New York, NY (February 23, 2023)—Black Lion Audio’s new Bluey 500 FET Limiting Amplifier is a 500-series version of its 2RU recreation of Chris Lord-Alge’s famous “blue-stripe” 1176.
If you’re looking for a FET-style compressor for your 500-series chassis, you’ll want to check out Black Lion Audio’s new Bluey 500 FET Limiting Amplifier, a 500-series version of its 2RU recreation of Chris Lord-Alge’s famous “blue-stripe” 1176.
The manufacturer developed its rackmount version in cooperation with CLA. The original Bluey was significantly modified from its stock design. By “reverse-engineering” it, Black Lion Audio says it was able to recreate its unique performance and sound.
The 2-slot, mono 500-series unit offers the same performance as the rackmount version. Both feature a pair of Cinemag transformers that recreate the UTC input transformer and Reichenbach output transformer on CLA’s unit.
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Due to the shape of 500-series units, the knobs and buttons are oriented more vertically than on an 1176m, but Bluey 500 offers all the original controls, including:
- Buttons for 4:1, 8:1, 12:1 and 20:1 ratios.
- Mode buttons for the VU-style gain reduction meter for +4 dB or +8 dB levels.
- An Attack parameter continuously variable from 20 uS to 800 uS and oriented backward.
- A Release knob provides ranges from 1200 ms to 50 ms.
For added functionality, Black Lion Audio equipped it with a Comp Mix knob, allowing you to dial in parallel compression plus a global Bypass switch. And if you want stereo operation, you can link two Bluey 500 units together using the Stereo Link port, which is on an RCA connector.
The Bluey 500 FET Limiting Amplifier is available now for $699.
