JHS Morning Glory Clean - The Ultimate First-Stage Overdrive Pedal

The Morning Glory Clean takes JHS's most iconic overdrive and rebuilds it from the ground up, redefining what transparent drive can be. It keeps the chime, the harmonic lift and the soft compression that made the original a modern classic, but adds a studio-grade parallel clean circuit that restores low end, clarity and dynamic nuance without compromising the character of the drive. This is the ultimate first-stage overdrive, designed to stay on, stay musical and stay inspiring.

The idea began at a soundcheck in Chicago, watching Julian Lage dial in his tone with a vintage Fender amp and a Collings semi-hollow. His long-time use of the Morning Glory sparked a conversation about what he wanted from an overdrive: more nuance, more touch response, more of the guitar’s natural low end. That conversation led to a complete redesign. Instead of adding a simple clean mix, JHS engineered a dual-gang clean blend that scales gain proportionally with the drive path. The two signals track together across the entire range, with no phase issues, no volume jumps and no compromise.

The circuit runs on a ±9V dual-supply power section, the same topology used in the V4, giving the Morning Glory Clean significantly more headroom than the original and more than any other Bluesbreaker-style pedal. The Tone control affects only the drive path, leaving the clean signal untouched. The result is a pedal that preserves pick attack, restores natural low end and keeps the harmonic sparkle of the Morning Glory even at higher gain settings.

Used as a first-stage overdrive, it delivers the stiff, authoritative feel of a high-wattage amp at the edge of breakup, even at low volumes. Stack a distortion into it and sustain opens up instead of compressing. Run it after delay for new series-parallel textures. It also excels in front of amp modellers, adding presence and dynamic response to Kemper, Quad Cortex, UAD or Helix rigs. Bass players will appreciate how the clean blend restores low end that the original Morning Glory intentionally rolled off, making this one of the most flexible bass overdrives JHS has ever made.

For players who want instant gratification, no bad sounds and a pedal that simply makes everything feel better, the Morning Glory Clean is the most sophisticated and musical version of the Morning Glory ever built.