I have two reactive load devices that I use for recording, a Suhr Reactive Load I.R. Box and a Fryette PL-IR Reactive Load. I purchased the UA OX for a live application. For live gigs I use a Dumble-style amp. Instead of micing my amp one of OX's LINE / MON outputs goes to the FOH board. I use a Shure A15LA Line Adapter that converts the line level signal to microphone level. I've created 6 custom Rigs that work well with my amp, and after I adjust the volume of the guitar speaker cabinet connected to the OX to 0 for silent operation, I let the sound guy/gal listen to each of the custom rigs through the PA system and select which one that will be used for FOH.

I use a ClearSonic Acrylic Amp Shield in front of my cabinet so I can run my amp at a decent volume without out creating problems for the FOH. To me guitars sound horrible through PA monitors, and this approach works perfectly for me. It was very simple to setup, and most importantly it is reliable and very easy to use in a live setting. There was a little bit of a learning curve so I could create custom rigs, but once I figured out how to do it making them was very straightforward. The app that UA provides is a bit clunky and needs to be updated, and there are a few other things that UA could do to improve the OX, but overall I find it a very useful tool for live gigs. One feature that I find very useful is that the OX can be set for speaker impedances of 4, 8, and 16 ohms, which isn't the case with some competing products. Also the controls are very simple to use and it makes the OX pretty much a plug-and-play device when performing live.

Only seems to work with the computer that is dying- app keeps freezing on the new computer, so box is no functional. Wifi only is an incredibly stupid design, no redundancy especially with the major issues that have pkaqued this unit. Expensive and non functional- no more UA for me.

The Ox Box was amazing when it came out… I bought it and was incredibly happy with the results I got from it. There were a couple of things not implemented yet, but it had such promise if developed. It received one update, six years ago as I write this in 2025, and has since been totally ignored for further development or improvement by UA. Such a shame.

So, barring any shocking surprises in the form of updates, it is what it is… 2019 tech that is like hardware; never changing. I was surprised to see they were still being sold new.

So three stars because what it is still sounds good and is useful. Once Apple quits supporting the app, it'll be two. It SHOULD be 5 stars, but the manufacturer has totally dropped the ball on realizing its potential and this isn't the 1960s… customers expect updates if a product remains on the sales sheet. The lack of support for the Ox Box has caused me to avoid UA products completely and stay with makers who don't abandon their products and customers in this way.

Review Summary:
If you want to record your tube amp at home and do not have a dedicated sound treated room, good microphones, and/ or cannot push your tube amp due to having a partner, roommates, kids, neighbors, a pet or any other restraint that makes volume an issue. The UAD OX BOX is a no brainer in 2025 just as much as it was when it released. If you have never owned something like this and feel a bit confused or intimidated by it - give yourself a day or two with it and you'll be ripping.

Endless thanks to my sales engineer Daniel Nesmith who listened very well to my home recording dilemma with guitars, which basically boiled down to wanting to mic my amp for home recording, but not being able to. Daniel politely tried to reassure me that the OX would serve me well for these purposes while I made every excuse to talk myself out of the purchase. About a month after, I ended up buying a synthesizer twice as expensive as the OX which I am very happy with, but if I could do it again - I probably would have went in the reverse order.


See full review below:


First off, I do not own one of these...yet. I did just spend a little over a week with one lent to me by a friend and used it a lot during that week. For about a month prior, I read everything you can find online about this product from harsh criticisms to high praise. I went from thinking I need to have this to thinking this is an outdated and abandoned Universal Audio product (sometimes multiple times in single day).

Usually, the criticism around the OX Box Amp Top are based around a lack of updates, mediocre attenuation, and pricing I'll give my take on each.

UAD does not give this guy much attention these days (The most recent update was 3/26/24 the time of me reviewing this and is still in production). However, based off how infrequent the updates have been, it would not shock me if there isn't anymore updates at all. The software can be a little janky at times, but it is really not nearly as bad as some people online make it out to be. Yes, you can find better attenuators on the market if that's primarily what you're looking for the OX Box would definitely not be your best option. IMO, it's really not that bad of an attenuator and you get very good a built in EQ to adjust according. Pricing? Yeah, it's a lot of money. If not not mistaken it's even more than when it came out on 2017 or 2018? It's also one of, if not, the most expensive of any of the reactive loads/ attenuator/ cab sims on the market - So, why am I rating it so highly?

It sounds incredible, it really sounds amazing and with little to no effort. If you are unaware, this comes paired with software which can be used on Mac, Windows, or iOS. The software gives you control over two mics on the cab, so you can capture a take using two different mics on the cab. (note: you have full control over panning for each cab mic, cab mics can be made on off axis, can have a hi-pass set on or off, and control over eq for each, and finally - there IS a DI option if you want to use your own IRs or capture dry signal for re-amping later. There's a lot of cabs included too I can't even recall the total - it's more than enough, though.
there's an option for a room mic (also gets a dedicated eq, panning, high pass, and damp on/ off). The, there's a master effects section with EQ, compression, delay, and plate reverb. All effects plug-ins are UAD, so they sound great. I don't know when or if anyone will outdo the level of detail Universal Audio put into the software. Love them or hate them, this is something Universal Audio does extremely well and how this device remains the best even with much newer, cheaper products on the market.

Yes, I've tried amp sims including all the ones that people say make a product like this not worth it. They are good too. If that's what you can afford - that will work. That was me for years, and I had fun and made songs I liked with them - This applies to even free versions, make music with whatever you have access to at the time. However, if you want something that can capture the character of your tube amp without any hassle at home - you will not regret purchasing one of these.

Exactly what I expected. Perfect for the job it claims to do. Top of class!

Thanks Ryan for all your help as always!

Was expecting a lot from the device as its price is not friendly, but it really exceeded any expectation.
I use it with a Mesa Mark V so I can have a decent tone at apartment volume, but it's not the best part.
I ended up recording my guitars using the digital out directly into the audio card with protools and the sound is even better than a real mic in front of the cabinet.
The plugins are ridiculously good and the stereo sound together with cabinet emulation is TOP CLASS.
I will NEVER sell this hardware, so don't ask.

I decided to invest in one of these so I could crank my amps which have no master volume. In a nutshell, I just wanted attenuation, and heard this was great for recording without mics. What you get with the cab and mic sims, reverb and room mic settings, etc is amazing. It simply takes your amps true amp tone and makes it better, like a finished product from a studio, coming out of your speakers, as you're playing. I find the darkening of the tone to be minimal, and mainly is noticed when you play from the amp's actual speaker. I've used the #1 preset on mine through my HS7 monitors and don't really have a need to tweak anything. It's gear like this that allows you to get more out of amps like old Fenders with no master volume. It's made me understand why a 5E3 is such a good amp, and makes it better at the same time.

Just for ability to use any number of my amps and get great sounds quickly makes it an essential piece of gear for anyone who records guitar.

I'm a huge fan of UAD and my rig is built around both their analog and digital gear,

However...

The interface should be integrated with the Apollo console, you should be able to switch to mono, and I would like to play with some of the effects without necessarily printing them. Yes you can use the balanced out to record from, but some what diminishes what UAD has been doing as it relates to transforming and bridging recording in the digital and analog world.

Also, UAD's tech support has become non existent over the last couple of years.

So for those reasons, 4 stars, but still highly recommend if you are a guitarist or record guitar on a regular basis.

I can't get the unit to connect to my computer, WIN 10 so I can use the app with the unit. UA offers no phone support, only long delayed support tickets. Very frustrating. I haven't even tried the unit yet because I've wasting too much time trying to get it connected. If you use Windows and want to be thoroughly frustrated, then buy this worthless piece of junk.

There is a reason you see these everywhere. How did I live without it?

I've had this bad boy for about 4 months and I love it. It takes my Princeton Reverb to its sweet spot without making my ears bleed. The future is bright with this box… bring on the 100 watt Marshall's. It is also packed with some great feature as I'm sure your already aware since you've made it this far.

All the great finance options that sweetwater offers helps make this purchase a little less painful. What good is having your dream amp if every time you want to hear it cranked (how it's supposed to sound) involves angering the rest of the tribe.

Don't think just do what's right for you and never look back.

I waiting way to long to purchase this item. Happy to get it on sale, discount is awesome. This unit comes packed incredibly well.
Most importantly is the tone and all the built in effects, cabs and mics. I haven't noticed in impact on my tone while running my AMP live or through my audio interface, which happens to be an apollo twin x. Outstanding for recording silent. Captures the tone of my amps amazingly.
No latency at all. I would like to see UA send out updates, but I see this as a longterm part of my gear.
Sweetwater service has been outstanding.

He got me a sweet deal on this during guitar days and I have been super happy to be able to get a much better tone in my apartment since then.

I am loyal to him and he has displayed his loyalty to me as a long time customer. Great dude you have working there!!

Recording guitars in my tiny home studio has always been a pain. Between my dog moving barking, noises from the fridge, the fan noise, and other random sounds it can be difficult to get a professional sounding electric guitar. Sometimes, takes would be ruined because of my dog barking or other louder noises. This gives me a better guitar sound than I could ever get in my home studio.

The Ox Box also sped up my workflow significantly. I used to have to set up a mic or two, connect them to my outboard preamp and then dial in sounds, usually doing a few test takes to see if I need to make mic or preamp adjustments. Now I just connect it digitally via SPDIF to my audio interface and use one of the 5 presets I've created on the rig. Honestly, I barely use the app unless I need to.

As an added bonus, my neighbors no longer hate me, because I can crank the amp and stay under 70db. I thought about getting this for the past few years. My only regret is I didn't get it sooner.

I'm a veteran recording artist and concert musician, and it grieves me to say it, but this thing is a total disappointment. It won't just let me play, I just keep fiddling with it to get it to sound like a real speaker cab, and it just ain't happening. It hasn't got any real punch, and I can't past how thin it sounds - they just haven't figured out how to diffuse the high-end that a guitar amp delivers the same way that a real speaker does. Consequently, there's a metallic shrill top-end that you just can't get rid of, or even work around. While this is a great idea on paper, if you're looking for great old-school amp tone, this ain't it.

I am a full time (Simi-retired, but still gigging and playing a lot) musician. Though I do have three really nice tube amps, I have been on a Kemper for a few years at least half the time , if not more, due to it just being easy and convenient. However , I still do gigs with my Tube amps and record with my real amps about half the time. Also, though I actually have a barricaded area in my 25'X25' band room studio to isolate a guitar cab for recording and it not be loud in room, I decided to give the OXBOX a try. I managed to pull up an extremely close a similar Cab sound as my Todd Sharp 2X12 ( which is similar to a VOX 2/12) and did an A/B recording test back and forth comparing My SM57 / Aston Origin Mics to the OXBOX . Other than having many more options for different cabs and mics with the OX, I just wanted to hear if was Organic and real sounding and if it would capture the true sound of my "Tube Guitar rig " . Well it certainly does ! Even if I had a better Amp room and a few more mics , I would still just use the OXBOX ! I also plugged one of my Amp heads a pedal board into it and did a few songs direct to PA with my SOLO Act set-up . WOW! It does what it does extremely well. No Buyers remorse at all on this fine piece of gear ! I highly recommend The OXBOX !

I was hesitant to pull the trigger on the OX box as many time you hear bad reviews and misleading info on the World Wide Web. I was looking into buying another load box that's more budget friendly but decided to give the OX a try as it was highly recommended from my sales engineer Richard Whittington. This is by far one of the best purchases I've made in a while. It compliments my Soldano SLO30 and the variety of mics and cabinets is well thought of for professional recording and plying live.

What a disaster! I have owned the OX for months and it still does not connect to the WiFi network. I changed Internet providers and still nothing. Many emails to UA and nothing but over your head word salad. I am not an IT director I play music... UA makes you feel dumb..not cool. The sweetwater team have been soooo cool. They have spent hours over many months tracking the issue... they even took over my computer and it fail to work... and that was with UA tech notes. I would look at other solutions before you commit you money and time to the OX box.. the 6 presets sound good but not how I want it to sound and I can't change anything because of this problem UA created. I think UA was cutting corners and should feel ashamed by the unreliable service and product fidelity.

There's nothing quite like the Ox, so far as my research tells me, but I primarily needed an attenuator. YMMV, but I didn't like it that much as an attenuator, as I feel the lower volume (1 and 2 on the dial) really didn't sound good at all. A bit better at 3, but already too loud for my home use. 4 and 5 sounded great, but there was almost no attenuation on those levels, and that's already a "call the cops" volume. So in short, I was disappointed with it as an attenuator, and decided to return it.

As far as the software goes, if you're a gear junkie, you may love it. I really didn't know enough about microphones and amps and stuff to enjoy all the different sounds. I also don't record. So this device may be perfect for some, it was just too advanced for me. I could see how some may love it, though, as it really does offer quite a variety of tones.

This was paired with a Marshall SV20H.

The Ox Box is indispensable for live performance. My tone has never been better. You can dial up anything you like. I do worship music. Some is pretty hard, and I've created a clean and distorted tone that I couldn't get in-house with anything else.

The ox is an interesting product. It does sound fantastic, but UA clearly did not finish the job. They added several features that were clearly designed to ship with the product after launch like the footswitch feature, and a few more speaker cabs. However, the three USB ports on the unit are still non functioning. The ox technically has tone adjustment features, but you have to use the infamously bad wifi connection. UAFX pedals have an editor with USB connectivity, and wireless for those who need it. Why doesn't the ox? There's an ox PC/Mac app to tweak and save sounds. Requiring the player to use the wifi connection that insists on dropping out every half hour is infuriating. When customers sell or return their units because they can't get the wifi to work you did something wrong. Then there's the lack of midi on all UA's products. The infuriating part about this is that the device could clearly be made to accept midi commands. USB midi is a standard, and UA's programmers could have included it. They just chose not to. I can only recommend the ox if you're in a silent stage/studio situation, AND you only need a single tone. If you buy this hoping to utilize all the features it technically has...you'll hate it.

I saw & heard this great box for 7 hours during a Lick Library bootcamp, and was impressed with the tone coming across from Sweden to me in Colorado, USA over the net.

I got tired of my Kemper and stereo FFFR cab, so I went in on a huge EVH 5150 IIS EL34 head, a 2x12 Mesa/Boogie cabinet, and a pedalboard that's still under construction :-)

Go figure that an arena amp at 100 watts is a loud home office rig. I had Jens Kruse (Kruse Amplification) install all of his mods on the EVH head, but the Variac circuit down to 5 watts just wasn't doing it for me. I still had to turn down each volume to below 1, making the amp sounded a little fizzy.

3 days ago I did a side-by-side of my Kemper EVH profiles to the real EVH amp, and the dynamics, even when fizzy in tone was just no comparison, so I ordered the OX just for the purpose of attenuation, not even for the other many great capabilities that it can offer.

I go back 40 years with attenuators to the Scholz Power Soak in 1982, and have tried Hot Plates, Power Breaks, Fryette Power Station, and more. The OX sounds *great* and there is nothing to adjust, other than volume. It really does seem dynamic, with the tone of a cranked amp *and* cranked speakers ("cone cry"). Truth in advertising with "cone cry" -- it's really there!

Not only is this a great product, but my Sales Engineer, Jimmy Hart, in a matter of minutes refunded me the approximately $50 that I noticed the OX had been reduced by in the last 3 days since I ordered it. That's service!!! Oh, and did Sweetwater ever pack this unit up like a tank to protect against any damage!

This thing Rocks. Best sounding Di I've found yet. I was looking at cheaper power-soaks and figured I'd try this thing. Yeah. I'm keeping it... I finally found a piece of gear that gets rid of that crappy direct into home stereo reciever sound. (I call that the brown sound because it sounds like the fecies of a dead rhino after eating taco bell for a month.) and yep. this is great. I can crank my amp to the point of cushy warm distorted goodness without the swat team showing up to arrest me for indecent exposure. Love it! Great investment. Get ya one and be like all the other cool kids on the block...

Had the Suhr RL IR, Boss TAE, Torpedo Capture, Torpedo Live, RC IR loader and now the UA OX. I have to admit that I have never heard so much misinformation about the OX on various forums and was very negligent to buy one. But after I got mine and ran it through the paces I had to realize that for me it far outclasses the previously mentioned products in terms of the quality of the speaker simulations. Speaker breakup as well as mixing two mics and adding a room mic is so easy and so convincing. No other product offers that. The Boss TAE might be great for live playing as it is a re-amp technology and the design layout is superb but the speaker sims are just average and the unit is loud in terms of hiss and hum compared to the OX. The Suhr RL IR is a great sounding and working unit but does not have the openness of the OX which also provides a more convincing low end through studio monitors and doesn't have this annoying lower midrange honk that you can't get rid of. The OX attenuator is not as good as the Ironman II but is not as bad as a lot of reviewers describe. It works and is acceptable IMO but this is only one small feature of the OX. The OX is providing a great virtual recording studio (plus sound engineer) as long as you know where to go for. And this might be for some people the biggest frustration. You only can get the max out of this unit as long as you know what you are doing. Micing a cab or combo in a decent recording studio requires experience in terms of positioning the mics, the choice of mics and the room ambience. IMO the Ox is a delight to work and play around with. Whether it is worth the steep price of admission is for everybody else to decide. Keep in mind that a single Royer 121 Ribbon mic costs literally as much as the OX. You are not only getting this mic but a nice additional selection plus world class compression, plate and delay with the unit. Not to forget a nice range of speaker cabs. No more need to chase the dragon by reviewing hundreds of IRs to find out what's best for your particular application. And UAs approach of capturing speaker sounds at a wider range of up to 200ms instead of the usual 20ms for IRs make a noticeable difference when you compare how guitar sounds are ringing out. It is noticeable. I know that this topic is hotly debated but my old and worn out ears still tell me the truth. Thanks a lot to my Sweetwater sales person Ryan Murphy for all his support.

It's early days yet, but I am really glad I bought an OX. I primarily purchased it for recording in my home studio and based on my experience so far, it is the PERFECT tool for that. I work in a small space in my basement and the OX lets me track electric guitars without having to worry about having and picking the right mics, where to place them for the best tone and whether the room sound will be additive or problematic (usually the latter in my small room). The choice of simulated cabinets, mics and master processing (reverb, delay, EQ, 1176 comp) is incredible. If you want to dig deep and tweak all those bits and pieces every which way you can, but it's also pretty easy to get an amazing-sounding recording without a lot of fuss. The iOS app is super easy to use. Setup was a breeze, though I was careful to do a lot of research before buying into how I'd get signal from the OX to my Apogee interface (it won't accept the OX's digital output so using the L/R line-level outputs and panning each close mic in the OX hard left and right lets you get both OX mics plus their portion of the room mic/mics as separate tracks in your DAW, for blending/panning as you like). Maybe the best part is truly being able to hear how the recording will sound while testing levels and tracking, because I'm not fighting to hear it in the cans over a very loud guitar speaker in the same room with me. Now I can dial in my tone and lay down tracks in a fraction of the time it used to take me when I was setting up two or three mics on a cab in the room, and with better results! For someone like me who has a day job and a family and is trying to squeeze home recording into limited free time (and avoid little sounds from the rest of the house bleeding into sensitive condenser mics while tracking), that's a home run.

The OX is worth every penny, IMO, for those features alone (though Sweetwater's 0% 3-year financing certainly helped me take the plunge - thanks!). I have yet to try it as just an attenuator, or feeding the outputs into FOH for live performance, but I may play with the latter in the coming months when my band starts to play shows again. I like the possibility of sending the cab simulation to FOH while using the attenuated amp/cab speaker as my own guitar monitor to reduce stage volume.

Overall, if you're looking for the ultimate electric-guitar recording tool. OX is it!

I was considering selling my Mesa Boogie Mark V 90 watt amp and cab because I really couldn't get the right sound out of it without blowing out my ears or disturbing the neighbors. The OX allows me to push my amp and get that sound I've been looking for. Just the attenuator alone is awesome and I can't even put into words how great it is to play my amp thru different virtual cabinet and mics. The flexibility this equipment provides is incredible. My guitar sound has never sounded this good when recording too. My experience with UAD and Sweetwater has been nothing but positive. I can't wait to buy more UAD gear and will definitely go to Sweetwater for my future purchases.

There's no shortage of good reviews from experienced musicians so I wanted to write something from an inexperienced point of view.

This is one of the best investments I've ever made simply because it works/sounds great.
I plugged my 72 twin into the OX Box and from there, into my Scarlett 2i2 and a windows machine - Everything works flawlessly leaving me free to experiment with the built-in cabs/options in the Ox Box and the tone from my amp/guitar.

The UA Audio application I downloaded for my windows machine was easy to find/install/set up from their website and it's a breeze as well as A lot of fun to use. Everything you need to get up and running is right at your fingertips from the UA website.

I've been thru some other options that cost me frustration time and money and all I have to say about that is:
Save yourself the headache and pull the trigger on the OX Box - It actually does what it's supposed to do.

It's a very nicely designed and built product and the attenuation works fine, but to my ear was no better than my Bugera PS1 attenuator. The dealbreaker for me was lack of 5ghz wifi support. My house uses 5ghz wifi, and the Ox box only supports 2.4ghz (which is significantly slower, especially if you like to game on the side). For some reason the USB ports on the back are nonfunctional (per the documentation) so I was basically stuck with a dummy attenuator for $. In my opinion, not worth it. Fortunately SW support and my guy Paul are helping me return the product. I think I'll stick with the Bugera.

I love the modeling and effects but I have to say last update was 11/2019. You lost a star there.

Since this has WiFi and is managed by ipad, the product support will be an issue if it is never updated again. Oddly last published update allows firmware updates over WiFi instead of just usb then poof... nothing after I can find. User forums are saying they believe it's discontinued.

For me this is silent recording from above. I hope they return to this and keep updating especially in expanding availability of cab and other models. It can make my Mesa boogie sound quite different from the IRL cab and you'll learn a bit if you look at how they mic each rig.

There is plenty of value here for the apartment home studio.

What can I say, other than I would buy it again and again. I do wish I could use that USB outlet on the back to hardline into my internet instead of using the wireless to register the unit. I did go a lot easier than my analog brain thought it would. It even updated itself after I got done with the registration. The software that comes with it is too intuitive to need much instructions beyond what you can find online.

I've owned it for two years. I play every Sunday in church through a Mesa 5:50 and a PRS Standard 24 Core. Strymon compressor at the front of the chain. For the environment in which I play, I get total control over my tone through this box. One reviewer gave it four stars because there are no XLR jacks on the back for live gigs. I'm not sure how much more live tone I'd get through an XLR than the TRS jacks, but there is plenty of tone on many fronts. Speaker emulation is unreal. My main rig is a Mesa Roadster through two 2x12 cabs. The Ox replicates the speaker response in my two 2x12 cabs. I use a 1x12 set up in church and have mic placement options through the Ox. If want to run directly into the venue's board without micing an amp on stage (because of volume), then the Ox Box is a must-have. Aside from my PRS and Strymon compressor, the Ox Box is indispensable.

I love the Ox. It was a lifesaver for continuing to work and record during the pandemic when I no longer had the house to myself during the day. Yes, it has some limitations. But the sound of UA's cab emulations are truly incredible. And the built-in effects are fantastic. In my opinion, the cab options offered by UA are the best balance of versatility without leading to choice paralysis. I also have another load box that I use with IRs that I had before the Ox. I will use both sometimes for recording two amps at once, stereo setups, etc. But if I just need one amp, I ALWAYS hook up the Ox because the interface and the options are just right. The sound quality is exquisite. After the initial setup, controlling the Ox is so easy on my iPad or from my computer. It feels almost as natural as actually moving mics or adjusting outboard gear. I use all the UA plugins for mixing, and the Ox's effects are just as good. It just sounds perfect. And I find the enjoyment factor to be much better than using IRs. YMMV

This would be an easy five stars if the Ox had an FX loop (and it would be six stars if it had a stereo FX loop and stereo cab capability). I know the Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander has an FX loop and I would've opted for it, instead, except UA's speaker emulation is just a cut above. At the end of the day, getting the best possible pure guitar tone was my number one goal and the Ox fits that bill. 80% of the time, I don't need crazy effects (even though I love my crazy, experimental stompboxes).

That said, it is such a missed opportunity not to be able to put in some FX BEFORE using the Ox's built-in FX. It's the only negative. Yes, the built-in FX on the OX sound good, but I still want to be able to use my own delays, reverbs, etc. From a production/mixing standpoint, I often prefer guitar effects, no matter how experimental, to go through the speaker cab (or IR/emulation) to get the natural frequency roll-off that is characteristic of guitar cabs. It often helps the sound stay more "together" in my opinion, especially in a denser production. From a practice/enjoyment standpoint, not being able to insert my delay/mod/reverb pedals before the Ox means I can't use the Ox to practice with headphones unless I want to run the Ox into my stereo pedals and then into an interface and/or a headphone amp of some kind. Also, it means I can't use the room mic and beautiful plate reverb on the Ox after my stereo FX, which is really too bad. I often run all my pedals in mono into the front of the amp, which works most of the time. But, it would be nice to have the option to use my effects in stereo and still make use of all the Ox has to offer.

This is not a deal-breaker at all. I'm very happy I bought the Ox. The sound is so incredible. It is so easy to pick the right cab and mics for any amp (except a HiWatt! We need a Fane emulation!) And, to walk-back my previous paragraph just a little, being able to dial in my various amps without worrying about volume makes me want to use fewer pedals. The guitar tones I'm recording sound huge. I find myself micing up my amps less and less because the results I get with the Ox are so good. I'm a happy customer who will patiently await the Ox 2 with a stereo FX loop/stereo cabs capability. Are you listening, UA???? ;)

If you're happy with the six stock speaker setups included on the unit, the OX is a five-star experience. If you want to edit via wifi, you may have difficulties. I used two different PCs to connect to it, and although I'm a very experienced PC and tech user, I had a lot of frustration getting the OX to talk to the outside world. Now I have one of my PCs set up to talk to it and it's no problem, but it still won't connect to the other PC so I'm forced to use my backup PC rather than my main PC to edit. Otherwise, the unit is great. I wouldn't say it's the best attenuator as far as the speaker output (it seems dark) but the speaker simulation through headphones and through the outs is outstanding. Zero complaints there.

I bought it before their latest price increase, I will say. There are other options out there that are competitive and cost less. For the price, it should have bluetooth or USB connectivity and XLR outs. It doesn't make sense in a studio environment to be forced to use 1/4" output jacks. Having said that, I use the OX nearly every day and it doesn't let me down.

I set it up with my UA Audio Apollo. Crank a 100 watt Marshall plexi thru it and play at bedroom volume. Sounds amazing. The speaker emulators in this unit sound spot on.

I bought this product several months ago and I told my sales rep James Masterson I would do a review, however life took over and my mother in law was in and out of the hospital and finally came to spend her final days at our house. So, I've only been using the OX as an attenuator which has worked our real well for keeping my somewhat excessive volume tolerable for our house guest. for this alone it has been a great purchase.

I've been living with the OX for a couple of months now. I've recorded my variety of hand wired classic tube amps (built by myself) with fantastic results. This device helps to cop new tones using amps you may have had for years. I know that happens to be the case with me.
That covers the finest sounding load box section of this sonic Swiss Army knife.
The processing is first class. The mics, the speakers, cabs, rooms and the rest of the super fine UA sounds make the OX an integral part of my live and home/recording rigs. I wouldn't have it any other way.
76t

I've tried them all, and the Ox seriously blows away all the others by 5X at least, no bull!! Just get it and see!

Make the most out of the tube amp !
GREAT INVESTMENT !
LOUD TUBE AMP NO MORE THE SOUND IS AMAZING JUST OUT OF MY CAB !
WITHOUT LOSING MY HEARING !
SOUND OUT OF THE OX BOX WITHOUT CAB AMAZING !!!!!

I've had my OX for two years now and I use it every day. For practice, recording (home and in the studio). It's the best piece of guitar gear I've ever owned....but.

I now am always struggling with my live tone. Simply put, every amp sounds like magic through the OX, and that's a very tall order for things in the real world to be compared against.

So my unsolicited advice would be to use it for all the things it does well, but don't forget to keep your ear tuned to "real" amps.

This was a game changer … those big *** amps from the 70's are back in business... easily configured for use with Apollo system...using optic cable toslink...or just playing the amp in a club or room at low voL sounds great...
if you've got some amps sitting around...you need this...
re

Have you ever tried to play at home with a massive tube amplifier and a 300W cabinet without being sued? Ever experienced your best sound ever, but at a gain that both your bandmates and the club owner would fire you instantly? Ever wanted to play at night with headphones without relying on computer plugins or cheap toys? Problem solved, keep your sound with no compromises, enjoy the full rich tone of your amp at home, or in a gig with a reasonable volume and screaming tubes at the same time. Best for recording, the plugins are outstanding and fully customizable.
The only reason that it's 4.5 stars instead of 5 is because with headphones I don't have the same deep bass sound of my Mesa Mark V with vintage celestion cabinet, but most probably it's impossible and I am asking too much.

The UA OX presents guitar players, producers and engineers with an extraordinary creative platform. To label it primarily as an attenuator is an understatement. Sure, it does a magnificent job managing load while maintaining true fidelity. That's just the beginning. Then you enter UA's brilliant digital domain of speaker simulation and microphone placement. Add to that some of the sweetest effects I've ever used. It typically takes much time, and lots of trial / error, to find some good device setting. The OX platform flips that. Great settings are immediate. The problem is selecting from a broad spectrum of beautiful tones and settings.

This is an update/extension of my review from Feb 2 2021.
UA accepted my bug report and addressed it in less than three weeks. I haven't validated as I am still using the older firmware. The response alone was sufficient for me to bump to five stars. I absolutely love this device. The attenuator is good but the DSP/modeling side is truly great.

This things does everything it says it will. Built like a tank and easy to use.

As always my SE is fantastic. Hat's off to Nolan and the rest of the team at Sweetwater.

I'd give this 5 stars if UA buttoned up the API from the start. In terms of just the Audio properties it's absolutely five stars. I do, however, expect that high end gear with a high end price tag not have the same security issues as a netcam bought of of wish, so minus one star for that.

Pros: The processed output is amazing. If you are looking for a device to play into a DAW, monitors, or headphones this is definitely it.
The attenuator is not spectacular but it works well, even with high gain. I don't really use it at all and my speaker cab is now basically an expensive amp and Ox stand.


Cons:
There are some network security issues with this device. I won't go into details or publish until UA has addressed the issues or refused to address the issues. I do not recommend exposing it over the network to untrusted or known hostile threat actors. Don't put it on the internet unless it's behind a firewall. Don't let people that you don't trust onto your network if you use this device for your livelihood.
There's a slight delay in switching rigs. It's not a big deal for me but it could be for you.
This device will encourage you to buy more amp heads and baller grade headphones and/or monitors. Preferably from sweewater.

Im coming from an Axe FX III. There was always something
missing in the tone in the Axe fx . I did come from tube amp background in the past so i got a Marshall and the OX Box and i have to say hours into setup and testing I was happy. You just cant replicate the sound, feel and connection you get with a tube amp. I used fractal for over 10 years.

The OX Box is incredible. There is a sea of tones you can coax from this box. I mean I've basically started with one 4x12
Cab with vintage 30's and have been using it since for months
The mics and cab parameters are incredible you can make some small adjustments and your getting incredible tones. the EQ in this box is so sweet. You get an eq on all mics
and on the output. Compressor is also great along with the reverb and delay.. as far as the Attenuator i don't use it.
Ive used attenuation in the past and there was alway a trade off. Little tone loss but I've never had intentions to use the OXBox attenuation...Wayne

The Ox Box is an amazing piece of gear. As an attenuator it does it's job as well as any other if not better, and it has great options such as 4, 8, or 16 ohm settings for speakers, 6 built in rig options and 12 room options, AND you can connect an amp without connecting a speaker at all if you wish and simply go direct. Here's where I have an issue with this product: in order to unleash its full potential you need to access the application that allows you to chose different speakers, cabinets, mic position and effects. The problem is that the app is extremely finicky to connect. UA built in a USB port into the Ox, however, it has no practical use: you can't connect the Ox directly to your computer in order for it to communicated with the app, it has to be through the wireless network and getting this to work has been a frustrating journey that I have been unable to fully resolve after a year of trying. There is a long list of things that will render the OX incompatible with your Wi-Fi network, which in this day and age is baffling to me. At this price point I expect a product that works well and easily out of the box, without having to have a degree in computer science to make it work. I would hope UA comes up with some sort of software update or some other solution to address this issue as I know for a fact I am not the only one facing it. Other than that, great product.

Combined with a '65 Twin Reverb Reissue, this is a must have piece of equipment.

I have a great collection of tube amps and until today, I never actually heard how good they really sound. Cranking a 40 watt amp in my basement guitar room would not only make me deaf, but also rattle the house. I played for 3 hours and didn't even touch a pedal. No ear ringing when finished either. My pedal collection will be going up for sale soon, as I don't need them now. My amps are very touch sensitive to begin with and now that I can actually use the volume knob on my guitars, I have no need for all the dirt pedals.

Set up of the OX is simple... Power cord to wall, amp to OX, Ohm selector, Ox to speaker. I haven't attempted to download or use the app yet. It's unlikely I'll use the app features often, but it will be fun to explore.

I have owned a 1982 vintage Jim Kelley F.A.C.S. 30/60, a Dumbleish amp without the Dumble insane price tag, since 2000. I have wanted to get the Ox for years but always had a better reason to spend $...

I broke down and bought my first Taylor acoustic, an 814ce Cocobolo LTD, and it came with Sweetwater Bonus Bucks.

I added a few bucks and took the chance on the Ox.

Wow, I have never understood why the Kelley has commanded the price it does... but now I know. I have a controllable tone that I cannot get even with the insane number of drive pedals I have.

"New Amp Day" after 20 years!!!

The OX Box has been incredible for me. I remember when the OX first came out a couple of years ago, it seemed like a game changer, I've always loved the organic nature of an amp, a nice pedal or two and a great guitar (who doesn't), but I was still pretty immersed in the Fractal AXE FX world.

After getting a hold of some really cool amps, and my favorite, Carr Skylark, I started to try other load box to IR solutions and it just wasn't working for me. It still felt and sounded pretty much the same as the AXE FX and the trade off wasn't there. In fact, the AXE FX won out a lot of the time in tone.

I should have kept it simple and went with the OX off the bat, because I was sold on it back then. Anyway, I called Tom Koch (who's the man), got one sent over and I was sold because the very first preset sounded better than any other solution I had tried. I was able to plug in and just play. Since then, I've dialed in my favorite cabs and mic combinations, set them to my front dial, and it's been off to the races - WITH the best sounding recorded tones I've ever had. Also, never forget the value of aural excitement over volume. The tones I have now cut through the mix so easy and are more present when left underneath instead of disappearing. The way the tones take EQ is better as well. I liken it to going from a $500 vocal mic and interface pre, to a real 251 and 1073. It's going to be more present, alive, dynamic, forward, more body, more harmonic content and take EQ differently. This is the experience I'm having with the OX.

Also, I'm not sure what the hate on the attenuator is. It sounds good to me and I know my gear really well.

WiFi did give me some hiccups at first, I reset my modem and afterward everything has been flawless. In fact, after you get the OX secure into your network, you can use LAN on your machine instead of needing WiFi to be on.

The headphone output sounds incredible and makes the old, just turn on and jam easy. No need to turn on your computer, DAW or whatever. But, if you come up with something cool, you're a minute away from recording exactly what you're cooking up.

This has been my honest experience with the OX.

I'm stoked to have this unit. It makes me want to play more and that means more than anything else.

Thanks UA. I'm looking forward to any future updates, because it's just so much fun to experience progress. In the meantime, still plenty to discover.

The sound of the Ox is incredible! It has exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. I feel like the only way I could actually beat this thing would be if I had access to Sunset Sound, Abbey Road, Capitol, etc. It definitely surpasses what my home studio is capable of. Also, I can actually open up my vintage amps to get all of that great tone and feel without blowing up my eardrums after 30 seconds.

I've had some issues with wifi connectivity but I started disconnecting my internet and just connecting directly to the Ox which seems to be the only way to get a reliably stable signal. Other than that, I am really loving this thing.

I have been playing guitar for many years now and have many different amps including a vintage deluxe reverb, fender super-sonic, mesa express plus, and Dr. Z maz 18. All of these amps are amazing at what they do and I have enjoyed using all of them in live and recording situations. The amazing thing about the Ox though is it makes all of them even better. I have used several attenuators over the years which have definitely made a drastic improvement to the amp tones and the attenuator in the Ox is just as good, if not better than the other reactive loads I have used. The Ox has the added benefit though of the most realistic, natural sounding cab/mic emulation I have ever heard. Whatever UA is doing is pure magic. The stereo room sounds really push it over the top to make is sound and feel real. I have tried various IR setups and they just don't compare to the Ox. It sounds so good in headphones that I almost prefer using the phones to the real cabinet...almost. Nothing really compares to pushing some air with a real guitar cab but I have no complaints when using headphones or studio monitors with the Ox. As far as the mics, I definitely prefer the emulations of the high end mics compared to the challenging process of micing my own cabs with cheap mics that don't cut it. And the fact that you can instantly change to so many of the best speakers/cabs and mic is incredible. If you are looking for a great practice/recording solution that will make your other gear perform at it's peak, I would highly recommend the Ox.

The "OX Reactive Amp…etc" has been a great addition to my studio. Allowing me to record the sound of the Amp and Cab the musician is using when it's turned up to 11. It allows me to turn down the loudness of the Amp in the studio or live performance, while retaining the sound the musician is looking for.

The OX has been a good addition for recording guitar. The Amp, Cab, Mic., emulations are awesome. For live performance, I have added the OX to the chain in my rig. What a difference it has made. I get the sound I am looking for when being to loud is an issue.

Kind Regards,
Rob Hanson

Now I don't have to worry about your neighbors listening to my recording sessions late at night.
My 4x12 cabs are just for display now.
Shoutout to my sales engineer Joe Schafer for recommending me the best amp attenuator!

I love it, now that I understand how it works. You can attenuate your guitar amp but don't expect the Ox cab effects to come through your amp if you're out doing a gig. You have to connect the Ox to a PA sound system from the line out jacks in the back to get the effects. Took me a while to figure this out. At first I was very frustrated because UA was not accepting any support calls. I left a message that I needed to speak with someone and a couple of weeks later a UA tech guy gave me a call. Thank you!

It's a great tool for recording. Love it. But I must admit that I also bought an inexpensive Bugera attenuator for when I don't want to fiddle with the OX on the road.

The UA Ox Box is an extremely capable and realistic cabinet emulator for silent recording. In terms of sound quality, it has more going on than an IR and the feel is very good in my opinion.

It gets four stars from me for two reasons.

The OX isn't practical for live applications because it doesn't have XLR connections.

The attenuation when running into a guitar cab is just "good." There are better products for pure attenuation.

Five stars for silent recording use. The OX is easy to use and sounds incredibly good. As a bonus, the built in effects are very well done.

i picked up one of these from Sweetwater a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say this is THE solution to home recording for me. You know those days when everything comes together; family is gone so you can crank up the amp, the mic is in the perfect spot, for whatever reason things sound way better than they did with seemingly the same set up the day before? Well now you can have that any time you want it, at any volume you want, through any cab, through any mic. I would say this thing sounds like my amp cranked up, and the different cab simulations/speakers/mics are very believable. It's nice having room mics which I can't do convincingly in my basement. Very impressive product. I've tried amp plugins and hated all of them, but this is the only way I record now. The built in delay and reverb are top notch, and the presets with different mics/delays/cabs/speakers give you great starting points for dialing in exactly what you want. The only downside to this thing is that now I'll be spending money on more amp heads.

My amps (Friedmand BE-50 and DS40) don't need attenuators so I haven't spent any time diving into that.

Bought this so I could practice late at night while the kids are in bed. I'm playing through an H&K Triamp MK3 and there's just no way to play an amp like that quiet - especially when my cab is a 1960A. The Ox does a great job as an attenuator, but it's even better as a DI! It didn't take me long at all to dial in a preset that sounded in my headphones just like my amp+cab+room. I'm afraid it sounded even a little better! And that was just a starting point to see how it performed. I've been trying out the other features and am totally impressed. Worth the money, no other product like it on the market.

In our studios we have Over 30 classic amps. Our clients come in and pick out their amp and start matching up cabs and mics.
The process is trial and error until they dial in the sound. Now with Oxxy (our new nick name) we can plug into an amp
crank the baby to its sweet spot and flip between cabs until bam it’s a home run.
The sound is spot on and the clarity and nuances are all there.
Great job Universal ....

The Ox has freed me from loud volume, yet allowed me crank my amp to power tube richness! It also makes recording so much fun, with so many mic, speaker options to expand upon. Support at UA is great if you have any difficulty in getting going with the wifi or app. This thing sound fantastic! If I tried to find anything to be critical about it could only be that a smooth potentiometer instead of five level stepped attenuation would seem better to me. Not a huge issue though.

Don't hesitate, just buy this.

This will make any tube amp sound twice as good, you won't be disappointed. I could never get my amp to the right volume for where I am playing and still be able to drive the amp to the tone I wanted. I tried adding cheaper load boxes and attenuators from other companies but they killed the tone and the responsiveness. Just using my Ox for the reactive load and attenuator is worth the price of admission.

But that just scratches the surface. I can set up six different rigs, each with incredible cabinet, mic and room modeling -- not just some cheesy impulse response emulation. With EQ and balance on each mic, different combinations of cab mics and room mic, different speaker/cab models and studio effects for delay, reverb and compression I can dial in exactly the sound I want. Warm, lush and rich.

Want to get my Plexi crunch on at home without annoying the neighbors? Check, Want to dial in some serious grind after my wife goes to bead? Easy, plus I can put on the headphones and not wake the baby.

Here is something even cooler. When I play live I take my head and Ox. Guitar->Amp->Ox->PA. I don't have to worry about bringing a cabinet, mic-ing the cab, dealing with feedback issues, etc. I saw Dead & Co. recently, doing the same thing.

They just released a Windows version of the app too, so I can use my same PC to tweak the rigs and effects as I'm using it to track songs with Pro Tools instead of having to set up my iPad or Mac. Ox digital out into my Apollo Twin. Very handy.

Bottom line, you need this and won't regret buying it.

The OX is a remarkable device. I have a Suhr Reactive Load/Two Notes combination and have owned others. The Suhr sounds great. But the OX feels like playing my amps. The iOS/Mac (now Windows) editor is a little awkward, but who cares? Tone, feel, options. The OX is the best gear I"ve purchased in some time. Can"t go wrong.

Yes, it is a great power soak, very very good sounding reactive load box. However, for the price, it really should have the application and software included, which it does but if you have connection problems with the iPad, you are in for a nightmare. It took them (UA)over a month of back and forth before it connected
to WiFi. Then it happened again yesterday. If you buy this, you may be sorry because of the BUGGY WiFi and hotspot problems. It would be a five star but the tech support is frustrating regarding the WiFi.

Have had this for several months. First, I don't record, so I got this for the modeling and attenuation. (Ignorantly thinking I could get both through my speaker cabinet)
The modeling is where this makes all my tone dreams come true. With my Friedman PT, and using the "Really Got Me Panned" setting, this is just as advertised; like hooking up to Eddie's rig in 1978. There's no way I could come close to live sounds/tones compared to this magic box. Now, to get those tones, you have to connect to things other than your speaker cabinet since that only gets you the straight analog (and attenuation) of your amp and pedals. So, I typically just plug in headphones and have a blast. (I tried a FRFR speaker to get best of both worlds - it did not work). Maybe monitor speakers would work.

Of note is the attenuation does muffle your sound some, at least at the 1-3 levels. That's why I don't give 5 stars.

Ok, caveat emptor. First off, it requires you to have an Ipad with IOS 11 or better unless you just use it as a stand-alone unit with access to ONLY 6 of the many cabinets and absolutely no access to many of the other features.
Even in the app, it's not hard to get setup and going. I have only used the headphone output so far with some quality headphones and this thing almost makes me cry when I plug my Marshall SVT20 into it. I think it sounds extremely good and now I don't have to bug the neighbors.
Something I was really disappointed in was that the footswitch doesn't work and neither do any of the USB ports. Come on UA! I would love to enable/disable the effects with the footswitch.
The Wifi tends to stay connected with no issues which is huge to me.
It's built like (and weighs as much as) a tank, but I'm ok with that as I don't plan on playing out much with it, but I can easily just put it on top of my amp or behind it if needed.
I do wish it allowed the user to move the microphones around in the room like the torpedo, but I guess you can't have everything.

This is absolutely awesome! I find it very useful. If you want to record at low volumes but get your amp into the sweet spot—this will do it. If you want to record quality tracks silently—this will do it. If you"re a bedroom producer in an apartment where you feel like you just can"t use your amp, well now you can. Got sleeping babies but want to play at night? Here you go.

Absolutely amazing equipment. Awesome piece of gear to any studio. Even the presets of the rig were done very nicely. I am glad I purchased this baby.

This is hands down the beat attenuator in the market. The lows, mids and highs response when attenuating an amp output going through a cabinet, do feel like the original amp tone with less volume. Letting you achieve the same effect of a real "master" volume for your amp!
And on top of that, you have the simplicity of choosing great range of tones (vintage to modern) from the cabinet simulated output by simply moving a dial.
I am not kidding, you can get a great tone for live and recording, no matter your rig, in a matter of seconds! This device does not really have any contenders in the market.

Needed something to tame the Twin Reverb. Did a lot of research and found the UA product the best solution. I now can get the tone at a volume that doesn't blow out the ears. I can't give a full five stars because the app is currently only released for iPad and Mac. If they had a Windows app it would be a five star product.

I"m still working the bugs out in my head for this
But all in all this thing is great

I can"t say enough about this amazing device. I did quite a bit of research on it before purchasing and was STILL blown away when I got it and discovered all it could do. Running your Amp head through the OX and into your DAW is one of the most satisfying things. The sounds you can get for recording are incredible and impossible to emulate without having all the cabs, mics, rooms, that you would need to get the sound. This box also works phenomenally as an attenuator! Love pairing it with my Marshall Plexi 1987X. At first I thought 1300 was a lot for this but it is worth every penny!

Finally! I'm able to really hear the tone of my amps at full volume. The set up was easy and the presets will keep me busy for days. I highly recommend my Sales Engineer Greg Savino for his professionalism and experience! Looking forward to doing more biz with Sweetwater!

This is the third attenuator I purchased. Already have the Rivera Rock Crusher and the Tone King Ironman mini II. This unit leaves both in the dust, and that's before you start playing around with the available voicing.

It is transparent and clear with no coloring or reduction of amp character. Currently running a Vox 60th anniversary AC30 and a Marshall Bluesbreaker. The ox treats both legends very nice.

A couple of observations:
1. It is big. This is not a pedal you place on your board. It is rightly called an amp top-box.
2. The various rigs can be applied through the line out or headphones only. You cannot modify how the output from the "to speaker" sounds.

Re point 2 above, unless you are planning on playing through headphone, make sure you have a good pair of studio monitors hooked up. I ended up buying a pair of Yamaha HS8s. The sound is beyond belief. I feel like I have a dedicated team of engineers hidden in the box.

Costumer service is excellent as usual. Thank you Josh P.

Tones. The greatest vintage tones I have heard and felt in an emulation and the best of your favorite tube amps. Not an amp simulator. Also super easy to use and not overly complicated. More time playing less tweaking. Minus a star due to lack of windows and android support. Seriously why would they not include those is beyond me. They would sell so many more. Luckily my wife has an ipad I can run ox software on.

Sweetwater is great too. Fast, reliable, shipment and a follow up call from Todd is a very nice touch and it shows they care about their business. I respect that and it is more and more rare today. Kudos.

Let me start by saying what the OX isn't ... it's not a post processor until you're reamping all your guitar tracks. Recording with OX means having to print your tracks with its effects. You loved that big plate reverb sound but now you want the guitar a little drier? Tough noogies, you'll have to re-record.

And it's going to show up every electronic flaw in your guitars and pedals; things like lack of shielding, grounding issues, buzz & hum, especially on all your single coil instruments.

So what does it do that I like? I love the room sounds. They seem better than the typical IR. The verbs, echos and mics are stellar! The cabs and speaker emulations are pretty slick especially if you own the same amp/cab and it's a pretty good reactive load box with 4, 8 and 16 ohms available. It's a very good solution for players who don't own great sounding rooms and megabuck studio gear.

Plus, its workflow forces you to make some decisions when you record. Sometimes that's a very good thing ... eliminates "option anxiety".

Is there room for improvement? You betcha! For $1,299 it would be nice to be able to access the FXs, rooms and such from your DAW for post process. You could use it for a lot more things like vocals, drums, etc. I wish the unit had a ground lift. An insert at the input would be handy (to gate a noisy/dimed amp before it hits the FXs). More amps, cabs and speaker choices would be great. Perhaps UA will add them in the future.

So why didn't I give it 5 stars? Because I haven't had a chance to really explore everything it can do. I had to plug it in and go to work on a track. One interesting thing: I had a Kemper gtr track already done and just for fun I rerecorded the part with OX. Big improvement.

This is a great product overall. If you don't mind spending the money, it covers a lot of use cases extremely well.

There's definitely just a little bit more of the special sauce and natural feel going on compared to other ways of going to headphones or a computer. You can get a wide variety of tones and room-sound adjustments without setting up and adjusting mics all day. It's a much faster experience, imo.

If I could change one thing, it would be the size - this thing is *much* larger than you're probably imagining. Ah well. Anyways, would recommend.

This is a great piece of gear. Built like a tank, sounds great and does everything UA says it will. Even looks good as a band mate commented this past week. Has the look, feel and quality fit and finish deserving of the UA name. It's how the OX sounds that justifies the hype however.

It is easy to get everything connected (audio connections as well as WiFi for use with the outstanding companion iOS app). Would have been nice to give us an XLR out to avoid the need for a DI box. In my experience it is the best reactive load and best cab, mic and room modeling I have experienced. I know of no better way to get that "amp in the room" sound other than placing you amp in a room. The difference however is that the UA-modeled rooms are musical and suffer none of the issues present in your home studio or challenging church acoustical environment. I love how you can place a studio compressor on the direct signal, because that puts a polish on the sounds that many FOH volunteer engineers just don't know how to achieve or have the gear to support. It can make for a less than simple and portable rig when compared to the current stable of available excellent floor based modeling setups, but hot, glowing tubes still win the day and makes this rig worth the investment.

I use this with a 15 watt boutique EL84 based combo in a worship setting where I send the direct signal to the FOH and dial in just a little volume to my amp's speaker using the OX due to the lack of a high quality on-platform monitoring system. In this example you can hear how outstanding the power attenuation is; can be whisper quiet while retaining all the dynamics of a speaker interacting with a cranked tube amp. Here's the rub though: the UA reverbs are so incredible that I wish there was a way to inject them into the speaker signal audio path (if that is even technically possible). In my context where I use some of the combo speaker for stage monitoring I have to rely on stage monitors to hear what is going to FOH. That would be OK if we had a better house system and the engineers to run it. This however is just a nit and specific to my context. Instead I just run all my effects on my pedal board and through my combo's loops so all signal paths get effectively the same treatment. I still dial in some room from the OX to the direct signal to liven up the direct feed, and that works very well to offer the sound of a professionally mic'd amp in a proper room. If they could pipe the post effects into the speaker path somehow and turn the currently unused foot switch jack on the back of the device to be used for a tap tempo, then I would have a smaller pedal board rig and have a visit in sonic heaven every Sunday morning! I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer for the real thing (Heaven, that is).

Something else to keep in mind if you will be transporting the OX is that the knobs, front and back, protrude slightly beyond the chassis. This is perplexing because it causes you to have to be extra careful with transport with regard to what you place it in and how you place it (oh, and there is no handle on the chassis - anywhere). I use a padded camera back whose main compartment is almost the exact same dimensions as the OX and place it face down. So far so good for weekend transport though I am extra cautious with it.

This rig is clearly designed more for studio use than live, which would explain the minor nits I have picked. That said, it is an awesome solution for capturing your optimal tone in any setting, live or studio.

Funny supporting story: my church recently published an un-mixed, un-processed board recording (ugh) along with the Sunday message on their website. My guitar sounded amazing (nothing else did)! ;-) This device in my opinion is a game changer in the world of load boxes and cabinet/mic/room modeling. Perfect for the studio, and almost perfect for live environments.

An unbelievable piece of equipment. I wanted a reactive load and yet you get so much more than that in a almost retro style piece of furniture. The Ox does so much more in your home studio or for the "bedroom" players with the micing and cabinet choices available and then to have integrated effects added to the mix. So well worth it.

Only plugged in and playing since Thursday but the OX sells you right out of the box! Speaking of "plug and play" the OX is the definition of that term - simple to use but profound in its effect. It's for guitar players, not electrical engineers. The attenuation is seriously transparent and sounds beautiful coming out of my vintage alnicos, and that's what I bought it for, but what I wasn't expecting was how brilliant the speaker sims were going to be. Sounds way better than cab sims I've heard from some of the dominant names in the digital guitar amplification realm. The effects are serious, too! What a sweet recording tool! Dramatic room settings at the turn of a knob or tweak of a virtual slider. My MacBook found its self-generated wi-fi signal on the first try. But you don't need a computer to use all of its functions. But best of all it doesn't cause power fluctuations or appear to damage in any way my vintage amps like even the best of the heat sink attenuators have always done. I just can't use them. I was waiting for the PS2 to come back in stock but I'm glad I bought the OX!

The good-
Has a great reactive load DI in Stereo and is as good as they come.
Great build quality, you feel that some love went into the design.
The bad-
1)The plug ins still sound digital. Despite the UA marketing department's jaw dropping presentations, the plugins are powderey just like the Axe FX, Kemper, Bias, Two Notes models etc. Its like the definition of insanity- doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result..
2) The attenuator puts a blanket over the tone to the speaker out is not really useable imho, compared to the RC, THD, Fry etc for instance.
3) You must surrender your Network's Wifi password to this device in order to register it and use the controller app. (Despite the 3 non-functioning USB ports) So now you have UA software on your computer and an independant UA device on your network.. hmmm in the age of security vulnerabilities maybe its not the future Pete?
4) Can't shake the feeling that this is a 14 pound ilok dongle with a free amp attenuator inside.. Don't get me wrong, UA obviously makes great stuff, but some products will never be legendary

So once again, I took advantage of purchasing a Sweetwater demo unit to save a few dollars on an item. Several years ago, I bought a demo Kemper Toaster (which I later replaced with a rack for touring), and each unit arrived in immaculate condition. While I still love my Kemper for live use, it is as of late usually in transit in the band trailer, so I wanted to have another option for home recording.

I am using it in conjunction with a UAD Apollo Quad, and I had an issue with some digital noise when I first plugged it in. It turns out I had a sample rate mismatch with the Apollo being at 48k and the OX running at 44.1k. If I have one complaint so far it is that it is limited to 44.1k as far as I know.

Tone? Pretty blown away. I am using my old 80s 50 Watt Marshall JMP which I rarely use because of the volume issues. I am currently working on a really heavy death-ish metal project and have been experimenting with different ways of achieving a really crushing tone (Note: The UAD Engl Savage model is pretty awesome, too). The front end gain is courtesy of Fender's new Full Moon Distortion. I got an early model because I created some music for Fender that goes with these insane animations that will be released soon to promote the pedal line. A great pedal as well.

Anyway, I dialed up what I thought was a pretty killer tone, and then started messing with the presets. That's when s&*t got real! It was amazing that even with the same settings on my pedal and amp, the factory presets made things so radically different. You have a choice of mics, cabinets, room, EQ, 1176 Compressor, a delay/mod unit, and a plate reverb. All of the effects are up to UAD high sonic standards.

Anyway, I am spending some more time with it tonight and just wanted to give my initial impressions. Thanks, UAD (and Sweetwater) for making me love tube amps again!

get a used one - if you think you can"t afford this. You deserve great tone and should get the tone you want. A whole new world awaits you with the Ox and suddenly you"ll hear the tones you"ve been seeking because you"ll finally be hearing what you"ve been listening to all you life - but now it"s under your very own finger tips. Thank you Universal Audio!! Oh and Sweetwater, too!!

I"ve bought way too much gear searching for tone. This one is beyond what I would have conceived, and way better than I expected. The attenuator is just the tip of the iceberg. It"s the speakers, mics, base effects and the software interface that make this worth the price. It"s so different than anything I"ve used that I have to rethink my entire rig. For most gigs I"ll just need my two channel head and the Ox. I"ll throw the sound into my monitor a wham, I"m done. My ipad is in front of me anyway, so even tough you don"t need it (the 6 selectable cab presets on the front knob are plenty) it"ll be nice to adjust volume or EQ right in front of me. Volume is infinitely adjustable now! Your existing tone is still your tone, so what Ox adds is transparent.

This box is incredible for playing at home. My amp has a really good master, but even running at 88 dB and getting a great sound, you aren't going to be playing that at night with young kids. With this box, you can set up a great studio quality tone that you can run through a mixer with headphones and play along to backing tracks, or run into an interface for recording. The quality of the tone is so good that you will feel like you are in the studio with the band you're playing along to. One caveat: you will need to do some tweaking to get a high-gain tone you are happy with - but the Apple interface is really easy to use. I also took this to a gig and ran my amp into the OX and directly into the board. It worked amazing... I got a great tone that was engineer-proof - all they needed to do was adjust the volume in the mix and it sounded great using the onboard reverb and delay. It's definitely 5 stars for sound quality. I'm taking a star away because the connectivity to the device is a little buggy, there isn't a v30 cabinet modeled, and there's no way to store a preset and export it as kind of a tone print. That way you could easily share presets with others which would be fantastic.

thought I would be able to operate app from my mac , but apparently you need sierra or high sierra .. worried if I upgrade my os from el capitan it will mess with pro tools, which is operating very well.... sounds great, should have looked into app a little more....

I just got this at GearFest. I'm a big UAD fan, and have their Apollo and many many UAD plug ins. That said, let's begin shall we?

The direct out on the OX doesn't sound like the mic'ed cabinet. It's still a bit brittle and digital sounding....it's maybe 75% of the way there. I really had to manipulate the settings for quite a while to get a usable tone from the direct out. I tried a Soldano SLO, 90's Dual Rec, PRS Custom 50, and an old Fender Bassman. For as much as this costs, I thought the speaker modeling would sound much much better.

Not having an app for android is absolutely ridiculous. You must have a ipad to be able to manipulate the software settings. Not having a V30 cab in the settings is an absolute travesty and I cannot believe it's not an option!!! I'm praying there are some updates in the future that can be downloaded in the near future to rectify this.

This platform looks awesome, and it's a decent first start. It's a great attenuator (sounds better than other brands) but as a direct out, it definitely needs work/refinement.

Excellent results so far using it live for the FOH. I have used the two notes CAB and a Palmer Unit, bypassing the internal load with a cab, both for years. I like the OX better. As far as studio use, if you don't have a sound treated room, you can not get better than this box. If you have a nice room to record in you can get equal to better sounding captures using good microphones and preamps.

The attenuation feels very natural. Having to buy an iPad to control it hurt a little though. That's my only complaint, but I can't give this thing less than a 5 because it sounds so good and is so useful.

It"s not perfect yet but it"s the best compliment you can add to your tube amp if you are somewhat of a purest and want an amazing recording tool for a home studio situation. I was using THD Hotplates with a few amazing hand wired amps into my Apollo interface and this box took things to the next level. The tone is amazing compared to the Hotplates and I"m now running stereo spdif saving an input or two on my interface. The cab and especially the room simulations and mics are where the unit really shines. UAD nails that stuff. I know there"s other options for this out there like torpedo and IR stuff but I"m very happy with UAD and the way they do things. The iPad app is super easy to use and of course you can add comp delay and reverbs and preset your rigs for recall. I wish there was a pre effects recording output option but I just set up my delays and stuff on Apollo console instead. The other thing I wish this did was link up with the UAD console recall application. That would be great for sessions instead of having to recall my rig presets from session notes. Also copying effects between the unit app and Apollo console would be convenient. This can hopefully be added in a future software update. You could probably use this with minimal or no pedals for live gigs depending on your needs but a diverse cover band situation would probably require something a bit more programmable like a Kemper or Helix. A good quality tube amp with this on top is definitely gonna sound better though based on pure tone and response. I love the thing though and give it 4.5 stars. It is one of those game changer products for home studio use.

I am an amateur guitarist who loves tube amps. I have been looking for an at home, silent solution for a LONG time. I have used other products, and while they get close, tone wise they just didn't get all the way "there" for me. Well, the OX does. This box is incredible. Every single amp I have used with this, whether it be high gain (Mesa/Bogner/Peavey), cranked Marshalls, or lower gain Fender/Vox stuff, everything sounds great. My only want is for a Vintage 30 cabinet option, but seriously, if you're an at home player who loves tube amps, or a professional just looking for a great loadbox/speaker sim, GET THIS!

Growing up in the 80's I have been chasing that elusive EVH 'brown sound' all my life. You know, that amazingly articulate, dynamic, and natural overdrive tone that cleans up so well with the volume knob. I have purchased MANY classic and boutique amps in an attempt to capture that tone, but have never been able to duplicate it. Sure, I have conjured up some good tones, and some were close, but they just didn't have that 'feel'. The OX was of interest to me because it could do many things... 1) It was touted as being a best in class attenuator/ load box. 2) Offers an incredible array of realistic speaker and mic simulations with a headphone output, and finally 3) It offers built-in studio quality effects (reverb, delays, modulation). I did not purchase this to record, but rather to use for quiet home practice and to play live.

I have a couple of hand-wired plexi style amps with no effects loop that I wanted to pair with the OX to see how they would sound. Without an attenuator, these amps were just too loud to use live and push them into their sweet spot. Plugging these amps into the OX for the first time using headphones with cab/ mic emulation, plate reverb, and all controls turned to their sweet spot, I was treated to the most glorious brown sound I have ever heard. The tone I had been chasing all my life was finally at my fingertips and I couldn't stop smiling. This tone was so addictive I just could stop playing, but there was more... Much more. I began to realize that I could get almost every classic Marshall tone just by switching to a different cab/ mic 'rig'. From EVH, to AC\DC, Zepplin, and GnR just by selecting a different preset and not changing any tone controls on the amp. These were not modeling amp sounds. This was the tone and feel of a real cranked plexi with studi quality effects in my office while my kids were sleeping. These tones literally sound exactly like the album. Amazing!

I have now used OX on most of my amps and experienced similar results, although many of my master volume amps do not require attenuation. For my last gig, I decided to travel light and brought my Marshall DSL40c combo. I used the combo as my personal monitor, and using the OX I sent a line out emulating a 4x12 greenback loaded cab to the house PA . Needless to say it sounded unbelievable, and the sound guys were taking pics of my OX as they had never experienced anything like it before.

Truly amazing that the sound I have been chasing all my life I can now get out of nearly every amp I own, including a relatively inexpensive Marshall combo amp... Thanks to my OX Amp Top Box!

When I downsized from a house to an apartment, I sorely missed the sound and feel of my favorite amps cranked up.

Plugging this thing into my Peavey 6505+, Marshall JCM800 and Marshall JTM45...then running stereo direct out to my DAW was PURE JOY. It was THE FIRST time I've totally enjoyed playing outside of a rehearsal room or live gig EVER. Actually, I couldn't stop. I just keep grinning and nodding my head in disbelief.

I've owned the AxeFX (3 versions...old to new), Kemper, Fryette Power Station 2, and I've played with just about every amp sim plugin and IR combination known to man. ALL of them felt like something was missing and I spent more time tweaking than I did getting the results I wanted.

Now, even though I have a small home project studio with modest gear, I'm consistently nailing the sounds I've been hearing in my head and on recordings for the first time since I started computer recording 20-something years ago.

An absolute game-changer.

Nice unit, A lot of parameters to deal with. The sound....well the jury is still out

I've now gigged twice in small clubs with the Ox. In the first, I used it with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It worked and was able to create a much friendlier stage sound environment. After considering things, for the second gig I used a first generation Fender Blues Jr. This worked even better.

It took a bit for me to start thinking about the guitar amplifier as, essentially, two units: a sound generator with its own characteristics, and a lower-volume (rear) stage monitor. Now in each instance I used the supplied 4x12 cabinet emulation for FOH, and had a true stage floor monitor with a band mix coming through the PA.

I think the range of tones I got from my guitars (Larry Corsa Big Dog/Peter Green type, and an American Strat with S-1 circuit) was much wider than usual. I could really tell the differences among the tone. In other words, I had more sounds to choose from than I had just playing through the amp. And because all the sounds were available despite/because of the lower stage volume, I found myself tweaking the guitar more. The Strat nailed Clapton cocaine era tone, and Knopfler clarity.

Best of all, my keyboard player, who is always irked by my stage volume, was really happy.

I'm sure the unit will be helpful as a "just attenuation" tool where I don't have a chance to run through the PA, but if you have a trustworthy pair of ears in the audience influencing the mix, its a beaut.

Highly recommended

The sheer amount of different sounds you can get from the OX is quite impressive. As someone who only has their one amp and cab available for home recording, I can use the OX to really mix up my sound and dial in new sounds that would've been impossible without it.

I currently run this on my Sunn Sorado and as a standalone reactive load, it works flawlessly, I can get full tube saturation and overdrive and low volume levels.

It's great for doing guitar overdubs when your guitarists have similar sounding amps, now I can dial in a completely new sound for them but they can still use their amp and other gear.

In addition, the UA plug-ins sound fantastic and I find myself using them a lot, rather than the ones I have available in my DAW.

What Could be Improved:

-More bass specific modeling gear, maybe a couple new mic sims, cab sims and EQ options. I can get a pretty good sound on bass using the 4x10 cab with dynamic and ribbon mics with a little room blended in and obviously some EQ, it took a little work though

-Better high gain response/sound. I love running heavy fuzz playing sludge and doom music, both on guitar and bass and this is where the OX struggles most in my opinion. The top end gets really fizzy in a way that's tough to fully EQ out. On bass it's fine because you can use a LPF to dial it out and retain your bass sound (unless you like yours really bright).

On guitar you are stuck with darker high gain sounds as the bright ones are a bit fizzy. In the context of a full band mix, these problems tend to disappear though so that was great. I've gotten some great overdrive sounds cranking my amp and adding an EQD Grey Channel, it's thick and saturated but with great string definition and clarity that was fantastic for more complex chords.

It looks like the OX will be updated at some point in the future given the USB ports so I hope UA will make some tweaks to make this a little more accommodating to those of us that love fuzz and distortion and us bassists who would appreciate some more bass-specific sounds and simulators.

If you a guitar player who mainly plays clean or with light to moderate overdrive, I don't think you'll have any issue with the OX, it'll be perfect for you.

Makes any amp sound great. Very flexible - can be used in dozens of different ways. Great set of features. Built solid as a rock. Easy to use - just be sure to use the proper cables. I haven't found any flaws or shortcomings with the OX.

So yeah, this thing is pretty wonderful. In fact, I got it today and literally sold my Kemper within hours. I realize they aren't completely similar products, but after playing my Supro comet through the OX and A/B-ing the two, there really is no comparison tonally and especially dynamically. I have to get tones pretty quickly for recording and this thing is going to do just the trick. My only complaint (hence the 1/2 star reduction) is that it is GI-GAN-TIC. I watched a ton of youtube videos and I guess the size just doesn't translate. So unless you have a huge amp, its more of an Amp Beside Box. Its almost bigger than my Supro. But its also totally worth it. I'll be getting a ton of miles out of it. The software sounds divine, as with all UAD stuff. Lush plate and delay and a very usable 1176. So, in a nutshell, if you're seriously considering it, GET it.

I am blown away. It does everything amazingly well! It has changed the way I record into Logic. As a Reactive Load it is incredible. I can put my Mesa Lone Star Special on 4 now and it breaths. Can play at any volume. I go out Digital into a UA Apollo and then into Logic and it sounds incredible. The Speaker emulations and software are amazing. I have so many Cabs and Mics to choose from. Get one you won't regret it. WORTH EVERY PENNY!

The obvious, it's a quality made unit, as you would expect from Universal Audio. Full disclaimer, I have yet to scratch the surface of what this unit is capable of. TONS of features that allow the user to sculpt a sound to your liking. Very cool that you can create and save 6 sounds of your own to be saved to the front panel switch, which allows you to recall, and access these sounds easily. I found there were a few good factory sounds that I found useful without even having to tweak anything. The iOS App takes a bit of patience to setup, and as some other reviewers have already eluded to, the Wifi leaves something to be desired. That being said, the GUI is nice, and very intuitive for anyone with prior DAW experience. I have experimented with the Reactive Load Box feature on 2 heads so far. A Bogner Shiva, and a Suhr Hedgehog. It was very cool to be able to crank these amps up, yet attenuate the volume coming out of the speaker. It is probably my favorite feature.

Now for the cons...
I used the direct out to my Midas MR18, into 2 powered JBL PRX-615's that I often use as stage monitors. At first I was floored how much better it sounded than some of the other DI style guitar sounds I've used in the past. More organic I guess you'd say, possibly because its a real amp and not a digital processor emulating an amp. BUT... my biggest dislike is that I found the direct signal REALLY noisy. I tried 2 different power sources in case there is some weird grounding issue. I made sure that I had all of my equipment sharing the same electrical circuit, and even used my Furman between the wall outlet, and the power strips that fed everything else. I still need to delve into it further to see if there is an incompatibility issue with the equipment in the signal chain before I can squarely place the blame on the OX. I plan to use the OX directly in to my Midas recording interface next, to see if my DAW experiences the same noise. If it tracks clearly, I will be ecstatic! I will amend my review if I feel I have pinpointed the source of the noise, and hopefully can exonerate the OX.

I was talking to my sales rep Steve Chamoun about a guitar and I asked him about the Universal Audio OX. He talked it up for a few minutes and he said "Anything that helps you play more is going to be better for you in the long run." I thought about what he said for a week or so and I decided he was right, and ordered the Ox. I have played through this box almost every day since I got it. Whether it's my 100 watt Super Lead on 10 at living room volumes, my Bassman or any of my other amps it's nice not hearing the wife complain. I bought some headphones for late night jamming, even more playing time. I'm just getting into using the software, but it is opening new worlds to me. Thank you Steve. The Ox is easily better than another guitar. Now we need to talk about some recording equipment.

The best on the market. I have been doing this a long time and I was blown away by its capabilities. I seen a 2 1/2 rating that individual has no idea what there saying. I"m convinced thanks UA.

Yes, it's an amp attenuator that lets you push your amp for the best tone without ear-splitting volume levels. That's a given, and the success of the OX in that role is truly a game changer. You can get the tone you want without destroying ears or exciting every room resonance in your studio. Get this for that reason alone.

However, the cabinet and mic simulations make the OX a force multiplier. You only think you've heard your amps before. Now with the OX, each amp reveals qualities you've never heard before. Whether you have only one amp, or a room full, your arsenal was just multiplied by a large factor!

This is the most significant addition to my studio yet. Yes, the OX is really that good.

First of all, 4 stars is meant to be a great rating. This unit was released prior to achieving its full potential. That doesn"t mean it"s broken but some features haven"t been implemented yet and there are a lot of question marks as to what it is going to be. Windows users are going to be disappointed that they don"t have a way of tweaking anything yet. Metal guys are going to be disappointed that there are no tight Mesa style closed backs with V30"s.

All that said, the load box is top notch, the attenuator is transparent to my ears, and the cabs they do have right now are unreal. It sounds like my amp connected to a killer vintage cab and miked well in a studio. What it does, it does extremely well. I"m happy and I know there is more to come. The only concern is whether UA will charge a bunch for cab packs.

Right out of the box, plug and play. I was absolutely blown away with the direct tones to the PA (and to the headphones for silent play. I haven't even downloaded the app yet either to make any adjustments. The bar has been raised for reactive loads, attenuation and modeling. It will pretty much destroy competitor products. Can't wait to take it out live.

The best thing for studio recording elc guitar in a very long time!

As far as live amp attenuation, about the best I've played. Better than the Fryette Power station. A little better than a Two Notes Torpedo Reload, especially on feeling like an amp. Much better than the Z. Brake and Tone King Iron Man. Very natural and open, especially hi gain work. Very smooth without being compressed.

Sound quality and fidelity as a recording tool is where this unit starts to fall short. As far as sounding natural or organic, nowhere near as good as Torpedo Studio. A notch or two under Torpedo Live. When I AB with the Two Notes stuff, even the Captor, pretty stark difference in quality.

Maybe the lower resolution @ 44.1, converters, or overall quality of the IR's. Just not that good at emulating quality recorded amp sounds. Middle of the range at best for a recording tool. The way the amp sounds reminds me of the Eleven Rack. Nowhere near convincing. Does better with cleaner to crunch guitar work, but losses ground quick with higher gain in the studio. Probably better for live work at tapping a line out to FOH while managing stage volume, but would be limited as a W/D/W rig given there's no foot control yet.

I like the effects just as much as I like UA Precision plugins which I use all the time. The room effect is more phasey than natural. Not as good as the other room modeling UA does. I'll keep tweaking and see what I can get out of it, but it's going back if it doesn't come around.

Overall, pretty expensive amp attenuator. Two Notes crushes it as a recording tool for guitar amps.

Can't say enough about this unit. It does it all well. Worth every Penny if you're looking for top of the line Reactive Load and recording tool.

I am a bassist and recording engineer. In my studio, I have very good Preamps and Mics, going through an Apollo 16. Nice gear, but not a lot of it, so I rely on getting very good tone going into the box with no front end processing.

I record mostly rock and jazz, and good guitar tone, clean or dirty, requires ungodly loud volumes. Even a good tube combo is hellishly loud when dimed, so I have experimented with load boxes with minimal success. I have the Rivera, Koch Dummybox, and a power brake. The Koch is pretty good, but more often than not, I wind up pulling the load box out of the chain because I can hear it in there. The other two I just hate for recording. Very useful live, but very obvious recorded.

As only a load box, the OX just works. I am picky, and I can't hear any difference between a dimed amp mic'd correctly and the attenuated tone mic'd other than the volume. It's the first Load Box I have used that really does the job without strangling the tone. I would buy it for just the load box capabilities. It's that good.

Then you get into the emulations. I was dubious about this, emulations sound like emulations in my experience. But this thing is different. The emulations preloaded into the box are amazing. The direct recorded emulations coming from the OX are fantastic. In some cases I use them alone, with no mic'd tone. I was using the OX to completely silence our guitarist's triple recto combo while tracking drums. He stuck a take on the scratch track, and the scratch tone through the OX was so good, we used it on the final mix. No mic'd tone at all. Crazy.

Can't wait for the app. If you are a guitarist, you need this both live and in the studio. If you have a studio, you need this. You get quieter tracking, killer mic'd tones, and the emulations in the box. Throw two mics on the cab, run the OX direct in stereo, and you get a lot of very good sounding options at mixdown.

There is nothing else that comes close.

Here is my review of the new UAD OX Verses the Two Notes Torpedo Studio/Live/Cab/Captor

Disclosure - I have been using the Two Notes Studio for a year+. And just received the OX yesterday and unboxed & played for 2 hrs. Enough for a basic review for sure. Note I am a guitar player recording in my home studio and not getting paid to do this review. Just wanted to share my experiences after learning plenty on the UAD forum from others.

Two Notes

Two Notes was kind of the only game in town unless you wanted to cobble together your own Smart reactive load (i.e. SUHR) and then add your own IRs (Celestion, Red Wirez, Ownhammer, etc).

Setup - TN Studio Balanced analogue outs into UAD Apollo 8p and listened thru Yamaha HS8 FRFR monitors and headphones.

Pros

-Two Notes is an open platform, i.e. use your Impulse Responses ( IR's) or the Wall Of Sound IRs. Some of which are quite good.
-I get to blast my amp(s) and feel the amp while keeping my destroying my hearing.
-Neighbors and family can't hear me blasting amps at midnight.

Cons

-Two Notes Studio is just too finicky for me. I can't get consistent results. Respectfully, some people disagree with my experience. They says "any good sound requires a lot of tweaking." Agreed but...
-After spending time to tweak a good cabinet sound, changing to a different cabinet requires you to start all over again. Frustrating.
-The 2 most important controls Input and Output volume are totally inconsistent and results become finicky.
-While Two Notes's generic effects are okay but not the same high quality as UAD models for the recording chain. i.e. mic-pres, mic , reverb, compressors, delay.
-Two Notes is small company and their support is lacking.

UAD / OX

Summary: -Just received it today. I unboxed and played for 2 hrs...enough to do a basic review. By the way, the box is as cool as any Apple product packing ...perhaps better. See pics.

In summary its simply a great amp add-on. It just works out of the box and sounds clean and/or gristly while capturing the live feel of my amp & guitar. Feels 99% as responsive as playing thru an amp on the edge of breakup I could hear the Cone Cry on higher bend notes. Unbelievable that UA captured that.

Setup - Alessandro 15 watt Vox Clone and Fender 1960 Tweed Deluxe, OX Analogue Balanced out into UAD Apollo 8p and listened thru Yamaha HS8 FRFR monitors and headphones. I didnt play thru amps own speaker purposefully to try it at reasonable volume at night at home.

PROs

-It just works easily. Steps are so basic. 1) Connect Amp out into OX with correct Ohm matched. Plug in headphones or Line out to monitors via Apollo 8p, Turn on Ox, Turn on Amp, Play Guitar.

-Default Cabinets are Great: 1) Marshall green back, 2) Tweed alnico, 3) Vox 2x12, 4) Tweed 4x10 bassman, 5) Blackface Champ/Princeton and 6) 2 x12 Divided by 13. Not sure what the last cab is. (See pics for details)
-The 2 Fender Tweeds, Champ and Vox models are just fantastic. Sparkly and clean and will light on fire when the volume turned up and extra "gristle" is needed. The Marshall cab is good but I am not a Marshall player. Rig 6 ( 2x12 cab) is good too and has a bit of plate reverb and delay.
-The UAD platform is rock solid and captures the soul of the best studio gear.... Some of which i didnt know existed until I became a UAD user a few yrs ago.
-Leverages the great sounding modeled gear as a foundation for its recording chain that includes mic-pre, mic , pristine plate reverb, compressors (1176) , LA2, Fairchild, Tape saturation, blah, blah, blah

Cons

-The number of cabinets are few with just six cabinets by default. UA will need to add (or sell) a few more classic cabinets/mic models. My vote is for Fender Dual Showman, 15 inch tweed Jenson, Fuchs ODS, BuzzyFeiten, Two Rock. Or partner with Celestion to mike up the best of.
-The cabinet models are less flexible compared to the more open Two Notes platform where you can use 3rd party impulse responses. Some people have invested time /money in impulse responses and not sure yet if this is possible w/ the OX.
-Its not rack mountable. So must be placed on top of something i.e. Rack, amp head, etc.
-A bit pricey. Although its priced similar to the other complete solutions - i.e. Two Notes Studio of Live.

Note: The App to control is not available yet. UA said dealers shipped the OX a week early to time with Namm 2018.

Summary Comparison -

The UA OX will likely disrupt the market for Two Notes' higher end products (Studio and Live) priced at in the same range.... That said, the Two notes inexpensive Captor line is affordable but stripped down version for live & studio work.
But overall, the Two Notes Studio is too finicky. Its hard to get consistent results perhaps due to having too many options. It takes too much time to dial in a great sound. The settings change drastically with every cabinet change . But since its an open platform you can add your own Impulse Responses (IRs) . That said, the OX may be able to be used with IRs by disabling the speaker setting. I will followup and check if this is possible since there are cabinet models in the Fuchs amp. Anyway, I prefer to have the mikes placed by an expert (i.e. UAD) and just give me the whole model so i can start playing & recording. Support...Two Notes is smaller company than UAD, their support is lacking.

I've owned this thing for two days, and I'm confidently writing a five star review. Keep in mind, at the time of this review, the software app for the Ox has yet to be released, I'm purely reviewing the built in capabilities of this unit.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think the Torpedoes, the Kempers, the Axes, they all sound great, but in my humble opinion you can hear the "digital" in them. I knew, as a huge UA fan, as soon as I heard they were coming out with a cab emulator, I'd be in.

I powered up the Ox today and ran my 5150 III through it. I'm not gonna lie, I honestly expected that without the app and the ability to customize tones, it'd be just kind of "whatever." Dude, as a primarily metal guy, this thing blew me the **** away on rig 1 without any tweaks at all. I, as well as my other associates at the studio were just dumbfounded at how good this thing sounds. To me, the sound coming out of our studio monitors sounded identical to what it sounds like to sit in a room with a cab. To better explain it, it sounds how I want my guitars to END UP after they're mixed. It's the most perfect cabinet emulation system I've ever heard. This thing will be a staple in my guitar recording rig for a long time to come. I can't even imagine how awesome it'll be with the app!