At its core, the Artificial Blonde is a very simplistic approach to Madison Cunningham’s signature sound: a never off, always on, slightly 3D pitch vibrato. The secondary footswitch flicks between the two speed/depth preset sections. It’s a true pitch vibrato modulation pedal with two easy-to-access modes for live use. Simply put, this is Madison Cunningham in a box — just add a clean Fender-style amp and tune your guitar strings down!
Story Behind the ‘Artificial Blonde’
When Madison recorded her second full-length album, Who You Are Now, her producer Tyler Chester was already in contact with JHS Pedals about getting a few modulation effects to develop her new foundational sound. Madison ended up heavily using the JHS Emperor Chorus/Vibrato as her foundational and always-on signature tone throughout those sessions.
Over the next few years, Madison and JHS Pedals founder Josh Scott became good friends after Josh featured her on the JHS Show episode “Who Is Madison Cunningham?” Josh would often stop by her concerts as an unofficial guitar tech, building her boards and helping find solutions for sounds she wanted. During a sound check in Lawrence, KS, Josh noticed that even though her Emperor was always on and in vibrato mode, Madison kept reaching down to switch the settings to create another faster and deeper vibrato tone for a particular song. Sensing an opportunity to make it easier to use during live shows, Josh developed the idea for an entirely new stompbox that suited Madison’s needs, and soon, she was touring with that first prototype.
Madison travelled doing live shows and sessions for her new album with the prototype for a full year (you may recognise it as the black non-descript stompbox labeled “Blonde”), but JHS are releasing it officially as Madison Cunningham’s signature pedal — the Artificial Blonde!
Controls & Features
- Volume: Controls the overall ouput of the pedal. Left is less, right is more.
- EQ: This is an active tilt EQ. Noon is flat. Turning to the left boosts lows and cuts highs, while turning to the right boosts highs and cuts lows.
- Speed: Influences the rate of the vibrato. Left is slower, right is faster.
- Depth: Controls the intensity of the vibrato. Left is less, right is more.
- Input: 1/4″ jack on the top right receives your instrument’s signal.
- Output Mono/Stereo: 1/4″ jack outputs. Use the mono output for a mono signal path or use both the mono and stereo output jacks for a 3D stereo soundscape.
- Power: Uses 9V DC Negative Center. Do not use more than 9V DC. Damage may occur and your warranty will be voided.
- Bypass: Left footswitch turns the effect on and off. When off, the pedal is buffered bypass and both outputs pass the normal dry signal.
- Preset: Right footswitch changes the preset to A or B. On power up the default is preset B. Each preset has the same speed and depth range and allows you to create two different switchable settings.
Specifications
- Voltage: 9V DC Negative Centre
- Current Draw: 138 mA
- Dimensions (L x W x H): 4.7″ x 3.5″ x 1.5″
