JHS Colour Box V2 Preamp Bass Demo

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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Featured gear:

JHS Colour Box V2 Preamp:

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[shayneleonard]

Hands down the best bass stuff on YouTube. Nobody else compares.

[Crodon]

The idea of demo'ing the pedal with the microphone too is really smart, so we can really hear whats going on while you talk about it!

[Miville]

Using the pedal on your voice while you're explaining its features is actually very useful. Great idea. Maybe you're starting a trend. ;-)

[markgreen]

It fills my limey heart with joy to see an American spell colour properly :P ;-)

[mrdeer]

7:08 So that's why all pilots sound like this! They have a color box installed in every plane's cockpit.

[thewetterbass]

What an entertaining and unexpected video! Loved it! I plugged, in studio, into the V1 for quite some time and really enjoyed the clean settings of the preamp but, just like you, not that much the distortion at higher gain. Also, the name is spot on: a box to “color” your sound… 😬

[CamiloPefaur]

This pedal is designed to be like a mixer console channel. It's not a distortion nor a fuzz pedal. That's why the "drive" you get is like saturating a PA mixer channel

[kevmac]

That sounds damn good.Ive heard nothing but great reviews on this.Also very versatile.

[fabiocester]

Damn! I wasn't looking for another pedal

[charleshale]

You should try the HPF and then boosting the bass at the same time, you get that classic sort of Pultec warm and tight low end from it!

[edbutler]

I use this pedal as my DI out and the last stage on my board. I do not like it's breakup when overdriven, but that's not what I'm using it for. I have the gain set just under the breakup point, and I find that adds a bit of harmonic content, some "fatness", and possibly a hint of compression. And I do some subtle final tone shaping with the 3 band EQ. The one thing I wish JHS would change, or offer as a mod, is to have the high pass filter set at around 30Hz. I do like using a HPF, and it would be nice if this unit had it set at a usable frequency for bass.

[stoatystoat]

Great way of reveiwing this. Think its because the human voice contains such a wide range of frequencies you can hear very clearly what range of frequesncies are being are being cut etc. (edit: dewafled)

[GAZZA]

I owned 1 for about a year. Awesome recording device for anything... using the step gain, and a little eq IS the Beatles revolution guitar sound..
I'm a bass player, think Origin Effects dcx bass, with way more eq..and gain options...I have a dcx on my pedal board...

[peterbeulke]

Fabulous well done explained very well

[michaelkeefer]

I like the idea of having a three band semi parametric equalizer. I also like the bass tone with just a little bit of fuzz, sounded nice and fat. I would agree though that I don't like the higher gain settings for bass. I could see me using this to get that fat slightly fuzzy vintage tone, but it would need to be a lot more compact to work on my pedal board.

[Andyanddiana]

Au contrair re. the hi Pass filter - in some rooms, one's bass might put out too much low end, and a hi pass can come very much in handy.

[MrCloud]

But a HPF around 40hz cleans the signal up SOOO much

[jdmarino]

Are they crazy!? The bass knob goes on the left!

[kimsosson]

Great and pretty complete video. Thank you. Hmm…Song at the end of the video? Anyone ?

[morganoaks]

What song is the bassline at 2:21 from?