Black Lion Audio remakes Chris Lord-Alge’s “Bluey” 1176 in hardware
Company also debuts Eighteen a new channel strip and mic pre
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Black Lion Audio Bluey Front, Back · Source: Black Lion Audio
Black Lion Audio Eighteen - Front, Back · Source: Black Lion Audio
European manufacturer Black Lion Audio has introduced some good ol’ hardware that’s sure to interest anyone who prefers to twist physical knobs instead of clicking around in a plug-in. Bluey is a remake of Chris Lord-Alge’s “golden” blue-strip 1176 compressor, and Eighteen is a vintage-style channel strip with mic pre and equalizer. Let’s dive in.
Bluey – Chris Lord-Alge’s famed 1176
The Bluey FET compressor recreates a modified “Blue Stripe” compressor based on the “golden” 1176 owned by Chris Lord-Alge. Throughout years of use, certain components became unavailable and techs doing repairs were forced to change the circuit and introduce new parts, thus creating the one-of-a-kind compressor you’ve heard on much of the producer’s work.
Features:
- Fully discrete design
- Polyester capacitors
- Vintage inspired one-sided PCB layout
- Cinemag transformer, replica of the original UTC transformer
- Wet/Dry mix feature
- Linear power supply
- Precise meter calibration
Black Lion Audio Eighteen
Black Lion Audio Eighteen – Front, Back · Source: Black Lion Audio
Eighteen is the legal age for alcohol consumption in most of Europe. It’s also a vintage-style channel strip with a Cinemag transformer and a pair of BLA1831d iscrete op-amps. It includes a mic preamp and passive program EQ with custom Cinemag inductor, adjustable input und output level, stepped controls for the low/high frequency, variable controls for boost und attenuation, and a smooth-sounding character.
Features:
- Vintage style mono channelstrip with preamp and EQ
- 5-step switchable low freq boost 20Hz, 30Hz, 60Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz
- 5-step switchable high freq boost 4kHz, 6kHz, 8kHz, 10kHz, 16kHz
- 5-step switchable high freq attenuation 5kHz, 8kHz, 10kHz, 15kHz, 20kHz
- Variable bandwith control
- Output VU meter
- High- und Low Pass Filter
- 48V phantom power
- Polarity switch
- Voltage: 115VAC, 230VAC rear panel switchable
- AC Mains Input: IEC320-C14 standard plug
Price and availability
The units are available now, priced EUR 1.095,00 for Eighteen and GBP 835/EUR 1.023,00 for Bluey. More information is available at the manufacturer’s website. You can order here from Thomann: *
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