Colour Box

JHS conceived the Colour Box in 2012 to bring legendary Neve 1073 mixing console preamp character to guitar rigs—the warm, saturated direct-in tone that defined records from The Beatles through Steely Dan. Josh Scott wanted players to access the tonal coloration that engineers achieved plugging guitars straight into expensive recording desks instead of amps.

The original circuit runs two preamp stages in series, generating harmonics and compression that sweeten signal before hitting amplifiers or recording interfaces. The preamp scales from subtle enhancement to rich harmonic distortion. Three-band EQ shapes frequency response like vintage studio gear. XLR and quarter-inch inputs accept guitar, bass, keyboards, or microphones.

XLR and standard outputs provide routing flexibility. At 193mA draw, it powers studio-grade electronics. The V2 later added EQ shift controls, hi/lo gain switching, and phantom power pass-through, but the original established the template.