JHS Pedals Unleashes the Legends Of Fuzz Series

May 20, 2020 · 6 sources

JHS Pedals announced the Legends Of Fuzz series, a four-pedal line of fuzz effects that recreates what the maker calls the most important fuzz circuits ever made. The series comprises the Smiley, the Bender, the Crimson and the Supreme, each a replica of a specific vintage unit rather than a general take on a circuit type, and each carrying a "JHS Mode" switch that modifies the sound beyond the original design. Gearnews reported the launch price at $179 per pedal¹.

The maker described the series in its own words²:

The four pedals and the circuits they recreate:

• Smiley: a faithful recreation of the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face, specifically the early silicon versions, with Volume and Fuzz controls plus a JHS Mode button that sends it into high gain, gated fuzz territory³⁴.
• Bender: a replica of the 1973 MKIII Tonebender, specifically the Silver/Orange "Onomatopoeia" version, which featured three germanium transistors. It carries Volume, Tone and Attack controls, and its JHS Mode button adds gain plus a mid frequency boost³.
• Crimson: a recreation of the Mike Matthews' Red Army Overdrive (Sovtek), described as warmer, clearer and more defined than the Soviet Big Muffs that followed. Its JHS Mode button engages a mid frequency boost⁵.
• Supreme: a faithful recreation of the Univox Super Fuzz, an octave fuzz. It is an exact replica of a rare 1972 black and gray Super-Fuzz from the maker's collection, with Volume and Expand knobs plus Tone and Mode push-buttons⁶.

The Smiley's lineage ties it to one of the most widely used fuzzes of the vintage era: the original Arbiter Fuzz Face was famously used by Hendrix, Clapton, Gilmour and many more, and the pedal keeps the Fuzz Face's revered characteristic of cleaning up when the guitar's volume is rolled back³⁴.

On the Supreme, the Tone button engages a mid cut that flattens out the pedal's attack, working like a preset scooped-mid EQ, while the Mode button activates JHS Mode, which delivers a much more pronounced octave up effect, thicker mid-range and more available volume and boost⁶.

Gearnews summed up the value of the launch: "for $179 each these pedals are a bit of a steal"¹.