JHS Colour Box Preamp/OD/Fuzz

JHS Colour Box

Studio Console- On the Board, On the Go

By Chris Loeffler

“Direct to the board”, or plugging a guitar or instrument straight into the recording console in the recording studio, has produced some of the most iconic sounds in guitar recording history with bands from The Beatles to Radiohead plugging straight in for an entirely different texture than a standard guitar amplifier can provide. It’s the tone that shouldn’t sound good on paper, but can be transcendent with proper application and context. Overdriven, a hi-fi studio preamp distorts and fuzzes out in a very different way than a guitar amplifier or distortion effect… it tends to sound less colored and different frequencies jump out. The challenge to this tone, of course, is that it’s hard to emulate outside of the studio.

The JHS Colour Box, beyond all the marketing talk and legal-skirting verbiage, brings the sonic vibe of a Neve 1078 preamp to the pedalboard in a compact format and affordable price. The Colour Box features both 1/4 inch and balanced XLR ins and outs, meaning it can add it’s color and vibe to vocals as well as guitars, although only one I/O configuration can be used at a time. The EQ section features powerful Baxandall controls for Bass (120Hz), Mids (1kHz), and Highs (10kHz) capable of up to a 17dB boost/cut as well as a High-Pass filter that allows cutting all frequencies below 60Hz to 800Hz that can be toggled on/off. The 3 band EQ is very intuitive and much more responsive/expansive than a single tone knob, or even most 3 band EQs found on amps. The possibilities are almost infinite for how the tone is shaped, and the range of sounds (especially once the preamp begins to overdrive) means the Colour Box can sound like an entirely different pedal with just a couple of tweaks to the EQ.

Of course, I/O configurations and EQ are all in service to the preamp itself, so let’s get to the meat of the pedal. There are three gain controls, Pre Vol, Master, and Step, that control the two gain stage preamp. Pre Vol controls the volume of the signal before it hits the preamp to allow fine tuning of how hard it is hit, the Master controls the output volume of the pedal post-preamp, and the Step control progressively ups the preamp gain from 18 dB to as much as 39 dB. The Colour Box is certainly more hi-fi and full frequency than the range of a typical guitar amp. Bypassing the preamp of a guitar amp produces the “album” tones most people would be interested in this amp for, while running the Colour Box on the pedalboard like a standard overdrive achieves a similar tone, but with the added filter of the guitar amp’s preamp section. Both are great and valid tones, and the “best” application really comes down to the amp being used and the desired tones. The OD and fuzz that will peak most people’s interest is there in spades, but the clean tones can’t be ignored. The Colour Box can really draw out the percussive, piano-like character of a Fender Strat in lower gain settings that makes the guitar sound MUCH bigger.

Looking outside of its application for guitar players, the JHS Colour Box can turn any bass into a grind machine and absolutely retains the subs, and it definitely opens up keyboards (especially with light clipping). Used for direct vocals, there is an added dimension and sweetness to the tone, and interesting textures are revealed when overdriven with a voice that has a bit of growl to it. It’s basically enhances anything you run through it once you understand how to shape its EQ and gain. The cleaner the amplifier or PA, the more the Colour Box shines.

JHS made the ingenious design decision to have the different controls of the Colour Box assigned into color groups, with gain controls in red, EQ controls in blue, and the Hi Pass in Yellow. It’s a small touch, but it speaks to the level of thought that went into designing the pedal. The foresight to build it true to a console preamp including XLR I/O makes it a swiss army knife that covers everything from live performances to studio recording applications. It’s hard to rationalize securing the JHS Colour Box to a pedalboard when it has so many other uses for musicians.

Resources

JHS Colourbox Product Page (Street $399.99)

Buy at Sweetwater

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Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.