JHS Morning Glory Clean

The JHS Morning Glory Clean is a transparent overdrive pedal from JHS Pedals, built on the company's long-running Morning Glory circuit, itself a Bluesbreaker-style topology. What sets it apart from every other Morning Glory is a Clean knob that blends a parallel clean signal in with the drive, using a dual-gang potentiometer so the clean gain scales proportionally with the drive signal across all settings¹.

JHS describes it as "the ultimate first-stage overdrive pedal," and Guitar World reports the company calls it "the best first-stage overdrive it has ever built"². It grew out of a conversation between JHS and guitarist Julian Lage after a soundcheck in Chicago, where they discussed what Lage looks for in an overdrive¹. Josh Scott says witnessing that soundcheck gave him the idea for the pedal².

A Morning Glory with a parallel clean blend

The Morning Glory Clean is not a new circuit. Delicious Audio puts it plainly: "The Morning Glory Clean is not a new pedal," calling it the same overdrive JHS has been building for years with one significant architectural change⁵. In the JHS demo video, the presenter is more specific: "It is a Morning Glory V1 to be more precise"³.

The original Morning Glory dates back to 2008, when Josh Scott released it as a three-knob overdrive based on the sound of a Marshall Bluesbreaker⁶. It has gone through four versions, V1 through V4, with hand-painted editions along the way⁷. Gearnews explains where the Clean fits: it takes the Morning Glory V4 and replaces the two-position gain switch with a Clean blend knob⁸.

The architectural change is the parallel clean path. JHS rebuilt the pedal around what Guitar World calls a "studio-grade" parallel clean gain stage paired with the drive². The Clean control uses a dual-gang potentiometer, so as you turn it, clean gain scales proportionally with the drive signal¹. Guitar World describes the same mechanism in player terms: "this Clean knob is a dual-gang pot that scales clean gain hand-in-hand with drive"².

The payoff, according to JHS, is clearer pick attack, improved low end, and more versatile gain stacking¹.

The controls

The pedal has four knobs and a bypass footswitch, with top-mounted jacks for input, output, and 9V power¹³.

Premier Guitar's writeup gives a practical starting point: "Start with Clean and Drive maxed, dial Clean back (counter clockwise) until you find your perfect balance"⁴.

One detail worth knowing before you dial it in: the tone control only affects the drive path, so the clean signal stays untouched no matter where the Tone knob sits³.

Using it as a clean boost

With the Clean control all the way up, the pedal changes character. In the JHS demo video, the presenter explains: "When the clean is turned all the way up, the drive and volume can be used in tandem to actually turn this into a really" versatile tool, adding that "in this mode, you are actually in sort of a clean boost mode"³.

That flexibility echoes what reviewers have long said about the original Morning Glory. Pedal of the Day noted in 2015 that the pedal could be used as a tone-shaping boost left on to bring life to an amp, cranked to push an amp into natural overdrive, as a low to medium gain drive, or stacked with other overdrives⁹.

Power: ±9V dual supply, 60mA

The Morning Glory Clean connects over a standard 9V DC center negative input and consumes 60mA¹. Internally, the power section runs on a ±9V dual supply, the same topology as the Morning Glory V4¹. Delicious Audio notes that this dual-supply topology, shared with the V4, provides higher headroom than most Bluesbreaker variants⁵.

What reviewers said

Early coverage has focused on what the clean blend means for the pedal's character. Guitar World calls it "a very different take on the much-celebrated transparent overdrive," and notes that with the Clean dial fully counterclockwise, "it behaves like an O.G. Morning Glory"².

Delicious Audio's review frames the pedal's purpose: "For players who want their overdrive to sound less like an effect and more like an amplifier simply working harder, this" is the tool for the job, describing it as a considered, functional design⁵.

The Morning Glory family it comes from has a strong track record with the press. Delicious Audio places the JHS Morning Glory at the top of its roundup of Bluesbreaker clones and variants¹⁰, and Gearnews's Andreas Cordes wrote that "The JHS Morning Glory brings the sound of a Marshall Bluesbreaker to your pedalboard"¹¹.

JHS's own demo video walks through the pedal's layout and both operating modes³:

In the video, the presenter covers the top-mounted input, output, 9V power, bypass footswitch, and the volume, drive, tone, and clean controls, then demonstrates the clean boost mode and the original Morning Glory behavior at full counterclockwise Clean³.

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The Morning Glory family and the Wanderer

The Morning Glory Clean is the newest addition to the Morning Glory family of pedals³, and the family keeps growing. JHS also offers the Wanderer, a dual overdrive combining the Morning Glory V4 and NOTAKLÖN circuits in one enclosure. Where the Wanderer puts two complete JHS overdrives side by side, the Morning Glory Clean keeps one circuit and adds the parallel clean blend to it.

Videos

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Questions