color box pedal JHS Colour Box 10th Anniversary – Telluride Music Co

color box pedal JHS Colour Box 10th Anniversary – Telluride Music CoThe Colour Box is JHS's attempt to capture the unique, hard to replicate tones of an in electric guitar plugged directly into a Neve console. Inspired by classic artists like the Beatles, Spoon, Wilco, and Steely Dan, who popularized the direct in sound, JHS set the ambitious goal of transforming a guitar rig into the tonal equivalent of a Neve studio console. The Colour Box took shape through extensive experimentation and development, ultimately

The Colour Box is JHS's attempt to capture the unique, hard-to-replicate tones of an in electric guitar plugged directly into a Neve console. Inspired by classic artists like the Beatles, Spoon, Wilco, and Steely Dan, who popularized the “direct-in” sound, JHS set the ambitious goal of transforming a guitar rig into the tonal equivalent of a Neve studio console. The Colour Box took shape through extensive experimentation and development, ultimately evolving into something beyond expectation.

The Colour Box debuted in 2014, and its first demos were recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios. This pedal is a full-featured, studio-grade preamplifier, EQ, and distortion generator with true multi-instrument compatibility, fulfilling its original intent while opening new sonic possibilities.

Since its release, the Colour Box has found a place in a wide range of professional settings, from studio sessions to large-scale live rigs. Producers, engineers, and artists alike have incorporated it on an impressive range of sources—vocals, drums, acoustic instruments, synths, and more. Its versatile design and unique tone have made it a staple in recordings and live performances from artists like U2, Wilco, The National, Spoon, Collective Soul, Muse, The War on Drugs, and Phantogram.

As the Colour Box celebrates its 10-year milestone, this limited-edition colorway honors a decade of innovation while delivering the same sonic mastery loved by artists worldwide.

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. 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 12dB per octave high pass 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.

THE COLOUR BOX V2 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"