Z-Tone Buffer Boost

104
GUITARIST SEPTEMBER 2020
IK Multimedia pedals
Stage and studio widgets offering variable pickup loading for better tone
MANUFACTURER
IK MULTIMEDIA
MODEL
Z-TONE BUFFER BOOST & Z-TONE DI
CONTACT
WWW.IKMULTIMEDIA.COM
PRICE
£175 & £159
PEDALBOARD
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis
L
ast year, IK Multimedia, maker of the AmpliTube amp
and effects software, released the AXE I/O, a USB audio
interface specifically designed for guitar players (see
review in issue 448). The unique aspect of that unit is that rather
than just having a bog-standard hi-Z (high impedance) input as
provided for guitar use on many interfaces, it offers a range of
options. You can set it for either active or passive pickups, choose
optional JFET circuitry for the preamp and set the impedance to
best suit your pickups using the variable Z-Tone knob.
The AXE I/O has now spawned two smaller utility units –
the Z-Tone Buffer Boost and Z-Tone DI – which may be ideal
for guitarists who wish to take advantage of the enhanced
gain-staging and tonal adjustment offered by those three
aforementioned features but don’t need the USB audio
capability of the AXE I/O. With features suitable for live work
and recording, the Z-Tone Buffer Boost’s stompbox form and
footswitching should see it slip easily into a pedalboard slot,
while the Z-Tone DI is a DI box with extra sauce.
ROUND-UP
Z-Tone DI £159
D
ull, perhaps, but necessary, the humble DI box is
mainly used as an interface that takes the sound from
an instrument and outputs it via an XLR cable in a form
suitable for the balanced mic inputs on a mixing desk or audio
interface. While anyone who gigs regularly with an electro-
acoustic guitar will be aware that it’s the thing they have to plug
into to get the sound into the PA, it’s also a useful tool for recording
electric guitar, especially as a cleanly recorded direct signal is an
asset that you can later mould with amp sims.
With the facilities here you can tailor that clean sound just so.
The sensible belt-and-braces approach of recording both a clean
dry signal as well as your mic’d amp is easily carried out with this
box first in the chain, with its Link output feeding your amp. You
can, however, do that with the Buffer Boost pedal, so unless you
specifically need a DI box, the added footswitching may not be
worth the extra outlay.
VERDICT DI boxes are essential studio items and this one has
enhancements that would really benefit a guitarist’s studio
Z-Tone Buffer Boost £175
T
he Z-Tone Buffer Boost will always function as a buffer
for your pedalboard but its footswitch offers the preamp
tonal shaping of the AXE I/O. Set it to Pure and you get
the unadulerated signal. Meanwhile, JFET will give you a subtly
different tone, nicely enhanced with a little extra top-end. It’s the
Z-Tone knob that makes the most tonal difference here, though,
because it changes the impedance at the input. Fully left you get
the most treble but advancing the knob subdues the top-end and
thickens things up.
The pedal could be used for ‘always on’ tonal shaping but as
a footswitchable ‘effect’ it can offer an instant alternative tone,
with or without a boost, via the Gain knob and/or the second
footswitch, which can bring in up to 10dB of clean boost.
Alternatively, set up a neutral sound and just use it as a boost. Extra
outputs endow real versatility – the Link to create a parallel signal
path and the balanced XLR for direct clean guitar recording.
VERDICT A massive amount of utility in one pedal. An asset for your
pedalboard with practical recording capabilities, too
GIT463.peds_ik_roundup.indd 104 04/08/2020 10:31