Hughes & Kettner Red Box Pro

Could not be easier. One big plus is that it needs no batteries or power adapter. I runs on the phantom power from the mixer. Setup is quick; you only need two short speaker cables and an XLR cable. Switch the Input to 'speaker out' and the cab sim to 'on.' You are ready to rock 'n' roll.

I use the Red Box Pro with my harp amps. The amp sim is great for harp, and the signal has all the tubey goodness from the power tube distortion. You don't get any room effects or bleed-over. Your "mic'ed" tone is totally repeatable.

It is possible to get better sound with the right mic and the perfect mic placement, but not often and not easily. The Red Box gives me good-to-great sound every time. As another reviewer said, it does not sound like the usual mic'ed up amp; it sounds better.

So far no problems. It seems to be a very solid product.

First I tried it with a hot-rodded 1970 Fender Champ. Several months
ago I replaced the Champ's RCA speaker tap with a Switchcraft 1/4 inch phone plug, so hook-up was easy: Champ speaker out to "Input" on the Red Box, the speaker to the "Thru" on the Red Box, and an XLR cable from the Red Box to the mixer. The cab sim was switched on. The Red Box also has a ground lift switch in case you get some hum. I warmed up the tubes on the Champ so I would get a little hair on the notes, and turned the volume to 6. I hit "record" on the computer and played for a while.

The sound on the recording was impressive. The room I practice/record in is kind of live and boxy, but the recording had none of that (of course). It sounded like a perfectly mic'ed amp, with all the lovely power tube distortion. It did not sound exactly like the Champ, which is one of the best-sounding 5-watt harp amps I have ever heard, but it sounded very good.

Next I tried it with the Masco ME-18 and 2x10 Avatar cab. I wanted to see if the Red Box made it sound the same as the Champ. No way. It reflected all the things I love about the Masco: Huge bottom end,
less compression, thumping power. Once again, the Red Box didn't
sound EXACTLY like the Masco and Avatar, but it sounded really, really good.

I think the H&K Red Box could be a great tool for harp players. It
makes it a breeze to send a good signal to the PA to augment your tube amp. In studios that prefer to use a DI, it sends a better signal that recognizes your power tubes as an integral piece of your tone package. A pro guitar buddy swears by the Red Box, and he persuaded me to try it.

The street price for the current H&K Red Box is about $120. I found
mine on eBay for $55.

Couldn't be easier. You have to be an idiot to screw it up.

Sounds a lot like a cabinet as you listen to it off-axis in a room.

Built like a tiny red tank

Don't know

One of the best cabinet sims I've every heard. It kills the Palmer stuff. The palmer boxes are mic sims. If I wanted the sound of a poor mic job, then I would just through an SM-57 in front of my cabinet. The Redbox actually sound like a cabinet. Not a cabinet that's been mic'ed up.

COULD NOT BE EASIER TO USE

OH THANK YOU H/K YOU SOLVED MY ON-GOING PROBLEM,PODXT-LIVE INTO LANEY 15W VALVE AMP D.I.INTO PA.=HARSH-GRIT WHEN TURNED UP.FIT RED BOX IN PA.INPUT = SONIC HEAVEN!THE EXACT SAME SOUND AS THE LITTLE AMP IS MAKING ONLY BIG! AND SWEET AND SMALL TO PACK BUT AS GOOD AS A BOOGIE.

BOMB-PROOF ! AL QAUIDA PLEASE IGNORE,I DONT WANT A DEMO THANKS.

DONT KNOW?

JACK OF ALL STYLES ,MUSIC IS MY TRADE,LIKE FOOD IS A CHEF'S,YOU WANT IT WE MAKE IT.45YRS MAN AND BOY AND I STILL LOVE THE SOUNDS OF WOOD AND WIRE.I HATE PEOPLE WHO MAKE VIDEO'S OF BRENT MASON AND THEN LET ORDINARY MORTALS BUY THEM AND SIT IN DARK ROOMS AND CRY! NOBODY SHOULD BE THAT GOOD IT AINT FAIR.

got the manual? ==>10
no manual? ==>1

If you dont know how to connect things together using a D.I. you are lost without the manual..

I use it to record Deathmetal/Blackmetal guitars..

compared to a PALMER DI9 it sounds bad.. not that open and with a lilbit hiss..

guitar==> Rocktron Piranha ==> BBE maximizer ==> RedBox ==> PC

or guitar ==> Rocktron Piranha ==> MArshall JCM900 (return) ==> RedBox ==>speaker and from the redbox out to my soundcard.

no problems at all.. it's a passive unit...

never used

well i give it a 6, because you can record your ideas and with a lot of tuning, EQing, maximizing you get a good sound.. but use the palmer and you just have to plugin, and get a great sound out...

It's a follow-up, one year later.
I finally found out how to use this, and I am not so proud...;-)
It is passive, which saves you a lot of hassle. Sensitive to power transformers(draw-back...) so just place it well.
The direct speaker out is great, you patch the box between amp and speaker. The ground lift is the most useful thing in the world, a real life-saver, thak you hughes and kettner!

I use it with a marshall 15watts-to-pa, and with the red box it sounds awesome! The 4x12sim is rather an 8x12 one(think more highs more lows)but it sounds frankly good.
You get noise if positionned near a power-transformer, watch out.

If only it was made with proper switches, it would be a ten. With the ones it came with it is a one...
The xlr socket is a switchcraft! Now I really don't understand about the crappy switches...

Okay, first times I was wrong. One shouldn't use this as a line device.
It obviously needs power signals to work well, such as the speaker out one from your amp. And there it shines.
The Ground Lift saved my life for gigs, and I won't ever play without this box.
The poor switches makes me think:
I may buy a behringer ultra-g, which seems far better made and also have simulation and direct speaker capability. And if it matches the simulation of my Rath box it should be heaven.
Don't go without ground lift in real life situations!!!

Yes it's easy. It is passive,so weak. No line-level processed sound and it bores me a lot. I found it a bit difficult to adjust on the mixer,though.

Guess what? German have strange ears(remember they make good cars)at best. The tone is very deceiving, I a/b-ed with a Rath simulator(little ugly-green box, active) and the difference is himalaya. Get the Rath instead,you will do yourself a big favor

Mine came with a broken switch. Was replaced but still the switches it has are absolute crap, just look at them and they start to break.
No no no I wouldn't use it on a gig, or at all in fact. Forget about this red box!

I was so disappointed with the product I didn't bother to contact them, but I've heard they are helpful and nice.

Don't get this. It's expensive,sounds flat and lifeless if not dull, and switches are a catastrophe.
End of statement, I love you and so am warning...

So easy, I'm at a loss for words!

Better than a mic for recording? No. A good way to get MOST of your sound recorded at 2am w/o waking the house up? You bet. Better than a mic live? Under ideal circumstances, no. Better than a mic placed by an hasty and disinterested soundman (the norm)? Always...

Yep. No backup needed.

Never needed it.

Great unit. I attached it to the rear of my combo amp with some industrial strength hook and eye (velcro). That way it can only get ripped off if my amp gets swiped.

PLEASE DO E-MAIL ME FOR KNOWLEDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1.)SWITCHED-ON:LOSS-OF-"HIGH-SHELF-FREQUENCIES"(NEEDED for FUZZ!)
2.)SWITCHED-OFF:TOO-MUCH-"HIGH-SHELF"(Hurts my EARS/NOT FLAT ENOUGH)
3.)TOO-MUCH-BASS: Can't EMULATE anything but a CHOKE-COIL-INDUCTOR!
4.)MIDRANGE: Whatever happened to the UPPER-MID-VINTAGE-CLEAR-TONE!
5.)MICROPHONE: More DYNAMIC-CLARITY with a "CARD-BOARD-SOUNDING"SM57
6.)YOU CANT' EQ WHAT IS-NOT-THERE!!!in MIXER,PA,PWR-AMP,PRE(TRIED ALL)

I made a SPEAKER-ISOLATOR:
-take 2 speaker-cabinets.
-2 STUDIO-CONDENSER! (STEREO) mount XLR-JACKs on outside.
-take speaker out of CABINET#2 then reverse-polarity
-use foam-padding and calking
-LONG-STORY SOUNDS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This little red thing is quiet easy to use. Just plug in, baby! The cab-simulation sounds almost like a real 4*12cab. I don't know how the "real" 4*12-cab-sound really differs to the sound I get out of this box. But even if you don't like it...just turn it off!
I needed the ground lift switch because otherwise I got a lot of interferences that made the sound far too noisy.

As mentioned above, ground must be lifted permanently. I use it with a H&K Edition Blonde. Setup: Amp Line Out -> Red Box -> Multicore -> Mixer unit.
I play New Metal, Alternative and Indie-Rock and I got the sound I was looking for.
As mentioned by others, high-ends don't reach the harddisc, but that's not that bad as it seems because often you're lucky if you don't hear those shreaky high-ends.
I'd definitively use it for gigs and even for studio recording when used as a second track to the miced amp.

I really depend on it. Use it on a gig w/ backup don't look like a risk to me.

Haven't dealt with 'em but I cannot imagine that their CS is causing any complaints. A friend of mine dealt with them and was amazed by their prompt support. But because I never dealt with them personally, let's say its a 7...

For this little price, I would buy it again if it where stolen or lost. But I haven't compared it to other products, e.g. the "g-thing" by Behringer or others.

Very easy. Just look at the picture in the hughes-and-kettner.com site on the Accessories link and see how simple this unit is. Just remember you will need a balanced cable to use with it.
It does not need batteries or any other power supply accessory!!!! this is a great upgrade from the original Red Box.

I use it at the end of my rig directly to the board (preamp-effects-poweramp-red box-board). My rig sounds amazing through a 4 spk cabinet, but don?t underestimate the sound this Red Box simulates. It's incredible! It gives a more balanced sound with more depth.
Is the bes cabinet simulator on the market. I checked with a few suppliers and every one said the Red Box. Now I confirmed it.

Very reliable. But I bought mine new and received it with the little plastic on-off switch (for cabinet simulation) broken. Hopefully it was set ON which is the way I will always use it, and when I played with it, I was so delighted that decided not to ship it for replacement (I'm not in the USA so is too much time and too little patience). This plastic switches can brake easily but they are not to be handled much. I will use it for recording (and I'm going to) and gig.

I play rock, alternative and some blues.
Still trying to get my perfect sound but I am absolutely convinced that the Red Box stays no matter what. Its an ADD VALUE item!
No wonder it's Hugges & Kettner.

There's nothing to say. Just plug and play. Very effective.

Exellent. No changes at all. I use it with Laney TF200 from speaker out to PA system with cab simulator "on" and sound is just great. I don't hear any changes in brightness at all.

Maybe plastic switch buttons are weaknes but once box is set up
you should not even touch anything further.

I was looking for a dealer in my country and after sending them e-mail
they respond immediately and advise dealers address. Dealer was also very nice and cooperative and I recieved box a day after ordering via mail.

I wanted this box since I do not like to have a lot of equipment an stage. So this was very good solution for me and I must say I am extremly satisfied with it. I have just get what I needed and wanted.

Couldn't be easier. P 'n P.

It does exactly what I hoped it would. After my band went IEM's (in ear monitoring) on stage, I decided to use my little all-tube Fender Princeton 12 Watts instead of my MusicMan 212HD because I didn't need the power anymore, and the Princeton sounds SOOOO good (I use a Boss GT6 pedalboard into the Princeton). The redbox is inserted between the power output and the speaker, the redbox balanced out goes to the PA. Using the cab simulator, I found the sound not-so-brilliant, not very like the Princeton, so I turned it off. Without the cab sim, the sound is EXACTLY like what I hear from the Princeton. Both in studio and live situations. I a word: perfect. Great bonus: if I need extra power on stage, and the Princeton's 12 watts don't cut it, I use the redbox's balanced out to feed the xlr mic input of a Carlsbro acoustic amp, which has a good Celestion in it and 65 watts of solidstate power. Result: a very LOUD Princeton.

Looks indestructible.

I had some questions about other gear from H&K once, they replied friendly and fast with to-the-point information.

Playing for 30 years, 25 as a professional. Blues/rock/pop/jazz/whatever I like. Acumulated lots of stuff over the years. Main (electric) guitars: '63 Gibson ES335, Ibanez RS525 (yeah, I like that one!). I would buy a new one if it were stolen. I wish it had a second parallel XLR out, or a secondary jack line-out. It definitely adds the final touch to my set-up. Very professional: 5 minutes to set-up my rig and hand an xlr over to the soundguy. All settings flat on the desk, and go. I'm SURE he has the sound I want him to have.

Three switches, self-expanatory. Cord goes in, cord goes out. Oh yeah, it's rather easy to use.

Sound effin' great. I plugged this into our PA, and I like the sound I got coming out of the PA better than my own damn speakers!!! I cannot WAIT to use this at a live gig. I play heavy metal music with extremely distorted guitar tone; someone was complaining about having no hi-end. That's what I always HATED. This guy probably hasn't learned the fundamentals of mixing, I bet he's one of those "9 bass- 0 mid - 9 hi" guys who's guitar tone sound like a bass grumble and a shreak with absolutely no note definition (and you can never tell what he's playing). That's okay; while guitarists that do that continue to not give in and learn to mix with the band in local groups, I'll be getting comments on how good we sound and how cool my riffs are, because you'll actually be able to HEAR them.
The Redbox Pro filters out the shreeky hi-end (which does nothing useful other than cover up the cymbals) which has always annoyed me about guitar tone cabs at high volumes..... I want to HEAR THE NOTES, and I want them to have some MEAT. The Redbox does just that.... heavily distorted "guitar chugs" sound so damn sweet. The emulated cab sound sounds better than it ever will at a club where they stick a mic on your cab and pay attention to mic positioning for about 2 seconds, usually yielding a "tearing paper" guitar tone through the PA.

I think whoever designed this box had a hand in designing those tape recorder boxes in commercial airliners that log the pilots conversations and are supposed to be withstand sitting in a burning jetfuel for 10 hours.

Haven't had to call them yet. But I hate calling customer service for anything. So given my rating I ask you... is the glass half empty, or half full?

If you're tired the shitty generic micing techniques that they use at every club, and want a sound that mixes well, pick up one of these cheap little boogers. Damn, I wish I had only gotten one sooner!!!

Only complaint I have is that I don't like the cab emulators for recording purposes as much as I do on the Line 6 POD or J-Station. But hey, nothing's perfect.

Very good ease of use. Tweak away with effects fromother devices but use this to go direct. Very nice round tone. Very clear. It is not muddy. Thrash metal treble freak I suspect made this comment.

I use a Texas Special Strat, and a very nice Yamaha SA 2200(Their version of an ES335 - My luthier believes it is built better). Use it as a direct device for a Reissue Finder Twin Reverb and for direct recording straight out of a Boss GT3 pedal. It is not muddy. Very solid, crisp tone it you want to hear what your guitar really sounds like. I like everything from Jeff Beck old and new, Monte Montgomery, to Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton.

Very hefty. Don't expect any problems.

Haven't had to use them.

Definitely would buy it again.

How can it get any easier? Three self-explanatory switches and an equal number of places to plug things in! Doesn't even require power!

I'm a lead guitarist in a working club band. I use a Mesa-based rack system. I use various Les Pauls and PRS McCartys. I use this to get my guitar sound to the PA. In our band, we go direct with EVERYTHING. Nothing is mic'ed except our vocals. Our bass player uses a line-out and even our drummer goes direct (Yamaha electronic drums...). We get a LOT of compliments about our sound and we know it's because we get so much separation on the instruments - no mic bleed through (except what little the vocal mics pick up).

When first starting to use this, we set up my trusty SM57 and ran the two signals in parallel and eq'd until it sounded just right. If you take the time and effort to eq this, the results are great in a live performing context.

We love these. Our keyboard/second guitarist uses one as well to get the signal from his on-stage monitor system to the board.

I like this SO MUCH, that I bought another one and pulled the circuit board out and permanently mounted it inside my custom-built Mesa rack power amp. Talk about an easy set up - there's an XLR connector mounted on the back panel of the power amp, so I just run a cable from the XLR connector to the snake and... done! And I know it will sound consistent every time.

Could it sound better? Probably. I'm not sure I'd use it a studio environment, but for live performing in night clubs, you can't beat it (if you take some time at sound check to dial it in...).

I used one for quite while before deciding to build one into my power amp - tough as nails, and I absolutely depend on it. I'd be really surprised if it failed.

Never had to deal with them!

It's not likely to get stolen, at least in my installation... I previously used an ADA Microcab, and it wasn't too bad... required more eq than the Red Box does, and it's a full rack space item. I also tried the Red Box Mk III, and it sounded good too, but requires power...

Can't get easier. It comes w/ a 2-page manual showing pictures of different setups for differnt situations- pretty helpful i guess, not needed though.

OK. The other guy who wrote so negatively on this unit is causing me to write this(he scored it 1 for sound quality). The truth is, he is correct as far as the specs and facts are concerned, but I don't know, maybe I'm just another boring, mediocre, unoriginal guitar player-but this thing sounds so awesome to me.
I'd been searching for a good guitar amp/cabinet simulator for a while for my humble home studio and I had tried both POD and Tech21-GT2 but this thing sounds the best to me(for my music, that is). The music I'm doing now is mainly rock-oriented and I prefer this darker sound than GT2 or POD although they may sound more realistic and have more options- eq, effects, etc.- in one box.
The really cool thing about this unit is that I could put just about anything; guitar preamp, mic pre from my mixer, tube mic pre for OD effect or just tube warmth, or even noisy effect pedals- anything to boost the guitar signal and add color I want for the sound I'm going for(compressor, distortion pedal, etc.), in front of it and it will come out of the Red Box totally quiet. This is because it pretty much filters out the high frequencies(what the other guy was complaining about). And although it is critical to get good highs on any instrument, especially when recording, the processed sound of this box sounds so freaking sweet to me that I don't even give a s*** about the highs.
The only thing that bothers me a little is that it outputs at mic level so U would need xtra boosting at this stage before going into the recorder or boost at the input of the recorder- but the sound still remains clean so it's not that big a deal(if u use a quiet preamp).
It's just the funkiest little box. It sounds great(to my unoriginal ear), its design and function is so simple to the degree where it almost defies logic, and, again, it sounds just awesome (to me).

haven't used on a gig. looks like it doesn't know how to break.

haven't dealt w/ them.

I've been playing the guitar for 11yrs. I used to play mostly jazz gigs and it's only been about 2 yrs since I got into recording and started to buy all these gears and write folk/pop/rock tunes(although I always liked all kinds of music). I was never an amplifier freak- being a pretty much straight-ahead jazz musician, I concentrated more on my notes and rhythm and more musical things than the tone itself although now I think it should be the opposite: if it sounds good, what u play is gonna sound good. Does this just make me a rocker? I don't know. My point is that maybe years of performing solely jazz music has an influence in making me so pleased w/ Red Box Pro because POD and GT2 just sounds so much like the real thing but most of those sounds are not how I hear electric guitar. By the way I'm not the majority here.
I just love this thing and I would definitely buy it again if it got lost or stolen.

It's very easy to use, after you've made sure that the two switches for input select and guitar cab simulator is correctly positioned it's just plug and play. Way easier than miking the amplifier.
If you get a hum or buzz there is a ground lift as well.

I use it with a Laney LC30 and connect it between the amplifier's speaker output and the built-in speaker. Actually I often get a better result playing live with the redbox than playing with the amp miked. The sound you hear when you play standing in front of the amplifier is often not the same as the miked one the sound guy puts out through the PA, but with Red Box it's closer (to my ears anyway).
Someone complained that he got little or no treble when playing thru the box, I can't agree on that. It's just enough treble for me.

all metal, Made in Germany.
needs no power supply.

Haven't dealt with H&K so I have no opinion.

I love it because it's so easy to use ( I hate soundchecking for hours) and because the cabinet simulator is so great.
Great for bass-players as well!

Easy

Stinks...I use it as a Direct-Inject Box, I should have known the
stupid guitar-cabinet-simulator would be just as bad as Mud from
the Dirt...I want TREBLE, Lots of Clarity...How about a speaker
simulator of a studio-monitor, P.A.-Cabinet, or good Guitar-Cabinet
...Something with a TWEETER(4Khz-20Khz frequencies)...Or at least
something that can get up to 10Khz so I can hear my FUZZ...Tin sound
or not, I need clarity, so I turn that stupid Cabinet-Similation
switch off...This thing also cuts down on gain, lowering the volume
enough where I have to turn more up to hear from this dumb-thing...
For the useless price I paid($100.00)it could have been a RACK-MOUNT
unit...Instead, I might loose it or some crooked-roadie may steal
it from me...It's too small and too expensive, should be worth $10.00
U.S. Dollars and Cents...

This thing is built like a tank...It may never break...

If you want to sound like crap like everyone else who sounds like
crap with too much BASS and LOW-MIDRANGE(Muddy)...This unit is for
you and all the rest of the suckers out their who are not original
as usual...I don't even use this RIP-OFF...For Sale, anyone???
Okay, so maybe it may sound good with a little Post-EQ etc. But
that still does no good for the Notched High-Shelf frequencies
from 5Khz-20Khz...

This little red box (hence the name) has 3 switches - Input Select (Line or Speaker Out),Guitar Cabinet Simulator (On/Off),Ground Lift (On/Off).
It also has 2 (unbalanced) instrument jacks - Input and Thru.
And a (balanced) XLR Out (to Mic) which you'll be using to get the signal to your mixer.
The Input Select lets you choose whether you'll be feeding a line or speaker level signal to the Red Box Pro (this also switches the Power Amp Simulator on and off).
The Guitar Cabinet Simulator switch turns on the 4*12" cabinet simulation.
And if you encounter hum or anything you can use the Ground Lift to eliminate it.

The instruction manual explains how to use the 4 different modes of the Red Box Pro.

The sound quality is quite good. This thing's job is to make a line or speaker out signal sound like a miced 4*12" guitar cabinet and I think it does quite well. Of course it's not the real thing, but it comes close and is definitely usable.
I turn the treble down with an equalizer, because it has too much for my likings,but better too much than too little.
If I'd go record an album I wouldn't use it if the studio had nice 4*12s and mics,but it's definitely great for home/live use.

I would depend on it!
It doesn't need any power,no batteries,no phantom power,no nothing.
Made in Germany.

Hughes & Kettner customer has always been very friendly to me - their website -> http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com offers some information on their products and contact addresses.

This is the 4th version of the H&K Red Box, which means that it's come a long way, thus delivering solid quality.
I play metal, but also clean stuff. Especially for the undistorted sounds it's great,which doesn't mean it's bad for distortion sounds - but nothing beats a properly miced 4*12" cab.
But the Red Box Pro is set up in seconds...

I wish it had the possibility to choose the mic position.