Revolutionary Collaboration: Boss + JHS

 

Right about the time the boutique pedal boom hit its stride, I was at a NAMM show talking to a Boss executive. I posited that his company, while not really threatened by the two or three other major effects companies, might be dying the death of a thousand cuts from the plethora of small manufacturers. While he was circumspect about it, I felt he knew it was true. I then suggested Boss partner with one or more of the boutique manufacturers to combine the Japanese giant’s manufacturing and distribution power, with the hipness cache and sonic innovation of these smaller companies. He was noncommittal, but now here we are, long after his departure from Boss, looking at something something similar to what I suggested with this combination of the Boss classic Blues Driver and the JHS boutique Angry Charlie.

Despite the rise of the custom indie craze, many touring guitarists still prefer using Boss pedals because, unlike your hand-painted small batch honey, on the rare occasion your Boss pedal stops working, it is readily replaceable all over the world. Now players can have their cake and eat it too thanks to the melding of Boss and JHS to produce the JB-2

Here’s to many more such collaborations.

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