JHS Bunrunner

The JHS Bunrunner is a dual fuzz pedal from JHS Pedals: two separate fuzz circuits in one box, each with its own controls, usable on their own or stacked together. The left side is the JHS Astro Mess fuzz and the right side is a heavily modified Tonebender¹²³. The pedal is discontinued, and reviewers noted it had been dropped from the lineup as early as 2014, with examples becoming harder to find on the used market since³⁴.

The pedal came out of a collaboration. JHS says Josh Scott began working with Switchfoot guitarist Drew Shirley on his "Hello Hurricane" touring rig, and the number one need was a single pedal that could do a lot of fuzz. The Bunrunner 2 in 1 was the end result⁵. Pedal of the Day describes it as "a sonic marvel, and one of the most versatile and useful fuzzes we have ever had the privilege of playing"².

Two fuzzes in one box

The idea behind the Bunrunner was coverage: instead of carrying two fuzz pedals, a player gets two quite different fuzz voices in one enclosure, and can run either one alone or both together⁵³. Pedal of the Day's Mike B found that with two sections of differing fuzz to choose from, or together, the pedal covered a wide range, calling it one of the most versatile and useful fuzzes he had played⁴.

When both sides are combined, the reviewer writing in 2023 was blunt about the result³:

The Astro Mess side

The left side of the Bunrunner is the JHS Astro Mess fuzz, and JHS says it is identical to the standalone single unit¹³². The Astro Mess itself was born from the same collaboration: JHS describes it as "the birth child of Switchfoot's Drew Shirley's request and Josh Scott's knowledge of fuzz"⁶. Jeds Peds, whose Hyper Fluff circuit the Astro Mess derives from, notes that "this has been copied by another reputable pedal manufacturer and sold as The Astro Mess"⁷.

JHS describes the Astro side as delivering "all the modern, gated and heavy fuzz you could ever use as well as 8 bit tones galore when needed," tipping its hat to classic high gain fuzz pedals like the Ampeg Scrambler, Kay Fuzz and Octavia¹. Pedal of the Day characterized it as a high-gain, modern-sounding heavy fuzz with a broad range of tones, and highlighted its toggle switch, which "moves your tone from regular fuzz into a whole other stratosphere of sticky, note-heavy distortion"².

The Gate toggle on this side is a sound-shaping tool in itself. JHS says flipping it up has you "splattering notes all over the place with style as the overall structures s" of your playing break down under pick attack¹.

The Tonebender side

The right side is JHS' take on the Tonebender-style circuit, which JHS describes as a heavily modified Tonebender "oozing with germanium fuzz, warmth, character and fullness that is only found in the Bunrunner"¹. Pedal of the Day found it features "warmer, fuller, less harsh-sounding tonal properties, and can in itself provide a nice range of drive sounds"³.

The Bias knob is the control JHS singles out as unusual, since it spans from overdrive-like drive tones to a full wall of fuzz rather than acting as a simple trim¹. Jeds Peds sells a Simply Oak kit that compares to the Tone Bender side of the JHS Bun Runner, for players interested in that circuit's lineage⁸.

Power: a positive ground circuit on a normal 9V supply

The Tonebender side is a true positive ground circuit, which is the kind of design that normally causes power problems on a pedalboard. Positive ground circuits typically cannot share a daisy chain or common supply with standard negative ground pedals. JHS solved this with voltage reversal circuitry built into the Bunrunner, so "you can run this pedal on a normal 9v supply with your other pedals"¹.

V1 and V2

JHS lays out the two versions plainly:

• V1: Same exact circuit and enclosure as V2; some units do not have the Bunrunner icon¹.
• V2: Adds the Order toggle switch, which lets you choose what circuit comes first when both are on at the same time¹.

Pedal of the Day's coverage confirms the split from the player's side: the newer version has an Order toggle "so you can decide which side you want to be placed first or second in your signal chain," while the earlier version does not⁴². The 2017 review noted the same distinction when revisiting the pedal after reviewing V1².

The Order toggle matters most when both fuzzes are engaged, since stacking two fuzz circuits in series sounds different depending on which one hits the guitar signal first. On V1, that order is fixed; on V2, it is a switch decision²⁴⁵.

What reviewers said

Across nearly a decade of coverage, Pedal of the Day's verdict stayed consistent. In 2014, Mike B called it "one of the most versatile and useful fuzzes I have ever had the privilege of playing"⁴. The 2017 re-review repeated the assessment, and the 2023 retrospective added that with the pedal discontinued, it had become a sought-after find on the used market, with the combined sides delivering a level of gain, buzzsaw, warmth, distortion and blitz the reviewer found hard to match elsewhere³².

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