JHS Pedals Releases second batch of its Legends of Fuzz Vintage Circuit Recreations

I commented on this new trio already in my recent monthly pedal-chain update post. When the first batch came out I noted that this style of unergonomic enclosure was not really to my preferences - it was overly large, and even worse - it had its knobs mounted on the top edge - facing away form the player - making it difficult to see exactly how the fuzz is set up. Then as now, I’m of the same mind that these are really rather unergonomic and unnecessarily large pedals. Moreover, and apart from a very early V1 Fresh Fuzz - they bear no resemblance to the actual fuzzes they replicate.

The JHS Plugin Fuzz recreates the small plastic 1967 Jordan Boss Tone Guitar Plugin Fuzz

The JHS Mary K recreates the 1969 large treadle style Kay Fuzz Tone

The JHS Berkeley recreates the 1973 2-knob Seamoon Fresh Fuzz

I have several Boss Tone type fuzzes already - including the Bearfoot FX Burgundy Bosshorn, KMA Machines Fuzzly Bear, and Animal Factory Baron Samedi. I fully intend to get the Basic Audio Texsur (as featured in the visual) - that will likely be my 22nd or 23rd Basic Audio Fuzz. I’ve also had my eye on the Monsterpiece Angry Dick 2000 and Schu-Tone Back Stabber Mini. I would have all of those above and beyond what the JHS Plugin offers.

For the Kay Fuzz Tone - I already have the Basic Audio Kay Fuzz pictured - which is my only take so far on that circuit - what’s neat about JHS’s Mary K though is that it has an Expression jack - so you can deploy it in the same fashion as the treadle-style original! So if I were to get any of those - the Mary K would be my likeliest choice.

Then finally the Seamoon Fresh Fuzz (Opamp style) was actually wholly new to me - I had not come across it before. There seems to be some slightly conflicting references on the Effects Database - but it looks like the Fresh Fuzz inspired several other later fuzzes - including the Black Cat OD-1 Freddy Fuzz and Custom Audio Electronics Freddy Fuzz, as well as the EWS Fuzzy Drive / Little Fuzzy Drive - the latter of which I have. I did some pedal digging on Google, Reverb.com and Ebay, and found a cool compact clone by French builder Farmer Factory (as pictured) - which of course I snapped up for €144 + shipping, and which should in theory be with me next week. Interestingly the very first incredibly short lived version of the Fresh Fruit actually looked quite similar to the JHS wedge - while the more familiar version is the one pictured.

I think generally Josh Scott’s outfit makes pretty decent pedals - it’s just that I don’t really gel with these particular Legends of Fuzz enclosures - too large and impractical for me really. I also like to promote more independent builders - and John Lyons has definitely paid his dues and earned his spurs - and should be your first point of call for most of these vintage fuzz replicas. No one makes more varieties and of such consistently high quality. I don’t think he ever made a Seamoon Fresh Fuzz - I reached out to him with the question - but he has yet to respond. Some in-depth internet digging didn’t yield any traces of a Basic Audio specific Fresh Fuzz - while some of John’s Facebook posts have the slightly misleading ’Fresh Fuzz’ headers! Just meaning fresh new batches though - not that particular Seamoon variety. All the Seamoon clones I spotted were 2-knob types - and the Farmer Factory one with that cool etched circuit design on its facia - was the prettiest one I came across.

There was another mini bonus to the release in the guise of the mini Volture Voltage Starve pedal which simulates a dying 9V battery - and you can dial down the volts - to get increasingly more broken-up fuzz output. Historically Alchemy Audio’s Dead Bat Micro pedals have been the go-to solution for that function - just a cool inline tiny analog passive pedal - while the new JHS one does add a bypass footswitch which is handy too. Someone commented that it would be nice to see the actual Voltage you are dialling down too - a little like on the Silktone Fuzz I guess - indeed - I would certainly snap up one of those if they ever materialise.

So on this occasion - it’s been an education for me - as I wasn’t aware of the Seamoon Fresh Fuzz before this release. While my most likely acquisition here is probably the mini Volture. I’m a little tempted by the Mary K’s expression action - but no - I still feel those enclosures are mostly ’clunkers’. While of course you can never say never!

How about you?