Like the whole concept from the packaging which is first class to the build quality. But most important is the clean punchy preamps. Controls are well laid out very functional. Solid steel chassis and I use these preamps to take the ¼" phono plug signals from both keyboards before they go into the keyboard amps. The signal boost is clean and punchy, and the signal is uncolored. This makes the sound cut through the mix and allows me headroom in the keyboard amps. I am very happy I discovered this company. I intend on trying more of their gear.

Ok. So I'll admit it. The amount of gear I already have is way more than ridiculous. Which of course entails several Black Lion products of which I've already a couple of them hard mounted in the studio.

However, at 64 years old and better than 50 of that trying to both play and sound better, and as the arthritus tends to stifle playing better, sounding better is an unavoidabkle MUST.

All to say is why I'm reviewing this little lovely. Now look. I've got rigs running out my ears. But with age setting in, I began the endeavor of a "toss it in the cart and roll rig". Bearing in mind, I'm an acoustic ONLY player with vocals. Oh. And slow old bones. Lol. In need of compactness with oompfa for solo in rooms up to a few hundred max.

So away I go putting together a 4U rack and a small top case with a quality 6 channel mixer. And of course, without any question, the Black Lion Auteur MKIII was what I centered it all around.

In order for my input it goes, Black Lion Auteur MKIII mic preamp, 2 channel conoressor limiter, board.
I play almost exclusively custom LoPrinzi instruments with only passive LR Baggs "Pure Mini" pickups. Hook the rig up, fire it up and "VOILE" to the roof.

Bypass the Auteur preamp and it pretty falls apart and away to suit my super picky requirements. The Auteur is just simply mind blowing at how it's smooth and constant taper of gain pot deals. With the pad button in I've still LOADS of smooth dead silent output as well with the pad off. I run the pad on. The Auteur gives me insane head room with easy to find and manitain gain staging that audio quality changes zero whether I've real low volume or if I'm pushing headroom through the roof. With little to no fear of feedback issues. THE THING IS FREAKING AMAZING as well as dead quiet all through the output spectrum.

People ask."What have done to that rig"? Often. The difference is worth double the money. Even my neighbors notice the difference. Roflol.

All in all? IMHO the only way you can go wrong with one of these is to not have one. Now? I've got four of them. Lol. But it really has made this particular rig quite special. Guitar through the left side, vocals through the right.

Yes. I have a ridiculous amount of high quality acoustic pedals I can put in front of the Auteur, but rarely do and dont miss them at all when theyre not in line.

The biggest problem I see people fighting is trying to obtain headroom without noise floor following it straight up. Something about this Auteur MKIII leaves noise floor on the floor, and headroom to the heavens.

Go for it. If you don't have one? You've already gone wrong. My Black Lion products all cause me to want more of them even when I dont need another.

Selah !!!

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Very pleased with this preamp. Went on recommendation from Aric, and it hits the mark. Set up a second studio room at my home with the same core equipment as our studio for editing, tracking keys & bass guitar. At the studio we have an API 3124 and a ADL 600 for tracking, but I needed something at home for bass guitar and quick fixes. This little preamp does the job very well. Clean, but not sterile sounding. It sounds very close to our API, IMO. So, if you aren't ready to drop $3K+ on a preamp - here you go. Considering cost + quality (nice build too), it qualifies as a 5 star.

Farfar more preamp in this wonderful lol beauty's price point. Equal and better than most of many times the cost. ZERO ways to go wrong here

I received my new BLA Auteur MkIII only last week but have been able to try it with various mics while recording acoustic guitar so far. The MkIII brought out the best of each microphone I tried, I found it to be quiet and articulate, the overall sound is silky smooth, and when the output increases the cine-mag transformers really make for a wonderful sounding pre. Additionally, being 2 channels at this price point, make it one quality unit I'm glad I found.
Lastly, build quality is rock-solid, and the packaging well thought out, capable of protection while outside the studio.

The Black Lion Audio Auteur mkiii is a great 2 channel preamp for the money. I needed a better front end than the starved plate fake tube nonsense that I had for a long time. I needed 2 channels but had to stay in budget. Israel really set me in the right direction with the BLA pre. It is clean and responsive It's sounding great on bass, vocals, and direct guitar into amp plugins. You can't go wrong at this price point.