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Jad Freer Capo vs JHS Colour Box v2

#45
g4string said:
Set flat, most of those boxes sounded similar to me, except the JHS. But for non flat sounds, the noble and capo are my favs. Surprisingly, the mxr sounded pretty darn good.
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That was kind of the flaw in my opinion in that video. Most of those preamps don't sound that great - or at least not that different, with everything at noon.

My experience with the JHS and other Neve-aimed preamps like the Broughton Studio One, is that they need to be tweaked to the bass and not just set at noon. That's what I would have rather heard Janek do - find a "favorite setting" on each preamp and compare that. But then we would all have been out a couple hours of our lives.
 
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#46
I mean, I get it, there needs to be a measurable point of reference to try being as objective as possible. So I understand why he did it. But it’s all bets off once you’re allowed to tweak a few knobs. I mean, if not, we’d all just own a JDI and be perfectly content knowing nothing really sounds any better.
 
#47
kazuhank said:
That was kind of the flaw in my opinion in that video. Most of those preamps don't sound that great - or at least not that different, with everything at noon.

My experience with the JHS and other Neve-aimed preamps like the Broughton Studio One, is that they need to be tweaked to the bass and not just set at noon. That's what I would have rather heard Janek do - find a "favorite setting" on each preamp and compare that. But then we would all have been out a couple hours of our lives.
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Though interestingly in the first run through he had a bass cut on the colourbox
 
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#48
g4string said:
I mean, I get it, there needs to be a measurable point of reference to try being as objective as possible. So I understand why he did it. But it’s all bets off once you’re allowed to tweak a few knobs. I mean, if not, we’d all just own a JDI and be perfectly content knowing nothing really sounds any better.
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to be fair I did like the JDI

I think what it confirmed to me is I like the sound of a bass with flat eq through a transformer.
Some of them had bigger eq curves going on than others.
 
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#51
Dave Hill said:
I seem to remember the last DI shootout where everyone thought the CB was the bottom of the lot. Lol
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the thing with the colourbox is it’s kinda odd. It’s designed as a guitar overdriving a console box… and then the clean 1073 thing was a secondary thing- so you have to use it to avoid the overdrive thing which sounds truely terrible…
If you can you get a lovely sounding circuit, a nice sounding transformer and a really musical and easy to dial in eq.
Would that caveman unit sound better? Maybe but it sounds like it’s got a bass boost baked in. would I prefer a hellborg preamp? Yes, but not pedalboard friendly.
 
#54
I’ve had the Capo for over a year now and it’s the hub on any version of my board that I assemble. I use it in a number of different ways, depending on what’s called for. This week I also used it in the studio as my DI, and it made my bass sound fantastic. Makes me very curious about their cabs and amps ..
 
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#55
Planetguitar said:
Revive this thread. I purchased a v2 Colourbox, and sold it after one gig. It is not even a one trick pony because it has no pony.

I purchased a Capo and it sounds a more clear clean, its gain is more musical and the gain can be quite subtle.

Capo - A+
Colourbox- D+
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For bass the colourbox is a decent A- as a clean preamp with a bit of the warmth and colour transformers give you. Similar to how people use the Noble preamp or caveman bp1.

As a gainy drive thing on bass, if that’s what you were going for it’s awful, the capo will be far better as that’s what it’s designed for.

If you played guitar I think it’s another story, and the features are far more useful and drive sound has some use. I think of it as a guitar pedal that I use 30% of to get to sound great as a clean preamp.
The capo would be a bass pedal a bass player can use 100% of to get their tones.

Mind you, I watched one video of a famous player using it (Tim lafefe (so)?) and he was saying how great it was while just using it as a clean di with the xlr out pre the circuitry…
 
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#58
Luke the Fluke said:
For bass the colourbox is a decent A- as a clean preamp with a bit of the warmth and colour transformers give you. Similar to how people use the Noble preamp or caveman bp1.

As a gainy drive thing on bass, if that’s what you were going for it’s awful, the capo will be far better as that’s what it’s designed for.

If you played guitar I think it’s another story, and the features are far more useful and drive sound has some use. I think of it as a guitar pedal that I use 30% of to get to sound great as a clean preamp.
The capo would be a bass pedal a bass player can use 100% of to get their tones.

Mind you, I watched one video of a famous player using it (Tim lafefe (so)?) and he was saying how great it was while just using it as a clean di with the xlr out pre the circuitry…
Click to expand...
Yes, I saw Tim’s video that said he brought the Colourbox on tour with him. That’s why I bought the JHS in the first place. Lol
 

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