HI POWER is our next endeavour in pedal + amp-in-a-box overdrives inspired by the sonic combination of two British tone machines that helped shape the sound of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Album.

On the right side of the pedal, you will find a recreation of the Colorsound Power Boost featuring the true-to-the-original spec BC184 transistors running on 18V DC (via an internal voltage booster circuit) and the ultra-flexible 2-band Baxandall EQ circuit. We’ve added extra features, like a bypassable master volume control, a reverse-log gain control to ensure better sweep and transition from clean to mean (compared to the original’s linear taper) and a toggle switch the engage the latter higher gain / lower headroom version of the original boost circuit called Overdriver.

On the left side of the HI POWER you will find an all-analog circuit set out to emulate the sound and feel of a Hiwatt amp. Following the path of the famed British tube amplifier our circuit offers authentic amp tone and feel. From the big bold high-headroom clean sounds to the face-melting crunchy tones.

True to the last detail we have included the full EQ section along with a presence control located at the negative feedback of the power amp simulation circuit. A headroom toggle switch selects between the high headroom 100w power section provided by a quartet of EL34s or the lower headroom and compression provided by a 50W power section with a pair of EL34s when hit hard. Similar in operation to the original amp design the master volume control was designed to produce more gain at higher settings.

We’ve taken our design a step further by adding a switch to select between input channels. You can select between the full frequency response of the normal channel of the amplifier, the increased presence and tight low end of the bright channel input or the enhanced frequency response and added gain of those inputs linked together.

Like our other dual overdrive/amp-in-a-box designs we have also included a passive effects loop to give you the option to connect your beloved pedals between your booster/overdrive and amp in a box or use the two sections as separate and independent effects when using an external bypass switcher/looper.

HI POWER also features a power-up bypass/engage pre-set function for the onboard footswitches. That way you can select which state your pedal will go to when you plug the power supply. This function comes in especially handy to people that use remote pedal switchers / loopers as they only set the power-up state of the pedal once and then operate from the controller.

Warning: This unit was designed for 9V DC input only. Do not use a higher voltage power supply.

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Review by Guitarist Magazine / Guitarist Choice Award (May 2024 issue)