The JHS 424 Gain Stage delivers the elastic, lo-fi character of plugging a guitar rig straight into a TASCAM® Portastudio® 424, but in a user-friendly pedal format! It brings those rubbery clean tones, high headroom, and smashed-out fuzz sounds that are being repopularized by a new generation of guitarists.

Originally made famous in the ’80s and ’90s, the Portastudio gave home musicians the power to create multi-track recordings from their bedrooms, shaping everything from Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska to Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang and Spoon’s Gimme Fiction. Many of the vocal and fuzzy guitar parts on Gimme Fiction—a key inspiration for the JHS Colour Box—were tracked on a Portastudio. Those recordings sparked the idea for the 424 Gain Stage, and JHS has now brought it to life.

In this historically accurate recreation, JHS faithfully replicates the original 424 MKI circuit using the original UPC4570 and NJM4565 op-amps, along with all the original controls that give the unit its unique sonic character. The Portastudio’s trim, channel volume, and master volume work together to dial in your desired tone, while Low and High EQ settings let you fine-tune it further. For maximum versatility, the pedal also includes a ¼" output and a balanced XLR DI output, making it equally at home in the studio or on stage.