The JHS Pedals Hard Drive is the company’s latest effect and offers a unique high-gain distortion. The circuit was designed by the late Cliff Smith and offers something new for the pedal brand.
JHS Hard Drive
This new JHS Hard Drive pedal features cascaded gain stages, a hard limiting circuit, and a class AB amplifier section. Allowing the pedal to cover a lot of ground and it can mimic a lot of classic, well-known distortion pedals.
JHS describes the pedal as a truly unique topology, not based on any single circuit before it, but is a mutt of several distortion pedals. These include effects like the Marshall Shredmaster, BOSS DS-1, and the ProCo RAT.
Cliff Smith
It was the final design work of Cliff Smith, JHS’s former head engineer. “We experimented more with the Hard Drive than any JHS circuit before,” says JHS founder Josh Scott. “Cliff envisioned the Hard Drive as a unique blend of inspirations, not a clone. It’s a testament to his innovative spirit.”
Key Features at a glance
- An original high-gain distortion circuit
- Class AB amplifier section offering a tube-like response
- Both cascaded gain stages and hard limiting circuits for a wide variety of distortion
- A sweepable mid-EQ, Baxandall bass and treble controls
- Pedalboard-friendly silent soft-touch switching with buffered bypass
- Available in Black and Tan finishes
Controls
This high-gain distortion has a relatively simple control layout and offers an array of drive and distortion tones. Apart from the standard Volume and Drive controls, the real heart of the pedal’s tone shaping comes from the sweepable mid-EQ along with the Baxandall bass and treble controls.
It is certainly a pedal to check out if you like ’80s and ’90s Metal or if you just enjoy high-gain distortion.
MSRP – USD 199
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