The Kilt Pedal

When the opportunity to work with legendary guitarist, writer, producer, and founding member of the famed UK band Delirious came about, JHS couldn't pass it up. Right out of the gate StuG wanted a dirt box that could essentially cover any and all ground he needed for his studio work and extensive touring gigs. From that request, the Kilt was born.

The Kilt is a true 2-in-1 Dirt Box / Boost in a small footprint that packs all the power, range, options, and tones you could ever want. The left side is heavily inspired by the original and sought after Expandora, but with some major tweaks that bring this classic effect to a new level of tones and usability. Of all the drive pedals JHS has released, this one is as close to “doing it all” as any. You can achieve transparent light tube-like breakup, bluesy overdrive, thick natural distortion, and even over the top fuzz from this one box.

At the heart of the left/dirt side is a specifically chosen op-amplifier that offers super low noise, improved slew rate for a smoother structure, and a character that just feels better than the original. There are also 3 mini toggles for the left/dirt side that enhance tweak-ability and options even further. The "Cut" toggle gives you the ability to cut or boost the low end frequencies. The down position is the stock setting that gives you a significant and very useful bass boost over the original Expandora that lacked greatly in this area. The up position is closer to an original Expandora and thinner, hence the term cut. The "G1" and "G2" toggles let you select various forms of distortion via select resistance values that switch in and out in the clipping section of the circuit. This method is very different than your normal diode clipping selectors that you commonly see on drive pedals. This gives you multiple configurations and tonal options, helping the Kilt cover light transparent drive all the way to a fat wall of distortion and everything found in between. The controls from left to right for the left/dirt side are “Volume", "Tone", and “Gain." These are pretty self explanatory in the fact that the "Volume" is the overall master output volume of the drive, the "Tone" rolls in high end as its turned clockwise, and the "Gain" controls the amount of distortion by turning the input of the pedal up or down allowing less or more signal to hit the circuitry that causes the distortion.

The right/boost side is a JFET boost with an ever so slight amount of grit and presence that helps in boosting solos or slamming the front end of the left/dirt side to achieve even more distorted sounds. The "Boost" knob controls the volume level of the boost and the mini "Order" toggle lets you choose between Boost pre left side (switch down) and Boost post left side (switch up).

The Kilt runs at 9v and has true bypass switching all inside a custom polished aluminum enclosure.