Black Lion Audio Seventeen Compressor 500 series

Seventeen 500 is Black Lion’s 500-series spin on what the classic ’76 compressor could have been. Featuring a redesigned and improved IC-based front end, Seventeen 500 renders incredible detail and nuance normally not possible with a ‘76-style comp—while adding some features unavailable on original ‘76s. 

What makes Seventeen 500 different? 

First, its updated front-end circuit is coupled with Black Lion’s custom-designed output transformer to give Seventeen 500 a huge bottom end that balances out its open top end quite nicely. The new IC-based front-end provides a clean, punchy, modern sound under light compression and a more colorful vintage character when pushed.

Seventeen 500 features BLA’s proprietary Black Lion-style power decoupling for an incredibly low noise floor, and also uses high-grade Nichicon signal capacitors, widely considered some of the highest quality caps available.

Black Lion could have stopped there… but why? Other features and upgrades include a frequency-adjustable internal sidechain and a wet/dry mix knob for blending the dry signal with the compressed signal. Beyond offering a palette of tones not available to anything else on the market, Seventeen 500 also includes the all-important stereo link function. 

Last but not least—yes, it does “all-buttons-in” mode, and we’ve made it much easier to engage multiple ratio controls simultaneously than on classic models.

Modern, 500-series re-imagining of the classic ’76 FET compressor/limiter

 

Sidechain highpass filters (100 Hz and 200 Hz) 

Improved and redesigned IC-based front-end for clean, modern compression at low ratios and colorful vintage character at high ratios 

Wet/dry mix knob 

Stereo link functionality 

Proprietary power decoupling for an impressively low noise floor 

American-made transformer 

Employs high-grade Nichicon signal capacitors 

Hand assembled and tested in the USA