JHS releases Berkeley, a Legends of Fuzz replica of the 1973 Seamoon Fresh Fuzz

June 6, 2023 · 3 sources

JHS released the Berkeley, a fuzz pedal in its Legends of Fuzz series, in 2023. Guitar.com reported the pedal on February 27, 2023, among three new Legends of Fuzz models, and Delicious Audio published its coverage on June 6, 2023.

The Berkeley is a replica of the Fresh Fuzz, a pedal Seamoon Inc. released in 1973. Seamoon was founded by Craig Anderton and John Lang¹². JHS describes the Berkeley as a tribute to "the rarer single op amp 741 version (Version 1)" of the Fresh Fuzz¹². Delicious Audio describes the pedal as recreating "the lower gain and smooth crunch of the original," which it calls "the first gain pedal to use an op-amp instead of a transistor"².

The controls are two, for Gain and Bite, as on the original, and a Mode switch on the side offers "a more trebly version of the same tone," Delicious Audio reported². JHS's account of the original notes that a faulty enclosure design caused the plastic Bakelite pedals to shatter when guitarists stomped on them, so Seamoon began recasing them in metal within a few months, and that the Fresh Fuzz was used by Tom Scholz of Boston and Eric Johnson¹².

Guitar.com reported all three pedals retailing for $179³. JHS warns against using more than 9V DC, which voids the warranty².