There are certain pedals that carry with them an elusive aura, a majestic, impossible-to-achieve-anywhere-else type of hype and fuss. The Big Cheese from Lovetone, produced for a short period in the mid-to-late 1990’s, is one of these pedals: hard to find, crazy expensive when you do and is used by some of the most recognizable names in the biz, thus enshrining it in the Effects Pedal Hall of Fame. But wait! If you’ve been looking for an affordable way to capture the tones created by this magical effect, look no further than the JHS Pedals Cheese Ball.
Painstakingly recreated from the original Big Cheese itself, the Cheese Ball offers up a familiar control section, one that will have you experimenting and sculpting your sound for years. Volume, Tone and Gain controls make up the core of the Cheese Ball (Whey, Hog/Bee and Curds were the labels on the original pedals), but there’s more here than meets the eye. In keeping with the vintage circuit, this orange gem features a 4-way Mode selector, capable of delivering a slew of fuzzy and distorted goodness for all.
With the selector mode in the Off position, the Tone control is taken out of the equation, giving you a bright, lively fuzz sound. Switch to Position 1, and it’s Big Muff time, complete with scooped mids and a ballsy attitude to boot. Position 2 flips the script, offering a mid-Boost mode, for a truly powerful, bold distortion. Finally, Position 3 delivers a gated, spitting, dirty, schizophrenic fuzz when the Gain is cranked, one that’s sure to scare your neighbors (and bandmates) and vault your tone into the fuzz stratosphere.
Full of otherworldly distortion and fuzz, and paying a genuine tribute to a true classic, the Cheese Ball offers up a wide range of sounds, perfect for anyone who loves to experiment with noise. While the original Big Cheese has been used by such artists as U2, My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, Pavement, Wilco, Dinosaur Jr. and more, the Cheese Ball has a well-deserved hype around it as well, and will appear on a ton of records and pedalboards for decades to come. Check out our demo below, and then go out and grab one from JHS Pedals for yourself!!
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