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M-Audio Black Box Guitar Amp Modeling Processor and USB Audio Interface

The award-winning Black Box is designed for guitar players who want to stretch the creative potential of the guitar. With an inspiring array of unique effects that automatically beat-sync to your song tempo or the included drum patterns, the Black Box allows you to quickly access intricate delay lines, randomized filters, pulsing feedback effects and countless other ways of jumpstarting the songwriting process. Co-developed by M-Audio and Roger Linn Design, the Black Box is the first creative tool for guitarists that combines amp modeling, powerful beat-synced effects and a drum machine with a Pro Tools M-Powered compatible audio interface for computer-based recording. Learn More...

    • New from $139.95
    • free ground shipping
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Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * . . . . . . . 3 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10

Individual User Ratings

Overall:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Features:
* * * * . . . . . . 4 out of 10
Quality:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Value:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
I Want It:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Sound:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * . . . . . . 4 out of 10

Feature:
lots of unusual beat sync'd stuff that has novelty value and that is about it.

Quality:
Product is made to a price point and was released on to the market by a sales department with poor 'non guitar player' R&D

Value:
Spend a little extra and go for a good brand name multi pedal board (e.g. Vox ToneLab) or a little less... the Korg PX4D wipes the floor with this and is less mulahhh

Desirability:
be kind to the planet and make sure that it goes to a recycling facility.

Sound:
Terrible digital noise on some programs.

Ease of Use:
Not very ergonomic.

Support:
Sent mine back.... didn't deal with M Audio.

Overall:
20 minutes

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Overall:
* * * . . . . . . . 3 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Sound:
* * * . . . . . . . 3 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10

Feature:
Lots of interesting effects, being able to sync them to midi beat is great. The drum machine is fun to jam with for a bit but most beats/sounds are very techno oriented.

Quality:
Seems well put together, but it is all plastic, very light weight. Not a lot of substance to it.

Value:
It certainly is cheap - and there is a drum box in there - but its kind of like a cell phone that takes grainy photos and drops calls - lots of features - none of them very good.

Desirability:
It looks nifty - pretty blue lighted display - compact form factor, and the control layout is logical - but it just doesn't get the sound.

Sound:
Dull, sterile, presets are awful and not at all musical. You can tweak it to get better sounds. There are some innovative effects but they come across as gimmicky and not really musical. I'm a tube amp fan and this thing in no way sounds anything like a tube amp. I returned it and bought a VOX ToneLabLE and am really happy with that. zzounds was really great about that and I appreciate their flexibility.

Ease of Use:
Takes a bit of work. Tone controls lack power - hard to shape the tone. Just bass and treble shelf filters.

Support:
In general, M-Audio support is only so-so.

Overall:
I returned it after one day of playing with it. It just doesn't sound good.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

Feature:
The Black Box is simply a stunning musical insstrument that is indeed very musical. With the new firmware update its pure joy to work with and the newly added amp models (40 amps and 121 effects to start with, who knows what it might end up with their next update!). The BB comes with Abelton Live Lite for Guitar and it is a superb software to try out your ideas and I was so amused that I ordered the full version from Germany. The unit is very well layed out and feels good. There is everything in there now including Reverb and the Mid control. And the Drum patters can be saved with your user preset.

Quality:
The product is very good to look at. The display is huge with a translucent blue colour and it definitely does not look cheap. The knobs feel nice to tweak.

Value:
I do not think there is a better product out there for $200 maybe for the Behringer V Amp 2. But then all these processors have their individual colours.

Desirability:
This product is very sexy in my opinion. You really do not want to take your eyes off from it. On stage it just feels so right in front of you on a tripod stand with your pedal board etc.

Sound:
With their firmware update this is the most accurate amp modelling I have ever heard! It will blow you away. Period. It sounds so real that you will have to really sit there and try really hard to distinguish it from real amps. The chunk, the crunch, the oomph its so engaging to play with this thing that it is nothing short of inspiring. The Marshalls, The Mesa Boogies, The Bogners, The Diezel, The Fenders, The Vox, The Peavey, their new clean preamp and their own custom factory preset called INTENSE is nothing but the best guitar amp sounds you can ever hope to get out of a box of this price and size. I use an Ibanez RG and the BX5a with this and it is such a joy to play with all the effects in front of these speakers. The flangers and the chorus are so sublime and evocative that you can just go on and on and on. The tremolos are brilliant. The delay is dedicated and is top notch. The recordings I have done with it are simply beautiful although I wonder what the clarity would be at 96khz. But I feel you would not have to think about the khz myth with this unit. It does well. I have only scratched the surface here. In time i have have no idea what I would be able to concoct with this unit. Well how better can amp simulation get anyway? I just wish that they raised the khz next time so that we can record everything at 96khz and then it would certainly be one of the de facto standards of recording gutar music (We do not want maths figures to get in our way of thinking when we make music right?). The Black Box was designed with Roger Linn and kudos to his designs and taste for good tones... He is a very inspiring man and M Audio is a fantastic company and their Black Box definitely is an inspiring tool and it sounds very musical and certainly stands out from the pack of Boss, Digitech, Korg and Zoom.

Ease of Use:
Its a joy to use. And its super simple. The manual is well documented and is well worth a read.

Support:
Yes they are very easy to reach and they do respond! And they are friendly too. But as such I have never had any problems with M- Audio as they are usually smart in letting us know of updates before we figure out what's wrong with our product! The drivers are top notch and getting better with each issue.

Overall:
I should be happy with it for as long as it works.

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