M-Audio Black Box

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Official M-Audio Black Box Product Page

Guitar modeling is something of a voodoo science. After all do you really get the sound of a Marshall Stack by plugging this in instead of using that Pignose practice amp in the corner? Is this going to turn that Sears catalog special into the sounds of the legendary rock masters? While a wide combination of amp rigs might be out of reach for most musicians, the purest in mean screams out to make the madness stop. I've heard several other digital modeling tools do a capable job of replicating specific microphones, so there must be something to this technique. Modeled amps include Fender Bassman, Fender Deluxe, Fender Twin, Vox AC 30, Marshall JTM-45, Marshall Plexi, Marshall JCM-2000, Hiwatt DR-103, Soldano SLO-100, Mesa Boogie Maverick, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and Bogner Uberschall. In addition to tricking the sound waves into thinking they've originated from a classic amp, the Black Box also bundles drum machine beat generation with automatic beat syncing, which is useful for the home recording musician. This could be the most expensive USB microphone pre-amp on the market. It is an effective DI box for recording your guitar direct into a PC, but you won't get the room feel associated with proper microphone placement on a real amp, no matter how good the modeling claims to be. A built-in guitar tuner is sort of a so-what extra that every gadget maker includes these days. If you're going for an easy set up to do PC or Mac based recording of your guitar tracks this is it. If you want to do computer recording and have it sound more natural, stick with the hard way and mic your amp.

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