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Black Lion Audio Bluey FET Limiting Amplifier

1-channel FET Limiting Amplifier with 20 Microsecond Minimum Attack Time
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Your Very Own Bluey

Experienced recording engineers are familiar with the concept of "happy accidents" — those once-in-a-blue-moon moments that ignite spontaneous magic in your recordings. You can't plan them — they're organic, comprised of sheer randomness or even bone-headed mistakes. It's the guitarist getting caught in the wrong key ("modal jazz!"); the wrong track patched into the sidechain ("Grammy-winning engineering!"); singers riffing when they thought it was just a run-through ("pure poetic brilliance!"). The same audio gods sometimes smile down upon a piece of vintage gear. Through decades of repair and maintenance, some units seem to improve with time.

The scarcity of original parts forces techs to deviate from the original design, unwittingly creating a one-of-a-kind mod that sounds amazing. Such is renowned mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge's prized 1176, which he affectionately calls "Bluey." Chris wanted more channels of this very special limiter, and he reached out to the modification geniuses at Black Lion Audio. The result sounded so spectacular they decided to share it with the world. Sweetwater is pleased to present to you the Black Lion Audio Bluey. Trust us — it will rock your world.

A very special Blue Stripe

With his gifted ears, decades of world-class experience, and an arsenal of coveted vintage gear, acclaimed mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge came to identify one of his four Blue Stripe revision 1176 limiters as being especially wonderful. Based on the faceplate cosmetics featuring a section of blue paint around the VU meter, 1176 revisions A, A/B, and B are all referred to as "Blue Stripe" units. This particular unit, dubbed "Bluey," has that special je ne sais quoi that makes vocal tracks shine like no other dynamics processor.

Bluey gets the BLA treatment

Intrigued by Chris’s effusive praise of Bluey, Black Lion head design engineer Jesus Ortiz and modification tech Preston Whiting took a flight from O’Hare to LAX to find out what gave this Blue Stripe its edge. Their diagnosis uncovered a series of modifications done to the unit over the years to keep it working that miraculously created a monster 1176. BLA analyzed the unit in meticulous detail, and has, in cooperation with Chris, re-created the beast — now available to everyone as the Black Lion Audio Bluey.

The mod squad

Since 2006, Black Lion Audio has helped musicians and engineers improve the sound of their equipment, and they've built a solid reputation for coaxing world-class sound out of modestly priced gear. As an outfit that cut its teeth doing acclaimed mods, Black Lion, unsurprisingly, produces innovative audio equipment of their own design that consistently outperforms its price range.

Black Lion Audio Bluey FET Limiting Amplifier Features:

  • Fully discrete, Class A circuitry
  • Through-hole components
  • Polyester capacitors
  • Vintage-inspired 1-sided PCB layout
  • Cinemag remake of original UTC transformer
  • Wet/Dry mix feature
  • Stereo-linkable
  • Linear power supply
  • Precise meter calibration

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Tech Specs

  • Type: FET Limiter
  • Number of Channels: Single channel
  • Controls: Attack, Release, Mix, Input, Output
  • Ratio: 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1
  • Inputs: 1 x XLR
  • Outputs: 1 x XLR
  • Other I/O: 1 x RCA (stereo link)
  • Rack Spaces: 2U
  • Power Source: Standard IEC AC cable
  • Manufacturer Part Number: Bluey

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Customer Reviews

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Rated 5/5

The coolest 1176 Compressor on the Market

I was looking for my first outboard compressor to go with a new preamp I was getting for recording vocals, guitar, and bass. I had read that this put a unique sound on the source material and accented the mids and highs, keeping the lows full. I like that it has a wet dry knob and ultra fast attack and release times. The all button in mode is cool, so are the steps in between. The compressor does a nice job at transparent compression or more heavy handed limiting or compression. I like the unit so far and it performs as expected, it can saturate nicely. If you're looking specifically for a high quality FET compressor and the exact one Chris Lord Alge uses to make hit records, this is the one you want. We used it at the college for a session recently and then I installed it into my studio's main vocal rack. It works great and sounds killer. If you want an opto compressor get a WA 1B for fast attack and release or WA 2A for slower limiting. I am happy with this product for the situation I was going for which was all transistors and no tubes mic through DAC. Next time I will go all tubes and transformers so I have a different sound. Well thanks Tim at sweetwater for pointing me in the right direction.
Music background: Multi Instrumentalist Composer, Songwriter, Recording/Mixing/Mastering Engineer, Audio Degree Student
Rated 5/5

Crush city!

This truly is the most aggressive 1176 I've ever used. I say that in a good way. As there are no nasty side effects. It eats everything and almost straight lines it in a strangely pleasant way. I didn't think that was possible. I'm no stranger to the most famous of revisions Urei put out of the 1176, as I have owned three, two black faced F's, and a silver H. Each had their own beautiful sound so, any comparison would be useless. This Bluey has its own sound. It's uncolored so it doesn't change or fatten up anything I've put through it. Acoustic guitar was the most useful for me more than vocal. I like more moving room in a vocal and I do use an 1176 along with a Neve compressor in my chain. I hope this helps. I do love this compressor and don't see myself parting with it. It's useful for countless things that need taming without color.
Music background: 50 years and running in music and audio.
Rated 5/5

wow

I donno mate I just put it on with the cla settings for vocals and it sounds like its done. I didn't even eq my raw vocals, it just sounds done. makes life easy for me. Ive never had an original UA 1176 or reissue so I can't comment on how they differ. to my ears this unit adds a little darkness a little richness and sorta present midrange slightly smeared and warm. I was prepared to send it back if I didn't like it immediately and shell out for a "real" one. Yeah this aint going back. Im sure the UA one sounds amazing and im still going to get one of those as well. But this really does the thing at a price thats more appealing for us home studio peeps.
Rated 5/5

hELLO 1176

Chris Lord-Alge was not blowing marketing smoke or lying about this thing. It is the real deal. It is everything and a little more. The mix knob is a sweet option for the 1176.

Go ahead and spend your money on the UA1176 if your want the newer sound because it is awesome too. The Bluesy is like the old 1176 first versions. It can growl or be sweet as an angel breath.

Very Flexible. Black Lion should get an award for their re-creation efforts.
Music background: singer/songwriter, producer and project manager
Rated 5/5

My favorite 1176

I've got tons of 1176 plugins and even a Klark Teknik 1176-KT which works fine and is great for clean compression but Bluey is now my first choice for compression. It's got some extra spank or sparkle which makes it cut through a mix well. If you've ever used the Waves CLA-76 plugin in blue mode then you have a bit of an idea what this can do although I think hardware is still better. The Blend knob (called Comp Mix) was a fantastic addition and gives this clone more functionality than a genuine UA/UREI 1176.

I love how much you can compress while still sounding natural. Keep in mind that blackface 1176's are know for being clean whereas the blue stripes (including Bluey) can dirty it up in a nice way. I wish I could go back in time and use Bluey on some past projects, it's that good. I could see getting a second someday for a drum or master bus since it comes with a stereo link jack.

Sometimes the input and output knobs are in positions that I wouldn't think would work well on an 1176 but I just remind myself to mix with my ears and not with my eyes. It just doesn't always match the same numeric values I'm used to with some plugins but who cares. As long as it gets you to where you need to be and Bluey does that very well and very easily. This will be in my rack for decades and will likely get used on almost every mix I ever do again. Thanks BLA, CLA and Sweetwater!
Music background: Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, engineer, producer, teacher
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