True Blue – without 2U.Bluey 500 is the 500-series version of the lauded Black Lion Audio Bluey. The original “Bluey” is Chris Lord-Alge’s not-so-secret weapon; the heavily-modified 2U compressor to the stars that’s been heard on countless hits. Having undergone years of odd fixes, modifications, and upgrades, the original Bluey was a singular and unique piece of studio unobtainium — until Black Lion Audio got their mitts and voltmeters on it.
After working with Chris to reverse-engineer untold years’ worth of mods, component replacements, and upgrades, Black Lion Audio was able to make the legendary Bluey sound available to the world with the introduction of the original 2U Bluey compressor. Of course, they added a few features along the way without sacrificing what makes Bluey what it is.
Black Lion firmly believe that everybody deserves a li’l Bluey in their life, so they’re proud to bring the world another li’l Bluey — the Bluey 500 — ready to add that unmistakable blue-striped mojo to your 500-series rack. You get all the squeeze, heft, and grit of the original Bluey in just two 500-series slots — a fraction of the original’s footprint.
New features, new sounds.To get the exacting detail that Chris Lord-Alge has enjoyed from the original Bluey, Black Lion not only used custom Cinemag transformers, they actually recreated his console’s insert path and built it right into Bluey — giving everyone the same console feel!
Of course, they didn’t stop there: Black Lion also added an active wet/dry mix for easy parallel compression, as well as a stereo link!
Bluey 500 was designed with a vintage-inspired PCB layout, 1% resistors, and polyester capacitors — meaning that Bluey 500 is built to last! And like all Black Lion products, Bluey 500 is hand-tested, calibrated and QC’d in the USA.
Features500-series recreation of Chris Lorde-Alge’s most prized 1176 — used on every lead vocal he mixes
2 Cinemag transformers; a recreation of the original UTC input transformer and a recreation of the original Reichenbach output transformer
Wet/Dry mix knob allows for parallel compression not available on the original
Stereo-linkable
Input and Output buffering taken directly from Chris Lorde-Alge’s console inserts
Hand-tested, calibrated and QC’d in the USA.
Technical SpecificationsType: 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
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.
Attack: Continuously variable 20uS to 800uS
Release: Continuously variable 1200mS to 50mS
