Black Box placement?

Howard Parker · From: Maryland

I have the loan of a Sarno Black Box.

Is recommended placement before or after a passive volume pedal?

Thanks

h
_________________
Howard Parker

03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

Typically right after your steel, and before your volume-pot type Volume pedal.

Has anyone experimented with placement before/after a Hilton pedal?

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Most definitely first thing after the guitar so the pickup sees it directly. Before the volume pedal...

And with a Hilton, absolutely before the Hilton.

B

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

Brad, I'm guessing you have experimented with the BB before/after a Hilton pedal.
Can you elaborate more on your actual findings with regard to tone differences?
My understaning is that the Hilton is basically a buffer like the LiL' Izzy, that wants to come right after the pickup.
Is there any technical/practical reason one shouldn't run the BB after an Izzy or Hilton, and just before the Amp input as a tube-pre?

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Well, the Black Box is a buffer as well. The idea here is that you have a passive pickup going into an active electronic stage. SO much happens right there at the very first electronically active stage. Right there, much of the pickup's character and tone quality gets etched in stone and remains a significant imprint throughout the rig. The Hilton is a solid-state, opamp based device with a VERY high fixed input impedance of 1Meg Ohm. That yields a very crisp and bright tonal response from the pickup itself, and once that's embedded into the signal, you can't really change that signature. The Vari-Z on the Black Box allows you to dial in the optimal treble response from the pickup itself, but the Vari-Z must see the pickup directly to work. If you buffer before the Black Box, the Vari-Z is rendered useless.

Then you have the choice between solid-state vs tube circuitry when it comes to how you want to first "activate" the passive pickup signal. What makes the Black Box stand out as a sound tool with steel guitar is its distinct ability to let you have nice and clear and bright low wound strings and simultaneously silky-sweet and clear high strings and high registers without the solid-state treble glare or harshness. I've found that this is very hard to achieve with solid-state electronics when compared to a tube circuit.

So placing the Black Box first gives all these tonal balancing benefits, a pre-volume pedal tuner send for hands-free silent tuning, a variable input impedance tone control to perfectly tailor your pickup's tone, and a generally sweeter, more harmonically rich tone and feel compared to the various solid state devices out there. If you put the Black Box after any active electronic stage, you abandon almost all of these things that are central to the Black Box's fundamental purpose and feature set.

B

Paul King · From: Gainesville, Texas, USA

I have been a Black Box owner for a while now and it is a great product. The Black Box had a problem and I sent it back to Brad Sarno who repaired it and sent it back all for $25. Brad not only builds a great product he stands behind it with service as well. I have always come out of the guitar into the Black Box and then into the pedal, which is what Brad recommends. I am a satisfied customer for sure.

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

Oh Man I'm still using one with no Vari-Z or tuner-out.
...One of these days...

Marty Holmes · From: Magnolia ,TX USA

I am the owner of the 93rd bb and it has probably gotten a total of 15 or 20 weekends off period absolutely one of my most treasured pices of gear sept 28 0f 2004

Marty Holmes · From: Magnolia ,TX USA

I am the owner of the 93rd bb and it has probably gotten a total of 15 or 20 weekends off period absolutely one of my most treasured pices of gear sept 28 0f 2004

Marty Holmes · From: Magnolia ,TX USA

I am the owner of the 93rd bb and it has probably gotten a total of 15 or 20 weekends off period absolutely one of my most treasured pices of gear sept 28 0f 2004

Len Amaral · From: Rehoboth,MA 02769

I never leave home without my Black Box and I don't play out any longer, just take it for a ride! Seriously, This device has many uses and I just started using it with a studio mic with a jack that goes from XLR to 1/4" and it adds warmth to the vocal sound.

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