Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Colortone releases further perfected 4th edition of its killer versatile all-rounder Parasite Full Spectrum Everyday Overdrive
One of my favourite super-versatile overdrives get a new edition / makeover - to bring it up to date with the latest design phase of Colortone Pedals. The Parasite gets its name from the definition of its unique JFETs - which are described as ’... sizzling with parasitic feedback’.
4 JFETs make up the core soundstage - which is further served by wide ranging Active Post-Drive Low and High EQ’s, as well as the super smart Pre-Drive Bright Boost and Bass Boost stitches - where the latter is now labelled as CAB : 1 x 12" / 4 x 12".
Controls - Drive, CAB : 1 x 12" / 4 x 12", Level, BRIGHT : Off / On, Active Lows, Active Highs.
I often associate this pedal with the Dumble ODS sound - as that was the very first sound I landed on. Generally though and by default it has quite a Marshall-y profile covering BluesBreaker / JTM45 / Plexi sounds with ease. Those super-handy EQ’s and Boosts can take you into so many different directions - it’s not about specifically trying to dial in other category overdrive tones - it’s more about what sounds emanate easily and organically - they just kind of happen whether you want them to or not!
Every subsequent iteration of the Parasite has some fairly minor changes onboard - where for the latest 4th edition - apart from the cosmetic changes - AD has further improved the noise-floor, and refined the high end frequency response / profile. The controls are mostly in the same positions as before - while every time I do this exercise I dial in very slightly different variations - while my 3 go-to sounds remain the same - Dumble ODS, Plexi, and a really cool Soft/Smooth voicing - with everything dialled back - which can be further softened - or elevated to a sort of BJFE Honey Bee / Mad Professor Sweet Honey.
I own 3 editions of this pedal - all are brilliant - and even with the improved noise-floor - this overdrive is so potent and extended range - that when you really crank it up - you can’t but help get a little extra in the noise department. It’s currently becoming a trend to include a single noise-gate mini pot on these kinds of pedals - so perhaps that could be a further addition for the next iteration - while mostly it doesn’t really need it - it’s just for those higher gain applications really!
On my Full Spectrum Colour Chart - I list : BluesBreaker, JTM45, Dumble Drive (ODS), Plexi, OCD, Timmy, Klon, Tweed, Nobels ODR-1, and Honey Bee. The Parasite delivers brilliant versions of each of those - obviously with its own idiosyncrasies - but all very easily identifiable. As I keep saying - the core profile is kind of very Marshall-y - and those smart EQ's and Boosts take that into further adjacent and fairly wide-ranging territories.
A clever EQ / Tone-Stack can really carry you into some interesting places - but this is not about forcing the associations - it's much more about what kind of sounds this device naturally and organically lands on when you twiddle those dials - not doing the Josh Scott Bad Monkey kind of dial-in where you are very deliberately trying to match those different overdrive voicings - here it's more about what the pedal naturally lends itself towards, and what happens serendipitously. All those different kinds of overdrive tones just happened along my tweaking those dials - I wasn't specifically trying to get to those flavours - just letting the pedal speak to me - and noting the different voices it delivered!
The 3 settings I always land on almost instantly are a sort of Dumble ODS, a Plexi type, and a unique Smooth Soft sound - that I can then turn up to a sort of Honey Bee - or further soften in the other direction.
These are the results of my recent dial-ins!
Dumble Drive - Drive @ 10 o'c, Cab on 4 x 12", Level @ 3 o'c, Low @ Noon, Bright switch ON, High at circa 3-4 o'c.
Plexi style - Drive @ 10 o'c, Cab on 1 x 12", Level @ 3 o'c, Low @ 3 o'c, High @ 3 o'c.
Soft/Smooth - Drive @ 8-9 o'c, Cab on 1 x 12:, Level @ c. 4 o'c, Low fully CCW Min, High fully CCW Min.
I find that I get slightly more harmonics when the volume is further elevated - so adjust that to your own preference. For the final Soft/Smooth setting - it's kind of smoothest with Drive at just 8 o'c - but you get wonderful harmonics @ 9 o'c which I mostly prefer - and if you dial up the Drive and Highs a little further - you land slap bang in the middle of sort Honey Bee territory.
As I mentioned, all those settings were arrived at very naturally and organically - I wasn't trying to dial in anything specifically - I just automatically landed on those core flavours. And then over an extended number of sessions hit all the other categories I reference on the previous visual. I came into some criticism for that last time for whatever reason. Where someone said that any overdrive with extended EQ's can deliver almost any overdrive tone - but that's not really true - as each has its own core character profile, degree of compression etc. For me it's always about letting the device reveal its own true voicings - not trying to force anything - just moving the dials - and then observing and making note of the results!
For this 4th iteration - we're back to those slightly odd looking white vertical / card-like JFETs - which I first encountered with my V2 Edition - the first time I had come across that format. For the last V3 edition AD used more conventional TO-92 types, but for this most recent edition - we're back to the original format again. 3 of those JFET's are calibrated to 2.35, and one is at 0.68 - that evidently delivers the magic formula.
The new build is of course a hybrid mix of THT and SMT components - and it sounds every bit as vibrant as each of these editions has thus far.
There are minor shifts in the positions of the controls - but that could just be my evolving tastes - or a minor shift in values - nothing really particularly noticeable between versions.
This is the 4th Iteration of this pedal - where the only one of these I don't have is the very original and super rare 2019 v1 edition. I own the 2021 V2, 2023 V3, and this latest 2026 V4 - all are superb - and retain those essential elements that have always made this such an appealing overdrive.
It's one of those that sounds immediately impressive out of the box - the vibrancy delvivered by those combined EQ's and Boosts is just phenomenal - and you have huge Gain and Output Ranges too. You don't need to ride the Volume / Level as high as I do - I mostly to that for the additional harmonics that creates. I often find the relatively high volume can really embellish the harmonic content of a pedal's output - but you can rarely crank it fully - as you typically get unwarned additional compression then too.
The highest I went of this session was for the Soft/Smooth voicing - where everything else is dialled down so much - I feel compelled to raise the level a little!
The Parasite 2026 Edition goes for a very reasonable $199 / £149 and equivalent - it's one of the most fool-proof tone-machine you can buy. Available direct from Colortone in Australia, and very imminently at my friends at Joe's Pedals, and Northern Stompoxes in the UK, Effect Boutique in Germany, and Rare Vintage Guitars in the USA.
Demos
Content Subscriptions
