The MOTU ZBox is a simple device designed to maintain the signal from your guitar to your audio interface. It is for use in situations where you would not be using any amplifier. The unit is very simple in make up, with the 1/4" outputs for lo-Z and hi-Z as well as a 1/4" male cable to plug into your guitar. This isn't rack mountable in any form as it is a box.

Setting up the MOTU ZBox is incredibly simple and should present no problems at all to anyone. Honestly, everything about this should be self explanatory from just looking at it as there isn't anything strange or out of the ordinary here that you would need to know about before hand. Once you've set it up, you're good to go and don't need to do anything further. A manual isn't necessary unless you're having a technical issue.

I don't find myself in too many situations where I would need something like the MOTU ZBox, as I tend to always use a guitar amplifier to get my guitar tones, so this isn't a product that I own or that I'm looking to own. However, I have used it in the studio for use with amp modeling software, mostly just out of curiosity to see what types of sounds that I could get at a friends small home set up. The ZBox or something like it is definitely something you need to have if you're going to be plugging in direct and don't have any mic preamps. The ZBox will get the job done, but no better than any interface would do, so I would imagine however that most studio owners wouldn't have a need for this.

I can only see the MOTU ZBox coming in handy for the guitar player who wants to integrate his or her playing into the digital world but doesn't have an interface or any sort of studio set up. For these users, the ZBox will get the job done at a reasonable price, but I would really encourage you to check out full blown audio interfaces, as they are quite inexpensive and offer up a whole lot more versatility and possible than this would...