The JHS Panther Cub has been out for a while now and makes appearances on a number of worship guitarist’s boards from time to time. I have personally owned two of these now and have had a lot of hours of use on both of them. I have found a ton of things I like about the pedal and a few things that I don’t like. This is an honest review of a great pedal.
In true JHS fashion this pedal is built with incredible attention to detail. The knobs are tight and smooth. The finish and decals are perfect. I really love how JHS provides more control over the modulation than some of the other pedals on the market. With both mod depth and mod speed controls you can really dial in the perfect amount of flutter to your analog delay. The Analog delay is also reminiscent of some of the 1100 Memory Man Delays that run as high as $750. The tap tempo functionality and the built in effects loop really ads another level of functionality and creativity outlet.
There were only two complaints that I have about the pedal. The first is that the tap tempo LED on both of mine randomly stops working. The tap tempo function still works but the blinking light just shuts off. After unplugging the 9v jack and re-plugging it in the LED works again. Both of mine were the first version so this may have been fixed in the V2 version. The second thing that I am not big on is the price. I guess when you compare it to some of the Blue Label 1100 Memory Man’s out there it is pretty cheap. That being said Malekko and MXR both have Analog Delay’s with Mod in them for a fraction of the price. This being said I think the pedal is still worth the money for the perfectionist and delay junkie. If you are on a budget you can get close with a cheaper option though.
I have owned two of these for a reason. I sold the first one to try and get by with an MXR Carbon Copy and it wasn’t the same. It could work but once the Panther sinks it’s teeth in there is no getting away.