What connection options are available for the BluBOX?
Discover the various connection options for the BluBOX to optimize your audio experience.
There are various ways to integrate the BluBOX into your setup. You can loop it between your guitar amplifier and guitar speakers, you can use it in conjunction with a load box for silent recording, and you can even connect preamps or pedals directly to the LINE IN of the BluBOX if you don't have an amplifier available.
The BluBOX is particularly convenient for AMP1 users because it can be used when connected to the speaker output of the AMP1 without having to connect a speaker or load box.
The BluBOX connection options at a glance:
NO MIC - The BluBOX between power amplifier and guitar cabinet
For excellent recording sounds without complex microphone setup, the BluBOX is looped between the SPEAKER OUT of the amp and the speaker(box). This eliminates the microphone, the microphone stand and all negative side effects such as crosstalk and footstep noise. What remains is a consistent sound. The BluBOX is simply connected to a mixer with a microphone cable like a microphone. As with a "real" microphone, the transformer integrated in the BluBOX prevents potential humming noises. Of course, the signal from the BluBOX can also be used in combination with the microphoned guitar speaker.
NO CONE - The BluBOX between power amplifier and load box
If you cannot or do not want to use a guitar cabinet and still want to record or record your beloved tube amplifier at full power without compromise, you can use the BluBOX with the tube amplifier and connect a load box instead of a guitar cabinet. The load box is silent, converts the power of the power amplifier into heat and prevents the tube amplifier from being damaged.
NO AMP - The LINE IN the BluBOX
Although the BluBOX was designed for use with guitar amplifiers, it also delivers fantastic sounds directly into the desk when pedals or preamps are connected directly. Simply connect the last pedal on your pedal board or the line out of your preamp to the LINE INPUT of the BluBOX and do without a guitar amplifier altogether. It doesn't get any more compact than this!
BluBOX & AMP1 - no load needed!
What's special for AMP1 users is that they can connect the BluBOX to the speaker output of the AMP1 and use this combination without any speakers or load box. The unique, innovative power amplifier of the AMP1 is ideally suited to delivering all sounds - even fully turned up to saturation - without a connected speaker box or load box. The speaker sound then comes from the BluBOX.
BluBox & AMP1 (live)
The BluBox works best when a box is connected. In this respect, the following graphic is the classic cabling for live situations.
BluBox & Amp1 (live2)
The second, perhaps mechanically more elegant solution:
The FATCAB goes directly into the AMP1 speaker output (no matter which one) and the BluBOX goes into the second speaker output.
Now the BluBox can be wired with a patch cable (without cross-section): Speaker out AMP1 to BluBOX "speaker level in". However, a jack plug should be plugged into the "speaker level" through socket on the BluBOX.
It must not be short-circuited, but it triggers the switching contact in the socket, which then tricks the BluBOX into thinking that a speaker is being used, which is indeed the case. This switches the BluBOX to the box in use, which optimizes the sound.
The plug doesn't matter - the main thing is that it has open contacts. 
All connection options in comparison
For more information about connecting the BluBOX to amplifiers of other brands, follow this link: https://support.bluguitar.com
Further helpful tips for connecting the BluBOX:
Can the BluBOX change the sound of my guitar cabinet?
Since we are confronted with this misunderstanding quite often, the answer comes here in big and bold letters:
The BluBOX cannot change the sound of the guitar speaker cabinet connected to the THRU!
The speaker simulation of the BluBOX is available at the BALANCED MIC OUT and the LINE OUT. From there it can be connected to a full-range (!) active speaker (e.g. a monitor, etc.), to a mixer, DAW or headphones. Both connections can be assigned and used at the same time. The BluBOX virtually replaces the microphone-mounted guitar cabinet.
The emulated signal is not meant to be passed on to a guitar cabinet! Doing so would not work at all. In order to reproduce the speaker simulations of the BluBOX as true to the original as possible, the emulated signal must be processed and outputted neutrally. Therefore, it is recommended to connect it to a sound-neutral full-range speaker, mixer, interface, etc..
A guitar cabinet has its own unique sound character, which significantly colors and, in a way, "alters" the incoming signal. The BluBOX is designed to accurately capture these individual characteristics of various guitar cabinets. Consequently, sending the emulated signal from the BluBOX to a guitar cabinet would be impractical, as it would be akin to placing a microphone in front of one guitar cabinet and then connecting that microphone to another guitar cabinet.
The unprocessed signal that arrives at the SPEAKER LEVEL IN is present at the THRU of the BluBOX. This connection is used to route the SPEAKER OUT signal from the amplifier to a guitar cabinet without any processing.
In other words: the BluBOX is designed to simulate 16 different loudspeaker cabs and then connect them to the mixer. This eliminates the need for miking the guitar cab, and it even allows you to play without a physical cab. Additionally, you gain the advantage of having not just one (your own) cabinet but 16 different cabs to choose from. However, if you still wish to connect your own guitar cabinet, you can do so using the THRU output, which provides the unprocessed input signal.
Which cables are used to connect the BluBOX?
To connect the BluBOX to the AMP1, both instrument cables and speaker cables can be used, depending on the configuration. Here you can find out which cables you should use for which application:
No loudspeaker or load box in the game: patch cables allowed
The AMP1 has the enormous advantage that it can be operated without a payload, i.e. without a loudspeaker or load box, despite the tube in the power amplifier. The best sound results are obtained by connecting the SPEAKER OUT of the AMP1 to the SPEAKER LEVEL IN of the BluBOX. If no loudspeaker is connected to the THRU of the BluBOX in this scenario, the AMP1 and the BluBOX can be connected with a normal instrument cable/patch cable.
Loudspeaker or load box being used: speaker cable
However, if a loudspeaker or a load box is connected to the THRU of the BluBOX, speaker cables should be used for both cable runs (i.e. from the AMP1 to the BluBOX and from the BluBOX to the loudspeaker), because in this case power flows - and in case of doubt up to 100 watts of it!
Of course, this also applies to connecting the BluBOX to other amplifiers, especially to tube amps, where a loudspeaker box or a load box must be connected to the THRU of the BluBOX. Here, too, please only use speaker cables for all cable runs.
Can the LINE IN and the SPEAKER LEVEL IN be used at the same time on the BluBOX?
LINE IN and SPEAKER LEVEL IN on the BluBOX VSC can be assigned a plug at the same time, but as soon as the LINE IN is assigned, the SPEAKR LEVEL IN is switched off.