JHS
LEGENDS OF FUZZ BENDER AND SMILEY FUZZ PEDALS
TESTED BY DAVE HUNTER
INTRODUCED IN THE early 1960s, the fuzz box was one of the first genuine solid-state effects pedals for guitar. It speaks to its expressiveness that the effect has remained both timeless and eternally in fashion in at least one prominent genre of
popular music (and sometimes several) for the better part of six decades. The sound of a good fuzz pedal never seems to wear thin, and time and again it has been at the forefront of the latest wave of guitar-fueled fury as practiced by players ranging from Keith Richards and Jimi Hendrix to Billy Corgan and Jack White, and beyond. Pedal maker JHS is celebrating the manysplendored world of fuzz with retro-styled re-creations of four gnarly noisemakers in its Legends of Fuzz series, the two most seminal of which we took under foot this issue.
JHS is known for its creative and occasionally complex effects pedals, but those in the Legends of Fuzz series — all of which are based on analysis of several original pedals in proprietor Josh Scott’s collection — signal what the company sees as a “post-boutique” wave. Says Scott, “I feel like maybe we’re coming back around and people are going to start playing simple stuff again. Everything’s cyclical. It’s like you go for 10 years and then you want simple again. That’s how it’s been since the ’60s.”