JHS has added three new pedals to its Legends of Fuzz lineup. By giving the same reverent yet affordable treatment to more rare dirt pedals from the '60s and '70s, JHS brings the chance of even more vintage flavors to your riffs and licks, without the collector-level price tags.
These new pedals—Berkeley (a '73 Fresh Fuzz Replica), Mary-K (a '69 Kay Fuzz Tone Replica), and Plugin (a '67 Boss Tone Replica)—join the original four Legends of Fuzz released in 2020. Keep reading to learn about each pedal, new and old.
Oh, and there's also a new Volture sag utility pedal, which mimics the effect of a dying 9V battery on your fuzz(es). Why? Because losing a bit of juice was how some of your favorite guitarists got some of your favorite sounds back in the day. And one way or another, we're all here to get some incredible vintage fuzz tones.
The Volture is only $80, and there's nothing stopping you from trying it out on nearly every other pedal you own. So go ahead and grab one while you're here.
Based on the ultra-rare Seamoon Inc. Fresh Fuzz from 1973, the Berkeley is JHS' tribute to a single op-amp variant of the Fresh Fuzz ("the rarer single op-amp 741 version," JHS says, for all you deep pedal heads out there).
The Mary-K is JHS' new take on the Kay Fuzz Tone, which was marketed in the late '60s as a low-cost alternative to the Shin-Ei/Univox Superfuzz. But as you can see in the Reverb Price Guide graph for original Kay Fuzz Tones, it is by no means a low-cost option these days, averaging a $601 used price at the time of writing.
The new Plugin is an homage to the Jordan Electronics Boss Tone, a small effects box built to plug into a guitar's output jack. JHS takes the more practical step of putting similar circuitry into a standard stompbox format.
Lastly for the brand new pedals is the Volture. Like we said above, the Volture lets you trim the amount of voltage going into your fuzz(es), just like a dying 9V battery changed some of your heroes' delicious tones. But the Volture's even better, because you actually have control over the loss of voltage, instead of just grabbing an old battery and hoping for the best.
At the time of the 2020 lineup's release, JHS' Josh Scott called it "our tribute to the most important fuzz circuits ever made. It is our way of ensuring that the stories of these effects live on in the music that you are going to make."
The 2020 Legends of Fuzz lineup includes:
- Bender, modeled after a 1973 MK3 Silver/Orange Tonebender.
- Crimson, modeled after the Mike Matthews Red Army Overdrive (which, despite its name, is a fuzz pedal).
- Smiley, modeled after early silicon-transistor Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Faces.
- Supreme, modeled after a '72 Univox Super-Fuzz.
Watch both our new Legends and old Legends videos above to hear the resurrected glory of these rare fuzz circuits.
Follow the links above and order yours on Reverb today.