RECO—100% Analog Load Box/Speaker Emulator/ Tone Shaper

For Recording or Live With or Without a Cab

RECO, a small, MXR-sized box made to capture your amp’s real tone—not a software simulation. It’s designed for amps around 15 to 30 watts, but also works with 50 to 100 watt amps (read below) as long as you stay within reason and don’t push the output too hard.

It connects directly to your amp’s speaker output, sending your real, analog amp tone safely into a DAW, mixer, or recorder—with no speaker or mic needed. 

You can run RECO without a cab, for silent recording, home practice, or live gigs with no stage volume. Just plug straight into the front-of-house mixing desk, and your amp gets heard—clearly and cleanly—through the PA. The REC-OUT output is balanced, or unbalanced, up to you (depends on which cable you use).

If you prefer to also hear a cab, at rehearsal/in recordings or on stage, that’s no problem either. RECO lets you connect a standard guitar speaker (2 to 16 ohms) through its ”Spkr. 2-16 ohms” Out jack. The output level is slightly reduced compared to running the amp directly into a cab, that’s where the 3-position “Spkr. Level” toggle switch comes in. It lets you choose between three output levels (-5 or -7 or -10 dB power reduction)—perfect for controlling your monitor volume or just taming a loud amp.

Whether you're going silent, semi-loud or even louder RECO keeps your amp sounding like your amp—just routed better.

A Proper Reactive Load Inside

At the core of RECO is a true reactive load, not a resistive power soak. That means your amp reacts just like it would when connected to a real speaker: dynamics, compression, and response are all preserved. No boring, flat feel. No cooked tone.

Want to know why that matters? Look up “reactive vs resistive load” and you’ll see why players who care about tone never settle for just a resistive heat sink.

Compatible with Bigger Amps—Within Reason

RECO is happiest with small to mid-sized amps in the 15–30 watt range, but it can also handle 50 to 100 watt amps *#—if you stay sensible. This isn’t a dummy load designed for full-volume arena abuse. You’ll want to avoid cranking your amp to full blast just for the sake of it. Or?

That’s why RECO gives you LED indicators. When the yellow LED glows, you’re around 12 watts. That’s comfortable. If the red LED lights up and stays there, you're pushing 20+ watts meaning the RECO (and your amp) are heading into hot territory. At that point, you're not getting better tone—just risking overload. So keep an eye on the built in lights. They’re not just pretty—they’re your signal to back off if needed.

*#Important Usage Note

RECO is not recommended for amps rated at 50 or 100 watts without a master volume. These types of amplifiers can deliver full, uncontrolled power that easily exceeds what RECO is designed to handle. Without a master volume to control the amp’s output, the risk of overpowering and damaging RECO and the amp increases dramatically. If you plan to use RECO with a high-powered amp, it is essential that you can manage the amp's output carefully. Important: Himmelstrutz Elektro Art does not guarantee the performance or survival of RECO (or the amp) if you ignore these recommendations. If you overload it, that’s your responsibility.

Real EQ, Not a Tone-Suck

The RECO “Rec Out” features a true analog 3-band EQ, built with discrete JFET transistor circuits. Each band—Lo, Mid, and Hi—is carefully tuned to its own isolated frequency range. This means the bands work independently without overlapping or interfering with one another. Boosting the lows won’t muddy the mids, and adding highs won’t thin out the rest of the signal.

This kind of circuit design is rare today. It’s not modeled, not compromised—it’s real analog engineering that gives you precise, hands-on control over the Rec Out tone.

Two toggle switches—“Rec Brite” and “Pres.”—give you even more control over the upper frequencies. These are voiced to bring out or smooth off the higher frequencies depending on what you’re playing into. Fast to access. Easy to understand. No mobile phone implementation to make you sick—made for real tone and feel!

Speaker Optional, Sound Never Is

RECO lets you run with or without a speaker cab. Plug into the “Rec Out” for silent recording, or hook up your favourite 2 to 16 ohm cab through the speaker output jack—then with the 3-position toggle “Spkr. Level” to set the output level. You can record all silent, play loud, or run both options in parallel. And whether you're running a cab or not, the signal into your DAW stays stable, shaped, and amp-true.

Use Your Own IRs—But With Better Input

The high quality soft footswitch (used in most Himmelstrutz products) bypasses RECO’s analog speaker emulator, letting you feed your own IRs—if you really need to use IRs!? But here the EQ section (”Lo”, ”Mid”, ”Hi”) stays active* even when the speaker sim is off. That means RECO becomes a buffered tone-shaper, giving you full analog control before your digital IRs get involved. This is especially helpful when trying to correct or shape guitar tone on the way into a DAW, without reaching for another plugin or cluttering your chain, meaning adding even more latency than what the IRs aleady have added! More about IR below...

* with the eq section set neutral (all controls at noon) the EQ section does not affect your tone.

IRs Are Everywhere—And Still Miss the Mark?

IRs promise convenience, and they deliver it. But what they often lack is clarity and feel. Most can’t push enough treble. The result is a swampy mid-heavy mush, like someone stirred your tone into a bowl of creamy audio porridge. It sounds quite fine in isolation, but once you start playing with dynamics or stacking tracks, everything starts to blur.

Add latency, presets, mouse-clicking... it all becomes more about managing a huge simulation than actually hearing your music and amp—you may start shaking and turn red in the face and soon facing an epileptic mind-state—added to this the original music is all gone! RECO doesn’t deal with that. What you play is what you hear, shaped by your hands, not menus.

LED Indicators Traffic-Lights-Safety

RECO uses a simple three-LED layout to keep you informed of what’s going on:

Green: Speaker Emulator is active

Yellow: Your amp is pushing around 12 watts

Red: You’re over 20 watts and heat is building

This isn’t a gimmick. It’s a safety system that helps keep your amp and the RECO in the clear. When the red LED flashes steadily, it’s time to back off. You won’t get much, if any, better tone—just more risk.

One Small Box, All the Right Sounds

RECO is the kind of gear you forget is there—because it just works. Plug in, adjust by ear, and record or play without second-guessing your tone. Whether you’re using a small amp or something bigger (within reason), whether you’re bypassing the speaker sim or using it fully, RECO captures your tone as it is, straight in real time, not as a file.

RECO isn’t just for guitars. Thanks to its reactive load design, it works just as well for bass and harmonica amps—especially when you’d rather avoid microphones.

Bass amps retain punch and clarity through REC‑OUT, even without a speaker cab.

Harmonica rigs, small valve amps—same story. You get real amp tone, without mic bleed or room reflections.

Hear harmonica recorded directly through RECO by Spanish José with a Cornford Harlequin amp:

The RECO isn’t for taming huge, old, untamable 100-watt monsters. It’s made to safely shape, capture, and control the tone of small to medium amps where you actually care about preserving dynamics and real amp sound.

The need for RECO is:

► Recording real amp tone without needing a speaker cabinet and microphone.

► Quiet practice or recording with your amp’s natural sound, even at home.

► Live gigs where you want to send your amp’s sound to the PA without blasting the stage volume.

► Tone shaping without loading your amp unnaturally (because RECO’s load feels/reacts like a real speaker, unlike many load boxes).

► Keeping everything analog—no impulse responses (IRs), no digital modeling, no lifeless tone (IRs can still be used if needed).

► Saving your ears and your gear—it protects both your speakers and your bandmates' sanity.

Why the caution?

Because amps with no master volume (especially older designs like early Marshalls, Hiwatts, etc.) push full wattage all the time. And 100 watts of tube power is brutally powerful. Even many real 4x12" cabinets strain under that!

RECO was designed for amps where you have some control over volume or where output power is naturally moderate (15–30 W sweet spot, up to 50 W with a bit of sense).

If you use a modern amp with a good master volume, you can crank the preamp for overdrive but keep the output safe.

Without master volume = no real control = high risk.