Abstract The production of heavy neutral mass resonances, $$\text {Z}^{\prime }$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>Z</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>′</mml:mo> </mml:msup> </mml:math> , has been widely studied theoretically and experimentally. Although the nature, mass, couplings, and associated quantum numbers of this hypothetical particle are yet to be determined, current LHC experimental results have set strong constraints assuming the simplest beyond Standard Model (SM) hypotheses. We present a new feasibility study on the production of a $$\text {Z}^{\prime }$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>Z</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>′</mml:mo> </mml:msup> </mml:math> boson at the LHC, with family non-universal couplings, considering proton–proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msqrt> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>13</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and 14 TeV. Such a hypothesis is well motivated theoretically and it can explain observed differences between SM predictions and experimental results, as well as being a useful tool to further probe recent results in searches for new physics considering non-universal fermion couplings. We work under two simplified phenomenological frameworks where the $$\textrm{Z}^{\prime }$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>Z</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>′</mml:mo> </mml:msup> </mml:math> masses and couplings to the SM particles are free parameters, and consider final states of the $$\text {Z}^{\prime }$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>Z</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>′</mml:mo> </mml:msup> </mml:math> decaying to a pair of $$\textrm{b}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mtext>b</mml:mtext> </mml:math> quarks. The analysis is performed using machine learning techniques to maximize the sensitivity. Despite being a well motivated physics case in its own merit, such scenarios have not been fully considered in ongoing searches at the LHC. We note the proposed search methodology can be a key mode for discovery over a large mass range, including low masses, traditionally considered difficult due to experimental constrains. In addition, the proposed search is complementary to existing strategies.