JHS Colour Box V2 Review: An Incredibly Fun Preamp, EQ, and Fuzz Pedal for Studio & Stage

JHS Colour Box V2 Overview

The JHS Colour Box V2 is way more than a guitar effects pedal—it’s a boundary-breaking tool that blurs the lines between guitar gear and professional studio equipment. Inspired by the direct-in guitar tones of bands like The Beatles, Wilco, and Spoon, the Colour Box was originally designed to give musicians and producers the tone-shaping power of a vintage Neve console in a portable, pedal-sized package. 

Now, a decade later, the 10-Year Anniversary Edition of the Colour Box V2 celebrates that original concept with a limited-edition dark blue colorway and all the powerful features that made the pedal a cult favorite. Equal parts preamp, EQ, overdrive, fuzz, and DI box, this special version honors the legacy of the Colour Box while reminding us just how ahead of its time the design really was. It’s a truly versatile studio and stage tool—capable of everything from subtle tone sculpting to gloriously unhinged saturation.

If there’s one thing I’ll repeat throughout this review, it’s that the JHS Colour Box V2 is pure fun. Beneath, I’ve shared audio examples of this unit on guitar, bass, drums, and more so you can hear for yourself.

The two stylish enclosures of the JHS Colour Box V2.

Design and Construction

The 10th Anniversary Colour Box V2 stands out immediately with its deep navy blue chassis—a nod to classic British studio gear and a tasteful update to the original’s aesthetic. Built like a tank, the unit’s steel enclosure is rugged enough for touring musicians and refined enough for any studio desk.

The control layout is intelligently grouped and color-coded, with expanded space compared to the V1 model. The larger enclosure accommodates ten knobs, multiple toggles, and combo inputs while maintaining an intuitive, professional layout. Every knob feels solid and responsive, and the overall build quality reflects its hybrid identity: it’s a stompbox with the soul (and circuitry) of a high-end rackmount preamp.

Whether you’re using it on your pedalboard, desktop, or sitting near a studio console, the Colour Box V2 10-Year Edition looks and feels like a piece of pro gear designed to inspire.

Controls

The JHS Colour Box V2 is divided into color-coded sections that make navigation intuitive, but under the hood, it’s a highly detailed tone-sculpting device. Each control contributes to its ability to behave like a studio preamp, EQ, DI, and distortion box all in one. Here’s a full breakdown of every knob and switch:

Red Section – Gain Staging

This section shapes the overall gain structure and saturation behavior of the unit.

• Master: Controls the overall output level of the Colour Box. This is your final volume knob after all gain and EQ stages.

• Pre-Vol: This is essentially a “drive” knob. It controls the gain between two internal preamp stages. Increasing Pre-Vol adds warmth, saturation, overdrive, and eventually fuzz. This knob is key for dialing in how hard the unit is being hit internally.

• Step: This five-position rotary switch sets the initial gain level in fixed steps:

  • 1st = +18 dB

  • 2nd = +23 dB

  • 3rd = +28 dB

  • 4th = +33 dB

  • 5th = +39 dB

  These stages increase the input level and, when paired with Pre-Vol, let you control how saturated or clean the preamp behaves. Lower settings are cleaner, higher settings yield more drive and grit. When pushed to extremes, and on the high gain setting, the JHS Colour Box V2 creates this blistering, gated, completely gnarly tone. I’ve got to say it again— this thing is fun.

Blue Section – EQ and Frequency Shaping

This is where you sculpt your tone with precision, and where the V2 really shines over its predecessor.

• Treble: Boosts or cuts high frequencies. At noon, it’s flat. Turn clockwise to boost, counterclockwise to cut. Range is ±15dB.

• Middle: Boosts or cuts midrange frequencies. Flat at noon, with ±10dB of cut or boost.

• Bass: Boosts or cuts low frequencies. Again, noon is neutral, with a ±15dB swing.

• Treble Shift: Sweeps the center frequency that the Treble knob affects. Ranges from 2kHz to 30kHz.

  • CCW = lower frequency focus

  • CW = higher frequency focus
    Use this to hone in on presence, air, or tame brittle highs.

• Middle Shift: Adjusts the center frequency of the Middle band. Ranges from 150Hz to 2.4kHz.

  • CCW = lower mids (for warmth, body)

  • CW = upper mids (for bite, honk, or vocal clarity)

• Bass Shift: Selects the frequency range for the Bass knob. Ranges from 20Hz to 440Hz.

  • CCW = deep sub bass

  • CW = upper bass/low mids (great for tightening up low end or fattening guitar/bass)

High-Pass Filter Section and Hi/Lo Gain switch

• Hi-Pass Toggle (below the knob): Enables the Hi-Pass filter section when flipped up.

• Hi-Pass Knob: Sets the cutoff frequency of a 2nd-order (12 dB/octave) high-pass filter.

  • Range: 160Hz to 650Hz
    This is especially useful for tightening up low-end muddiness on vocals, guitars, or synths.

I/O and Utility Switches

• Input Selector (INST/XLR) (Side Switch): Chooses between ¼” instrument input or XLR microphone input. Important for switching between DI use and mic preamp functionality.

• -20dB Pad Switch (Side Switch): Only active when using the XLR input. Engages a -20dB pad to tame hot signals from condenser or high-output mics.

• Phantom Power Pass-Thru: While the Colour Box V2 doesn’t generate phantom power itself, it allows 48V phantom power from an external source to pass through to a condenser mic. This makes it compatible with studio-grade mics that require external phantom power.

Sound Quality

The variety of sounds you can coax from the JHS Colour Box V2 is astounding. It can handle transparent tone sweetening, expressive EQ, or fully blown-out distortion. The clean tones are hi-fi and pristine, with a subtle analog coloration that flatters everything you run through it.

Push the gain, and the Colour Box comes alive in a completely different way—fuzz, overdrive, and distortion tones are not only achievable but delightfully grimy and characterful. There’s a grittiness here that feels both vintage and dangerous, reminiscent of overloaded vintage consoles pushed into saturation. It’s absolutely filthy in the best way possible.

While the unit can be a bit noisy—especially when all the gain stages are cranked—this noise feels organic and very much a part of the charm. For how much tonal firepower it offers, the trade-off is worth it. Perhaps eventually, I’ll make a custom iZotope RX11 preset to deal with the noise created at extreme settings, but truthfully, a bit of hiss or squeal can be harnessed and feel musical.

JHS Colour Box V2 Applications

The Colour Box V2 is one of the most flexible tools you can own for a studio, regardless of your role in the signal chain. As a guitar pedal, it opens up a huge range of textures, from jangly clean tones to snarling fuzz. Placed in front of an amp, and it can behave like a drive pedal, tone shaper, or even a fuzz box. The 3-Band EQ is quite versatile, and the Low Cut helps clean up unwanted boominess. One of my favorite tricks is to set all 3 bands or EQ to a midrange frequency, and boost each of them as much as possible. The resulting sound is a snarly, honking, almost comical mid-forward tone that simply needs to be heard to be believed. It plays really nice with other pedals, stacking well with different drives, or pushing into spring reverbs like my Surfy Deluxe Compact.

As great as it functions in front of an amp, my favorite application may be using it as a DI. Obviously the direct sound is way more up front, especially when overdriven. Admittedly, every so often it’s also pretty sweet to not have to break out microphones and place them on an amp. When tracking bass, the Colour Box is super valuable for both its saturation and EQ.

Thanks to its XLR input and ability to pass phantom power, the JHS Colour Box V2 also makes for an excellent microphone preamp, giving engineers a unique coloration tool unlike anything else in their rack. It’s not just for guitarists—this is a legitimate Swiss Army knife for producers and recording engineers. Run vocals through it, sweeten drum overheads, or distort synths—it thrives in studio contexts just as easily as on a pedalboard.

Audio Examples

Rock Chords (File A is DI, File B is through a Fender Princeton Amp recorded with a Shure SM57:)

More Rock Chords (File A is DI, File B is through a Fender Princeton Amp recorded with a Shure SM57:)

Bass (File A is with no effect, File B is with EQ and mild saturation, File C is with nasty fuzz:)

Retro Drums (File A is with no effect, File B is saturated, File C is even more saturated:)

Synth Bass (File A is with no effect, File B is saturated, File C is even more saturated:)

Percussion (File A is with no effect, File B is saturated, File C is even more saturated:)

Summary

The JHS Colour Box V2 is far more than just a guitar pedal. It’s an inspiring, tone-sculpting powerhouse that can thrive in both live performance and studio settings. Whether you’re looking for subtle overdrive, expressive tone-shaping with EQ, or full-on fuzz chaos, it delivers with personality and charm.

Yes, it can be noisy when pushed to extremes, but that’s part of the magic. With vintage console mojo, huge headroom, and surprising versatility, the Colour Box V2 is a wildly fun and incredibly useful tool for anyone serious about sound.

Pros:

• Incredibly versatile: preamp, EQ, DI, fuzz, overdrive, and more

• Studio-quality sound and features

• Can be used with instruments and microphones

• Powerful and musical EQ section with sweepable bands

• Adds character and color to any source

Cons:

• Can be noisy, especially with high gain—but this feels authentic and expected given the design

Final Verdict:
If you’re a guitarist, producer, or engineer who loves shaping sound and chasing character, the JHS Colour Box V2 isn’t just a fun pedal—it’s a supremely versatile creative weapon.