Black Lion EQ

[mark rachelle]

I picked up my black lion eq yesterday

http://www.blacklionaudio.com/content.php?p=39

Its an all inductor eq and was made on the workbench against mastering grade pultecs to sound every bit as good
but with more control or as black lion would have us believe from their website

my unit has a serial number #00010
and i havent been able to find any good reviews as to how they sound due to the newness of this product

so basiclly i bought it because their mods sound so fantastic
i heard the 003 mod and was really blown away

IMO a black lion modded 002 or 003 sounds better than a lynx aurora

protools isnt meant to sound this good!
err actually it should have sounded that good 10 years ago
and mutt lange and mike shipley rave about their protools HD hardware mod
so anything that they say speaks volumes to me

Also Blacklion state on their website that they are happy to stand by their product sounding as good as the best eqs around
and if you dont like you can return it within 15 days

not sure on the street price but they are well under 2000 AUD with a 2 year warranty!
you can buy them from Awave!

i am about to plug it in so will let you know what it sounds like

Taking it out of the box
Build quality
well overall it feels solid and weighty.
however its not in the league of a focusrite red, massive passive, 2055 or shadow hills mastering compressor in terms of a relatively modern bit of kit that is so sexy and well built that its a must have, must have.

Pots feel solid, smooth with a professional amount of resistance
i get the feeling that these will go the distance and work easily for a decade or two
however the I/O and HF, LF peak switches feel too cheap for pro audio

to the back of the unit
TRS only - Bummer as i have to get the soldering iron out

overall look also a little concerning is
Grey / black / red and gold isnt the greatest colour scheme

bottom line is it isnt going to impress the clients eyes in top mastering studios
cause it looks like a peice of gear in the $2000 range with a colour scheme that looks "not western"
kinda like part Ukranian part Thai, mixed with a bit of a dodgy 70s hi fi add in your dads playboy stash

My hippy friends will like it, cause it doent look like it was designed by the folks at Audi

perhaps like an ugly dog that you care for i will grow to love the look in time
as those gold knobs might be alluding to something special.

[Chris H]

Great review Mark. If it sounds good then it is good, and the price is attractive even if the looks aren't quite there.
I know you had the Oram Hi Def eq for a while. How does the Black Lion eq compare?

[mark rachelle]

Hi Chris Oram is WAY more surgical,

If you need to just clear up a mix but leave it the way you have got it then the Orams are great for that

I have soldered it in
and tried it

And screw it 2 frequencies out of 4 in the hi mid band on the left channel do not work out of the box
this sucks and is a waste of my time and the worlds resources as i have to drive back into melbourne and then we have to ship it back then it gets shipped back to AU then i have to drive back to melbourne.
Even forgetting time that more fuel than the units worth!

not having gear right as it leaves the factory isnt on!
and it really dominates the consumer having to run around and sort out shit after they have paid their money for a working new product

Irresponsible !

Other than that the unit sounds freaking awesome
had a half an hour play and the bass is magnificent
doesn't have the same posh sexiness in the top end as the avalon 2055 i have

but it is a better EQ than the Avalon for adding in the other frequencies (that work!)
The Avalon cuts better in the mid ranges

but i get the feeling that this unit would work/excell on most stuff
and when pushed to overdrive it sounds OLD
and i love it when you turn the unit off whilst running program material through it , it just fades out and crackles
old school!

Bags of useable tone
in fact it shouldnt be called and EQ as it has too much tone for that
So overall i would say that it has the clarity and headroom to work and improve 96/24 whilst adding tone that digital will never get

[Chris H]

Bummer. Surley quality controll ensured it was working when it left the factory. A well designed passive inductor eg has a sound nothing else can get close to. Probably worth persavering with if it sounds that good.

[rick]

This might well be the poster child for the last article I wrote
the pull it apart club

I find it interesting that it tickled your curiousity enough to buy it mark
I went to the link before I read your posts
its funny how a picture is worth a thousnd words sometimes

[Chris H]

This might well be the poster child for the last article I wrote
the pull it apart club

I find it interesting that it tickled your curiousity enough to buy it mark
I went to the link before I read your posts
its funny how a picture is worth a thousnd words sometimes

Hey Mark, I'd take that as a request to pull the lid off it and post some pics of the innards so we can check out the build quality.

[mark rachelle]

re pics
will do

RE the look, it actually has more presence than i first gave it credit for

those gold pots really catch your eye

[wez]

you have to wonder if it isn't worth just opening it yourself (or get your tech to) and seeing if it's not a really obviously problem that you can fix yourself (bad solder join etc).

THEN complain to the company and see if they'll reimburse you (highly unlikely but you never know).

always good to hear from you mark. your reviews/opinions are some of the very few i take seriously!

cheers, wez

[mylesgm]

I'd be replacing those knobs with some nice bakelite ones immediately. Black bakelite would instantly give that front panel some more cred...

M

[rob]

or ... if you are sure that there is a fault, you could give the manufacturer a call and seek their permission for you to take it to a credible tech to have repaired. Warranty stays intact, unit doesn't have to travel around the globe unnecessarily, and you get a working unit back quickly

[mark rachelle]

Nice advice Rob

Wez thank you for the lovely complement

[mark rachelle]

sorry for not posting pics guys

i have a new one as a replacement so i thought it prudent not to open up before it was returned

this one must be even more special with a 007 serial number!

[mark rachelle]

Well guys
I actually do not want to post this
but in the effort of honesty and helping people choose right the first time

THIS EQ IS A GAME CHANGER!
and around 1500 AUD!

i am going out on a limb and say that it is better than a GML , buy a long way!

I still want a GML but it will be for small surgical incisions,
actually after using the black lion the old problems of the past like some spiky transient at 5k or some muddle in the bass at 103hz are simply dno longer a concern!

you gotta love an EQ where the more bottom end you add the more you want! and the more you add the clearer the bottom end gets!

No more of those weird sounding overcooked tracks for me

No, for me its now good bye worry , hello enjoyment and simplicity

Rick you gotta get your hands on one of these and try one out
it has speed , clarity, phase and huge amounts of tone!
its not perfectly set up for mastering
but it sounds freaking ACE

And the most important part is that you are actually enjoying the sound as you adjust the dials.
I have not been this excited on a bit of gear since upgrading to my old ssl!

well enough of my rant and gushing or its off to band camp for me lol!

[Chris H]

Now all you need to do for colour coordination, is replace the 8 larger gold knobs with these..................

images.jpeg

available here:

http://www.musicshop.com.au/ernie-ball- ... -pack.html

or for a more vintage look, 8 of these......

Black-1.jpeg

[DwaneHollands]

Thanks for the review Mark! sounds good.

You know they're about to release a compressor soon too! And they're working on their own AD/DA circuit boards.

Gotta get on their Facebook fan page, they post quite regularily with updates on their development. Very cool.

[rick]

Chicken knobs are so 59/95!
never thought they looked good or felt good

I have enough eqs untill I decide I want some more
right now mark so nah I will let somebody else have the cool stuff I need for a while

but back to chicken knobs I reckon they are a sure sign that the maker just doesn't quite get the whole bakalite thing
I have been in hospital getting pumped full of morphine for my kidneys for nearly a week
I was really hoping you would have the top off by now that thing mark
damn

[Chinagraf]

My missus was pumped full of morphine in hospital for a few days last week. It was awesome. I got her to agree to not finishing the rennos and buying me an 80 series console instead. Unfortunately she came round a few days later when the drugs wore off..
Rick, did you meet any hot nurses?

[mark rachelle]

Hope you get well soon Rick

[mylesgm]

yeah chicken heads are not for me. bakelite, dakaware, davies and raytheon are what I like.

http://www.daviesmolding.com/standard-p ... fault.html

[heathen]

It's always a great feeling when you get exactly what you want for less than a 1/3 of the average price. Bloody ugly unit but hey for not much more than a grand as long as it sounds good is all that matters

[chris p]

Off topic, but just noticed Rick's tagline and thought , geez, I'm old and heavy but I don't think he'd be interested at all!

Get well soon, Rick - I have a brother who's a urologist if you need a 2nd ....

[heathen]

Bummer Rick that sux, well apart from the morphine of course that sounds pleasant, but yeah farout, hope you get better soon.

[rick]

thats enough sympathy ( more than i got at home )
i am up and on deck building again
i reckon the new studio will be finished around the time it is

[heathen]

Good stuff, yeah got my studio flooring in this week, will be looking for RPG stuff soon. Wish I booked 2 days out of town after the stinky laquer stuff they used on the timber flooring, looks really good, but I think it killed a few brain cells though.

[rick]

heath
i thought you were retiring hurt from the studio idea and making a train set room or something ...?
could not stay out of the studio game after all huh ...?

[jkhuri44]

yes, i am also confused...heath? wuzz going on

[Chinagraf]

Maybe it's an acoustically designed train room? Choo choooooo..

[jkhuri44]

^ epic dad joke Andy.

time for kids ?

[Chinagraf]

Kids? No way, I don't want em @&*#in with my trainset.

[heathen]

Well I could have a really cool train set but..... my ears have been getting bored. Guess it's one of those things that can drive you nuts when doing it and also drive you nuts when not.

Have been driving around listening to some CD's I worked in the last few years and still like the sound but want to improve on what's been done. Finally got a car with a CD player cause I stopped buying gear and sold some (mmmm XR6 with 6 speed German auto, still love that german stuff oh yeah). So took a step back from my gear lust and everything else music related, got a lot done around the house and decided what the hell, still got my best pieces of gear and setting the room up from here on is pretty cheap, well it won't bust the bank.

Hmmmm a train set, soundproof room, MacGyver reruns and iced vovos, anything could happen from here.