JHS PedalsJHS Clover Preamp/Boost Guitar Effects Pedal

The JHS Clover is essentially clone of the BOSS FA-1 FET Amplifier "pedal" from the early 1980's, albeit with a couple significant added features. The FA-1 is essentially a simple "clean boost" circuit, and I believe the original (long discontinued) came with a belt clip. The idea was that a guitarist would use this at the front of the signal chain to boost/buffer the signal prior to going into an effects board/rack or amplifier. The original also included knobs a Bass and Treble control, as well as a switch to cut low frequencies. I might not have ever learned about the FA-1, but for the fact I saw it discussed as one of the elements of U2's The Edge. In addition to an intricate stereo setup with modulated delays, The Edge apparently used an FA-1 to front-load his Vox AC30's and achieve a clean-ish tone with nice saturation and that signature chime.POSITIVES:The JHS Clover improves upon the FA-1 in two significant ways. First, it adds a tone control for MIDDLE frequencies. To me, this vastly expands the usefulness of the Clover as a tone-shaping element. You could place the Clover at the beginning of your signal chain as an "always on" pedal. Or you could try it immediately before (or after) one of your other gain pedals to completely change the EQ and drive character of that pedal. By placing it later in the chain, you could even just use it as a volume/gain boost for solos (along with a mid boost).Second, the Clover has an XLR output (with a ground lift), which makes this pedal very intriguing as a preamp/DI box. I'm not going to comment too much on this feature, as I don't have a lot of expertise in PA/audio setups, but I do have a FRFR speaker that I use as my primary "amplifier", so the Clover could be interesting to use with an acoustic guitar.But my primary interest the Clover was as a boost pedal and the effect it would have on my tone, and the Clover definitely delivers in this department. Unity gain on the volume knob is probably around 9:00 or so, and when you click the pedal on with single coils, your signal just instantly comes to life. While the pedal itself is not clipping or distorting the signal, it can result in additional gain by pushing the front of your amplifier harder (same goes with feeding it into another drive pedal).NEGATIVES:I think the most obvious critique of this pedal would be its price - boost circuits are relatively simple, and you could argue that a boost pedal with a little EQ control should not be $200. But I refuse to downgrade my score for that reason, as nobody is compelled to spend the money on it, and you can decide for yourself if you think it is "worth it". Also, I think JHS has made some useful additions here with the EQ options and the XLR output that add additional value and versatility. If you are looking for cheaper alternatives, there are many. I like the DOD Bi-Fet Boost (about $50, I believe), and Valeton makes another FA-1 clone at around $60 to $70. But the Clover is built to last, and is the kind of pedal that could get a lot of use.One minor other gripe would be that there are DIP switches for Ground Lift and Low Cut that are accessible on the sides of the pedal, but they are recessed within a groove cut into the housing, so you probably would need a small pen or screwdriver to adjust them.Overall, this is a niche product and hardly the only option if you want a clean boost with tone control. But I would argue that it's one of the better ones out there, and has the potential to become an integral part of your setup.

I have a super-strat style semi-hollow w/very low output humbuckers that I play through a Mesa Boogie Studio 22. The Clovers onboard EQ improves the overall quality of the tone, adds spectacular note-to-note clarity without sounding sterile, and the bass cut helps clear the mud on the low end without overgouging things which is great with humbuckers. One might think that onboard amp controls can tune things just as well - adjusting the EQ BEFORE the signal hits the preamp section is dramatically different in a great way. I hear slight noise/hiss thru the gain channel but it is very quiet thru the clean channel which leads me to believe that it's a quiet preamp. I enjoy the clean channel now because of this pedal. The buffer is top notch and the boost is also very transparent. I prefer this EQ/boost pedal as the controls are simple but effective whereas multiband EQ pedals can sometimes muck things up. I'd recommend trying the JHS Clover before thinking about swapping pickups or speakers. It's a great pedal for players who want to carve at the natural tone and/or want a pedal to give the perspective of playing a different guitar. Hands down best boost pedal I've ever used.

I had to make a 2nd review.I’m a good guitarist, and I understand the importance of an equalizer.But those multi-slider EQ pedals with numbers never made sense to me.Yeah, I messed around with them and could hear the change in tone, but I just couldn’t understand what exactly it was that I was doing.But the interface on my amp (high, low, mid) was straight forward and self explanatory enough that I easily figured it out.Now, after getting my tone as close to what I wanted on the amp alone, adding this bad boy after my wah and noise-gate allowed me to really hone in on my tone.All the controls are self explanatory and do exactly what they say!I can easily achieve the tone I want with simple knob turns!This thing adds nuanced control and shaping with an incredibly simplistic layout!Best EQ pedal I’ve ever played with!I play metal and pop-punk, and this thing has allowed me to shape BOTH tones perfectly!I can sound exactly like Blink 182 or Slipknot with a simple tweak!10/10!

When people talk about their "go to" pedal, or their "desert island" pedal, I don't think a simple preamp / boost would ever pop into the forefront of their mind. I certainly wasn't expecting it! I bought this to scoop some mids out of my signal before it hits the amplifier, but now found that it's completely changed the way I use my guitars and amplifiers.One of the common ways people use their tube screamers is with the gain on 0 and the volume up, to give a mid-range frequency focused signal boost and add some breakup to a pushed preamp. This takes that idea of an clean eq tweak and runs with it. What if you want way more mids than in a tube screamer? Way less mids? Way more boost into the preamp? What frequencies do you want your preamp get hit with?This gives so much flexibility between your guitar and amp, and can open up a huge range of sounds.Other details: well built, sturdy, nice clover print graphics, and the xlr out is a nice feature for recording. But really, the way this made me think about frequencies hitting the preamp changed the way I approach gain and distortion, and for that it might be my single favorite pedal on my board.