New JHS Colour Box V2 10th Anniversary Preamp Guitar Effects Pedal

From JHS:

The Colour Box is ten years old, and to celebrate, we're offering a special colorway in a pro-audio aesthetic! Get them while they're hot!

In 2012, I had a crazy idea for a tone shaping device that had never been done before in the world of guitar pedals. I wanted to create an effects pedal that replicated the hard-to-achieve sounds of "direct-in" electric guitar recordings that I loved. Bands like the Beatles, Spoon, Wilco, and Steely Dan had used this technique for years, but it was nearly impossible to recreate live.

I wanted this pedal to transform my guitar rig into the tonal equivalent of a Neve studio console, and that was no small task. After lots of trial and error, experimentation, and re-works, this concept evolved into something far beyond what we had imagined.

In 2014 as we filmed the first demo videos at Abbey Road Studios in London and this idea had evolved into the most unique product we had ever made. The Colour Box was a full-fledged studio-grade preamplifier, EQ, and distortion generator with multi-instrument compatibility. It did what I had always wanted it to do, but it did so much more!

This unit can be heard on dozens of recordings from U2, Wilco, The National, Spoon, Collective Soul, Muse, the War on Drugs, and Phantogram amongst others. As proud of this pedal as we were, we wanted to make it better, so we did.

VERSION 2 EMERGES
The Colour Box V2 has all the same functionality of the V1 with many new and improved additions like expanded EQ controls, a Hi/Lo switch for massive clean headroom, and the ability to pass phantom power to your condenser mics.

The most significant improvements are:
Addition of an Output transformer
Safely Passes 48V Phantom Power
EQ Shift Knobs for precision EQ control
Hi/Lo Switch for ultra clean headroom
100% available clean signal even on acoustic guitar
Silent switching, aka no "switch-pop"
Runs on standard 9V DC Neg power

FEATURES & CONTROLS
The Gain section in red has three controls: Master, Pre-Vol, and Step. The Master volume controls the overall volume of the unit. The Pre-Vol controls the amount of gain between the two internal gain stages, adding more grit, distortion, and even fuzz as you increase the gain.

The Step control increases the gain of each preamp stage in five stages: 1st is +18 dB, 2nd is +23 dB, 3rd is +28 dB, 4th is +33 dB, 5th is +39 dB.

The Hi / Lo switch controls the amount of clean headroom available. In Lo mode you get ultra clean sounds without breakup. In Hi mode the Colour Box V2 distorts much more readily, giving a broad spectrum of overdrive, distortion, and fuzz sounds. A -20dB pad switch on the right side tames volume for high output microphones in XLR input mode.

MOST POWERFUL EQ YET
The EQ section in blue has three Shift controls correlating to its standard Treble, Middle and Bass controls. The classically labeled EQ knobs adjust the amount of frequencies boosted and cut, while the Shift knobs adjust the range of frequencies they control.

EQ Functions
Treble Knob - +/-15dB, flat at noon
Middle Knob - +/-10dB, flat at noon
Bass Knob - +/-15dB, flat at noon
Treble Shift - 2kHz to 30kHz
Middle Shift - 150Hz to 2.4kHz
Bass Shift - 20Hz to 440Hz
The Hi-Pass section is a 2nd order 12dB per octave high pass filter with a -3dB cutoff adjustable from 160Hz to 650Hz.

XLR AND OUTPUT
The Colour Box V2 has a combination XLR and 1/4" input jack to use either an instrument or microphone. Select your input with the INST/XLR selector switch on the right side of the pedal.

VERSION HISTORY
V1 = Smaller enclosure; no "shift" EQ knobs; seven knobs total.
V2 = Larger enclosure; ten knobs total; added Hi/Lo Toggle; passes phantom power; output transformer addition.

Runs only on standard 9V DC negative power (do not plug in anything greater than 9V) and measures 5.7" X 3.75" X 1.85".