Black Lion BlueTube mod (w/ audio clips)

[theblotted]

so i just got my Presonus BlueTube back from Black Lion Audio about two weeks ago. been meaning to post this earlier..

quick background: this was my first preamp bought long ago, and it was just sitting in the corner forever. after hearing about BLA on Gearslutz, i thought to myself, what the hell, pretty cheap for a mod, let's give it a shot.

but before i sent it out, i was curious the difference it'll make, in a comparable manner. so prior to shipping, i took part of my recent session, and ran it thru the BlueTube, carefully jotted down settings (details below), and repeated the same when unit came back.

i wanna share the results with y'all, and would love to hear your opinions on this.

Disclaimer: BlueTube doesn't have detented pots, so it was a bit difficult to match the exact settings, but i tried my best with the notes i wrote down. i didn't do any level matching, cuz i wanted to present the mod as it is (turns out there is a difference in level). for you picky mofo's who wants perfectly equal level, relax, it's not a blind test; ain't that hard to do a level matching on your own. and those who don't like it, sorry, go make your own f'cking tests.fuuck

THIS IS FAR FROM A SCIENTIFIC TEST. just a general, basic audio comparison for the curious minded.

ok, without further ado:

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*spec's:
-HD: G5 2.5GHz w/ SCSI Seagate Cheetah 15,000rpm
-AD/DA: RME Fireface (Gain Select I/O @ -10dBV)

*DAW:
-song is called "Someday Afternoon", this is reference acoustic gtr & dummy vox for drum basics, originally recorded in Logic 7.2
-BlueTube gain recording into DP 4.6 (whole idea is to add more gain from clean & lower level recording, a la "pseudo-mastering")
-all recordings @ 88.2kHz, 24bit; dual mono L/R, combined to stereo via Peak 4
-bit conversion via Izotope Ozone (MBIT+Ultra, Normal, Intelligent, prevent intersample clip, all others off/default)
-down sample from 88.2 to 44.1kHz via Barbabatch 4
-WAV --> AAC 192kHz via iTunes

*BlueTube settings:
-Gain: 5th notch
-Drive: 3rd notch
-Pad switch engaged

*COMPARISONS:
1) Original recording
2) Stock BlueTube, except preamp tube replaced w/ Telefunken 12AX7
3) BLA mod, w/ Telefunken
4) BLA mod, w/ JJ/Tesla ECC83S
--> all tubes warmed up at least an hour prior to recording

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enjoy, and post some thoughts!


.

[theblotted]

PS: that's not my voice nor my guitar playing, it's a recent client of mine.. the actual song involves full band production, and i must say it's turning out MUCH better than the demo above... all apologies to imperfections, it's just a reference used for impromptu testing!

[Jonboy79]

I hate to say it but I almost liked the stock better, even with the volumes matched. The stock just seemed to have more body to me. I probably just smoked too much crack today.

[theblotted]

Originally Posted by Jonboy79

I hate to say it but I almost liked the stock better, even with the volumes matched. The stock just seemed to have more body to me. I probably just smoked too much crack today.

Jonboy79, thanks for the reply.

it's tough to say, cuz to my rusted ears, stock has a certain bump in the high-mid's.. and it's definitely loudest of the bunch.

when i heard the BLA/JJ version, the first thing i noticed, was the tamed sibilances from the vocals; and both BLA is much more smoother and doesn't sound as harsh. but the stock has a certain bite...

which is weird, because i normally associate "bite" to a faster preamp, but on BLA's website, they mention that it'll be faster after the mod. maybe i'm missing something here.

another interesting thing is that the right is a little louder than left, at same settings, and i have to make the left side's setting a little higher to match the levels equally L/R.

i've been trying it out on different things tho: solo vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, direct in, hell even a clarient. i'm starting to grab this guy for some smoothing and taming. of course, i have to reassess what mic works better with this new mod as well.




.

[tunekicker]

Am I missing the audio files?