The Angry Charlie is a high-gain overdrive/distortion pedal from JHS Pedals, built to deliver Marshall-style tones from a stompbox. Pedal of the Day's review described it as producing "High gain Marshall tones reminiscent of a JCM-800"1, and Josh Scott of JHS has called it the company's most famous high-gain pedal, "the jcm800 in a box"2. Its circuit traces back to the Marshall Guv'nor distortion: MusicRadar describes it as "a circuit that began life as a modded Marshall Guv'nor distortion"3, and Scott has said he designed it after the Guv'nor3.
The pedal sits in JHS's lineup as a British amp-in-a-box option, and it has been one of the company's steady sellers. Scott has said JHS sold "between 20 and I possibly 25,000 units" of the Angry Charlie and AT pedals4.
The controls: volume, drive, tone and presence
The Angry Charlie Channel Drive has four knobs: volume, drive, tone and presence1. On the V3, JHS says the drive and volume controls interact the same way as the master volume on an amp head5, so pushing the drive up and pulling the volume back behaves like cranking a master-volume Marshall. In JHS's V3 demo video, Scott describes the volume control as a master output control7.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Master output level; interacts with Drive like a master volume amp head57 |
| Drive | Sets the gain, from medium-high overdrive up to full distortion8 |
| Tone | Shapes the frequency balance; works in reverse, like the filter on a ProCo RAT1 |
| Presence | Adjusts the top-end bite; also works in reverse like a RAT filter1 |
The tone and presence knobs are worth a closer look for anyone used to conventional EQ controls. Pedal of the Day's review notes that "The tone and presence knobs work in reverse like filter on Proco Rat"1, meaning the controls sweep the opposite direction from what most players expect. A later review of the Sweet Tea dual drive, which includes an Angry Charlie circuit, added that "A Presence knob has a beautiful range for specifically crafting your own Marshall sound"9.
Distortion, overdrive, or both?
Where the Angry Charlie falls on the overdrive-to-distortion spectrum depends on who you ask. JHS lists the Angry Charlie V3 on its product page as an overdrive5. Guitar World, covering the Boss and JHS collaboration pedal built around the circuit, described "the Angry Charlie carrying that medium-high overdrive all the way to distortion"8, while Gearnews called it "a distortion"10. In practice it is a high-gain pedal that covers both territories, which is why players often reach for it when they want pushed British amp sounds rather than a low-gain boost.
Where it came from and who plays it
The circuit's lineage runs through the Marshall Guv'nor, the distortion pedal Marshall released in the late 1980s. Scott has written that he "would later design a pedal of my own after Marshall Guv'nor called the Angry Charlie"11. The Channel Drive version was featured on Pedal of the Day on May 11, 201416.
The pedal also has a documented connection to Andy Timmons. On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick recounted that "this was the pedal that Andy Timmons first used when what was it the effects loop on his amp stopped working he had to" find a pedal to replicate his amp's drive channel12. That relationship later grew into JHS's Andy Timmons signature AT pedals, including the AT+ and The AT, which carry the Angry Charlie concept further with wattage-mode toggles.
"We've sold between 20 and I possibly 25,000 units."
What reviewers said
Pedal of the Day's 2014 review of the Channel Drive called it a "Very tight sounding overdrive" and found "the tone and presence knobs are very useful to shape your tone in different amps. Very wa"rm and punchy overall1. Scott himself has pointed to the pedal's staying power, calling it "one of my best selling pedals" in JHS's distortion history series13, and noting that "It stacks amazingly with the Blues Driver"8.
The Angry Charlie V3 was also put through a head-to-head comparison against the Friedman BE-OD on That Pedal Show's AB comparison series14, a useful reference for players weighing it against another British-voiced high-gain pedal.
In JHS's own demo of the V3, Scott walks through the pedal's controls and sounds215:
The Angry Charlie circuit also lives on inside other JHS products, including the Sweet Tea Dual Overdrive, which pairs it with a lower-gain circuit for players who want both sides of the drive spectrum in one enclosure9.
Videos
Sweetwater
TheGigRig
Questions
Is the JHS Angry Charlie true bypass?
Yes. The Angry Charlie Channel Drive uses true bypass switching, so with the pedal off your signal passes through without the circuit coloring it. That is how Pedal of the Day's 2014 review described the original Channel Drive version of the pedal.
What power does the JHS Angry Charlie need?
It runs on standard 9V DC negative power, the same supply as most modern pedals, so any typical 9V center-negative adapter or pedalboard power supply works. No battery or special voltage requirement has been published for it.
How big is the JHS Angry Charlie?
The Angry Charlie Channel Drive measures 2.2 inches by 4.3 inches by 1.5 inches, roughly the footprint of a standard single-effect pedal. It will fit a normal pedalboard without taking up the space of a larger dual-effect enclosure.
How do the tone and presence knobs work on the Angry Charlie?
The pedal has four knobs: volume, drive, tone and presence. The tone and presence controls work in reverse, like the filter on a ProCo RAT, so turning them counterclockwise opens up the high end rather than rolling it off as you might expect.
Is the Angry Charlie a distortion or an overdrive?
It sits between the two. JHS lists the Angry Charlie V3 as an overdrive, while Guitar World described it as carrying a medium-high overdrive all the way to distortion, and Gearnews called it simply a distortion. Think of it as a high-gain British amp-in-a-box pedal.
Sources (15)
- JHS Pedals Angry Charlie Channel Drive, Pedal of the Day, 2014-05-20
- How To Run Guitar Pedals In Parallel (Summing Amp, Buffered Splitter, Morning Glory, & More!), JHS Pedals (YouTube), 2025-01-22
- Boss JB-2 Angry Driver review, MusicRadar, 2018-02-26
- The JHS AT Mini: Andy Timmons' Sound, Priced at $129, JHS Pedals (YouTube channel), 2026-08-25
- ANGRY CHARLIE V3, JHS Pedals
- JHS Pedals Angry Charlie Channel Drive, Pedal of the Day, 2014-05-11
- JHS Pedals Angry Charlie V3, JHS Pedals, 2016-01-22
- Boss and JHS Pedals Team Up to Introduce JB-2 Angry Driver, Guitar World, 2017-09-08
- JHS Pedals Sweet Tea Dual Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2014-09-04
- Boss collaborate with JHS on Angry Driver JB-2 overdrive pedal, gearnews.com, 2017-09-08
- RECREATING MY GUITAR RIG FROM 20 YEARS AGO, JHS Pedals, 2020
- Distortion! Boss DS-1 Waza vs Vintage DS-1 vs Standard DS-1 Vs JHS Angry Charlie & JAM Rattler, That Pedal Show (YouTube), 2022-10-28
- HISTORY OF DISTORTION PART 2, JHS Pedals
- TPS AB Comparisons, That Pedal Show, 2016-12-06
- [SWEET TEA V3
Andy Timmons
