JHS Smiley

The JHS Smiley is a fuzz pedal from JHS Pedals' Legends of Fuzz series, a line the maker describes as "our tribute to the most important fuzz circuits ever made"¹. The Smiley recreates the late-'60s silicon-transistor iteration of the Arbiter Fuzz Face, the circuit famously used by Hendrix, Clapton, Gilmour and many more². JHS describes its sound as "clear and defined, straddling the line between distortion pedal and a searing sustain," with sustaining low end and crisp mid-range bite¹.

Where a stock Fuzz Face copy would give you two knobs and nothing else, the Smiley adds a JHS Mode button that pushes the circuit into gated, high-gain fuzz. It is currently listed at $89.50 USD as a final sale item, with no cancels, returns or exchanges¹.

The Fuzz Face circuit behind the Smiley

The Smiley is inspired by the first-era silicon model Arbiter fuzzes¹. GuitarPlayer's Dave Hunter explains the lineage: the pedal "recreates the late-'60s iteration of the legendary Arbiter Fuzz Face, whose circuit featured silicon transistors, giving it the tighter, crispier tone Jimi Hendrix was said to prefer"². Delicious Audio calls it "a sonically faithful recreation of what makes these early silicon Fuzz Faces great"⁴.

Silicon Fuzz Faces differ from the earlier germanium versions in character. Hunter notes the circuit is "a pretty spitty, spluttery fuzz circuit to begin with, which is part of the fun"². MusicRadar's reviewer frames the Smiley as "a more straightforward take on the silicon Fuzz Face, but with an extra JHS-developed modified mode"⁵.

One behavior the Smiley keeps from the original is the cleanup trick. JHS calls this "one of the most revered characteristics of a good Fuzz Face," its ability to clean up when the guitar's volume is rolled back¹. In practice that means you can ride your guitar's volume knob for anything from a dirty edge to full fuzz without touching the pedal.

The controls: Volume, Fuzz and JHS Mode

The Smiley keeps the original's two-knob layout and adds one button. GuitarPlayer highlights "its inclusion of just two control knobs, like the original, for fuzz and volume"².

Pedal of the Day found the simple layout sufficient: "Volume and Fuzz controls are all you need here"⁶.

What JHS Mode does

The JHS Mode button is the pedal's one departure from the original circuit. JHS says "this mode sends the Smiley into high gain / gated fuzz territory that you may never want to come back from"¹. Hunter's take on the button: "the JHS mode engaged with its left-side push-button switch induces a severely gated high-gain fuzz tone"². Pedal of the Day described it as "really ramping everything up and crushing everything"⁶. A gated fuzz cuts the signal off abruptly rather than letting it decay, which suits stabs and single-note riffs.

Power: 9V DC, 4mA

The Smiley runs on 9V DC, center negative, with a 4mA draw¹. It also takes a single 9V battery, installed in a battery clip under the backplate¹, so it works on a board or standalone.

The 4mA draw is low enough that the pedal is easy to place on a shared pedalboard supply alongside other compact effects¹.

What reviewers said

The Smiley traces back to the original Arbiter Fuzz Face, a fuzz famously used by Hendrix, Clapton, Gilmour and many more⁴. JHS positions the pedal's single Fuzz control in straightforward terms: "Fuzz is the distortion control; the more you turn it clockwise, the more fuzz you create"⁴.

The Legends of Fuzz series

The Smiley belongs to JHS Pedals' Legends of Fuzz series, which the maker describes as "a collection of the world's most historic, rare, and sought after circuits"¹. Each pedal in the series recreates a landmark fuzz; the Smiley is the silicon Fuzz Face entry, while the JHS Legends of Fuzz Bender takes on the Tone Bender circuit². For players comparing fuzz types more broadly, the series is one route into vintage circuits without hunting original units.

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