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ZBox — guitar pickup impedance adapter



"MOTU's ZBox offers a portable, simple to use and unversal way to simulate the impedance of the Hi and Low inputs found on many classic Fender amps, to remove impedance mismatches and help give you better emulated guitar tones."

Recording magazine
December 2010

ZBox operation

ZBox is simple to use. Just plug it in and go.

Just plug your guitar into ZBox’s Lo-Z or Hi-Z input (whichever sounds better), and plug the ZBox into the guitar input on the destination device (audio interface, wireless box, mixer, recorder, PA, etc.) as shown.


Guitar inputs on audio interfaces, mixers, PAs, wireless transmitters and other similar devices (often labeled “instrument”) usually have impedances that differ significantly from most guitar amps. This mismatch can make your guitar sound too bright, thin and brittle.

ZBox provides the proper input impedance levels to match your guitar’s output signal. The result? Your guitar sounds like it is connected to a real guitar amp and has a much warmer tone and authentic “response.”

This is especially true when using digitally modeled guitar processing software (plug-ins) on your computer, audio interface, digital mixer, etc.

To support a wide range of guitars, ZBox provides authentic “Hi-Z” and “Lo-Z” inputs, just like the ones found on many classic guitar amps, complete with analog simulation of the input tube grid.

ZBox is not a computer-related device and does not require any software drivers. It does not even require a power source! Simple!


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