It’s not your grandpa’s ‘76.

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, Seventeen 500 features a new IC-based front-end circuit not found in classic ‘76 compressors. It provides a clean, punchy, modern sound under light compression and a more colourful vintage character when pushed. That front-end, when coupled with our custom-designed, made-in-Chicago output transformer, is why Seventeen delivers a huge bottom end that balances out its open top end very nicely. All told, Seventeen 500 is capable of delivering a broader tonal palette than original ‘76s.

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

Black Lion could have stopped there… but why? You also get a wet/dry mix knob for parallel compression straight out of the box. 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.

Features

• 500-series version of Black Lion Audio’s take on the classic ’76 FET compressor/limiter
• Improved and redesigned IC-based front end delivers:
  • Clean, punchy, modern sound under light compression
  • Colourful vintage character when pushed
• Proprietary power decoupling for an impressively low noise floor
• Employs high-grade Nichicon signal capacitors
• Frequency-adjustable sidechain high-pass filter
• Wet/Dry mix knob allows for parallel compression not available on vintage rackmount units
• Stereo-linkable

Type: 500-series FET Compressor

Attack: Continuously variable 20uS to 800uS

Release: Continuously variable 1200mS to 50mS

Sidechain HPF: OFF, 100Hz, 200Hz

Ratio: Pushbutton selected 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1 or any other combination

Voltage: ± 16v

Dimensions: Width:76 mm (3”) Height: 178 mm (5.25”) Depth: 229 mm (9”)

Weight: 1.47 kg (3.25 lbs)

Manufacturer Part Number: Seventeen 500

A note on the Attack control:

The Attack control on the Seventeen 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