“It's different to anything we’ve ever made”: JHS Pedals launches Lari Basilio’s first-ever signature stompbox – and it offers “a new take on distortion and overdrive”

The Violet: Lari Basilio’s New Signature Overdrive Distortion Pedal! – YouTube

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JHS Pedals has partnered with Lari Basilio to produce The Violet – a new signature distortion pedal that promises to offer “a new take” on the effect.

As JHS founder Josh Scott explains in a launch video, The Violet has been a long time coming: he and Basilio began their collaboration back in 2019, and for roughly the past two years the Ibanez signature artist has been using an elusive overdrive pedal prototype that, until this day, has remained a mystery.

Now, that mystery pedal has been finalized and released as Basilio’s first-ever signature stompbox, which Scott has badged “the ultimate distortion for your clean amp.”

“At the time you [Scott] called me I was alternating between a couple pedals, but they were always missing something. So, the first thing that came to my mind was to do an overdrive/distortion pedal,” explains Basilio in the launch video.

“Everything I did – YouTube videos, my recordings, live shows, clinics – everything from mid-2022 on is with this pedal.”

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It promises to put a unique spin on the classic overdrive/distortion design, owing to its unorthodox EQ. As Scott goes on to explain, “The guitar goes in buffered, and then you go straight into a mid control in the front.

“Then you go into the distortion-creating block, then out of that [into] bass and treble. So the mid is not directly connected to those bass and trebles.

“I could tell you really liked that,” Scott says to Basilio of the quirky approach, “because it’s different to other things you were playing and anything we’ve ever made.”

This, according to JHS, “allows the Violet to achieve hundreds of tones, from overdrive to full-on modern distortion.”

In operation, the pedal itself is easy to get around: there’s a single bypass footswitch, as well as parameters for Volume, Gain, Treble, and Bass. The flexible mid section that does all the heavy lifting can be found in the form of Mid Freq and Middle knobs.

The Violet is available now – in both Black and Purple colorways – for $199.

Visit JHS Pedals to find out more.

In a recent interview with Guitar World, Josh Scott revealed how he managed to build the world’s leading pedal firm by recommending his rivals.