Vintage-Flavored Preamp and Program EQ from Industry Wunderkinds Black Lion Audio
Famed gear modding company, Black Lion Audio, has been building an impressive arsenal of unique studio gear, with variations on classic designs alongside wholly original creations. Joining that roster is the Black Lion Audio Eighteen channel strip. Something of a chimera, the Eighteen combines a transformer-based preamp with a 2-band passive induction EQ. Now, you can’t get more old school vibey than that! Sweetwater’s studio engineers found dialing up clean sounds on the Eighteen was no problem, but it really shines when driven into gooey analog saturation. Add just a little to make a vocal sit in the mix or crank it up on a mono drum overhead for bashy, Bonham-esque flexing. Spill the preamp into the program EQ for even more tonal control using the simultaneous boost and cut functionality to carve a thick but focused low end and mid- and high-range clarity. You’ll be shocked by how aggressive you can push the EQ without it ever sounding harsh or unpleasant. Need a little mojo in your studio front end? The Black Lion Audio Eighteen has it in spades!
Related Videos: Eighteen Microphone Preamp & Induction EQ
About Black Lion Audio
Founded in Chicago in 2006, Black Lion Audio made its mark on the audio industry by hot-rodding audio equipment and upgrading the sound quality of popular music production gear, elevating industry-standard products to new levels of sonic quality. Though they started by modding gear from other manufacturers, Black Line Audio’s engineers have utilized their cumulative expertise to design the company’s own line of boutique mic preamps and word clocks. Black Lion Audio gear and modded gear can be found in studios from LA to New York to Nashville and heard on projects from artists like Maroon 5, Alison Krauss, Metallica, T-Pain, George Strait, MGMT, Beyoncé, George Duke, Slayer, Erykah Badu, Rod Stewart, and more.
Black Lion Audio Eighteen Channel Strip Features:
- Vintage style preamp section with CineMag input and output transformers and custom discrete op-amps
- CineMag inductor-based 2-band passive EQ lets you boost and cut frequencies simultaneously to add focused heft in the low end and controlled presence at the top
- Output control for driving the preamp into rich harmonic saturation without signal clipping
- Additional frequency control with 80HZ highpass and 10kHz lowpass filters
- Switchable mic/line inputs, polarity flip, and 48V phantom power for condenser mics, active ribbon mics, and mic activators
- Attractive backlit VU meter on the front panel
- Internal power supply with AC input and voltage selector
