JHS releases The Fumble, a standalone boost built on its wrong circuit

June 3, 2026 · 5 sources

JHS Pedals released The Fumble, a compact boost and buffer, on June 3, 2026, priced at $89¹²³. The pedal is a standalone version of the circuit that went into the first NOTADÜMBLË DIY kit by mistake¹².

The NOTADÜMBLË V1 was a solderless DIY kit launched in May 2025⁴⁵. One side was meant to be a clone of A Box Later, a buffered effects loop unit built by Howard Dumble for John Mayer⁴². Instead, JHS loaded a different Dumble preamp circuit, the BBC-1, which it had also built for Mayer⁴¹². JHS discontinued the kit after its batch of 15,000 sold out and refunded buyers who asked⁴². Josh Scott, the company's founder, called it "the biggest mistake of my career"¹.

The Fumble has two knobs and true bypass switching¹². The Output knob sets master volume⁴¹². The Input knob attenuates bass and input gain together rather than acting as a conventional gain control; turning it down gives what JHS describes as a thinner, tighter response, and turning it up makes the sound fuller and louder⁴¹². JHS says the pedal draws 5mA and is assembled in Kansas City⁵. It cannot be powered by a 9-volt battery⁴.

JHS says the BBC-1 is not an original Dumble design. According to the company, it is a JFET preamp taken almost part for part from a 1970s Barcus Berry acoustic preamp, which Dumble cloned and later used inside his amplifiers as the FET mode¹²⁵.

Reported uses include a front-end buffer, a clean boost, a driver for amps and other drive pedals, and a solo boost⁴². The Fumble is available now².