Yeah, you can skip the Direct Box if your not recording directly. Hi-Z means high impedence. So when you go through your blues driver pedal into the Recorder, it should be on High Impedence not Low. You will get a bad sound if it was on Low. Low Impedence is for mics and direct-in recording. Using your amp is great to use, it just takes alittle more care and consideration. Follow what I said (but experiment yourself)and you should be fine. A rule of recording, you won't know what sounds the best unless you try everything. The biggest factor in miking a good sound out of an amp, is the position of the mic. So try every angle and position you can think of until you find something you like. Let me know if you run into any problems. I'll try to help you out.