“This all-original distortion circuit is a home run for fans of ’90s guitar tones”: JHS Hard Drive review

If someone mentions ’90s rock guitar tone, there’s a fairly broad church of sounds that might spring to mind. The tail end of hair metal, the fuzzed edges of grunge, thick saturation of pop-punk and even the retro-tinged wall-of-sound brought to us by Noel Gallagher. 

So, when JHS says its new Hard Drive pedal is based on ’90s tones, we’re listening! The Hard Drive is the brand’s first pedal not to be based on, inspired by, or otherwise adapted from any other pedal. It also happens to be the final output of JHS Head Designer, Cliff Scott. 

Born out of jamming at the JHS HQ, founder Josh Scott says that the idea came to him while rocking some riffs through an Ibanez Smash Box distortion pedal in 2016. Eight years on and many revisions later, the Hard Drive is here.    

On the face of it, it’s a fairly straightforward pedal – albeit with two colours to choose from (Black or White), with gain and output level, plus a three-band EQ. Now, any fan of Dimebag will tell you that the key to a great ’90s metal tone is to scoop your mids. 

The Hard Drive makes this possible with a sweepable mid frequency, allowing you to dial in the exact part of your midrange that you want to then boost or cut using the mid level control.

We’ll start by saying that however you set your controls, this thing is punchy. If you’re sick of your picking attack being squashed by the compression that comes with hard clipping, you won’t have a problem here. This in turn lends itself beautifully to fast, alternating palm-muted powerchord riffs, with every pluck cutting through. 

Our first stop is a scooped drop D sound, and we can confirm it nails the Dimebag thing perfectly (you’ll probably want a noise gate for full authenticity, though). With the treble up high, there’s a Rat-like grind to the sound that remains present across the upper gain settings, perfect for emulating the near-fuzz tones of grunge. 

Meanwhile, with our guitar in standard tuning, we’re able to get classic Marshall JCM and Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier sounds with ease – think classic Green Day and early Foo Fighters.

It’s thick, full and bursting with clarity. A must for fans of the era.

Specs

• PRICE: $/£199
• TYPE: Distortion pedal
• CONTROLS: Volume, Drive, Bass, Mid Freq, Mid Level, Treble
• BYPASS: Buffered
• POWER: 9v PSU (not included)
• CONTACT: JHS Pedals