Hughes & Kettner Red Box 5 DI versus Shure SM57 A/B comparison test

the Red Box has more punch, good for cutting through the mix...a little post eq for more air/upper mids and here we go!

thanks !! I know now that i won't buy this shit !!

mic and a real cab any day and night/

Sorry, even through every on seems to like It is a very different sound to the miked vox. it might be ok to use in an emergency. In honesty but seems to lack bottom and tops.

The dude is leaving his amp unloaded. Thats a great way to ruin a perfectly good ac15

Sorry but you cannot compare the Red Box and sm 57 without adjusting the eq on the amp. I use both from time to time. Both are great.

The Red Box has no shining highs. Otherwise it captures lows and mids pretty well. In view of up-to-date IR loaders, the times of the Red Box seem to be gone forever soon. I wonder when H&K will come up with such an IR loading box. I would certainly sound good.

Match level

Can someone please show the built in Redbox DI out on the Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister through an FRFR speaker cab like the Headrush 108?

I’ve always wondered why the red boxes add so much “mid”to the tone.....🙁

Great equipment, I am very happy with it.

Sounds like crap.

crap

Sounds like it’s under water with the red box

No more red box for me. Sounds like crap unless it's the only option and you just have to get it done.
The behringer g100 is the best.

Mic’d amp sounds way better than the box!

You said AC15 with ONE Greenback. Shouldn't you set the switch to SMALL instead of LARGE on the Redbox to compensate for that?
Nevertheless, good video, thank you very much :-).

This is an absolutely bogus review of the excellent H and K Red box. The Red box is designed to be wired between the speaker and the amp head . This is NOT a stomp box which is the way it is wired for this review. do NOT base your opinion of this review..

DO NOT USE THE RED BOX AS SHOWN IN THIS REVIEW. Tube amps need a load connected to them. Using the red box between the speaker and cab is the way to do it.

Excellent comparison. I now know exactly what to expect when buying one of these. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but to me both these setups sound totally usable with a little eq.

Two conclusions:
1-box makes Vox sound like it has a head cold
2-I miss my Vox AC15

I have a Tubemeister 36 with a built in Red Box, the amp is great in every respect maybe one of the best amps on the market. But using the Red Box to record is not my personal flavour. I will still mike the sound to get "my sound" on "tape".

The SM57 is clearly superior on the Strat; it had superior bass response. Both were terrible on the Ibanez with humbuckers.

I gave a thumbs up :-)
Now I see the red box dampens the tone compared to the real output with speakers.

Amp sounds much better. No comparison, makes me think twice about buying one.

I have used a red box on many different amps and I honestly don't know how he got this one to sound so bad. I couldn't make mine sound this bad if I tried.

The miced cab sounds superior to my ears...love H&K

Redbox sounds horrible

OK people don't waste your money on this hyped poor performing device. Buy any of the Joyo speaker emulated overdrive pedals (especially the 'American' but only use it as the speaker simulater (keeping the drive on about 9 o'clock) and tone stack your favourite overdrive pedal before it. For recording direct it is superb and you'll fool the 99.9% These pedals are only 30 Euro's from Thomann Germany under the rebadged name Harley Benton.

Worst demo ever. The condescending "try and keep up ok" is a sure way to lose visitors and subscribers. Idiotic, and seems the have made this sound intentionally bad

Thanks a lot! Now I know why not to buy this red s***t :)

I have two Red Boxes, one being the model demonstrated in the video. Overall, it does a pretty good job and eliminates a mic on stage, and gets pretty good studio tone. It isn't going to be an exact match for your amp sound, but once the signal gets to the board, you can adjust. The switches on the device help to fine tune what you're sending to the board, and they do make a difference. I would recommend it. It's good to have in your gear bag.

please compare with cabclone and two notes

To my mind this is not really a thorough enough review to make any real life comparisons. I use both SM57 and Red Box in live situations. The Red Box is by no means perfect, and if I want the most faithful reproduction of my amp and speaker in isolation, then the SM57 is really very good. However live playing requires a lot of compromises: overspill, stage volume, where your instrument sits in the mix in relation to other instruments, space, consistency of sound and so on. If all my gigs allowed for half a day of setting up and sound checks, and plenty of space on stage to move, and to give good isolation between instruments and singers, I'd probably always go for the SM57. Usually however I find I am on a cramped stage, with little set up and sound check time, and the Red Box means I know exactly what the engineer is getting in the mix. The stage volumes can be kept much lower going direct. A lot of the differences in sound you hear in this video can be addressed with eq on the desk, playing against a band the mid range of the Red Box will cut through nicely in the monitors.

a mic and a Redbox together is a great tone. VERY GOOD actually. There's something about the direct sound that mixes perfect with a microphone, it's super 3D and nicer than just a mic on its own

Red box sounds dead tbh. I'm keeping my trusty sm57!

No comparison, Red Box no where near the quality of a mic.

With the Mic has body tone!!! Red box sounds ok :-/

Red box sounds ok.. before you switch on overdrive channel. ;-)
I wouldn't consider the red box as a serious alternative to micing process, it's rather a rescue for sudden emergencies. But also not the best rescue.

mic is way better but did anyone think it wouldn't?
red box is not bad though

I have used a red box since they first came out in the 80's. The beauty of a speaker simulator is to have a more controlled guitar tone that doesn't depend on mic placement, not to replace the SM 57. There's no replacement. You can't get that air that's hitting the mic from physical vibration from a box. However, When you move from venue to venue and have to set up and tear down night after night, The red box gives you the same tone with less variation. Also, with a THD hot plate, you can send the signal to a red box and kill your amps speaker for a great monitor and front of house mix then dial your stage amp speaker back in. You can't do that with a microphone so easily unless you use an isolation cabinet. This review is not perfect but it does show that an SM 57 is better and it will always sound better than any box. The great guitar players all know this. Of course, bettr is a matter of opinion anyway.

Thats not a good position for that mic. There's drawbacks and advantages to both. Would I recommend the redbox for anyone doing home recording? Yes.

Dat BACK<<<<
 to the FUTURE
Reference!!!!!

While everyone is welcome to their opinion, this demonstration IS FINE. This box does EXACTLY what it is intended to do. It is a "reasonable" representative of the signal going into it. Applied in a LIVE setting or a MIX it would be MORE than adequate. Making fun of the presentation, the playing ( let me see you do better and not waste our time ), or whatever other NONSENSE has NOTHING to do with the purpose of this device. Go PLAY your instruments with actual people in real places... Due to NUMEROUS factors you will NEVER sound EXACTLY like you are imagining from your home. The closest you may get is in a Kemper or Axe FX or similar setup. Not a big deal. THAT'S LIVE MUSIC! If your going to bag all over a review at least have a REAL APPLICABLE reason as to why?! This little DI does what it does. It's in NO WAY going to EVER sound EXACTLY like the original signal. NONE of the little box style units do. Even the rack/load units aren't perfect but who cares? Your audience will NEVER notice. You just go with what works best for you in a particular environment. Why do people forget that EVERYTHING in a signal chain is in fact a part of their instrument?! From batteries to buttons, nothing sounds stellar without the player being aware and making adjustments. Anyway this comment section is almost unbelievable, and demonstrates EXACTLY what is wrong with about 90% of the at home guitar experts ... end of rant.

redbox is harsher.

This reflects my experience with the HK5
I spent 5 hours trying to make it sound like a miked cab in a A/B comparison -- I tried all switch combination, EQ, etc... Could not get away from that buzzy synthetic edge and weird low end tone compared to a real speaker/mike .. basically this emulation sounds like nothing but some fancy EQ of a direct signal ... not much else going on inside .... kind of felt DEAD to the touch too.

I noticed he didn't have a cable into the 'pass thru' jack. Doesn't this mean it was just a DI, not getting the amp sound?

Why are these videos always made by tone-deaf, one-riff hacks?  Don't real musicians make review videos anymore?