised, ‘Hey, wasn’t I going to make a pedal version of this at one point?’
“It’s an authentic and perfectly replicated single channel strip on the Tascam 424,” he continues. “Over the years, I’ve learned that so many albums and guitar parts that I love use this device or devices like it.
“Then this Mk.gee thing comes along. It’s really new and fresh and different. That really pushed me over the edge of wanting those sounds that are classic, and those newer sounds.”
In addition to doing the “Mk.gee thing”, JHS says the 424 Gain Stage does the job when harnessing the sounds of other artists including D4VD, Steve Lacey, Mac DeMarco and Radiohead.
The 424 Gain Stage is available now, priced at $249. For more information, and to get yours, head to JHS.
The post “Yes, it does the Mk.Gee thing!”: Lo-fi lovers rejoice as JHS launches new pedal inspired by the classic Tascam Portastudio 424 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
