United Studio Technologies were founded with the aim of delivering affordable versions of sought-after classic studio gear without compromising on build quality, and their first releases tackled a pair of popular microphone designs. The latest addition to the line-up is the Replay Box, which sets its sights on re-amping, and draws inspiration from a design that was never available as a commercial product.
The company say that the Replay Box is the culmination of two decades of experimentation, and has been developed using feedback provided by users of Chad Kelly’s early hand-made re-amp boxes. The aim was to create a device to solve two of the most common issues when re-amping: not having enough gain to drive an amp properly, and encountering unacceptably high levels of noise. The resulting unit promises to deliver more clean gain than users will ever require without needing to be combined with a preamp or boost pedal, avoiding the risk of increased noise levels and unwanted colouration.
What about good old wanted colouration, though? Well, it seems that the company have though about that, too, opting for a dual-transformer design that offers two distinct voicing characters that can be selected via a front-panel switch. When set to Transparent mode, the signal passes through a custom-wound step-up transformer with no active circuitry involved, which UST say offers the cleanest gain available on any re-amp device. Switching over to Harmonic mode routes the signal through a different transformer that has been specifically designed to impart some additional character, introducing a very gentle high-frequency roll-off along with both harmonic and phase distortion in the sub-bass region, resulting in a warmer, more aggressive tone.
Key Specs
Transparent Mode
- Input Impedance: 300Ω
- Output Impedance: 1kΩ
- Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz (±0.5dB)
- Output Gain Level: 3dB above Input Level
Harmonic Mode
- Input Impedance: 50Ω
- Output Impedance: 150Ω
- Frequency Response: 40Hz – 20kHz (±0.5dB)
- Output Gain Level: 5dB above input level
SOS Reviews
You can check out our reviews of United Studio Technologies’ other offerings via the links below.
Pricing & Availability
The Replay Box is expected to ship in July 2024, priced at $299.
