JHS Colour Box VS Preamp REview
Verdict and Review Summary
I like that you can use this with an XLR connection or like a guitar pedal. Putting it in front of an amplifier was very useful for shaping tone, perhaps more so than the amp itself. Cleans sounded particularly good and were an immediate improvement over the amp's sound on its own. It should be noted that I used a Boss Katana 50, which is a solid amp, but certainly not top tier. The Colour Box V2 is a great tool for any rig and can easily replace an amplifier if needed.
I tested the JHS Pedals Colour Box V2 like a guitar pedal, going into an amplifier, which I had set with a very basic EQ. The alternative is to use it as your only amp and then run it straight to a mixer with an XLR (balanced) connection or an audio interface. Either one works. To summarize, it gives you a ton of granular control, especially on the clean side, higher gain settings sound more like a fuzz box, which is good if that's what you're after, but I didn't find that as compelling. The improvements to your clean tone are worth the price of admission. Here's the unboxing, with demos below.
My Quick Review Card/Summary of the JHS Pedals Colour Box V2 Preamp
BEST FOR: Clean tones, anyone looking for granular control over their non-distorted sound, going direct to a mixer or PA system, going without an amp.
TONE
92
VERSATILITY
95
CONTROL
98
COST/VALUE
88
- Analog/transformer circuit
- Tons of control on the clean side
- Shift controls give you another layer of detail for your EQ
- Great solution for guitar, bass, or microphone
- 9V power is convenient for such large pedal
- Pricey, even by preamp standards
- High gain/breakup sounds are just ok, more like a fuzz
Clean Tones
To my ear, the Colour Box's specialty is clean tones. It beefs them up a lot, just by turning the pedal on, before you even move the controls off 12 o'clock.
Colour Box use cases?
This is a very capable amp replacement, either for bass or guitar. It can also be used for microphones and the XLR in/out lets you connect easily, then run to an audio interface or mixer.
Heavy settings, distortion, and fuzz
I was less excited about the high gain settings, which can be run up with the hi/lo toggle or the pre-vol control. It's more like a fuzz tone than a distortion, which is great if that's what you're looking for. I think I was just so happy with the cleans that I'd rather put a distortion pedal over top of it, or run it into the dirty channel on my Mesa Rectoverb.
The Colour Box learning curve
For this pedal I consulted the manual, which I usually don't do. This was more so to make sure I knew what I was doing while demo'ing it, which I kind of didn't at first. This helped me figure out that second line of frequency control, and the intent of the switches. It took me a few glances at the manual to get my footing. Not too much fuss.
Hi pass filter and low end
There's a lot of low-end in this preamp, even with the EQ leaning higher. The hi pass filter helps pull that out (or add to it), but it's part of the reason I especially like this preamp for bass. You can definitely push a lot of warmth and chunk, even without the high gain settings.
The JHS Color Box control scheme
The control scheme is nicely color coded with the six-band (that's a lot) EQ in blue, the gain controls/stages in red, and the filter control/switch in yellow. It's like a box of crayons.
Power requirements
It's a big pedal, so I was thinking it would need a 12VA or higher MA connection for power. Much to my surprise, a garden variety 9V connection was all it took.
Summary of my JHS Pedals Colour Box V2 Review
The use cases are pretty clear, as are the strengths of the Colour Box. I'd recommend it for clean tones, even if you have a capable amplifier. It's the kind of thing I'd run all the time in front of my amp, using the additional control. You could start with EQ'ing your amp, then the three bands on the Colour Box and then the frequency tweaking on the Colour Box.
Of course it's also capable of completely replacing your amp, and would be especially - perhaps primarily - useful for recording and playing live into a mixer or PA system.
It does a lot, even for the somewhat high price tag.
If you have questions about my JHS Pedals Colour Box V2 review, drop them in the comments section below and I'll help out as much as possible.
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Written by Bobby Kittleberger on Pedals & Reviews
Written by Bobby Kittleberger on Pedals & Reviews
Live JHS Colour Box V2 Price
Price updated Fri, August 21st, 2026.
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Hello and thanks for the review!
I’m planning on buying the jhs colorbox especially for my guitar recordings and maybe on my drums and bass. So if I want to use both XLR and instr input on the colorbox do I have to enable phantom power on my interface?
Signal would be instr – pedals -amp – mic (or load box) – interface and the XLR straight to my interface so I can record both signals at the same time. How should I treat the XLR output into my interface? Mic, instrument or line level?
Thank you 😊
Hey Kostis – if I’m understanding you correctly, I think you would want to treat the XLR output as just a line level, but it will be balanced so you should be good either way. To the best of my knowledge, you shouldn’t need phantom power.
Yea nice! Thank you very much :)