To get just an average tolerable sound out of this pedal is like trying to solve an aerobics cube blindfolded. It's as if I'm in a toxic relationship with a beautiful person who keeps hissing at me no matter what I do. Every button I push to fix the problem just adds to another one. Like it's mad at me for no reason. And after a session of fighting with this thing and trying to play it out, I have that throbbing ache right between the eyes. Marking the first time that Boss has ever worked with another pedal developer, the Angry Driver JB-2 sees a unique collaboration between Boss and JHS Pedals. In this small format, you get this amazing switching system that is out of this world with series and parallel,” Josh relates. “You have six controls for two pedals, but the six controls in parallel become six controls for one new pedal, and that is very, very cool. So you have the Angry Charlie that people know, and the Blues Driver that people know. But when you put them together, the six controls all interact and there are hundreds of sounds. I think that's a fantastic product.” Nominal Input Level -20 dBu Input Impedance 1 M ohm Nominal Output Level -20 dBu Output Impedance 1 k ohm Recommended Load Impedance 10 k ohms or greater Controls Pedal switch The JB-2 is Boss'first collaboration pedal! They’ve teamed up with awesome the JHS Pedals to combine two of their best stompboxes into one sublime little unit. The JB-2 Angry Driver blends both the JHS Angry Charlie and Boss ' own BD-2 Blues Driver. When this plan came up, we used the ES-8 Effects switching system to try numerous combinations of our pedals with the JHS Angry Charlie,” Yoshi relates. “I thought a combination allowing each pedal to complement the other would be interesting to try. The sound of the Angry Charlie is exactly what BOSS didn't have.”

With humble beginnings, JHS started out as a mod shop, taking existing stompboxes and replacing their components to improve their sound. It was in 2007 that founder Josh Scott started selling modified Boss BD-2s, inspired by the instance that his very own unit broke and he managed to repair it. Yoshi and Josh regularly visit with each other at the yearly NAMM shows, and they had discussed the idea of a collaboration a number of times. With BOSS celebrating the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the compact pedal design throughout 2017, Yoshi felt the time was right to develop a new pedal together. “In the 40 years of BOSS compact pedal history, this is a first,” Yoshi said. “I think it's a wonderful thing that two companies have collaborated based on a great mutual respect for each other.” To experience working on a product with a company that has done this thing so well for so long has been really inspiring,” Josh continues. It’s just amazing to see such talented people that love what they do.” Josh is very pleased with the way the JB-2 turned out, saying, “I am 150-percent satisfied. I love it.”

With more than a decade's worth of pedal building know-how, JHS has a strong and varied lineup. But there’s definitely one pedal that can be classed as its flagship product... JHS Angry Charlie

Boasting a powerful 3-band EQ section, this pedal is also very versatile, letting you adapt it easily for dark or bright-sounding amplifiers. With a wide range of gain on tap, the Angry Charlie can go from Hendrix-esque crunch to searing metal tones. When Parallel mode is activated, it runs both circuits in Parallel, maintaining the clarity of both at the same time. Using a remote switch while Parallel mode is activated drops out the BD circuit, giving you the AC alone. With this mode, you can turn the JB-2 on or off with the standard pedal, engaging the BD-2 circuitry while adding a remote switch allows you to switch between the Angry Charlie and Blues Driver circuits. USED products: 4% of the current new selling price to increase the warranty from 3 months to 1 year. 4% for each additional year.I’ve been meaning to get more of these myself actually, as I have quite a significant number of high gain distortions in my collection, but only a Keeley Modded Twilight Zone Metal Zone and Angry Driver to date from this selection. At first sight the JB-2 looks like a conventional overdrive, with four knobs labelled Level, Tone, Drive and Mode, but closer inspection reveals that the first three are dual-concentric pots, enabling completely independent control over the two circuits, and the last is a rotary switch. The real magic happens with the mode switch, which allows the drive circuits to be used individually, in series or in parallel — and in serial mode you get to decide which circuit comes first in the signal path. These figures will vary depending on the actual conditions of use. Accessories Leaflet ("USING THE UNIT SAFELY,""IMPORTANT NOTES," and "Information") Gaining notoriety on the popular YouTube channel ‘That Pedal Show’, the potent sound of the Angry Charlie caught the attention of even the biggest names in the business. JHS/BOSS Angry Driver

input or battery powered, delivering high quality sound along with legendary Boss build quality – the JB-2 gives you everything that people love about Boss pedals with a great new flavour created through a great collaboration between Boss and JHS Pedals. I'm running my pedalboard straight into a powerstage 700. All other tone pedals sound as they should and behave well despite the odd setup. All of which are less money and more simple in design. Accessory Coverage: Any peripheral devices or accessories that come with your product (i.e. foot pedal, case) are also covered. So that you can seamlessly integrate the JB-2 Angry with your rig and style of playing, it comes with six different modes for you to choose from:To celebrate the 40th anniversary of BOSS compact pedals, BOSS and JHS Pedals have come together in a historic creative collaboration between the two industry leaders. Housed in the classic BOSS compact design, the JB-2 Angry Driver pairs the tones of the iconic BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver with JHS Pedals’ popular Angry Charlie. Working closely together, the two pedal innovators have developed an all-new combined circuit with refined sound and performance perfectly tuned for dual-mode drive operation. The idea to develop the JB-2 pedal was born of the friendship between BOSS President Yoshi Ikegami and JHS Pedals founder Josh Scott, and their shared passion for innovative pedal design. The Blues Driver has long been a favorite pedal for Josh, and he credits it for leading him into designing his own pedals and starting his own company. “I got into pedals because, as a player, I used two Blues Drivers together for years and years. One day, one of them broke. I opened it up and realized it was just a simple soldering fix. It really sparked my curiosity and that just took over my life, and JHS pedals came into existence out of repairing that pedal.” For several years, we have been continuing to take on new challenges with the keyword “Breakthrough,” Yoshi said. “I think it's very refreshing and thought-provoking for our engineers to work with such an up-and-coming company and get inspired.” All of which come in the form of dual concentric knobs so you get a huge amount of sonic potential at your fingertips.

Whilst JHS now boasts a large product range, the company hasn’t entirely abandoned its roots. Still offering modded pedals, this show that JHS are still open to garnering inspiration from other manufacturers. BOSS pedals are no doubt one of the most well-known guitar pedal companies out there, their legacy needs no introduction, their lineage of instantly recognisable pedals, sounds and familiar consistent quality have made them one of the go to choices for all levels of Guitarist. Its no doubt that BOSS has influenced many other budding pedal companies over the years in their choices of effects and approach to design. One particular person they influenced was a dude by the name Josh Scott, Josh of course is the brain power behind the awesome pedal brand JHS pedals. He has been making some fantastic pedals for many years now which are incredibly popular with many professional players. Josh has a YouTube channel in which he talks about the history of pedals, brings in pedals from different brands and talks about their influence on Guitar Players and his own pedals as well. One video he has done on his YouTube channel is about how much of a ‘Fanboy’ of BOSS pedals he is. So to see that JHS has had a chance to hook up with Guitar Pedal Giant JHS is truly heart-warming and of course well deserved. The JB-2 stood out as the most versatile pedal overdrive that I can recall playing in quite some time—maybe ever. In 2017, JHS collaborated with legendary pedal company BOSS to produce a joint-designed pedal. Named the Angry Driver, this pedal combined core elements from the Angry Charlie and Boss’ Blues Driver. Modded Pedals In recent years Boss’s Metal Pedals came in for some unfair criticism - in particular the Metal Zone which was a joke meme for the longest time - even though it is Boss’s second best selling pedal of all time supposedly. Recent revivalism and playing these pedals through an amp effects loop has largely managed to restore the reputation of these pedals which are all very decent high gain tone machines - some just require more due diligence when dialling in. As you can here from the various below demos there is no ’bad’ sounding pedal amongst these - that is unless of course you don’t like this genre of music. But generally the Boss High Gain Pedals server up very decent chunky soundstage which server most types of metal. You may not like some of the sub-genres, and possibly have other pedals whose core tones and features you prefer, but that doesn’t discount these 9 pedals in the slightest - and the newer ones will hold their own against mosts of what else is out there.In advance of the arrival of the OD-200 I thought it would be good to do an overview of Boss’s own various Drive and Distortion pedals. In my recent ’Yellow Means OverDrive’ feature I covered off all of those particular Boss pedals, so this article is at the other end of the scale of gain - the High Gain and Metal Distortions. I will then follow up with a 3rd article covering those drives and distortions that sit between these and the 9 OverDrive pedals covered already.