Distortion is a guitar effect that alters the signal’s waveform, creating a gritty, aggressive sound characterized by a high level of harmonic content and sustain. It’s achieved by amplifying the input signal to the point where the amplifier or pedal’s circuitry begins to clip, causing the waveform to become squared off and jagged. This clipping produces harmonics that weren’t present in the original signal, resulting in the characteristic “gritty” or “dirty” tone associated with distortion. Distortion pedals typically feature controls for adjusting the amount of gain or distortion applied, as well as tone-shaping knobs to tailor the sound’s frequency response. Distortion is widely used in rock, metal, and punk music to add power, aggression, and sustain to guitar solos, riffs, and rhythm parts, creating a bold and intense sonic impact in the mix. Popular distortion pedals include the Boss DS-1, Pro Co Rat, and Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi.
Electric guitars use magnetic pickups to convert string vibrations into an electrical signal, which is then amplified. Unlike acoustic guitars, they rely on amplification for volume and tone shaping, making them highly versatile in genres like rock, blues, jazz, and metal. Electric guitars come in many body styles—solid, semi-hollow, and hollow—and feature different pickup configurations, neck types, and hardware. From smooth clean tones to aggressive distortion, they offer a wide sonic range, making them the backbone of modern guitar music.
A pedal is a compact device that guitarists use to alter their instrument’s sound by shaping effects such as distortion, delay, reverb, and modulation. Typically housed in a rugged enclosure and controlled by footswitches, pedals are designed to be placed on the floor for hands-free operation during playing. They can be analogue or digital, true bypass or buffered, and come in countless varieties to suit different styles and preferences. Pedals are essential tools for creating signature tones and adding colour and texture to a guitarist’s sound.
We have new and used JHS musical equipment available on our website for fast direct delivery from sellers across the UK & Europe.
JHS Pedals was founded by Joshua Heath Scott in Jackson, Mississippi. He began by repairing and modifying his pedals and then sold modified pedals at the local guitar shop before designing his own. Among his early models were the Morning Glory overdrive and the Pulp ‘N’ Peel compressor. In 2009 Scott moved the company to Kansas City, Missouri, eventually expanding to 10 employees.JHS released the Panther analogue delay in 2011 and the SuperBolt overdrive and Prestige booster/buffer/enhancer in 2012.
JHS manufactures and sells pedals with a variety of effects, including the Morning Glory V4, the Muffuletta, the 3 Series, the Pulp’N’Peel V4, the Andy Timmons AT+, the Paul Gilbert PG-14, the Legends of Fuzz series, the Unicorn Univibe, the Lucky Cat, the Double Barrel V4, the 1966 Series and the Colour Box preamp.
£109.99
Effect type: Distortion Construction type: analogue Mono/Stereo: Mono In, Mono Out Modes: 2 modes Switch: Gain
£47.99
It is a high-gain distortion pedal especially designed for metal. If distortion is blade, BladeMaster is the master born to manifest the blade to its ultimate. Normally, HI GAIN metal distortion delivers a feeling of hollow out, with a dull and stiff tone, strictly matching some special amps, while BladeMaster offers a full tone similar to Hi Gain …
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£29.99 £25.49
JOYO High Gain Distortion guitar pedal, get the kind of hard distortion used by the bands you love-from the crunch of AC/DC to the heavy metal of Metallica. With a full range of EQ adjustment and tone control, from a little blues rock crunch to an all out snarling distortion this is one versatile pedal. When used with single coils at lower gain set…
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£186.12
Using this pedal is like adding a new and ultra-flexible distortion channel to your favorite clean amplifier Three-band EQ sets the Violet apart from our other popular distortion pedals Midrange control before the distortion circuit as a powerful pre-amp distortion shaping tool Single design choice allows the Violet to achieve hundreds of tones, fr…
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£24.36 £21.40
Pushes distortion to the extreme by producing crushing, bottom-heavy distortion for modern metal and hard rock Dual distortion with gain boost circuitry to give you super thick and heavy distortion with brutal low-end punch and endless sustain Dedicated gain boost, distortion, tone, bottom and level controls for awesome sound shaping Blue status le…
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