JHS Double Dragon

The JHS Double Dragon, officially the Lo-Fi Octave Device, is an all-analog monophonic octave-down and octave-up effect. It is JHS Pedals' first dedicated octave pedal, after years of the company building mostly overdrives and fuzzes, and it launched in late February 2026 at $179¹². Two voices live inside: a lower sub-octave and a separate octave-up distortion, each with its own footswitch, so you can stack them or run one at a time¹³.

JHS describes the lower octave as the foundation: thick and analog, with the characteristic behavior that made vintage octave circuits loved. The upper octave is an octave-up distortion that lands somewhere between an Octavia and a Superfuzz, with a mid-range sting¹⁴. Because it is a monophonic divider circuit, it is built for single notes, not chords.

Built on vintage octave divider circuits

The Double Dragon is built on 40 to 50 year old analog octave divider technology, the same technology that gave us the MXR Blue Box, DOD Octaplus, Boss OC-2, Ibanez OT10 and Electro-Harmonix Micro-Synth¹. That lineage matters for what to expect: these old divider circuits track one note at a time and have a lo-fi character, unlike modern digital pitch shifters that can handle chords cleanly.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson notes it can glitch when playing more than one note, with occasional glitches on single notes too³. That glitching is part of the vintage divider sound rather than a defect, and it is why JHS calls the pedal a Lo-Fi Octave Device. Gearnews describes it as a mono effect that straddles fuzz and distortion tones among the octave effects⁵.

The controls and footswitches

The layout is four knobs and two footswitches, in a bright yellow enclosure with bright red knobs⁵.

The left footswitch is the master ON/OFF. The right footswitch engages the OCT+ circuit, and the main effect must be on for OCT+ to function¹. Pedal of the Day's reviewer liked the second footswitch for adding that extra octave up and distortion when you want it⁴.

Two useful tricks come straight from the control set:

• Octave-up only: engage the effect and turn OCT- all the way down¹⁵.
• Clean preamp: turn the octaves off and Dry all the way up, and the Volume knob becomes an always-on preamp¹.

Power and connections

The Double Dragon runs on a 9V DC center-negative supply and consumes 75mA¹. JHS warns plainly: do not use more than 9V DC, as damage may occur and the warranty will be voided¹. Jacks are top-mounted, which saves board width, and the effect is mono¹⁵. The buffered bypass means the pedal is not true bypass, but switching is silent¹⁵.

What reviewers said

Reviews across the press were positive about the pedal's flexibility. Pedal of the Day's reviewer called it one of the more versatile octave pedals they had played, crediting the second footswitch and the Dry knob's range⁴. Delicious Audio's Brent P. Gladless framed its appeal:

Guitar World quoted JHS founder Josh Scott on the design intent: "This is a look backward at octavers"². Gearnews listed it at Thomann for $198 / £175 / €199 at launch, against JHS's own $179 price⁵¹.

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