Colortone Pedals' Parasite JFET Overdrive is a warm, super-versatile, dynamic and expressive everyday gain machine

If you wonder where the moniker ’Parasite’ comes from, Colortone’s AD explains that it was the catalogue description of the JFETs he selected - in fact that was the original spark that attracted him to that particular variety! :

"... sizzling with parasitic feedback ..."

So these JFET’s are particularly lively, and it took AD a good while to tame them and harness their full potential. Of course their very nature grants them extraordinary range from smooth elegant low-gain - through to actually fairly searing mid level gain. I wasn’t specifically seeking out a particular flavour - but very early days I fortuitously landed on an exception Dumble-style voicing - with that cool almost fuzzy edge.

The 4 EQ controls are actually really genius here - and remind me a lot of my friend Thorpy’s also superb recent Scarlet Tunic Preamp - which relies too on a combination of fully variable controls and switches.

Controls - Drive, Bass Boost, Bright Boost, Level, Low, High.

What becomes immediately apparent when approaching this overdrive is how versatile it is. Many overdrives have a core characteristic - like say ’Smooth’ which extends through the range - so the pedal never moves far away from that particular timbre. 

While the Parasite is genuinely and extensively versatile - and the interaction of those 4 controls is critical and each combination of Boost On/Off - renders a quite different core tonality.

So as I mentioned - there is a fairly significant amount of gain available here - with both switches on and the 2 EQ knobs in their respective right-hand hemispheres you can get a very textured searing and sizzling tonality - much like the original descriptor hints at, but with the switches off and the 2 EQ’s dialled back you’re in super soft and smooth territory.

Like many pedal builders I believe AD engineered this as his main always-on gain-stage for his rig and for his core sound - this is the one constant and consistent element that he plays through - and the beauty of its versatility is that it has you covered for so many different applications.

AD describes it as being closets to a JTM45 - while it has you easily covered for Blues Breaker, Dumble and OCD style tones in particular - and also does that really cool soft smooth voicing.

The broad potential of the EQ may make it sound that it can be tricky to dial in - but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It is really easy to dial in actually, and has really decent Guitar Volume cleanup and great playback dynamics - while the challenge - like tuning into a radio set - is how to decide where to stick the dials in terms of their final resting position!

In the few weeks I have had this, I’ve settled on at least half a dozen fantastic sweet-spots - and I’m still just scratching the surface. I think I need to liaise with AD and do a selection of recommended presets - which I will follow up with later.

My Parasite spent the most significant amount of time thus far in ’Dumble Mode’ - which involves both the switches in their Up / On position, while currently I have it set to super smooth - with Drive @ around 9 o’c, Bass and Bright Boost OFF, Level @ 4 o’c, Low @ 8 o’c, and High @ 9 o’c.

If you’re looking for a super-versatile everyday Overdrive - always-on or selective - then this is surely a prime candidate. Of course the dazzling geometric engraved and enamelled enclosure is a big draw too - but like a stick of Brighton Rock - you can see that the quality is carried right through every aspect of the pedal.

I’m kind of spoilt for choice these days for killer overdrives, while this one is very high in my affections and will remain in prime high rotation.

The Colortone Parasite is available right now from the Colortone Webstore for a very reasonable A$299 / $200 USD. And if you’re in Australia - is stocked by Deluxe Guitars, Found Sound, Echo Tone Guitars, Sunburst Music, and Global Vintage.

This one comes highly recommended!