JHS Fumble - Faithful Dumble BBC-1 Circuit Josh Cloned For John Mayer

The JHS Fumble exists because of the biggest mistake in JHS history. In May 2025, the NOTADUMBLE solderless DIY kit launched with two circuits: a boutique Dumble-style overdrive and what was supposed to be a replica of the rare A Box Later clean section that John Mayer owns. But a week after release, while preparing a Short Circuit episode, JHS discovered that the clean side was not the A Box Later at all. It was a completely different Dumble preamp circuit that JHS had reverse engineered for Mayer back in 2019 and then forgotten about. The wrong circuit had been put into a run of 15,000 pedals.

The mistake was publicly acknowledged, the remaining units were sold through, and the NOTADUMBLE V1 was discontinued. But something unexpected happened. Players loved the mistaken clean circuit. They wanted it as its own pedal. That circuit is the Dumble BBC-1, and the Fumble is its faithful production version.

The story gets stranger. While digging through the history of the original unit, JHS discovered that the BBC-1 is not really a Dumble design at all. It is a JFET preamp lifted almost part for part from a 1970s Barcus Berry acoustic preamp, the kind of utility box used to bridge piezo pickups into electric guitar amps before modern acoustic preamps existed. Howard Dumble cloned it, put it in his own enclosure for a handful of LA players, and later used the same JFET stage inside his amplifiers as the FET mode. Which means the legendary Dumble FET sound inside £200,000 to £400,000 amps is itself a clone of a 1970s piezo preamp. The Fumble is a clone of that clone of that clone. Three generations deep into one of the strangest chains of events in pedal history.

The Fumble is a simple, elegant JFET clean boost with two knobs and true bypass switching. Output is your master volume. Input is the surprising one. It is not a standard gain control. It attenuates bass and input gain simultaneously. Fully right has no cut. As you turn it left, bass and gain are gradually reduced. Roll it down for a thinner, tighter response. Roll it up for a fuller, louder one. There is almost nothing else on the market that boosts in this way.

It can be used four ways. As a permanent buffer and sweetener at the front of your board, tightening everything downstream. As a way to slam the front of your overdrives, acting as the missing second stage you have been hunting for. As a way to push a dirty amp, making it bigger, clearer and more articulate. Or as a solo boost at the end of your chain, adding volume and presence without harshness.

The Fumble is for players who loved the clean side of the NOTADUMBLE V1 and want the real circuit in a compact enclosure. It is for anyone who wants a beautifully simple JFET boost with a unique control set. And it is for players who have paid a lot of money for Dumble-style boosts without realising the genuine article was always a version of a 1970s acoustic preamp.

It is not an overdrive or a high-gain pedal. The Fumble is the clean side only, done right, with the story to match. The name itself dates back to 2012, when JHS first considered a Dumble-style overdrive called the Fumble. The project was shelved, the icon and rubber stamp went into a drawer, and the name sat unused for fourteen years. When the biggest fumble in JHS history happened in 2025, the name was waiting.