Colortone Parasite

The Colortone Parasite is a touch-sensitive analog overdrive pedal built with hand-matched "smooth gain" JFETs, made by the Australian builder Colortone¹. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes it as offering rich texture, dynamic response and excellent clean-up using the guitar's volume control, and it works as an always-on pedal at lower gain settings, with creamy tube-like compression and harmonically rich saturation at higher drive¹. Its gain range runs from smooth low-gain through searing mid-level gain, including a Dumble-style voicing².

The name comes from the transistors themselves: Colortone's AD explains that it was the catalog description of the JFETs he selected, described as "sizzling with parasitic feedback"².

What it does: touch-sensitive JFET overdrive

JFETs (junction gate field-effect transistors) are a type of transistor whose transfer curve resembles a tube's, which is why builders reach for them when they want an overdrive that responds to picking dynamics and the guitar's volume knob the way an amp does. The Parasite leans on them heavily: the 2026 4th Edition uses four JFETs to make up what Guitar Pedal X's reviewer calls the core soundstage, with three calibrated to 2.35 and one to 0.68³. The earlier compact V2 used three CEN2N547 JFETs, a custom J201 JFET IC, an ST Electronics D741 op-amp and Q1/Q2 bias trimmers, with the JFETs kept through-hole because they need to be carefully analyzed and hand-matched⁴.

The maker positions it as an everyday overdrive, and Guitar Pedal X reported that AD built it as an everyday, always-on or selective gain stage². At lower gain it sits quietly in the chain; with both boost switches on and the EQ knobs raised, it produces a very textured searing gain, while with the switches off and the EQ dialled back it turns super soft and smooth².

The controls

The control set has changed between editions, so it is worth checking which version you are looking at⁴³⁵.

The 4th Edition's CAB switch selects between a 1 x 12" and a 4 x 12" cabinet character, and the Active Lows and Active Highs controls are post-drive, meaning they shape the signal after the clipping stage rather than before it³. On the compact V2, the reviewer noted an unusual Drive taper: signal is cut from around 8:30 o'clock down to 7 o'clock, with usable gain from around 9 o'clock to 2 o'clock and copious volume on tap⁴.

History and versions

The Parasite has been revised steadily since its introduction. Guitar Pedal X's reviewer, Stefan Karlsson, has owned the 2021 V2, 2023 V3 and 2026 V4 editions, with the only one missing from his collection being the very original and super rare 2019 v1³.

• 2019 v1: the original, described as super rare³
• 2021 V2 and 2023 V3: earlier revisions of the design³
• 2024 compact V2: shrinks the original into a compact enclosure, converted to mostly SMT/hybrid construction by designer AD Hauser, with the JFETs remaining through-hole and hand-matched⁴
• 2026 V4 (4th Edition): a hybrid THT/SMT build with an improved noise-floor and a refined high end frequency response versus V3³

The 2026 4th Edition is current, available direct from Colortone in Australia and at dealers, priced at $199 (£149)³. The 2024 compact V2 was also $199 from the Colortone Webstore⁴, and the original was A$299 / $200 USD from the Colortone Webstore and Australian stockists including Deluxe Guitars, Found Sound, Echo Tone Guitars, Sunburst Music and Global Vintage Australia². A compact-enclosure edition has its own page: Colortone Parasite JFET Overdrive V2.

What reviewers said

Guitar Pedal X has reviewed the Parasite repeatedly across its life, and the verdicts have been consistently positive on versatility. Of the editions he owns, Karlsson wrote²³:

Guitar Pedal X, 2026³

He found the pedal genuinely and extensively versatile, with each combination of boost switches on or off rendering a quite different core tonality². On voicing, he likens its range to a long list of classic circuits: BluesBreaker, JTM45, Dumble ODS, Plexi, OCD, Timmy, Klon, Tweed, Nobels ODR-1 and Honey Bee, with a generally Marshall-y default profile covering BluesBreaker, JTM45 and Plexi sounds with ease³. The maker's own description also points players toward Blues Breaker, Dumble and OCD-style tones¹.

The 2024 year-end round-up was slightly more measured, describing the V2 Full Spectrum as a very distinct sounding overdrive with a high degree of amp-like breakup character, while conceding that in use it did not blow the author away as much as expected⁵. On the 4th Edition, the reviewer found the refinements worthwhile, with slightly more harmonics when the volume is further elevated³.

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