The new JHS Coyote is a meticulous recreation of the long-lost Moonrock Fuzz, designed by Glenn S. Wyllie, a reclusive North Carolina builder whose work never reached mass production but quietly found its way into the hands of serious players. His approach was unconventional, bordering on obsessive: hand-etched boards, sandcast enclosures, and a circuit philosophy that broke the rules.
Coyote’s defining feature is its Swell / Fuzz / Octave control — a single knob that continuously sweeps through three distinct sonic zones.
Fully counterclockwise, you enter Swell territory. There’s a gated, almost reverse-tape quality as the signal fades in from silence, responding dynamically to how hard you pick. At noon, the pedal settles into a full-bodied Fuzz. Turn it fully clockwise, and the Octave takes over.
The magic, though, lies in the in-between. These aren’t hard switches — they’re gradients. Every position along the sweep reveals a slightly different texture, inviting experimentation.
Octave fuzz pedals aren’t known for subtlety, but this one is surpsingly subtle. Roll back your guitar’s volume knob, and the pedal cleans up in a way that feels almost impossible for this category. At lower settings on the main control, light picking yields warm, controlled fuzz, while digging in triggers the swell effect.
If your reference points include Jack White, Gary Clark Jr., Beck, Dan Auerbach, or John Mayer’s octave-laced tones on “Belief,” you’re already in the target zone. Blues explorers, doom riffers, and fuzz obsessives will find plenty to dig into here.
