There’s so much more that goes into building a pedal—but you do need to get your workstation in order first.
Think that price tag on that pedal is a bit high? There’s a lot more that goes into it than just what’s in the box.
The inspiration for this topic comes from a recent video published by JHS Pedals. The video consists of Josh Scott giving an honest breakdown and rebuttal to a video posted to YouTube by John Nathan Cordy. In Cordy’s clip, he disassembles a JHS pedal while asking if the general consumer is getting “ripped off” because the cost of the parts isn’t very exorbitant. (Cordy later issued an apology.) I’ve often lived by the motto, “You’re not paying for the parts; you’re paying for how they’re put together.” So, what goes into making a pedal, and are they overpriced? There’s a lot to cover, so let’s dig in.
It can be easy for a consumer to get bogged down by the cost of the end product in relation to the value of raw materials. This is made even more evident given that we have access to the value of the raw materials. A quick web search for a Fuzz Face schematic, followed by some research on where to purchase those components, along with their value, might leave you scratching your head as to why a boutique manufacturer might be selling a Fuzz Face-style pedal for $199 and up. I’d immediately point out that your head isn’t the only thing that we’ve scratched in this example—we’ve only scratched the surface of the cost.
Let’s say I’m a contractor, and you want me to put up a fence on your property, and I buy $100 worth of wood and nails and put it up in 10 hours. Is that job worth $100? No. I don’t think anyone reading this would think that. People understand costs when they go past the tangible. We’re talking about labor. The very thing that employees are reimbursed for. That’s still not the aspect that I think the common consumer struggles to grasp. I think that they have a disconnect when it comes to the ancillary. In this example, it would be the cost of the tools, the insurance and fuel for the work truck, and the advertising cost for the page where you found the contractor in the first place. Let’s bring this back to pedals and unpack this a little bit more.
I’m going to attempt to outline bringing a pedal to life, from the inception of the idea to the selling of the final product—all while trying to expose the costs that I think people forget or simply don’t know about. I feel like a magician right now. “I’m going to attempt to make 15 buses appear on this skyscraper. All while hanging upside down and blindfolded.” Anyway, let’s give it a try.
“You’re not paying for the parts; you’re paying for how they’re put together.”
We know that the cost of the parts for a fuzz pedal is on the low side. Residing here in America (and for me in New England), we know that labor costs are on the higher side. But let’s keep digging up and exposing those forgotten or unknown running costs. After the idea of making the product, it starts with having the space to design and work on it. That would be rent, business insurance, liability insurance if there are employees, and common utilities bills. You need a bench to work at with adequate lighting, storage for the parts, and the parts themselves. These parts are only in our possession after hours of research on which parts we want to use. This includes specs like tolerance, material construction, component size, lead pitch, voltage ratings, and so on. But let’s not jump the gun. We need to order a variety of parts so that we can assemble the circuit on a breadboard, test it, make changes and additions, and record the results onto a schematic. That is, of course, after we purchase and learn how to work on a breadboard, and connect it to an instrument and amplifier. Then we need to learn how to read and write in the language that is electronics schematics. This is something that 95 percent of pedalbuilders learn on their own. So there’s no formal education cost here, but it’s hours and hours of learning.
Let’s say we’ve made it this far and we know what we want to use in the fuzz circuit. Next, we order the parts (most likely from several suppliers and pay separate shipping costs for all). Once they arrive, we stock them in their appropriate locations. Now we’ve arrived at a big step: turning what we have on the breadboard and schematic into a circuit board that mates with an enclosure. Oh, dear!
Join me for part two as I break down the next steps in this journey from idea to final product—and final price.
Nineties-style high-gain heaviness that can be surgically tailored with a powerful EQ.
Excellent variations on high-gain modern distortion tones. Powerful EQ.
Not many low- or mid-gain sounds here.
$199
JHS Hard Drive
jhspedals.com
JHS makes many great and varied overdrive stomps. Their Pack Rat is a staple on one of my boards, and I can personally attest to the quality of their builds. The new Hard Drive has been in the works since as far back as 2016, when Josh Scott and his staff were finishing off workdays by jamming on ’90s hard rock riffs.
During these sessions, Scott’s go-to pedal was the Ibanez SM7 Smash Box. He realized that JHS had never offered anything along those lines, conferred with his then lead engineer, Cliff Smith, and the wheels were set in motion. Over several years of design, the Hard Drive evolved from an SM7 homage to a unique, original circuit.
JHS’ Hardest to Date
The Hard Drive’s control panel is streamlined, consisting of knobs for volume, mid frequency, drive, bass, middle, and treble. Driven by cascading gain stages, the Hard Drive can cop a wide range of modern distorted tones. Even at the lowest drive settings, the Hard Drive simmers, delivering massive bottom end on muted power chords. Nudging the drive up very slightly transforms the Hard Drive into a roaring Marshall JCM 900. And if you bring the drive all the way up, you’re in for all out chaos. Even with an amp set just louder than bedroom levels, the Hard Drive, with its volume at just 11 o’clock, is very loud and in-your-face. You don’t have to work hard to imagine how this could sound and feel like multiple stacks raging at Madison Square Garden in the context of a recorded track.
Even at the lowest drive settings, the Hard Drive simmers, delivering massive bottom end.
Zoning the Frequencies
Unlike some heavy pedals that concern themselves with mega-gain and little else, the Hard Drive’s EQ controls are very effective and powerful. Moving the treble knob from 11 o’clock to 1 o’clock changes the pedal’s tone and response characteristics completely, opening up and transforming the naturally relatively dark sound of my Fender Super Sonic amp. Turning the treble knob all the way off with the bass and mid knobs at noon gives me a vocal lead tone that’s creamy, warm, and still immediate and responsive.
The middle and mid frequency controls work in tandem. The mid control itself works as a cut or boost. The mid frequency control, however, lets you choose the specific frequency you cut or boost. I found these controls invaluable for sculpting tones that could leverage the copious gain without being abrasive. Meanwhile, adding more high midrange lends clarity to complex chords.
The Verdict
The Hard Drive is an unapologetically heavy pedal—if you’re looking for a dirt box that can double as a clean boost, well, the Hard Drive is not that. It’s meant to slay with gain, and it performs this task well and with a vengeance. There are countless dirt boxes on the market that deliver hot rodded, ’80s-style brown sound. Fewer cater to the subsequent generations of high-gain players that used the ’80s as a mere jumping-off point. The Hard Drive is very much voiced for this strain of heavy music. If that’s your jam, the Hard Drive is hard to beat.
EHX’s expanded bass version of the Lizard Queen.
Released in 2023, the EHX Lizard Queen was born out of JHS Pedals’ Josh Scott and Graphic Artist Daniel Danger’s love and admiration for 1970s Electro-Harmonix design. The original has a gnarly octave fuzz tone that musically interacts with your dynamics and features a blendable octave sound. Electro-Harmonix took this sound and has expanded and optimized the circuit with the bass player in mind.
The EHX Lizard King is a fixed-gain fuzz that is dynamically responsive. Adjustments to your instruments volume affects the amount of fuzz. Lower instrument volumes create a clear, fuzzy overdrive, while full instrument volume sends the gain over the top for ripping riff and searing solo tones. The familiar VOLUME and OCTAVE knobs control overall output and octave blend volume respectively. New to the Lizard King, the BLEND knob sets the mix between your clean and fuzz tones to create the perfect balance of fuzz while retaining your bass’s attack and low-end. The TONE knob is a low pass filter that rolls off the highs, while the SUN/SHADOW switch further enhances the tone of the octave fuzz and clean tones. SUN boosts the octave fuzz with a more driving midrange, and the clean tone accessed by the BLEND knob has more treble and bass frequencies. When the switch is set to SHADOW, the clean tone is unchanged, and fuzz tone is tighter.
The EHX Lizard King features True Bypass switching, can be powered by a standard 9V power adapter and comes equipped with a 9 volt battery. The pedal will be available in JULY 2024 and have a U.S. Street Price of $129.00.
Electro-Harmonix LIZARD KING Bass Octave Fuzz Pedal (EHX Demo by NATE NAVARRO)
More info: www.ehx.com.