The JHS Cheese Ball is a fuzz and distortion pedal from JHS Pedals, released in October 2019. It is a recreation of the Lovetone Big Cheese, an English fuzz/distortion pedal from the 1990s that is now out of production, and JHS describes it as "our homage to one of the most excellent fuzz/distortion pedals ever created"12. Where an original Big Cheese now costs about a grand on the vintage market, the Cheese Ball arrived at a $179 street price3.
The pedal carries the standard Volume, Gain and Tone knobs found on most fuzz boxes, plus a four-position mode selector that changes the overall tone and gain character1. It is built in the USA4 in an orange-and-purple colorway that echoes the original's look4.
A copy of the Lovetone Big Cheese
The Lovetone Big Cheese was designed by Dan Coggins and housed in Lovetone's large steel enclosure with multiple footswitches and status indicators6. It was a boutique 1990s English fuzz pedal, and original units now command vintage prices around a thousand dollars3.
JHS Pedals' take puts that circuit in a standard compact pedal format. Guitar World reported the announcement as a replica of the Big Cheese2, and JHS itself calls the Cheese Ball "an exact replica of the Lovetone Big Cheese Fuzz"3. Guitar.com's reviewers characterized it as "a 'faithful and extremely accurate recreation' by JHS Pedals"7. Unlike the hand-built original, the Cheese Ball uses SMT circuit construction with near-match mass-manufactured parts, which is what allows the lower price5.
The controls and the four-position mode knob
The Cheese Ball has three knobs, Volume, Gain and Tone, plus a rotary mode switch in the top right of the enclosure with four positions18. The mode switch selects between four different fuzz and distortion voices4910.
| Mode position | What it does |
|---|---|
| 0: Off (Tone-Stack Bypass) | Tone control completely bypassed54 |
| 1: Scooped Mids | Tone control engaged, scooped midrange54 |
| 2: Enhanced Mids | Tone control engaged, midrange restored54 |
| 3: Gated | Extreme spitting, gated sound54 |
The mode knob is the heart of the pedal. In its off position the tone stack is out of the circuit entirely4. Position 1 engages the tone control and imparts a scooped midrange tonality, which Pedal of the Day likened to a Big Muff-style sound with scooped mids410. Position 2 keeps the tone control engaged while restoring midrange, a mid-boost mode for a bold distortion410. Position 3 changes the tone profile to make a gate, creating an extreme spitting, gated sound34. Delicious Audio described the overall character as a saturated sound that can be contoured down to a more subtle, low-gain sound9.
History: reverse-engineering a 1990s English fuzz
Josh Scott of JHS decided to clone the original Big Cheese circuit and release it as the Cheese Ball8. According to JHS' own account, the circuit was reverse-engineered from scratch from three original units, and MusicRadar reported the clone was "meticulously replicated" from an original 1995 Lovetone Big Cheese, done "with precise detail" and without using online schematics311. The pedal was announced in September 2019, available to pre-order with shipping in late October11, and released that October at $17959.
On a JHS demo video, Josh Scott noted that he uses a Cheese Ball on his own personal board, and that he always puts a drive pedal after his fuzzes to raise the mids12.
What reviewers said
Reviews of the Cheese Ball were mixed in emphasis. GuitarPlayer's reviewer placed the pedal's off and position 2 modes "in the same tonal zone as the best Pro Co Rats and the often-overlooked Tokai TDS-1," and found position 1 "yields a much more fuzz-like tonality, with an aggressive harshness that would be perfectly suited to stoner-rock and doom-metal applications." At maximum gain in position 3, the reviewer wrote that the pedal "unleashes a sputtering, gated retro squawk that will delight disciples of the White Stripes and their sonic forebears"4.
"position 3 unleashes a sputtering, gated retro squawk that will delight disciples of the White Stripes and their sonic forebears"
Pedal of the Day found the pedal offers "a wide range of sounds, perfect for anyone who loves to experiment with noise"10, and gearnews judged the $179 price "pretty competitive for a decent fuzz pedal" for players chasing the Big Cheese fuzz tone81.
Not every assessment focused purely on the sound. A reviewer at GuitarSite found the price point itself worth noting, writing that "the price of this JHS clone is pretty competitive for a decent fuzz pedal and so it could be popular for players searching for the cheese fuzz tone"8. That $179 price also drew a comparison to the original: as one reviewer put it, "The price tag was only $179, versus about a grand for a vintage Lovetone Big Cheese"93.
Videos
Sweetwater
Eirik Stordrange
Guitar Bonedo
Questions
What is the Cheese Ball based on?
It is a recreation of the Lovetone Big Cheese, an English fuzz/distortion pedal from the 1990s that is now out of production. JHS Pedals describes it as a faithful and extremely accurate recreation of the original circuit, reverse-engineered from original units rather than copied from online schematics.
How does the Cheese Ball compare to the Gigahearts Small Cheese?
Both trace back to the Lovetone Big Cheese, but in a 2026 Guitar Pedal X comparison of Big Cheese derivatives, reviewer Stefan Karlsson found the Cheese Ball somewhat welter-weight, sounding thin next to the Gigahearts Small Cheese and the ThorpyFX Field Marshal in output and vibrancy. The Cheese Ball is the mass-produced, lower-priced option of the three.
Does the JHS Cheese Ball take a battery?
No battery option is given. The pedal requires standard 9V DC negative center power and draws 9mA. The power supply is not included with the pedal, so you need to supply your own.
Is the Cheese Ball still in production?
It was released in October 2019 at a $179 street price, and JHS Pedals still lists it on its product page at $179.00 USD as of October 2026, which indicates it remains in the maker's current lineup.
Sources (12)
- CHEESE BALL, JHS Pedals
- JHS just recreated the legendary Lovetone Big Cheese, Guitar World, 2019-09-27
- WORST JHS PEDALS EVER MADE, JHS Pedals
- JHS Pedals Cheese Ball review, GuitarPlayer (www.guitarplayer.com), 2020-07-15
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2020-06-11
- THE LEGEND OF LOVETONE, JHS Pedals
- Review: ThorpyFX Field Marshal & The Bunker, Guitar.com, 2020-08-10
- JHS Cheese Ball Fuzz: Cloning the boutique '90s Lovetone Big Cheese, gearnews.com, 2019-09-30
- JHS Cheese Ball Fuzz, Delicious Audio, 2019-11-06
- JHS Pedals Cheese Ball Distortion Fuzz, Pedal of the Day, 2019-10-19
- JHS Pedals has a tasty treat for your pedalboard with its Big Cheese clone, MusicRadar, 2019-09-30
- How To Run Guitar Pedals In Parallel (Summing Amp, Buffered Splitter, Morning Glory, & More!), JHS Pedals (YouTube), 2025-01-22
