Hughes & Kettner Redbox 5

This is a well made and flexible little unit. On face value being able to produce a microphone level out to an audio interface without using a microphone doesn't seem particularly exciting. If you already have a mic then you probably think this won't be much use to you. I think in the ideal world most of us would rather have the flexibility to swap mics and use different mic'ing positions but for many people mic'ing cabs throws up all sorts of problems with extraneous noise and poor room acoustics that can be an expensive problem to fix. If those issues are a problem for you then recording direct does make life easier.

In this configuration the Red Box receives the amp to speaker output, sends this on to the speaker cab via a through jack and using phantom power or a 9v battery sends an XLR balanced signal to your audio interface or to a mixer. With the addition of an attenuator this then facilitates recording valve amps when the rest of the family are in bed. Silent recording or practice.

My own use runs in two further configurations. First, I run the Red Box as a separate input whilst recording a track with a mic'ed cab. The purpose of this is twofold. It works as an insurance policy should the mic'ed signal pickup spillover and it also provides me with a reference signal when I am trying new mics and mic'ing positions.

Next, I use the Red Box as the feed for a Wet/Dry/Wet stereo effects setup. The Red Box sits in the speaker feed and sends it's signal to an fx processor that returns to the mixer and powered speakers or headphones. Long atmospheric reverbs or heavy repeating delays can be quite inspirational for the player but aren't great for recording because you can't undo a processed signal. In this setup though you can still mic up the dry speaker cab, record it into your DAW and non-destructively add fx later.

Lastly, and my favourite trick.... Got an amp you love that doesn't have reverb or an fx loop? Stick a Red Box on the output, run it into your pedalboard and back to a powered speaker situated next to the main cab and now that all original vintage amp doesn't need to be modified as it has it's own "post-output stage parallel fx". And even if that is just adding reverb onto a non-reverb amp it more than justifies the Red Box purchase price.

I use the Redbox to give out the guitar in the rehearsal room via the PA. And that works just fine - even with a 1-watt practice amp (Blackstar HT-1 Combo). The small amplifier is in fact too weak to be mic´ed, via the Redbox there is more than enough output now, and without interference of the other instruments.
In our very small rehearsal room, we now have a well-balanced sound and a few square inches of extra space where there used to be the microphone in front of the guitar speaker. In live performances the soundman at the console is also more than pleased - much less work with the Redbox compared to a microphone job on stage. Clear buy recommendation not only for sound-engineers!

I bought this box having used a microphone in front of my amplifier for many years.
Many of the stages I play on are very small and it's very easy to trip over a mic stand in front of your amplifier so this looked like an ideal product.

It's a very compact unit and appears very well constructed.
It's very flexible to power as you can use phantom power, psu, or a battery (although the thumb screws are very hard to remove to access the battery).

It has quite an array of switches on the top, but it's actually quite easy to understand. 3 of the switches deal with tone and it's easy to tweak your sound to get the sound of a combo or stack with a modern or retro voicing.
What I didn't expect was the ability to use line level signals as well as speaker level and this has proved very useful to allow recording directly from my pedalboard.

Since owning it I have used the Redbox live and in the studio and I've been extremely impressed. The sound is dynamic and sounds convincingly like a real speaker. It does sound very "dry", but after adding a subtle reverb you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this and a well miced amplifier.

I now keep my unit permanently hooked up in the back of my combo.