Why does stuff take so long? A tale of the J

I’m writing this having just finished testing the last pedals in the release batch of the J pedal and I feel a weight off my shoulders and a joy because we are going to finally be able to share this incredible pedal with the world. It’s not easy pursuing pedal designs the way we do, but it really does feel like we are moving the game forward in a quantifiable and extraordinary way.

The idea for “The J” was formed years and years ago, I have always wanted to create a Tweed style pedal but couldn’t decide which tweed circuit to emulate and couldn’t decide what I would offer that could elevate our offering above some of the best tweed pedals out there. I knew from the off that I wanted to capture the magic of those tweed amplifier designs, it had to be an analog amp emulator, there was no other way. So I looked at a tweed deluxe amp I’d built, cast my eye over those in the amplifier game that were killing it with these designs and every way I turned ended up at the same answer… Lazy J.

Now I won’t pretend there wasn’t some bias there, I’ve long admired Jesse's work and when I finally got to meet him at a mutual friend’s wedding, we instantly hit it off. You see, Jesse is one of life’s legends, he builds amps that are used by the world’s biggest artists but more than that he is a thinker, and lives in a way that we should all aspire to.

To Jesse, these aren’t just amps or pedals these are the tools that allow you to express yourself, to share your music with the world and to capture a little bit of joy in a sea of chaos, especially so in recent years.

I didn’t know how to ask Jesse if I could take his signature amp, the J20 and turn it into a pedal, so I asked him if he would enjoy collaborating on a project. Thankfully he said yes and the rest is now history. Please bear in mind though, this gentlemen’s agreement was made YEARS ago. Agreeing to work on a project is easy, the real work was yet to come.

We managed to thrash out the bones of the main electronic design for the pedal relatively quickly; from there we thought it would be plain sailing. How wrong we were. Like all passion projects neither of us could settle on certain aspects of the design. And for years we’ve found ourselves tweaking the looks, the labelling, the functionality, the name, and the ergonomics but not the core sound. I don’t think I’ve ever been so close with a project and yet so far away for so long.

Interestingly though it has all panned out perfectly, delays that were borne of artistic difference, turned into opportunities to polish and hone the electronic design. By the time we’d agreed on the name and art, we were even happier with the sound. I don’t think I’ve had a pedal take so long and be so perfect in all areas from the off, and now myself and Jesse are proud to bring you the J, a pedal we are both proud to have put our names to.

Just like the Lazy J20, The J has two channels; Normal and Bright which can be switched between on the right side foot switch with a bi-colour LED to tell you which channel you're on (Red = Bright, Green = Normal). Each channel has its own control, clockwise turn increases not only the volume but the gain of the channel. Think of them as a MORE control for each channel. 
You've then got the Response control which is a very subtle but useful presence adjust and a Tone control for EQ tweaks. The Supply control is an interesting one, this emulates the voltage attenuation control that the J20 has. Full clockwise is full voltage and anything below this emulates the voltage attenuation. The X | Y switch is a switch between the emulation of using a 12AX7 and 12AY7 valve (tube) in the V1 position, a last minute addition to the circuit but we're so glad we did it. 

It's beautiful, and it does exactly what we designed it to do. It doesn't seem to matter what you put this pedal into, it'll give you that glorious J20 sound. Jesse and I want to thank you for sticking with us through life's current chaos and hope you find some joy in this creation of ours. 

ThorpyFx × Lazy J Amplifiers: The Heart of a Classic. The Power of Innovation.

Available now at thorpyfx.com and select dealers worldwide.