Black Lion Audio Seventeen Modernized ‘76-style FET Limiting Amplifier

Not your grandpa’s ‘76.
This is not another remake. Seventeen is Black Lion’s take on what the classic ’76 limiting amplifier could have been given the benefits of current technology. Designed in conjunction with hitmaker Tobias Lindell and featuring a redesigned and improved IC-based front end, Seventeen delivers incredible detail and nuance normally not possible in a ‘76-style compressor.

Updated circuitry for modern studios.
Seventeen’s updated front-end circuit provides a clean, punchy, modern sound under light compression and a more colorful vintage character when pushed. This front-end, coupled with our custom-designed, made-in-Chicago output transformer, give this unit a huge bottom end that balances out the open top end very nicely.

Seventeen’s proprietary Black Lion style power decoupling ensures an incredibly low noise floor, while high grade Nichicon signal capacitors—widely considered some of the highest quality caps available—ensure the best signal quality possible.

All buttons in.
Features normally associated with expensive upgrades and mods in the ‘76 world are standard in the Seventeen, including: a frequency-adjustable sidechain: separate selectable high and low pass filters; a stereo link connection; and a wet/dry mix knob.

Thanks to its updated circuitry and this diverse feature set, Seventeen offers a palette of tone colors not available via any other compressor on the market.

And yes, of course—it does the lauded all-buttons-in-mode. In fact, it’s even easier to set up on Seventeen, thanks to its modern toggle-button design instead of vintage-style radio buttons.

• Type: FET Compressor
• Number of Channels: Single
• Controls: Attack*, Release, Comp Mix, Input, Output, HPF/LPF switches
• Ratio: 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1
• Inputs: 1 x XLR
• Outputs: 1 x XLR
• Sidechain I/O: Frequency adjustable High Pass Filter side chain
• Other I/O: 1 x RCA (link)
• Rack Spaces: 2U
• Power Source: Standard IEC AC cable
• Height: 3.5″
• Depth: 6″
• Width: 19″
• Weight: 14.5 lbs.
• Attack: Continuously variable 20uS to 800uS
• Release: Continuously variable 1200mS to 50mS

*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.