Z-Box, Anyone?

Here's where to talk about preamps, cables, microphones, monitors, etc.

Moderator: James Steele

Forum rules
Here's where to talk about preamps, cables, microphones, monitors, etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
Rick Cornish
Posts: 1125
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:07 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Ely, MN USA
Contact:

Z-Box, Anyone?

Post by Rick Cornish »

Hey gang.....
I am experimenting with dual-recording my guitar: one channel through the pedalboard and mic'd off the amp and the other direct into my interface.
1. Is anyone here using a MOTU Z-Box for recording guitar direct? Like it?
2. Any recommendations for a splitter for my guitar? My Sweetwater rep recommended the Radial BigShot… http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BigShotABYv2/, but the Lehle P-Split II looks interesting as well… http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PSplitII (of course, for twice the price).

BTW: (In case it matters) I'm going for a jazz tone—think 1965-ish Kenny Burrell, basically clean, but with good sustain and a little top-end dirt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS5JM2SJIRI

Cheers.....
Rick Cornish

DP 11 on M2 Mac Studio (64mB mem. + 2tB int. SSD + two 2tB ext. SSDs, and Mac OS Sonoma). VIs from MOTU, Spectrasonics, NI, UVI, 8dio, Soniccouture, East West, Spitfire, Heavyocity, Vir2, and more; plus Waves 14, Brainworx, iZotope, Wavesfactory, Oeksound, Final Mix, JST, SPL, PSP, UVI, Valhalla DSP, and other FX plugs, Roland A-88, Apogee Quartet, iCON Platform Nano, Genelec 1032a and Westlake BBSM4 monitors, Gibson HR Fusion III. rickcornish.net
User avatar
HCMarkus
Posts: 9712
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:01 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Rancho Bohemia, California
Contact:

Re: Z-Box, Anyone?

Post by HCMarkus »

I use two DIs: Whirlwind's Hotbox and Avalon's U5. Hotboxes are phantom-powered and are used in the drum room when tracking several instruments simultaneously. They have been solid performers. The U5 sits in my control room, feeding two chains as you propose - DI and Mic'd Amp. It has proven excellent at rejecting RF, but is expensive has tone control features I don't find myself using much.

Bass players always smile when they plug into the U5.

I keep a Marshall MP-1 and Peavey tube power amp in the control room, connected to a 2x10" sealed back speaker mic'd in the iso booth for players who don't bring an amp. It's a sweet setup, with complete control over the amp sound from the control room. If the guitarist wants to feel a little more amp than I want to hear at the monitors, the iso booth door can be opened a tad; it's an acoustic mixer!

I LOVE handling guitar like this. Guitarists tend to go for tones that are over-saturated when tracking. I don't worry when they do, 'cause I can use the DI recording to re-amp (amp sim plugin) exactly as I want the guitar to sound in the mix. That said, I will often find myself using the recorded Amp sound, too; combining the two in stereo is an effective was to get a big & wide guitar sound from a single take.
User avatar
Rick Cornish
Posts: 1125
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:07 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Ely, MN USA
Contact:

Re: Z-Box, Anyone?

Post by Rick Cornish »

Thanks, HCMarcus. That Avalon is a beast for bass—nice choice there.

For my guitar, I read everything I could find and decided on the Lehle splitter and it's now on the way from Sweetwater. We'll see how it works out.
Rick Cornish

DP 11 on M2 Mac Studio (64mB mem. + 2tB int. SSD + two 2tB ext. SSDs, and Mac OS Sonoma). VIs from MOTU, Spectrasonics, NI, UVI, 8dio, Soniccouture, East West, Spitfire, Heavyocity, Vir2, and more; plus Waves 14, Brainworx, iZotope, Wavesfactory, Oeksound, Final Mix, JST, SPL, PSP, UVI, Valhalla DSP, and other FX plugs, Roland A-88, Apogee Quartet, iCON Platform Nano, Genelec 1032a and Westlake BBSM4 monitors, Gibson HR Fusion III. rickcornish.net
dewdman42
Posts: 1217
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Contact:

Re: Z-Box, Anyone?

Post by dewdman42 »

Radial makes GREAT stuff. I use their speaker emulating DI box to capture the output from my tube amp when I gig and we did a lot of tests of the sound coming from that compared to my custom 2x12 and and we could not hear a difference. Very great stuff they make!

Please let us know how the splitter works for you, as I want to record all my guitars that way also in order to reamp them later if I want to and also I want to start using occasionally MainStage-hosted plugins for guitar sounds, but most of the time not..for gigging...so a splitter like that would let me do that. Will be curious to hear how to works for you.
5,1 MacPro 3.46ghz x 12 cores,96gb, Monterey (OpenCore), Lynx AES16e-50+X32
User avatar
Guitar Gaz
Posts: 1381
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2005 6:36 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: LONDON

Re: Z-Box, Anyone?

Post by Guitar Gaz »

Line 6 UX2 for me.
Gary Shepherd
____________
iMac 27" 3.3 GHz Intel Core i5, 32 GB Ram, Monterey 12.7.4, 64 bit, Digital Performer 11.2, Studio One 6.5 Professional, Reason 11, Melodyne 5 Editor, Korg Legacy Wavestation and M1, Arturia minimoog V, Helix Native 3.72, Bias FX 2 Elite, Superior Drummer 3, EZkeys, EZbass, Nektar Panorama T4, Motu M4, Faderport 2018, Gibson Les Paul Standard, James Tyler Variax JTV-59 and other gear.
User avatar
Sean Kenny
Posts: 197
Joined: Fri May 26, 2006 12:40 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Kent - England
Contact:

Re: Z-Box, Anyone?

Post by Sean Kenny »

Emo di box here
Mac Pro 3 GHz 8-Core Intel Xeon E5 - 32 GB Ram 1867 MHz DDR3 ECC - OS X 10.12.4 - DP 9.13 - RME HDSPe Madi card - iz ADA converters 24 i/o - Antelope Orion 32 i/o - Audient desk - Miller & Kreisel Monitors - Wunder Mic Pre's x 8 - very understanding wife!
http://www.ten21recordingstudios.co.uk/
Post Reply