The JBL BandBox Trio takes the best of a battery powered smart speaker and a modelling practice amp, and combines them with some smart features to create one of the most compelling devices for musicians I’ve seen in quite some time.
As part of the JBL BandBox range, this device is a bit more practice amp than smart speaker, but it’s great at doing both.
With a fully-featured modelling amp stage, two instrument inputs and a host of other connectivity options, the JBL BandBox Trio is well suited for guitarists, vocalists, and bedroom bands.
The key feature here is the BandBox’s AI instrument isolation feature that can separate and adjust a song’s guitar, drums, and vocals in real time from any streamed audio.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend this to musicians, but if you’re just after a speaker for listening to music on, this is a bit overkill.
Rating
Overall: 5 / 5
Pros
- Portable and battery powered
- Great amp modelling
- Genuinely useful features for practice
Cons
- More expensive than the competition – but with more features
- Guitar tuner is hit and miss
- No features for bass guitarists
$799 | For bedroom musicians and small bands
Setup & First Impressions
The JBL BandBox Trio is fairly small and portable, but very fully featured and easy to use. It doesn’t really need much setup at all – but to get the most out of it, it’s best to pair with the JBL One companion app that gives you easier control over the speaker and amp functions.
On the rear of the BandBox Trio, there’s two combo XLR / 1/4-inch inputs for microphones and instruments, a third 1/4-inch input dedicated to guitar, and 3.5mm and USB-C inputs for cabled sources.
One combo input can toggle between microphone and guitar input, while the other toggles between microphone and line-level input.
Of course, the amp accepts Bluetooth streaming as an input as well.
On the output side, there’s a 1/4-inch output for passthrough to another speaker and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
That means you’ve got plenty of flexibility when it comes to connecting band instruments and mics to the speaker. Plus, practicing late at night isn’t an issue with headphone output.
Design & Aesthetics
The JBL BandBox Trio is a rugged little amp with protective rubber pads on the corners, solid plastic housing, corrugated metal grille and a durable rubber carry handle on the top.
All of the functions are controlled with physical knobs. There’s a larger knob for scrolling through the interface while the other five knobs control settings on the interface itself like gain, volume, and EQ settings.
Portability is a high point of the JBL BandBox Trio. The carry handle is easy to use and gives a solid grip on the device. It’s about the same size as typical 15W practice amps, and about the same weight at just over 8 kilograms.
Life With The JBL BandBox Trio
I’ve been practicing with the JBL BandBox Trio as my main amp for a few weeks. It’s been a great experience, and it has plenty of features to love.
Positives
The number one unique feature is the AI stem separation onboard. While playing music through the BandBox Trio, you can pick two instruments out of guitar, drums, and vocals, and individually adjust their volume in the app or directly on the speaker.
That means you can pick out the guitar track and listen to it on its own, or remove the guitar entirely to play along with the band.
Occasionally in use there will be a couple of hiccups, like an isolated instrument bleeding through the mix or vocals coming through. Tracks with a lot of instruments or unusual voicings are particularly prone to this.
I also managed to trick it with a few tracks, where it misidentified a saxophone as a guitar, or non-lyric vocalisations bleeding through into the mix.
That said, for the most part it worked incredibly well, and this is a genuinely useful feature if you’re trying to listen to a particular track without distraction.
The BandBox Trio has a wide range of amp modelling options available, with everything from cleans, to crunch, to high-gain distortion options. The US Metal option has been my go-to option for my preferred high-gain metal, but there’s plenty to choose from for all kinds of genres from jazz, to rock, and even acoustic sims.
You can use the presets as they come, or dive into customisation of the signal chain with different effects and amp models. The only thing missing is impulse simulation for cab modelling but this would just be icing on the cake – the speaker has more than enough toys to play with.
With multiple inputs, you can plug your whole band in at once. With three inputs you can plug in a guitar, bass, microphone, and have your drummer playing acoustically or at line level. You can then individually mix channels right on the speaker.
That makes load-in for a practice session significantly easier – and if you’re setting up an impromptu jam it’s hard to beat the speed of setup here.
Negatives
While the speaker is great for guitarists, singers, and drummers, it’s quite a bit more limited for bassists. Sure, you can still play along but there’s no dedicated option to isolate and adjust bass guitar like there is with the other instruments. It honestly seems like a major oversight and it’s unfortunate to see that bassists are forgotten one more time.
Out of the box, the modelling amp presets are a bit bass-heavy. They’re fine for practicing alone, but if you’re looking to play with other instruments, you might want to adjust the settings to make room for them.
As part of the practice and instrument tools, the JBL BandBox Trio includes a guitar tuner section both on the device and in the app, but in terms of usage I’ve found it a bit less useful than I’d hope.
The tuner is slow to react to string tuning changes and seems to have quite a bit of difficulty with downtuning and extended range 7-string and 8-string guitars. I would pluck the string and the tuner would take several seconds to react, if it detected the tone at all.
The tuner issue isn’t a dealbreaker, but it’s a surprising lack of polish on an otherwise excellent guitar practice tool.
Performance & Reliability
The JBL BandBox Trio has a huge playback time of up to 10 hours – more than enough for even the longest practice sessions. It takes just 3 hours to recharge to full.
Longevity of the device is encouraging. There’s a user-replaceable battery in the bottom of the device and it can run off a standard three-prong power cable otherwise.
When it comes to the app controls, performance is fairly decent and the controls are quick to respond. The only issue is with the tuner section as mentioned earlier.
Practical Considerations
It’s worth noting that the JBL BandBox Trio sounds best on the floor. While on a tabletop it seems to lose a lot of bass response and the sound signature changes considerably.
The BandBox Trio isn’t significantly larger than a typical practice amp, so there’s nothing to worry about in terms of storage.
One thing worth noting is that there’s no effects return, so if you rely on this for physical reverb or delay pedals you might want to test it out first.
Another thing to know about is the volume – this little amp goes more than loud enough to annoy the neighbours, busk on the street, or compete with an acoustic drum set, but it might not be enough for playing a concert at a bar.
Value & Alternatives
Compared to its most popular competitors like the Boss Katana, Positive Grid Spark, and Yamaha THR series practice amps, the JBL BandBox Trio is quite a bit more expensive.
That said, you are getting quite a lot more features for your money – mainly the Stem AI feature and the additional inputs. At the push of a button, you can isolate an instrument from a song you’re learning, and that’s an incredible feature to have.
Another option to look at is the JBL BandBox Solo – a smaller model that’s worth checking out if you’re playing alone. It gives you access to all the Stem AI features but comes in at a lower price point.
Would I buy it with my own money?
Definitely. The JBL BandBox Trio is a great option if you’re looking for a single speaker to plug your whole bedroom band into. If you’re a solo musician, this or the BandBox Solo are well worth considering.
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