DIYRE

Colour Duo 2-Channel Colour Channel Strip Kit

$500.00 $650.00

The Colour Duo is the ultimate tool for adding analog color to your tracks. Each of the Duo's two channels is a full channel strip, with mic preamps, line inputs, and three Colour slots each.

You can purchase the Colour Duo kit on its own or with one of our Colour Bundles. The bundles contain stereo pairs of each Colour, so six Colours each. To learn more about each bundle, check out our Colour Format Page.


The ultimate Colour Palette

With the Duo we set out to make the Colour Palette of our dreams. Each channel features three Colour slots, with their own independent controls and bypass switches. 

New to the Colour section is the much-requested wet/dry mix control. The MIX knob allows for versatile parallel signal processing without making extra tracks in your project file. Push your Colour modules as hard as you’d like, and blend in the dry signal till you get exactly the sound you’re searching for.

The Colour Duo is the first Colour Palette that lets you swap Colours on the fly without any tools. Simply loosen the thumb screws on the front panel and the entire panel slides out, giving you immediate access to the Colours at any time.


World-class preamps

The Colour Duo features the same pristine mic preamps that made the CP5 our best-selling kit. With exceptionally low noise and 66dB of gain, this isn’t your interface’s built in preamp. Once you hear them at work, you won’t hesitate to record your most important sources with them.

The Colour Duo’s line input is an independent stage that bypasses the preamp completely. And since the line and mic inputs come in on separate jacks, you can keep both connected and just switch between them with the LINE/MIC button on the front panel. 


Versatile connectivity

We gave you all the connectivity we could think of. Why? Because we like you and we hate adapters as much as you do. We even equipped a power THRU jack so you can power multiple Colour Duo units from one supply.


Using the Duo

Two Channel Mic Preamp

Track your two most important sources or a stereo pair with the Duo's two world-class preamps. You can track clean to process later, or engage Colours for processing on the way in.

Dual Channel Strip

Use the two channels as line inserts to bring real hardware color to your tracks. Warm up a vocal with saturation or push a room mic to the extreme with a compressor.

Stereo Bus Processor

Add punch to a stereo drum bus or glue your entire mix together with tape and transformer saturation.


Full feature list

  • 21-detent stepped pots for easy recall and stereo operation
  • Easy Colour swapping
    • Front panel drawer slides out
    • Thumb screws require no tools to operate
    • Active switch mutes the signal to protect ears and speakers while swapping Colours
  • Power supply
    • Comes with an external, high-current (1.5A) power supply
    • Accepts 110-220v wall power
    • Regulated +/-16vDC and +48vDC outputs
    • Connects to case via 5-pin XLR jack
    • Can power up to four Colour Duos via the POWER THRU jack
  • Mic Input
    • 66dB of gain
    • +48V phantom power
    • 80Hz high-pass filter
    • Polarity
    • -20dB pad
  • Colour section
    • 3 Colour slots per channel
    • Individual bypass and Colour controls for each stage
    • Makeup gain/trim knob
    • Wet/Dry mix knob
  • Connectivity
    • 2 XLR mic inputs
    • 2 Combo XLR/TRS line inputs
    • 2 XLR line outputs
    • 2 TRS line outputs
  • 1U height 19” rack mount case
    • Anodized aluminum front panel
    • Powder-coated steel chassis
  • DIY kit
    • Comes with every part need to complete kit
    • Features our famous step-by-step photo instructions, interactive build map, and component sorting sheet

What the Pros are Saying

"So, do I like it? Hell yes, I like it! As I mentioned, I’m a long-time fan of DIYRE’s work and use their CP5 and EQP5 (preamps and EQs, respectively) all the time. I love the Colour Duo preamps for the same things I love the CP5 for: overheads that have all the depth and pinpoint definition of a beautiful drum kit, acoustic guitars that sound like they are right in front of the listener, and strings that need to shimmer through a mix. Combine these gorgeous sounding preamps with the options available in the Colour modules, and you can create almost any flavor of preamps you want. Not to mention, you’ll have a new processor for mix bus or track insert duties allowing you to add transformers, compressors, or EQ curves – the Colour world is deep and constantly evolving!"

-Don Gunn
TapeOp Magazine #144

Video review by Alec Brits, Music In The Cabin

Block Diagram

Audio enters the Duo through either the MIC IN or LINE IN. The MIC IN can amplify the mic signal up to 60dB, while the LINE IN has a fixed attenuation of -6dB. The MIC/LINE switch selects which input is sent to the rest of the unit.

Signal is then sent to the Colours in series. Each Colour contains a bypass switch, and a dual-gang potentiometer which controls gain before the Colour and attenuation after. The Colours feed a gain/trim stage to make up for the gain or loss from the Colours. This signal then feeds the wet/dry mix stage, where it is summed with the dry signal from before the Colour section. The COLOUR switch selects between the output from the mix stage or the output from the MIC/LINE switch. This feeds the balanced output which provides +6dB gain.

Specifications

Line Input

Input Impedance 24kΩ 
Max Input Level 27.5dBu
Distortion 0.008% at 1kHz

Mic Preamp

Input Impedance 3.6kΩ with pad out, 7.2kΩ with pad in
Gain 20 to 66dB
Pad Attenuation 20dB

Line Output

Output Impedance 50Ω
Max Output Level +22dBu

General

Colour Controls Gain Range -6 to +12dB
Trim Control Gain Range -14 to +10dB (unity at center)
Distortion 0.005% at 1kHz with Colour section bypassed, 0.008% with Colour section engaged
Frequency Response ±0.2dB 20Hz to 20kHz rel. 1kHz
Power Rails ±16vDC, +48vDC
Power Input 100-240VAC, ~50/60Hz 2.5A

Customer Reviews

Based on 33 reviews
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Steven Rodenbaugh

These units are awesome. I use these for tracking, but primarily for mix bus near the end of my chain. It really glues things together in a way I have never been able to get ITB. The way it saturates and tames transients has become invaluable to me, honestly- and is a staple piece for me. I will be getting more. I use CTX(BA512)>LTL Royal Blue>15IPS.

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C.S.

I have one with the tape saturation card and a compressor card on both channels and it’s awesome. Love it. Use the hell out of it. It’s the only mic pre I own that’s instantly allowed me to explore the artistic use of saturation and compression. If that suits your needs. If not no hard feelings but it’s true. My Duo with that 15ips card and the compressor helps me be an artist.

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Daniel Meier
Colour Duo Review

Using it on the 2-buss. Works great. There are a few colour modules I want to try but they're out of stock. Works as advertised with the modules I currently have. I will be using the pre's for tracking soon.

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Richard Vandiver
Mojo Machine

Just finished my build for my Colour Duo along with a few modules. Very happy with the results. I appreciate very much the idea behind buying a single unit and being able to color the sounds in so many different ways. As far as bang for your buck goes, I don’t think you can do much better than this on the hardware side.

The build is a marathon. Be prepared to be patient. Completed it over three lengthy sessions.The build instructions are excellent, and tools are included to help you keep components organized and placed properly.

Can’t wait to build more projects from DIYRE!

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Ray
Colour Duo

Bought a kit in 2022. Finally assembled it in early 2023. The only assembler error was installing the header pins upside down; other than that, the assembly of the vast multitude of parts went smoothly. The assembly guide is excellent. My Colour Duo has no colour (so far), as it is used for live recording of classical music concerts, from solo to chorus and orchestra. I have little exposure to mic preamps, but the Colour Duo easily sounds better than my small mixer. Highly recommended. Thank you, Peterson!