Manufacturer's description
Happy accidents can’t be planned; they happen on their own. And sometimes those magic moments hit the gear themselves.
Recording engineer to the stars, Chris Lord-Alge, depends on a rack of original Blue Stripe limiters, but there’s been one little issue: one of them has a certain magic that the others don’t. That’s why Black Lion sent our team to study Bluey and learn what made this unit so special.
The diagnosis: years of “happy accidents” and odd-fixes were made just to keep it working — but had accidentally created a monster 1176. Black Lion analyzed Bluey in exacting detail to recreate this beast of a limiter, and now we’re bringing it to you. Black Lion Audio’s Bluey: engineered and built in the USA.
Blue is the new gold
Legendary mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge’s record credits are endless — as endless as his love for his 1176 Blue Stripe units. Out of all of them (and he owns quite a few), one unit stuck out with a certain mojo that the others just didn’t quite have. He named this prized 1176 “Bluey”.
Chris desired more channels of this golden unit, and reached out to the guys who know modifications best – the team at Black Lion Audio! Intrigued by Chris’s praise of the unit, head design engineer, Jesus Ortiz, boarded a plane from Chicago to LA to discover what gave this Blue Stripe its edge. He found a series of mods done to the unit over the years to keep it working that miraculously cumulated in a uniquely beast-like 1176! BLA analyzed the unit with pain-staking detail, and worked closely with Chris Lord-Alge to recreate Bluey.
New features, new sounds
To get the exacting detail that Chris Lord-Alge has enjoyed from the original Bluey, we not only used custom Cinemag transformers, we actually recreated his console’s insert path and built it right into Bluey — giving everyone the same console feel!
But we didn’t stop there: We also added an active wet/dry mix for easy parallel compression, as well as a stereo link!
Bluey was designed with a vintage-inspired PCB layout, 1% resistors, polyester capacitors, and a linear power supply — meaning that Bluey is built to last! And like all Black Lion products, Bluey is hand assembled and tested in the USA.
Features
- 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
- Attack: Continuously variable 20uS to 800uS*
- Release: Continuously variable 1200mS to 50mS
*A note on the Attack control: The Attack control on the Bluey works a little differently than you may have encountered on other ‘76-style compressors. Turning the Attack knob to the left (counter-clockwise) will yield faster attack times; slower times result when turning to the right (clockwise). We’ve found this control scheme to be more intuitive; akin to a volume knob decreasing level to the left and increasing to the right.
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK, 'next working day' shipping is free if the order value is over £150, and £5 otherwise. We can also ship on a 'next working day before 12pm' service, which costs £6 for orders over £150 and £7.50 for orders under £150.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of DPD and Royal Mail for the UK, and for international orders it's either DPD, DHL, FedEx, UPS or Royal Mail depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 16:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes the couriers may come to collect a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Saturday/Sunday delivery
If you're in the UK and you order before 16:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday or Sunday delivery with DPD. This is FREE for order values over £350, £5 for order values between £75 and £250, and £7 for order values under £75. (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). Please note that any orders placed after 16:00 on a Friday will ship on the Monday.
International shipping times
Most orders are delivered within 3 to 5 working days if sent on a courier service. Royal Mail services can take a lot longer and are often less secure.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
Product Overview
Manufacturer's description
Happy accidents can’t be planned; they happen on their own. And sometimes those magic moments hit the gear themselves.
Recording engineer to the stars, Chris Lord-Alge, depends on a rack of original Blue Stripe limiters, but there’s been one little issue: one of them has a certain magic that the others don’t. That’s why Black Lion sent our team to study Bluey and learn what made this unit so special.
The diagnosis: years of “happy accidents” and odd-fixes were made just to keep it working — but had accidentally created a monster 1176. Black Lion analyzed Bluey in exacting detail to recreate this beast of a limiter, and now we’re bringing it to you. Black Lion Audio’s Bluey: engineered and built in the USA.
Blue is the new gold
Legendary mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge’s record credits are endless — as endless as his love for his 1176 Blue Stripe units. Out of all of them (and he owns quite a few), one unit stuck out with a certain mojo that the others just didn’t quite have. He named this prized 1176 “Bluey”.
Chris desired more channels of this golden unit, and reached out to the guys who know modifications best – the team at Black Lion Audio! Intrigued by Chris’s praise of the unit, head design engineer, Jesus Ortiz, boarded a plane from Chicago to LA to discover what gave this Blue Stripe its edge. He found a series of mods done to the unit over the years to keep it working that miraculously cumulated in a uniquely beast-like 1176! BLA analyzed the unit with pain-staking detail, and worked closely with Chris Lord-Alge to recreate Bluey.
New features, new sounds
To get the exacting detail that Chris Lord-Alge has enjoyed from the original Bluey, we not only used custom Cinemag transformers, we actually recreated his console’s insert path and built it right into Bluey — giving everyone the same console feel!
But we didn’t stop there: We also added an active wet/dry mix for easy parallel compression, as well as a stereo link!
Bluey was designed with a vintage-inspired PCB layout, 1% resistors, polyester capacitors, and a linear power supply — meaning that Bluey is built to last! And like all Black Lion products, Bluey is hand assembled and tested in the USA.
Features
- 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
- Attack: Continuously variable 20uS to 800uS*
- Release: Continuously variable 1200mS to 50mS
*A note on the Attack control: The Attack control on the Bluey works a little differently than you may have encountered on other ‘76-style compressors. Turning the Attack knob to the left (counter-clockwise) will yield faster attack times; slower times result when turning to the right (clockwise). We’ve found this control scheme to be more intuitive; akin to a volume knob decreasing level to the left and increasing to the right.
Technical Specs
Shipping Details
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK, 'next working day' shipping is free if the order value is over £150, and £5 otherwise. We can also ship on a 'next working day before 12pm' service, which costs £6 for orders over £150 and £7.50 for orders under £150.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of DPD and Royal Mail for the UK, and for international orders it's either DPD, DHL, FedEx, UPS or Royal Mail depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 16:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes the couriers may come to collect a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Saturday/Sunday delivery
If you're in the UK and you order before 16:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday or Sunday delivery with DPD. This is FREE for order values over £350, £5 for order values between £75 and £250, and £7 for order values under £75. (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). Please note that any orders placed after 16:00 on a Friday will ship on the Monday.
International shipping times
Most orders are delivered within 3 to 5 working days if sent on a courier service. Royal Mail services can take a lot longer and are often less secure.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
