I've used a modSBM-1 with an R-Box (the predecessor to the nbox, a bit bigger, but basically the same). the two times I've used it was to stealth Leo Kottke, which is a pretty quiet show, just Leo on acoustic guitars. with this combo, I just barely had enough gain, but I probably would have liked my levels to be a bit higher. the first time I did it, I was dead center, but almost in the last row, under the balcony (but the Sanders Theater in Cambridge is fairly small, so I wasn't that far away). on that recording, the music peaks around -10dB, and the loud crowd between songs gets up to right around zero. the following year, when I recorded Leo again, with the same setup, I was in the dead center, but closer up. that time, the music peaked around -6dB.
if you were taping anything other than a quiet acoustic show, I'd venture to say that you'd definitely be able to get hot enough levels (and while the SBM-1 doesn't have gain per say, it does have level controls for each channel, so you can use it to set your levels. it's an attenuator though, not gain). I also know that Scott (who I borrowed the gear from) has also done many stealth rbox > modSBM-1 shows, with great results....
Topic: sbm1 question (Read 3715 times)