Color Audio releases Cassette Preamp tape recorder preamp pedal
October 17, 2025 · 2 sources
Color Audio has released the Cassette Preamp, a preamp pedal based on a vintage Japanese tape machine that the maker has not specified1. Guitar Pedal X reported the release on October 17, 2025, and identified the builder as Finland's Jarno Takkumäki1.
The pedal has a black enclosure, black knobs and a red accent color1. Its controls are Gain, Low Pass Filter, Level, Bass, High Pass Filter and Treble1. Guitar Pedal X describes the circuit as deploying a variable-state low pass filter and a three-way high pass filter alongside the bass, treble, gain and level controls, and calls the layout closer to a channel strip than a simple gain stage1.
Delicious Audio reports that the pedal is a part-for-part reproduction of the original circuit, using NJM2068 and M5218 op-amps, and that the source machine is reportedly the Porta 22. It lists Neutrik jacks, Alpha pots and soft-touch relay switching2. The two accounts differ on the source machine: Guitar Pedal X calls it unspecified, while Delicious Audio's identification of the Porta 2 is qualified as a report12.
"This isn't just an emulation, it's a part-for-part reproduction of the original circuit, right down to the prized NJM2068 and M5218 op-amps"
The Color Audio webstore lists the Cassette Preamp at $249, which Guitar Pedal X notes is the same price as the JHS 4241. Guitar Pedal X also compares the pedal with the Tark 144 Tape Machine Emulator, based on the 1979 Tascam 144, and with the JHS 424, which it says delivers Tascam 424 Portastudio sounds1. It describes the Cassette Preamp as having one extra control versus the JHS 424 and as sufficiently distinct from it1.