JHS Colour Box V2 Studio Grade Preamp Pedal and Direct Box
JHS Colour Box V2 Studio Grade Preamp Pedal and Direct Box
Preamp - EQ - Overdrive - Distortion - Fuzz - DI Box
Have you ever heard songs like the Beatles "Revolution", or Motown classics like Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, or even the modern Radiohead's "Bodysnatchers" and thought, "How are they getting that guitar sound?" Well, the answer is sort of clothed in obscurity, but it's actually created by the simplest practical application - plugging a guitar directly into a vintage studio console and recording "direct in." The JHS Pedals Colour Box is designed and created to allow you to recreate these infamous guitar tones with your live rig, or in a studio environment by using 100% analog circuitry true to the design and schematic of vintage Neve* circuitry. The Colour Box is completely free from any digital modeling. Never before have "direct in" tones been available from your guitar amp in the way that the Colour Box delivers them.
Aside from creating these "direct in" tones, the Colour Box covers all the ground that you would expect a high quality studio preamp to cover. From your microphone, bass, keyboard, or even your acoustic guitar, it does it all.
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. This acts as a "drive" or "gain" control, 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. Rotating the Step knob from left-to-right will increase the gain by the following: 1st is +18 dB, 2nd is +23 dB, 3rd is +28 dB, 4th is +33 dB, 5th is +39 dB.
The Colour Box V2 has a new Hi / Lo switch to control the amount of clean headroom you have available. In the Lo mode, you will easily be able to get ultra clean sounds without breakup. Lo Mode is excellent for tone shaping when distortion is not needed. In the Hi mode, the Colour Box V2 will distort much more readily, giving you a broad spectrum of overdrive, distortion, and fuzz sounds.
In addition to the Hi / Lo gain switch, there is a -20dB pad switch on the right side of the Colour Box V2. This function only works when in XLR input mode and can help tame the volume for high output microphones.
MOST POWERFUL EQ YET
The EQ section in blue has three new Shift controls correlating to its standard Treble, Middle and Bass controls. The classically labeled EQ knobs adjust the amount of frequencies that get boosted and cut, while the Shift knobs adjust the range of frequencies that the Treble, Middle, and Bass knobs control.
EQ Functions
Treble Knob - Cut/Boost Control +/-15dB flat at noon. CCW cuts, CW boosts.
Middle Knob - Cut/Boost Control +/- 10dB flat at noon. CCW cuts, CW boosts.
Bass Knob - Cut/Boost Control +/-15dB flat at noon. CCW cuts, CW boosts.
Frequencies controlled by EQ Shift Knobs:
Treble Shift - 2kHz to 30kHz – CCW lowers the center Freq, CW raises the center Freq.
Middle Shift - 150Hz to 2.4kHz – CCW lowers the center Freq, CW raises the center Freq.
Bass Shift - 20Hz to 440Hz – CCW lowers the center Freq, CW raises the center Freq.
The Hi-Pass section is enabled by the toggle switch below the Hi-Pass knob. Just flip it up to engage the Hi-Pass knob. The HPF is a 2nd order 6dB per octave highpass filter. The -3dB cutoff freq (the frequency at which the filter starts to act) can be adjusted 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 input selector switch on the right side of the pedal labeled INST/XLR.
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.
5.7” X 3.75” X 1.85"
THE COLOUR BOX V2 RUNS ONLY ON STANDARD 9V DC NEGATIVE POWER (DO NOT PLUG IN ANYTHING GREATER THAN 9V)